An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
The “Tragically Beautiful: Locked Tennis Courts” post from last weekend generated a couple of comments that sparked the realization that I had a lot more thoughts on this topic. First and foremost, is the fundamental truth that padlocking a court prevents people from playing tennis, but it does not prevent vandalism. A padlock is simply not a very effective security mechanism.
One of the oldest books on how to play tennis doubles was written by Bill Talbert and Bruce Old. It is a book that was NOT in my collection when I decided that it was time to immerse myself in the tennis doubles knowledge languishing on my bookshelves a few weeks ago. The doubles book selected in week one of that endeavor referenced Talbert’s book as the best previously written about how to play doubles. This blog is nothing if not a flimsy excuse for purchasing more tennis books. Fortunately, I was able to find a well worn and reasonably priced copy.
The specification for the tennis ball are codified in Appendix I of the ITF Rules of Tennis. It is probably way more detail and information than most players need or care to know. What I first took to be a subtle anachronism describing the construction of the tennis ball led me to the stunning realization that the sport we call tennis is not real tennis. Additionally, we don’t play tennis with real tennis balls.
I am stunned at how dramatically commercial grade ball machines have improved since my playing days of yore. In fact, my personal ball machines that I have been writing about over the past few weeks are generally on par with the commercial machines that I grew up with. More recently, I am enjoying almost unlimited access to a modern commercial grade Playmate Grand Slam ball machine. It is a lot more powerful than the battery powered personal devices that I own.
In 2020 this site donated the proceeds from this site to the USTA “Rally to Rebuild” initiative which was sponsored by the USTA Foundation. Last week USTA members received an email from Chris Evert announcing the follow-on to that campaign, “Rally for the Future.” Both benefit the National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) network. The NJTL is an in-school tennis and education program targeted at under-resourced youth across the country.
Andy Roddick loved to hit tennis balls from a very young age. The Umpire Who Gave Birth to me experienced that firsthand when Andy was 8 or 9 years old. She was officiating the Hamilton Park Tennis Center site for the Texas Junior Grand Slam tournament. While John Roddick was making a name for himself with the officials for… uhm… spirited behavior during the tournament, young Andy somewhat salvaged the family reputation by being generally adorable. Too young to play in the tournament, Andy was desperate to hit tennis balls with anyone who would tap them back and forth with him. The tournament desk kept him plied with used tennis balls to use at the backboard just to keep him out from underfoot.
Yesterday I lamented how my hometown systematically blocks public access to tennis courts that are ordinarily open in other municipalities. After being thwarted by the locks and chains at the middle school courts last weekend, I swung by a couple of courts that I knew would be available. As far as I know, Belair Park has the only courts in Wichita Falls that are routinely open and accessible. In fact, there are no gates at all so they can’t be closed and locked.
Last Saturday was a beautiful sunny day in my hometown. It was also perfectly windy. It is Wichita Falls, after all. Lately I have been making a point of hitting serves on windy days while facing the sun. My plan to hit a couple of baskets of serves with some backboard work for a full workout was thwarted by a red ball kids tournament fully occupying all the courts at the club. (Huzzah!) This is what brought me to the tragically locked gates of a local junior high school blocking my access to beautiful tennis courts and a backboard.
Today is Kindness Wins Day, which is a celebration of kindness in sports. Today I am sharing one of the greatest acts of sportsmanship in the history of women’s tennis. It is a story about Angela Buxton and Althea Gibson.
This week we are moving into the Appendices of the “ITF Rules of Tennis”. It is tempting to celebrate the milestone, but we still have a long way to go. The main body of the rules concludes on page 19 as published in the USTA’s “Friend at Court.” The appendices run through page 36. The first topic on the docket as we continue to march through the rules is Appendix I, “The Ball.”