An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
“Tennis is the perfect social-distancing sport—and the numbers continue to prove it.” That is the first line from a USTA news article last week touting an increase in tennis participation in the United States. The headline of the same press release is “U.S. tennis participation surges in 2020, Physical Activity Council (PAC) report finds.” So what exactly is the PAC and what is in that report?
This is a great week to pay a virtual visit to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Many readers in the United States are likely to be snowed in today. There is no better time to curl up under a blanket and transport yourself to a different place in time. The curators at the International Tennis Hall of Fame are serving up the perfect fare for Black History Month.
A couple of week’s ago, the USTA sent an email last week with a link to a survey directed to all League Players. Last Monday, “Surveying USTA League Tennis: Captain’s Edition” described the questions from the survey that were directed only to players who have captained a team. Today our attention shifts to the survey questions targeted at the entire USTA League playing population.
The USTA sent an email last week with a link to a survey directed to all League Players. It was also indicated that the email was sent because the recipient is “a valued member of the USTA.” It makes me wonder if there is a list somewhere of USTA members who are not valued.
A couple of months ago there was a spirited thread on the National Senior Men’s Tennis Association (NSMTA) discussion board regarding consolation brackets at National Cat/Level 1 tennis tournaments. Some of the viewpoints and experiences expressed in that forum illuminated the feedback that most likely will influence back draw implementation once competitive play results at that level.
I am guessing that Nick Taylor is an unfamiliar name to the majority of tennis fans. In fact, I only heard about him when casting about for the appropriate tennis news story to share as this week’s “News You Can Use” feature. Nick Taylor is a former #1 world ranked player in both singles and doubles. Still not ringing a bell? Taylor competes in the Quad Wheelchair division.
I have to confess a distinct lack of enthusiasm for today’s topic. This past weekend marked the first tournaments of the year to be executed under the new USTA Play Tennis framework. The largest of the events held was the Level 5 Open 2021 CATA Polar Bear Adult Doubles. That tournament was conducted in Austin, Texas. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, that tournament was ultimately run under the old TennisLink system.
Effective January 1, 2021, the Fair Oaks Tennis Center in Dallas is permanently closed. To the best of my knowledge, the only place where the closure notification has been published is on the Facebook page for the facility. The announcement of the impending shut down was first shared on December 6.
The NSMTA site has an undated post that has been up for at least a month that provides a summary of the problems that the USTA Adult Competition Committee (ACC) has been trying to solve for National Senior Tennis. I find this summary to be insightful as to the challenges faced by the ACC. Additionally, it illuminates the perception of the problems from the NSMTA perspective.
From the earliest posts about the tennis related impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have bemoaned the lack of rigorous scientific evaluation of potential transmission of the SARS-CoV family of diseases via tennis balls. A recently published study has changed that situation. At first glance, the news is fairly promising which apparently prompted the USTA to issue a statement on the topic.