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Tennis Beyond the Headlines: June 16, 2025 Happy Father’s Day, A Personal Update, and We’re Still Battling More Tennis Dad Jokes for Father’s Day Tennis Dad Jokes: The Intentional Whiff Follow-Up: Streaming Roland-Garros — The Good, the Clunky, and my TLDW moment. New USTA Rule Limits Captains to One Team at the National Championships Starting in 2026 One Arm Overhead Chop with Reverse Lunge?

Tennis Tactics and Patterns of Play Part 3 : Using Your Strengths

On By Teresa Merklin

In 2019, Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic to win the men’s singles title at Rome. In the course of doing so, he provided us with a statistic that is probably one of the best examples of how to develop strategies and tactics around a player’s own strengths. The very best players in tennis have a sharp understanding of what they do well. More critically, they are able to develop tactics and techniques that maximize their strengths.

Tennis Tactics and Patterns of Play: Part 1

On By Teresa Merklin

I received a question this week about point composition from one of my friends who also happens to be a regular follower of this blog. My first reaction to the inquiry was that I am a curious person to reach out to for strategic or tactical advice. It is widely rumored that the reason I prefer playing singles over doubles is to avoid having to regularly apologize to my partner for my erratic shot selection and inability to maintain focus on the game plan.

Tennis: The Bassett System

On By Teresa Merklin

Last week in “Tennis Literary Time Machine: 1980 USTA Publications” I waxed nostalgic about coming across a list of books that one could order from the USTA. I commented at the time that I had several of the titles in that list in my possession. One such example is “Tennis: The Bassett System” by Glenn Bassett.

An Open Discussion about Tennis Autobiographies

On By Teresa Merklin

As a general rule, I am not a big fan of biographies about tennis players. I double down on that statement when the book is positioned as an autobiography. The simple fact of the matter is that if I am going to read a book about tennis I am looking for a return on the investment of time. For me, that narrowly boils down to books that can help me play at a higher competitive level and books that help me understand the history of tennis.

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Winning Ugly

On By Teresa Merklin

The final installment in the “obvious three” series is Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis–Lessons from a Master, by Brad Gilbert. Winning Ugly is the essential companion to Inner Tennis. I wish I could claim that observation, but it is actually asserted in the forward of Winning Ugly. I mean, who wouldn’t want to hitch their plow to the tennis book juggernaut that is Inner Tennis.

Tennis Books: String Theory

On By Teresa Merklin

Books about tennis do not sell very well. It is kind of a surprising fact when you think about it. Tennis is generally thought of as a smart person sport. Smart people read books. Yet somehow tennis players, who are incredibly passionate about playing the sport, don’t read books about it.