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

The proposals that may reshape the future of professional tennis. Katrina Adams advocates for increased diversity and inclusion in tennis, but only four of sixteen Fed Cup teams competing this weekend were led by a female coach. The future of tennis: What we know about the two proposals that may change the sport: There have been two different proposals gaining traction — one backed by the four Grand Slam tournaments and the other by the ATP and WTA tours — and both could have significant effects on the tennis landscape for years to come. Full Story: ESPN Tennis leaders’ crucial London meeting ..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 applicable rules and Regulations governing this type of event. This context is important to fully understand the crux of the situation previously introduced in “Suddenly Suspension Points.” Today, I am sharing some of my own thoughts on the potential benefits of National Invitational Team events to the overall tennis ecosystem. It is an important diversion. At the moment, I am living in two completely different tennis environments. My primary residence is ..read more

To fully understand the context of the controversial situation described in “Suddenly Suspension Points,” we must first take a few steps back to examine the history and evolution of the Tom Fey Tri-Level Invitational. That starts with the event’s founder, Tom Fey himself. He was one of the true heroes of adult recreational tennis. When Fey was the Director at Indian Wells Tennis Garden, he founded Tri-Level a little over 20 years ago. It is an innovative format of team play where three lines of doubles face off at three different NTRP levels, hence Tri-Level. Among the numerous benefits of th ..read more

This weekend, we are resuming the long and sordid saga that culminated with two players receiving substantial suspension points for something that occurred at the Tom Fey Tri-Level National Invitational earlier this year. “Suddenly Suspension Points” provided an overview of the incident, and “Tri-Level Lives in a Gray Area” examined why it doesn’t exactly fall under USTA League play. Today, we are taking a look at how Tri-Level doesn’t quite fit under tournaments, either. It is a scintillating examination of how the USTA sanctions (and does not sanction) official play. The USTA “Friend at Cou ..read more

Jack Kramer was an iconic American Tennis player who made an even greater impact off the court. He is one of the most influential tennis personalities of all time, and his name is synonymous with innovation in the sport. Kramer was a promotor of the professional circuits and played a key role in eliminating the “shamateurism” that was in place prior to the Open Era. He played a pivotal role in revolutionizing professional tennis, advocating for player rights, and establishing the foundation for the modern ATP Tour. The sport simply would not be the same without Jack Kramer. “The Game: My 40 Y ..read more

Whenever I tell someone that Tri-Level isn’t USTA League, it is almost always regarded as yet another of my crazy takes on tennis. However, it is an absolute fact. The USTA League National Regulations [1] define the formats of play, and Tri-Level simply isn’t a part of it. For anyone who wants to look that up for themselves, the official formats for USTA League play are defined within a table in USTA League Regulation 1.04A. Last Wednesday, in “Suddenly Suspension Points,” I wrote about a situation that transpired at the Tom Fey Tri-Level National Invitational earlier this year. Two players w ..read more

This is a rare (and most likely misguided) opportunity to criticize one of Iga Swiatek’s training techniques. In Season 1, “Under Pressure,” on the Netflix docuseries “Break Point,” Swiatek is seen performing reverse throws shortly before a match at the US Open. She inadvertently hits the ceiling with one of her tosses, which gives me creative license to observe that there might be a better way. Alternatively, maybe this is another case of Iga doing everything just a bit better than everybody else. I prefer the half-kneel reverse throw variation of this exercise. The primary reason is that f ..read more