Gerry Donohue is a professional writer from Washington, D.C., and a self-avowed avid tennis player. He is not a teaching professional or a well-established competitive player, as evidenced by his 4.0 NTRP rating, which was last updated in 2011. Quite frankly, I put off reading his two tennis instructional books because I harbored serious reservations over whether he could deliver value for someone competing at my level. Those concerns turned out to be unfounded. Like the doubles version of Donohue’s book reviewed last week, Winning Singles Strategy for Recreational Tennis Players: 140 Tips an ..read more

An incident earlier this year at the Tom Fey Tri-Level National Invitational Championships sparked a lengthy examination of the history, context, and culture surrounding retiring from matches. We have been methodically sifting through the rules and regulations for the event published in an enigmatic statement on the Tri-Level informational page. It asserts that the “USTA Rules and League Regulations and Friend at Court will be enforced during championships.” [sic] Today, we are starting into the USTA’s Friend at Court rules about retiring from matches. Part 3 of the USTA Friend at Court is ti ..read more

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have reached the last training exercise gleaned from the background of the “Under Pressure” episode from Season 1 of the Netflix docuseries “Break Point.” Frances Tiafoe is seen first performing lateral lunges. Later in the same scene, he also does a short yoga stretching flow. Both exercises were performed just before he took the court for his semi-final singles match at the US Open. Frances Tiafoe does Lateral Lunges Alternating lateral lunges are a dynamic lower-body exercise that targets the muscles of the legs, hips, and glutes while also ..read more

The most insightful tennis news from last week! Danielle Collins’ opens up on her impending retirement as Ben Shelton’s rises to America’s top player. Have you ever wondered what the pros do with all the clothes they receive from their sponsors? Danielle Collins opens up about retiring amid battle with endometriosis, rheumatoid arthritis: At 30 years old, American Danielle Collins is at the peak of her career, ranked 15th on the WTA Tour and recently won the Miami Open and the Credit One Charleston Open. Yet Collins plans to retire at the end of the season amid two ongoing health battles ..read more

Today’s post takes us through an unanticipated detour on our ongoing journey through the USTA rules that was sparked by an incident earlier this year at the Tom Fey Tri-Level National Invitational Championships. I believe that a seemingly inconsequential change in the 2024 USTA League Regulations opens an unintended can of worms. We originally started down this path from a statement on the Tri-Level informational page that the “USTA Rules and League Regulations and Friend at Court will be enforced during championships.” [sic] When I first shared that excerpt, I observed that it simply cannot ..read more

We’re in the midst of overthinking an incident that occurred earlier this year at the Tom Fey Tri-Level National Invitational Championships. This has turned out to be a lengthy examination of the history, context, and culture surrounding retiring from matches. The Tri-Level informational page asserts that the “USTA Rules and League Regulations and Friend at Court will be enforced during championships.” [sic] Yesterday, we examined what the USTA League Regulations say about retiring matches. Today, we are turning our focus to what the USTA’s Friend at Court has to say about the situation. Part ..read more

An incident earlier this year at the Tom Fey Tri-Level National Invitational Championships has plunged me into a lengthy examination of the history, context, and culture surrounding retiring from matches. While it is not officially a part of the USTA League program, the Tri-Level informational page asserts that the “USTA Rules and League Regulations and Friend at Court will be enforced during championships. [sic]” Last Wednesday, we examined the rules specific to the Tri-Level Invitational Championship published on that event’s website. Today, we are turning our attention to what USTA League ..read more

Gerry Donohue is a professional writer from Washington, D.C., and a self-avowed avid tennis player. He is not a teaching professional or a well-established competitive player, as evidenced by his 4.0 NTRP rating, which was last updated in 2011. Quite frankly, I put off reading his two tennis instructional books because I harbored serious reservations over whether he could deliver value for someone competing at my level. Those concerns turned out to be unfounded. Winning Doubles Strategy for Recreational Tennis Players is based off the idea that the fastest path to higher performance for most ..read more

An incident earlier this year at the Tom Fey Tri-Level National Invitational Championships has plunged me into a lengthy examination of the history, context, and culture surrounding retiring from USTA matches. While it is not officially a part of the USTA League program, the Tri-Level informational page currently asserts that the “USTA Rules and League Regulations and Friend at Court will be enforced during championships. [sic]” Today, we are examining the first of many potential sources of rules applicable to this specific situation. I emphasized currently in the previous paragraph because t ..read more

Tossing a tennis ball around is a recurring pre-match exercise seen in the Netflix docuseries “Break Point.” I have written about it so much previously that I have been skipping over new instances that aren’t significantly different from what has already been covered. Enter Iga Swiatek. During season 1, “Under Pressure,” Swiatek is seen preparing for a US Open match by juggling three balls against a wall. It is a tennis parlor trick that is also a very good way to prepare for a match. Learning to juggle provides many benefits for tennis players. The precise timing, tracking, and physical act ..read more