How Has The New USTA Tournament System Affected Tournament Cut-Offs?

By Ricky Becker
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...Read more

The Championships

By Steven Kaplan
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...Read more

Are Tennis Parents Crazy?

By Ricky Becker
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...Read more

College Tennis Rocks

By Ricky Becker
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...Read more

The 800 Pound Gorilla in the Room

By Steven Kaplan
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...Read more

The Code

By Steven Kaplan
"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...Read more

The 10 Pro Matches I Remember Most

By Ricky Becker
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 -...Read more

Mixed Signals

By Steven Kaplan
What do "One-on-One Doubles" tournaments, "Beach Tennis" tournaments and "QuickStart Tennis" tournaments have in common? The answer is ... these events, while greatly valuable, should not be understood as the heart and soul of tennis. They are tennis competitions, rather than traditional...Read more

Viva La Paris

By Steven Kaplan
I have a special love for the French Open, which is starting in a few weeks. Roland Garros is truly unique in that it is a beautiful, intimate club much like The West Side Tennis Club, the former home of The U.S. Open. It is a civilized place with exhilarating, strategic tennis aided by the slowed...Read more

My Opinion: What’s the Story With the Future?

By Eric Meditz
“Eric, you seem like a really smart guy. What do you think will be the next big weapon in tennis?” I hear this question a lot, especially about the part of me being really smart. Now first off, before I go into all of my rambling, I want to make it clear that I cannot predict the future. In fact, I...Read more

Young and Immature

By Steven Kaplan
In a way, it's refreshing to hear someone named "Donald" making the news other then Mr. Trump. Donald Young ranted against the USTA on Twitter after losing his French Open Wild Card qualifying match as reported by Long Island Tennis Magazine . I think Mr.Young needs to search inward to find the...Read more

Random Thoughts....

By Ricky Becker
Maybe I should follow pro tennis more. I was sitting in the doctor's office today when I picked up Newsday. (What has happened to Newsday anyway? That used to be a good paper.) Anyways, I'm going through the sports section and see the results of the U.S/Germany relegation match. I vaguely remember...Read more
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