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The Secrets of Spanish Tennis 2.0 Tennis Has No Replay for Doubt Mirra Andreeva’s Reaction Ball Drill Tennis Beyond the Headlines: April 20, 2026 When Local Rules Stop Being Local Playoff Season and the Politics of Availability The Myth of the Primary Team in USTA League Tennis

First Racquets: Bobby Riggs

On By Teresa Merklin

The moment a tennis racquet is placed into a player’s hand is a potential inflection point. It could be that moment that sparks a lifetime love of the sport. I have a reverential curiosity about how dedicated and accomplished tennis players came into their first racquets. Bobby Riggs relayed the story of how he obtained his first racquets in both of his autobiographies. The story of just how Riggs did that is… not exactly reverential. However, it does reflect the quintessential hustle of Bobby Riggs.

Renee Richards and Bobby Riggs

On By Teresa Merklin

Renee Richards was an American tennis player who participated on the women’s professional tour from 1997 until 1981. She is most commonly remembered as the only transgender person to compete successfully in professional tennis. Shortly after her gender reassignment surgery, and subsequent relocation to California to start a new life, Richards crossed paths with Bobby Riggs. Naturally Riggs roped her into his escapades. It is one of my favorite stories about the character that was Bobby Riggs.

Sharing the Spotlight: Caty McNally

On By Teresa Merklin

Arguably no player has benefitted more from the Coco Gauff effect than Caty McNally. Though she is currently ranked 110, she gets more tennis broadcast screen time than many other American women currently in the WTA top 100. The reason for that attention is quite simple. She is Coco Gauff’s doubles partner. One very positive side effect of Coco mania is that the tennis broadcasting industry has suddenly rediscovered that doubles is a thing.

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.”