An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
The opening line from her biography page at the International Tennis Hall of Fame sums it up nicely: “Few in women’s tennis history had a more distinguished and productive career than Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman.” She was an outstanding player who also made significant off-court contributions. Her leadership ultimately led to an international women’s team competition, modeled after the Davis Cup.
m the Halloween tennis social at the Wichita Falls Country Club suggests that tennis participation is enthusiastic and strong. According to data shared at the 2021 Tennis Industry Forum, participation in private club settings ticked up ever so slightly in 2021. The vast majority of new tennis participation in 2021 originated in public parks and schools. That fact is a scary Halloween story for Wichita Falls.
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The Tennis Industry Forum is an annual meeting that publicly shares information from the Tennis Industry Association, the USTA, the National Golf Foundation (!), and Tennis Industry United. The target audience includes tennis service providers and tennis equipment manufacturers. The data disclosed at that meeting is positioned as key industry research that can help a tennis business grow. The 2021 presentations included location details on where new tennis players are engaging with the sport. That data illustrates the fundamental challenge the USTA has with retaining those new players in the tennis ecosystem.
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Earlier this year, the post “Geeking Out over Tennis Participation Data in the Physical Activity Council Report” broke down the data revealed in the public version of the 2021 Physical Activity Council (PAC) Report. At the time, the USTA was falling all over themselves to issue press releases announcing a “surge” in tennis participation in 2020. The thing is, the data in the public PAC report didn’t exactly support that assertion.
The October challenge for the USTA Tennis Champions program was to distribute flyers promoting tennis. Harkening back to my own days as a youth soccer coach and parent, there were many days when I stumbled off the pitch emotionally primed to embrace the virtues of an individual sport. As the Fall soccer season comes to a close, the time is right to distribute some flyers to encourage youth soccer players to give tennis a try.
Yesterday I wrote about how the USTA foists regular duty tennis balls on female tournament players. The next obvious question is when and why the policy started in the first place. It is a sordid tale of how tennis is a victim of the forces of technology and marketing. It is also a testament that complaining about the balls is an indelible part of the culture of tennis.
On the hard courts of Texas, bringing a can of regular duty tennis balls to a match is the epitome of poor taste. It simply isn’t done. The felt used for regular duty tennis balls doesn’t hold up to the wear and tear of play on an outdoor hard court. Consequently, I was surprised that regular duty balls were in use when I played the National Senior Women’s Hard Court Championships in Mission Hills, California earlier this month. I assumed that the selection was driven by necessity due to the the ongoing tennis ball shortage. As it turns out, the culprit is USTA policy.
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A few weeks ago I competed at the USTA Level 1 National Clay Court Women’s Championships in Houston. My adult daughter that played junior tennis currently lives in Houston. She came out to watch some of my matches on her off days from work. After missing my third swinging volley during one of my singles matches, I loudly exclaimed “Can someone please write down that I need to work on that?!?!?!” She was on the spot to record that fact for me. Additionally, that statement was interpreted as an open invitation for additional observations regarding my play.
During one of my daughter’s junior tournaments another parent treated me to a diatribe on how the opponent’s parents were using hand signals to provide coaching during her daughter’s match. Watching the events unfold on the adjacent court, I was unconvinced that hand signals were in play. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there.
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Brad Gilbert was once ejected from a junior tournament during one of his son’s matches. Zack’s opponent that day was one of those unusual players with a relatively weak forehand. Somehow his son failed to notice that tactical opportunity. Gilbert couldn’t control his impulse to signal his son to hit more balls to that side of the court. Failing to convey the message, Gilbert resorted to an increasingly intense series of gestures. He was busted by the roving umpire and ejected from the match.