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Rankings Point-Chasers The Importance of Why Game, Set and Match: Secret Weapons of the World’s Top Tennis Players Checking the Quota Allocation for the NTRP National Championships Downward Dog, Upward Dog, Walk the Dog Tennis Beyond the Headlines: February 17, 2025 Does Your Tennis Facility Have an AED? A Narcan Kit?

A Long Way Baby: Behind the Scenes in Women’s Pro Tennis

On By Teresa Merklin

Our third book installment during Women’s History Month is another professional tennis “Year in the Life” account. Grace Lichtenstein’s offering, A Long Way, Baby: Behind the Scenes in Women’s Pro Tennis, focuses on 1973. It had been a scant three years since the “Original Nine” signed the $1 professional contracts which spawned the tour sponsored by Virginia Slims. Women’s professional tennis was in its formative stages. It was also the year that Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs played their landmark “Battle of the Sexes” exhibition match in the Astrodome.

Ladies of the Court

On By Teresa Merklin

If I had to pick one word to describe Ladies of the Court it would be “lurid.” “Sordid” is a close second selection. Perhaps I should have anticipated that, given that the subtitle is “Grace and Disgrace on the Women’s Tennis Tour.” After reading Ladies of the Court, I really want to believe is that we, as society and a tennis community, have come a long way, baby. Unfortunately, that appropriates the advertising catch phrase of the cigarette brand that financed the early stages of the WTA tour. In Ladies of the Court, the Virginia Slims title sponsorship was unraveling. Spoiler alert: Cigarettes are bad for you. Additionally, as the USTA incessantly reminds us as of late, tennis is a healthy sport. Sponsorship by a tobacco company was incongruous.

Venus Envy by Jon Wertheim

On By Teresa Merklin

At first glance, the selection of Venus Envy by Jon Wertheim might seem strange. My ambivalence toward biographies of players who are still competing is well documented on this site, and the story of Venus Williams and her professional tennis career has yet to conclude. Additionally, based solely on the title, it might be easy to assume that this book might be more appropriate in February during Black History Month. Ultimately, Venus Envy is the perfect selection to kick off Women’s History Month in March.

Charging the Net

On By Teresa Merklin

Since February is Black History Month, I have been focusing on books about African American tennis players. In the previous two weeks, we have discussed Arthur Ashe in “Days of Grace” and Althea Gibson in “The Match.” If you’re going to talk about the history of black players at the highest levels of competitive tennis, Ashe and Althea are the two obvious places to start.

The Match: Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton

On By Teresa Merklin

Before Arthur Ashe, there was Althea Gibson. Long before Ashe broke the color barrier in men’s tennis, Althea was the true pioneer. Her journey was much harder than the one Ashe endured. Part of the challenge was that Althea was female playing in an era where women’s tennis wasn’t valued by the national associations that staged tournaments at all. A larger factor was the color of her skin.

Days of Grace by Arthur Ashe

On By Teresa Merklin

After my recent reading of John McPhee’s Levels of the Game, I came to the realization that I needed to brush up on my knowledge of the tennis career of Arthur Ashe. His memoir Days of Grace seemed to be an obvious place to start. Additionally, since February is Black History month, the timing is perfect. As a bonus, a hardcover edition of Days of Grace was already languishing on a shelf in my family room.

Six Weeks with Dennis Ralston

On By Teresa Merklin

Fiend At Court spent a virtual six weeks with Dennis Ralston in 2020. To be more precise, this site spent six weeks on a structured improvement program inspired and derived from Six Weeks to a Better Level of Tennis, a book he authored with Barry Tarshis. Unfortunately, Ralston passed away last month following a long battle with cancer. Revisiting the Fiend at Court “Six Weeks” project became compulsory with his passing.

A Terrible Splendor

On By Teresa Merklin

There is a lot to break down in Marshall Jon Fisher’s A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played. On the surface, the book is about a tennis match between Don Budge and Gottfried Von Cramm played during the 1937 Davis Cup. It is also a unique account of the rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party in the run up to World War 2.

Learning to Love the Early Icons of Tennis

On By Teresa Merklin

When I first embarked on the project manifested by the Fiend at Court site, I would have asserted that I have little personal interest in the early history of international and professional tennis. The first appearances of early tennis stars in what was published was in the context of newspaper articles summarizing proposed changes to the ITF Rules of Tennis of their time. I am embarrassed to say, that some names that I did not initially recognize are now turning up repeatedly in the tennis books of their era.

Another Greatest Tennis Match of All Time

On By Teresa Merklin

I am suddenly obsessed with literary and media claims of “The Greatest” tennis matches. It was a natural next step as my examination of Strokes of Genius concluded. Strokes of Genius was published in 2009 with the phrase in the subtitle “The Greatest Match Ever Played.” By sheer coincidence, a second book was also published in the same year with a similar phrase in the subtitle. Consequently, “A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played” is the next book which will be tackled by this site. It is the most natural progression.