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.
Christopher Clarey is a well established and highly regarded tennis correspondent for the New York Times. As such, he was a witness to Roger Federer’s first ever match at a major, a loss to to Patrick Rafter in the first round of 1999 French Open qualifiers. The following year, he again saw Federer play in person at the Sydney Olympics. Clarey enjoyed frequent and unparalleled access to Federer throughout his career.
Just as line calling officiating positions have been sharply curtailed with the advent of HawkEye Live, the net umpire position has similarly been a victim of progress in technology. Nets at professional tournaments are equipped with sensors that inform the chair umpire when a service let is detected. When Hawk-Eye live is used, the let signal is fed directly into that system for an audible call.
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My friend Will Boucek produces a terrific tennis podcast “Doubles Only,” which — follow me closely here — focuses exclusively on tennis doubles tactics and strategy. In a recent episode, he shared a doubles practice drill that he observed on the practice courts at Indian Wells this year while watching Elise Mertens and Hsieh Su-Wei work out. This post shares my own diagram of the drill he verbally described.
The Billie Jean King Fed Cup is underway and Davis Cup rosters have been announced. The Australian government’s position on Covid vaccination is becoming more clear.
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.
Alice Marble is one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of tennis. She was a tennis superstar whose dominance on the court put her in a position to hobnob with some of the biggest names in Hollywood and society. Her private life is the subject of legend and sometimes venture well past the mark of “too good to be true.” The mystery only increases her allure.
Tennis officiating is divided into quite a few sub-disciplines. At an event it is pretty typical have officials on site fulfilling various roles and responsibilities. The tournament referee is responsible for making sure the competition is fair. The referee is also responsible for ensuring the tournament is played under ITF rules of tennis in accordance with USTA Regulations.