We’re in the midst of a detailed breakdown of a fascinating episode that occurred earlier this year at the Tom Fey Tri-Level National Invitational Championships. This has been a meandering, lengthy journey of indulgence, allowing me to geek out over the rules and regulations. Last Wednesday, we started an examination of the sportsmanship issues that both caused and influenced what transpired. Today, I am delving into what I strongly suspect was the driving force behind all that happened. THE CODE in the USTA’s Friend at Court outlines the sportsmanship policy that applies to all sanctioned pl ..read more

Greg Moran is a tennis coach with over 50 years of experience playing and teaching the sport. Earlier this year, he released a book that shares his accumulated wisdom about the game. The Truth About Tennis: The Definitive Guide for the Recreational Player delivers sound advice and ideas for people who are committed to improving their competitive level of play. While this book was published via the “vanity press” route, in this case, it doesn’t detract from the quality of the content. Moran was able to gather quite a few credible endorsements. That includes the renowned tennis psychologist All ..read more

We are finally moving past micro-examination of the rules applicable to an incident that occurred earlier this year at the Tom Fey Tri-Level National Invitational Championships. Today’s topic starts into the sportsmanship ramifications of what transpired. Eventually we will work our way toward examining the rules and regulations pertaining to the suspension point system. However, sportsmanship comes first. In the “Pot, Kettle, Black” department, I don’t think I have previously written much about the abstract concept of sportsmanship. However, the USTA League Regulations don’t have much to say ..read more

In a self-referential meta moment, the first episode of Season 2 of the Netflix docuseries “Break Point” opened with the red-carpet premiere of Season 1. Those episodes dropped just before the 2023 Australian Open got underway. Season 2 started with “The Curse” because many players featured in the show’s first season were quickly bounced out of the tournament through injury or early-round losses. The first to fall, at least per this episode, was Nick Kyrgios. He was seen arriving for an exhibition match against Novak Djokovic before the Grand Slam tournament got underway. As he entered the fa ..read more

This week’s dominant tennis news story was the release of the movie Challengers, starring Zendaya. Maybe we’ll get back to real tennis next week. Rafael Nadal’s last tennis match in Madrid: Defeat, but a win: How much can he push? How long can he go? How does his body feel when he opens his eyes for the first time each morning, when he rolls out of bed when he leans over to pick up his 18-month-old son, Rafa when he walks onto the court for a warm-up session and strokes the ball for the first time? Full Story: The Athletic Iga Swiatek’s unique personality helps bring a different approach to h ..read more

This weekend, we are exploring creative approaches for people who feel “stuck” in tennis. Yesterday, we tackled the topic strictly through the lens of performance improvement. However, there is another significant way the sport can stagnate for some people. What do you do if tennis just isn’t as fun as it used to be or feels like an obligation rather than a joy? Today, we are dealing with people who are “stuck in a rut” in tennis. “Stuck in a rut” is a colloquialism that is common in Texas. The phrase likely originates from the literal definition of a rut, which refers to a track or groove wo ..read more

This weekend, we are exploring how people sometimes get “stuck” in tennis. Yesterday, the concept of a performance “plateau” in the sport was introduced. It was defined as a state where skill development stagnates. Today, we are exploring a creative approach for breaking through to higher performance levels. This series is inspired by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans in their book, ‘Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life.’  Creative brainstorming is a technique for generating ideas, solving problems, and exploring possibilities. When performed in a group setting, the ..read more

Throughout 2024, I am dedicating the first full weekend of every month to exploring the application of design-oriented thinking to improve our tennis lives. This series is inspired by a practice and philosophy described by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans in their book ‘Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life.’ The overarching theme for this weekend is finding creative ways to become “unstuck” in tennis. A common experience that many people encounter at some point in their professional lives is feeling “stuck” in their career. The premise of the Designing Your Life bo ..read more

It occurs to me that I am wholly unqualified to write movie reviews. Before last weekend, the last film I saw in a theater was Star Wars Rogue One, which was released in December 2016. Yet here I am, attempting to apply my trademark overthinking to the movie “Challengers.” I have unconventional perspectives to share since I dwell mostly on tennis rather than the cinematic art form. The plot was extremely slow to develop, and I found myself glancing at my watch for the first hour. I have read other reviews that claimed the writing was flat but that Zendaya’s star power still made the character ..read more

Last Sunday, as I explored disqualification and misconduct rules sparked by an incident at the Tom Fey Tri-Level National Invitational Championships earlier this year, I ran across something in my notes that was reportedly said to the captain of a player who retired a match. One of the Championship Committee members asserted that players were required to take a medical timeout and summon an official to the court before retiring from a match due to injury. Usually, when taking notes (and I take a lot of notes), I put a big exclamation point in the margin when something seems significant. When ..read more