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Vic Braden’s Quick Fixes: Expert Cures for Common Tennis Problems The NTRP Championships Rules Get Weird Quadruped Alternating Toe Mobility Stretches Tennis Beyond the Headlines: February 24, 2025 For the Love of Competition Rankings Point-Chasers The Importance of Why

The USTA Player Development Journal

On By Teresa Merklin

The USTA Player Development Program produced a document in 2013 that continues to serve as a focal point for players to assess and track their tennis training. The “Player Development Journal” consists of three major sections. The first is an overview of the various playing styles so a player can understand the aspects of their own game. The second part is template pages for practice evaluation. The last section provides forms for post-match assessments. The “PD” (as insiders apparently refer to it) is available for free public download from the USTA at the link provided at the end of this post.

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Action Required: The Deadline for Correcting USTA National Ranking Errors is January 15

On By Teresa Merklin

There has been a lot of discussion over the discrepancies and growing pains associated with the USTA National Tournament unified framework and rankings system that was unveiled in 2021. Per USTA Regulations, each player is responsible for regular review of their own player records. Additionally, each player is responsible for notifying the “USTA Adult Tennis Department” if there are any errors or inaccuracies in their player records.

Planning Tournament Participation in 2022

On By Teresa Merklin

New Year’s Day is when I traditionally sit down and map out my tournament plans for the year. My first stop is always the USTA schedule for the “National” Level tournaments. Since these tournaments can last up to a week, it is really important to get that time blocked off on my calendar. It is also a good jumping off point for thinking about how scheduling and publicizing tournaments has evolved in the internet era.

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Putting a Tennis Spin on a New Year’s Eve Tradition

On By Teresa Merklin

The Fiend at Court household celebrates New Year’s Eve in a somewhat unorthodox fashion. I am not a big fan of large parties, and staying up late. As an engineer who regularly deals with risk management on a professional basis, I cannot suppress the observation that New Year’s Eve is a terrible night to be out on the roads. All the amateur drunks are out at approximately the same time. What could go wrong? Hence we celebrate each new year quietly… and much earlier in the evening.

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Tennis Books Coming in 2022

On By Teresa Merklin

One of my goals for 2022 is to be more on top of the upcoming release dates for new tennis books. There are four books coming soon that I am tracking for review once they are published. I am kind of surprised that there aren’t any more tennis titles than that coming up. Perhaps there are some forthcoming great tennis books that are still pending publication announcements.

SwingVision: Importing Video

On By Teresa Merklin

The SwingVision artificial intelligence tennis training application is primarily designed to work directly on a smart phone. That implementation puts tremendous analysis power directly into the hands of the players and enables immediate feedback. However, the use of a smart phone during a USTA sanctioned match is prohibited. Additionally, many players may be reluctant to drain their phone’s battery in a tournament setting. Fortunately, SwingVision can import data captured from an alternate device. I recently tested out that functionality and was very pleased with the results.

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