An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
Bobby Reynolds was a standout NCAA tennis player for the Vanderbilt team that reached the NCAA Championship finals in 2003. He also played on the ATP tour for about 11 years where he acheived a career high singles ranking of 63. In 2010, he was featured in a Tennis Channel “Bag Check” infomercial. One of the items that Reynolds pulled out of his bag on that segment was a deck of playing cards.
Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers will be contested this weekend, an under the radar major coaching change, and another sign of the end of civility in tennis.
After my examination of the rankings points issues from the Men’s 3.0 brackets at the USTA National 18+ NTRP Singles Championships, I had planned to dig around other brackets to see if previously reported issues with the rankings points awarded had been resolved. I kind of already knew the answer and it didn’t take long to find more illuminating examples.
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I am going to start this post with a provocative statement. Whoever came up with the USTA Adult Tournament Ranking System does not understand how tournament rankings should work. Period. I am astonished that these errors ever existed in the first place. It is profoundly disappointing that attempts to highlight these issues have gone unaccepted and unacknowledged.
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I have previously written a lot about the the USTA NTRP National Championships as well as the shortened scoring format used at that event. Today’s post is an executive summary specifically written to bring Senior competitors up to speed on this (relatively) new USTA initiative. I am an active Senior age group Level 1 tournament player who has also participated in the NTRP National Championship tournament. I don’t think there are a large number of people that have competed in both event types.
The review of the tennis documentary “Gold Balls” last week prompted me to focus attention on books specifically targeted at older players. “Baby Boomer Tennis” was the first in the queue. I plucked my copy off the shelf at a used book store on the basis of the testimonials on the back cover from Rosie Casals and Pam Shriver. Baby Boomer Tennis has a few redeeming qualities, but for the most part is an unpolished effort.
In officiated matches, tennis players have the right to call the referee to court if they disagree with the umpire’s interpretation of tennis law. Unless the referee is sitting on-court, the chair umpire has the final decision authority on questions of fact that might arise during the match. The referee may only rule on interpretation of tennis law when summoned to a court.
My tennis racquet bag tends to run on the heavy side because I carry a lot of gear onto the court that might be needed during a match. I also keep a lot of things in the back of my car that could be essential situationally or in between matches. Today I am providing a glimpse into the items I have at the ready as well as my system for organization.
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Weekly tennis news from outside the lines features Will Smith spoiling the King Richard moment, more racquet smashing, and a display of sportsmanship.
The April “12 Gifts” challenge is to add a new tennis skill to your personal arsenal. When this topic came up in the rotation my initial reaction was that I would be challenged to participate. On-court high-impact activities are simply not in the cards for me at the moment. However, while the wording of the April “gift” is to add new shots to the arsenal, I do think that there are classic skills that a player can develop to improve their competitive level without setting foot on a tennis court.