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A Flash in the Pan: Melanie Oudin

On By Teresa Merklin

Melanie Oudin reached the quarterfinals of the US Open in 2009 when she was only 17. She defeated Maria Sharapova in Arthur Ashe Stadium along the way. If you freeze Oudin’s career at that precise moment in time there are some striking similarities to CoCo Gauff’s magical run at Wimbledon in 2019. Both captured the hearts and minds of American tennis fans. As she won the match that propelled her into the US Open Quarterfinals the announcer confidently exclaimed that it would be her “her first US Open Quarterfinal appearance.” In fact, she never made it past the second round in a grand slam singles draw ever again. Her promising start turned out to be the pinnacle of her career.

Lightning in a Bottle: Coco Gauff

On By Teresa Merklin

There is a predictable reaction every time I publicly lament the fact that the tennis promotional machine needs to stop leaning on the aging stars of the game and start building up public interest in the future. It goes something along the lines of “Umm, haven’t you ever heard of Coco Gauff?” She is an interesting case study. The massive public interest and awareness of Gauff is lightning in a bottle. A happy accident.

Court Hustler: Bobby Riggs

On By Teresa Merklin

Bobby Riggs published two autobiographies over the course of his life. His first effort, Tennis is My Racket, presents the story of Riggs as an irascible – but quite serious – tennis player. His second autobiography is Court Hustler. Before I go on, I should note that this post is chock full of obvious spoilers. For example, with a title like Court Hustler, it will probably not surprise anyone that the promotional antics of Riggs are still on full display.

Tennis is My Racket: Bobby Riggs

On By Teresa Merklin

The overarching theme for the books this site is covering in April are two men who arguably did more in the advancement of Women’s tennis above all others. It might surprise people to see the name of Bobby Riggs thrown out in that context. I can almost hear the “Wait… what?” In order for the epic “Battle of the Sexes” match to occur, a male opponent was required. A lot of men would not have placed themselves into that position. Riggs was willing to take the risk. Additionally, he worked tirelessly on promoting the match before it occurred. Whether he intended to do so or not, Bobby Riggs and the “Battle of the Sexes Match” put women’s tennis into the spotlight. The result was a massive boost in the public interest in women’s professional tennis.

Wheelchair Tennis: Fasten Your Seatbelt

On By Teresa Merklin

Since early January of this year, the Fiend at Court has covered the wheelchair section of ITF Rules of Tennis in a segment that runs each Wednesday. That march through the Rules of Wheelchair Tennis has been mostly sequential, though there has been a little jumping around to group related topics for a single post. Today I am covering a couple of topics that are loosely related only in the sense that we have largely already touched on both topics.

Tennis Racquets in a Carry-On Bag

On By Teresa Merklin

When I originally conceived of the topic of how to best take commercial flights with tennis racquets, I was thinking that it would be a quick “one and done” easy writing session. I even spent some time thinking about what two additional topics for rounding out the rest of the weekend should be. Flying with tennis racquets turned out to be a three part series. This final installment focuses on how to best handle racquets as a carry on item.

Checking Tennis Racquets on a Commercial Flight

On By Teresa Merklin

Today we are examining the pros and cons of checking tennis racquets in your luggage when taking commercial airline flights. There are some players in my orbit who have strong opinions that racquets should never be checked. That feeling is based on the fact that it can get pretty cold in the cargo hold of a passenger airplane. Most sources place the temperature lows somewhere in the 40 degree Fahrenheit range. We have a word for that in Texas. It is called “January.” I think the word for that in the Northern USTA section is “July.”