An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
The fact that the official rules of tennis are forever in English is a topic that has come up previously on this site. We have finally arrived at the place in the ITF Rules of Tennis which officially and definitively indicates that fact. It comes in a section titled “Amendment to the Rules of Tennis.”
Rene Lacoste is best known for the premium brand of sporting apparel that bears his name. He won seven Grand Slam Championships and was one of the “Four Musketeers” of the formidable French Davis Cup team that dominated tennis in the late 20s and early 30s. He also invented the ball machine, a fact that I was reminded of during my recent reading of “Ted Tinling: Sixty Years in Tennis.”
The International Tennis Federation recently released summary results from a gender equity study that it sponsored. The research was conducted by a third party firm and focused specifically on sports gender equality across the global media. The findings reveal clear differences in the way male and female players are portrayed. That.. shouldn’t surprise anybody.
Perry T. Jones was known as the czar of tennis in Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. He is widely credited for the Southern California tennis factory that produced the likes of Ellsworth Vines, Don Budge, Jack Kramer, Pancho Gonzales, and Tony Trabert. He is enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame for his contributions to tennis. His early encounters with both Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs presents an unlikely common linkage between the two players who went on to meet in the “Battle of the Sexes” match. In fact, Jones discouraged both players in the early stages of their playing careers.
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 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.
Ted Tinling is best known as the designer of tennis apparel for some of the early stars of women’s tennis. When Gladys Heldman launched the Women’s Professional Tour, she enlisted Tinling to design the tennis clothes worn by the players. Tinling transformed tennis clothes out of the dowdy ankle-length dresses into something that was glamorous and sexy. He was instrumental in advancing women’s tennis into the modern era.
Where a wheelchair tennis player is playing with or against an able-bodied person in singles or doubles, the Rules of Wheelchair Tennis shall apply for the wheelchair player while the Rules of Tennis for able-bodied tennis shall apply for the able-bodied player. In this instance, the wheelchair player is allowed two bounces while the able-bodied player is allowed only one bounce.
According to the media, the anticipated COVID “Baby Boom” didn’t materialize. Apparently the people in my orbit didn’t get the memo, because I have been celebrating the arrival of quite a few little ones lately. In the process I have discovered a new “go-to” gift for such occasions.
The USTA NTRP National Championships are officially in the books. The tournament included players who received endorsements for the Covid cancelled tournament in 2020 as well as new competitors who qualified for the event in 2021. The Singles brackets were played 9-12 April with 18+ in Surprise, AZ and 50+ in Orlando, FL. The doubles brackets were played 16-19 April with 18+ in Surprise, AZ, and 50+ in San Diego.