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Crimes Against Tennis: The Slow Destruction of Public Tennis Courts Stop Losing Points: 50 Mistakes Recreational Tennis Players Make — and How to Fix Them The Code, Principle 12: Why the Point Is Not Replayed Can Five-Minute Exercise Breaks Improve Your Tennis? Tennis Beyond the Headlines: June 13, 2026 Sleep Is a Tennis Training Session The Match Begins Before the Warm-Up

The Ranking System Survey

On By Teresa Merklin

Yesterday I took a cut at creating a survey to collect data on player sentiment and preferences associated with the USTA tournament ranking system. The questions were designed in an attempt to collect useful data that might help as the USTA considers potential updates to the regulations. This post introduces that survey and shares my thought process. If you follow this site for the tennis related musings of an overthinking engineer… this content will resonate with you.

Survey Says…

On By Teresa Merklin

The email from the USTA contains a link and the following text: “Thank you for playing in the USTA National Women’s 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, 85 & 90 Clay Court Championships in March. Would you please take a moment and share your experience?” I didn’t complete my survey until this week because I actually got tripped up by one of the questions.

Dear John: The John Lloyd Autobiography

On By Teresa Merklin

Before reading this book, if I had been asked to write a wikipedia-style biography of John Lloyd, it would start out something like this: “John Lloyd is a former professional tennis player who is best known for once being married to Chris Evert.” When Lloyd recently released this autobiography, my first thought was concern that it might be filled with sordid and salacious assertions about Chrissie in an attempt to cash in and sell more copies. As it turns out, those worries were completely unfounded.

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The Two on One Practice Session

On By Teresa Merklin

Tennis players are conditioned to think of tennis competition and practice in even numbers. Singles and doubles matches, and consequently drills, are typically designed for two or four players. One of the best practice session formats is actually three players on a court engaged in continuous rally using two on one court positions. All players should seriously consider adding two on one play to their training toolbox.

More Points for Everyone!

On By Teresa Merklin

The post “Ranking Points and Divisional Fragmentation” last Saturday, outlined how NTRP age divisions divides otherwise minimally viable draws completely out of existence. That post observed that ranking point fragmentation is yet another depressive factor in Adult tournament participation. I previously proposed that elimination of the NTRP age divisions could make an immediate positive difference. In the interim, I realized that there is another obvious “easy” way to mitigate the problem. The USTA should award ranking points in both the division entered as well as the division that was actually played for Adult and Family tournaments.

Boris Becker – The Player

On By Teresa Merklin

Following his recent conviction for hiding assets during bankruptcy proceedings, a British tabloid reported that Boris Becker will be writing a book to stave off boredom during his 30 month incarceration. Additionally, a source claims that “It’ll be a warts-and-all diary on how he got himself in such a troubling position and then what life is like in jail.” The apparent forthcoming book will not be the first authored by Becker. He originally published an autobiography in 2004.