By far, my favorite time of year is coming up. August/September brings beautiful temperatures, end of summer barbeques, the opening of football/hockey season and of course the US Open. I love being a couch potato the Sunday after Labor Day when it is the first weekend of the football season and the last weekend of…
When James D. Watson of the Cold Spring Harbor Lab (who is an avid tennis player) and Francis Crick presented their molecular modeling analysis of DNA, they suggested that its structure was a double-helix. This was a ground-breaking discovery. Slightly less significant to the world, but equally compelling to junior tennis players, is the discovery…
Back in January, I criticized the USTA Tournament system because it was in direct conflict with their stated mission which is "To promote and develop the game of tennis." I believed that national junior tournament participation would be reduced by the new USTA tournament cut off system. Thanks to Ricky Becker’s tournament tracking we have proof….
Back In January, I defended the new USTA Tournament system for the most part because it prevented point chasing. For my college consulting work, I have followed national tournament cut-offs (shameless plug: the unofficial tournament lists can be purchased at www.juniortennisconsulting.com). Here are my observations: 1. The 14’s age group has had the biggest…
If you love tennis, I mean really love tennis, then a trip to the All England Lawn and Tennis Center to see The Championships should be at the top of your Bucket List. Wimbledon is the greatest tournament in the world. As you walk the grounds, the traditions of the sport are clearly and gracefully…
OK. I got your attention. The answer to my teaser question, is undoubtedly the player. Top players take responsibility for everything. And they should. If a player feels that results are beyond their control, then usually results don’t pan out. This really applies to everything in life. Steven Covey said something to the effect of,…
I gotta tell you. As someone who played junior tennis, high school tennis, the Junior US Open a couple of times and a couple of ATP tournaments back in the day, nothing at all compares to playing college tennis!! Firstly, let’s face it. When you play anything else, the only people who really want you…
The 800 pound gorilla in the room of professional tennis discussion is performance enhancement drug (PED) use. I Googled "Nadal" and "Steroids" and got over 1,100,000 results. I am clearly not alone in my suspicions. In fairness, many elite athletes are under suspicion of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs due to the extreme power demands of…
"So what …. who cares … it was a good promotion for the sport …" are some of the more prominent examples of feedback I have gotten from my blog "Mixed Signals," in which I suggested that the Chris Evert & Mike Greenberg match was fixed. No denials, just rationalizations for why it was permissible to…
It’s fun making lists….. 1989 French Open Michael Cheng def. Ivan Lendl – This gave hope to every American junior at the time. 2009 Wimbledon Roger Federer def. Andy Roddick- Recent but disappointing that Roddick couldn’t pull out a second Slam. 2008 Wimbledon Rafael Nadel def. Roger Federer – Rafa became more than a clay-court…