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Never Stop Questioning: What Tennis Innovation Can Learn from Einstein What Tennis Can (and Cannot) Learn from Albert Einstein Ace, Marvel, Spy: A Novel of Alice Marble The Final Tiebreaker The Geau Axiom Duffel Bag Tennis Beyond the Headlines: April 21, 2025 A Tennis Resurrection Story for Easter

A Flash in the Pan: Melanie Oudin

On By Teresa Merklin

Melanie Oudin reached the quarterfinals of the US Open in 2009 when she was only 17. She defeated Maria Sharapova in Arthur Ashe Stadium along the way. If you freeze Oudin’s career at that precise moment in time there are some striking similarities to CoCo Gauff’s magical run at Wimbledon in 2019. Both captured the hearts and minds of American tennis fans. As she won the match that propelled her into the US Open Quarterfinals the announcer confidently exclaimed that it would be her “her first US Open Quarterfinal appearance.” In fact, she never made it past the second round in a grand slam singles draw ever again. Her promising start turned out to be the pinnacle of her career.

Lightning in a Bottle: Coco Gauff

On By Teresa Merklin

There is a predictable reaction every time I publicly lament the fact that the tennis promotional machine needs to stop leaning on the aging stars of the game and start building up public interest in the future. It goes something along the lines of “Umm, haven’t you ever heard of Coco Gauff?” She is an interesting case study. The massive public interest and awareness of Gauff is lightning in a bottle. A happy accident.

Golf vs Tennis: How One Country Club Sport Defeated the Other

On By Teresa Merklin

I recently came across an intriguing editorial from Slate originally published in 2005 that focused on the complicated relationship between golf and tennis. It turned up in search results as I fruitlessly looked for comparative participation data between the two sports. I shamelessly reused the headline of that editorial for this post simply for the value as click-bait. While I don’t agree with many of the assertions raised by the author, it is an interesting backdrop for considering the state of tennis today.

Tennis Racquets in a Carry-On Bag

On By Teresa Merklin

When I originally conceived of the topic of how to best take commercial flights with tennis racquets, I was thinking that it would be a quick “one and done” easy writing session. I even spent some time thinking about what two additional topics for rounding out the rest of the weekend should be. Flying with tennis racquets turned out to be a three part series. This final installment focuses on how to best handle racquets as a carry on item.

Checking Tennis Racquets on a Commercial Flight

On By Teresa Merklin

Today we are examining the pros and cons of checking tennis racquets in your luggage when taking commercial airline flights. There are some players in my orbit who have strong opinions that racquets should never be checked. That feeling is based on the fact that it can get pretty cold in the cargo hold of a passenger airplane. Most sources place the temperature lows somewhere in the 40 degree Fahrenheit range. We have a word for that in Texas. It is called “January.” I think the word for that in the Northern USTA section is “July.”

Racquets are Flying: TSA and Airline Regulations

On By Teresa Merklin

A couple of nights ago, the Fiend at Court Spousal Unit and I played a recreational husband-wife mixed doubles match. As we were engaging in the pre-match banter I realized that I was the only person on the court who was not about to travel to the USTA NTRP National Championships later this month. As they were discussing their travel arrangements, the topic of dealing with racquets on commercial flights arose. I have a lot of experience flying with my tennis racquets in tow. Everybody get your shocked face ready. This is yet another topic where my overthinking tendencies prevail.

Sustaining Pandemic Momentum in Tennis

On By Teresa Merklin

I am growing weary of media sources blithely quoting the 22% surge in tennis participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. That claim is based on a USTA press release which cited that fact from the most recent PAC Report. I have no doubt that tennis participation was up in 2020. With gyms and health clubs facilities shut down, people were naturally funneled into tennis. It is inherently well spaced and commonly played outdoors. The self congratulatory nature of the USTA’s press release and the mindless parroting of the same claim in various media articles in the intervening time… is repetitive and annoying.

Early Childhood Participation in Tennis

On By Teresa Merklin

This weekend’s Fiend at Court Unplugged series has focused on the importance of building participation that feeds into the competitive Player Development pathways. To close out this topic, we are going to examine the initial consumer engagement model for two current Player Development programs. Over the previous two days, a case has been built that one of the keys to building elite level players is to attract and engage as many prospective players as possible. Not everyone will be a future Grand Slam Champion. However, increasing the numbers the number of players who pick up the sport and work through the competitive pathway increases the odds that someone from that program will emerge with a competitive chance to compete at the highest echelons of professional tennis.