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Pickleball vs Tennis: Cultural Perspectives

On By Teresa Merklin

The Fiend at Court “Unplugged” series continues to revisit posts made in 2020. This is possibly the longest “Year in Review” in the history of casual blogging. Today this retrospective has reached the inevitable topic of pickleball. If the Fiend at Court goes the same way as the racquet sports industry is trending, there is a dystopian future where this site issues daily content on pickleball. It is my life’s mission to prevent that from happening.

Recycle Those Tennis Balls

On By Teresa Merklin

The new court surface for the US Open this year got a lot of press, primarily because it was significantly faster than it has been in previous years. “Laykold Court Surface: The Rest of the Story” provided the details of how the new US Open court surface also fulfills environmental sustainability objectives for the USTA. A significant ingredient of the Laykold surface is recycled tennis balls.

Revisiting Donald Dell

On By Teresa Merklin

Prior to listening to the podcast interview that inspired the post “Donald Dell Fires Shots Across the USTA Bow,” I had never heard of Donald Dell. Alternatively, maybe I had and just didn’t remember. The only reason Dell appeared as a primary topic on this site was courtesy of an interview he gave on Jon Wertheim’s podcast. Dell was critical of how the USTA promotes and develops tennis in the United States. His ideas and opinions resonated with me.

Waking Up in a Tennis Wasteland

On By Teresa Merklin

I first wrote about the decline of the tennis culture in my hometown in “Life on the Border: Tennis Wastelands.” Wichita Falls used to be a hotbed for tennis, but that simply isn’t the case anymore. While the umpire who gave birth to me continues to recover from the injury she sustained shortly before Thanksgiving, I have been spending a lot of time in my childhood home. For someone who spent 35 years away, the decline in participation is jarring.

Fiend at Court Structural Changes Redux

On By Teresa Merklin

Long time followers of the Fiend at Court will be aware that this site was originally created as an outlet for a daily goal I had established for myself to write a page a day about tennis. At the onset, I was concerned that it might be struggle to come up with enough ideas to fill a page each day. The training wheels phase of this project used a sequential walk through the Rules of Tennis as a daily prompt.

Revisiting an NTRP Horror Story

On By Teresa Merklin

In 2020, this site published “NTRP Horror Story: When the Carrot becomes a Stick.” That post was my own personal account about abhorrent player behavior in a USTA League match. A the time, I made the assertion that the incentives attached to the NTRP system were a contributing factor in the unsportsmanlike conduct. Today I have a tiny coda to that saga.

The Apples and Oranges of USTA and UTR

On By Teresa Merklin

A shockingly high number of tennis players can’t articulate the difference between the USTA and Universal Tennis. In fact, Universal Tennis sometimes doesn’t even ring a bell for players. Most tennis players have heard of the the Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) system and use that acronym as a stand in for Universal Tennis. For the sake of simplicity, I sometimes refer to Universal Tennis as UTR. When in Rome.

Andy Murray’s Wardrobe Malfunction

On By Teresa Merklin

Remember that time when Andy Murray couldn’t keep his balls in his shorts? In 2012, there was an issue with Murray’s clothing that resulted in tennis balls accidentally falling out of his pocket during points. The recurring hindrance calls forced Adidas to make a mid-tournament update to his shorts to address his issues. It is an interesting case study in a hindrance caused by something that is within a player’s control yet still unintentional.

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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.