Canada won the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time in the event’s history, Nick Kyrgios wasn’t a disaster in the broadcast booth at the ATP Finals, and a thought-provoking essay on women’s sports in America.
How American Women Claimed Their Place in Sports: In the 1970s, female players poured into organized athletics in unprecedented numbers, aided by Title IX, Billie Jean King, and the first women’s collegiate championships. Full Story: The Wall Street Journal
Canada Wins the BJK Cup: For the first time in the event’s history, Canada is the Billie Jean King Cup champion. Led by the red-hot Leylah Fernandez and the previously unheralded 18-year-old Marina Stakusic, the Canadians claimed the title on Sunday with a 2-0 victory over Italy. Full Story: ESPN
Nadal making ‘big’ steps in recovery, targets return in 2024: Rafael Nadal resumed training a few weeks ago following an operation on his iliopsoas in June. Nadal is confident of a return now, but that wasn’t always the case. “I’m at a good stage of my life. Until now, I didn’t know if I would play tennis again someday, and now I genuinely believe I will,” Nadal said. Full Story: ESPN
Nick Kyrgios says Tennis Channel debut makes him ‘so hungry’ to return from injury: The 2022 Wimbledon finalist stepped into the booth for the ATP Finals round-robin match between Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev. Full Story: Tennis
Tokyo tennis doubles gold medalists split before Olympic year: Tokyo Olympic gold medalists Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková announced the end of their doubles partnership but didn’t rule out reuniting to defend their title in Paris next summer, according to Czech media. Full Story: NBC Sports
How One Family’s Pursuit of Tennis Success Ended in Heartache: The death of one daughter and the struggles of another have left a prominent New Zealand tennis family questioning their choices and their relationship with the game they once loved. Full Story: The New York Times
The 2023 USTA Adaptive Tennis National Championships: Tennis is a sport that can be played—and enjoyed—by everyone, and there was no better testament to that fact than the camaraderie and competition on display at the Adaptive Tennis National Championships, played at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 3-5. Full Story: USTA
Corpus Christi woman crowned World Champion tennis player: Christine “Chris” Smith represented, competed and won gold for the United States at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Team Championships. Smith and a team of three other ladies won the Angela Mortimer Cup for the women 85 and up age group. Full Story: KRISTV
Liner notes for a tennis court in Baldwin Hills: A beautiful pictorial essay from Rembert Browne. Full Story: The Los Angeles Times
More tennis courts now available to reserve in Flower Mound: The town of Flower Mound announced Tuesday that it is partnering again with Lewisville ISD to make some of the district’s tennis courts available to residents. Full Story: Cross Timbers Gazette
Pickleball’s growth causing racket among SWFL tennis players: Yet another story of pickleball appropriation of tennis courts. Full Story: WINK
This Week in Professional Tennis
| Date | Tournament | Tour/Level | Location |
| 11/21-26 | Davis Cup Finals | ITF Finals | Spain |
| 11/20-26 | MundoTenis Open | WTA 125 | Brazil |
If USTA leadership could go back in time, would they invest in pickleball by buying an existing league or starting their own? Is it now too late to get involved? Given the number of repurposed tennis courts and the number of recreational tennis players who have switched to pickleball, this feels like an epic failure of leadership by the USTA to identify both an existential threat and enormous opportunity. If the USTA was a for-profit company, I’m confident the CEO would have been fired as a result.
I keep hearing the rumor that the USTA was approached about becoming the governing body for Pickleball as the sport initially gained momentum and turned them down. If so, it was a colossal mistake.
I also think the USTA has been asleep at the wheel by allowing too many tennis courts to be converted to Pickleball with zero pushback.