World TeamTennis (WTT) is tennis like you’ve never seen it, featuring the biggest names in the world playing together in an innovative co-ed team format that offers exciting possibilities for players, fans and communities. The 10-team league was co-founded by Billie Jean King in the early 1970s. The format of matches is that each team…
The United States Tennis Association Eastern Section, in conjunction with the USTA Long Island Regional Board and local pros and volunteers, has been promoting tennis in local schools by introducing students to the new QuickStart Tennis USTA program. This new play format utilizes “kid-sized” equipment, easier-to-understand scoring, shorter nets and smaller courts to make tennis…
Only in America … Only in the United States of America could a poor African-American man born in New Orleans in 1901 rise to blow rhythmic sounds called jazz, entertaining stars, royalty, presidents and a Pope. Louis Armstrong’s unique style of playing earned him the nickname “Satchmo.” In the late 1970s, Satchmo moved to a…
If there is one thing that all tennis professionals agree on it must be “look at the ball.” We all try to get our students to understand that from the very first lesson. However, most students truly do not understand the depth of the concept of “looking at the ball.” Along came Roger Federer and…
“Hey, coach.” I remember the first time I heard it. It sounded strangely ominous. I was a Social Studies teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore, N.Y. My first few years there, I would go out and hit with the team; coaching was a whole new world. I had been playing tennis since…
When thinking about what we will wear to our next tennis practice session or match, we are usually concerned with the comfort and style of our athletic apparel. After all, keeping comfortable during a workout is easily accomplished with all the moisture-wicking fabrics available to us today. And looking good while doing it … well,…
Orisen Swett Marden once said, “All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers.” When I was a young girl, I had a dream of becoming a successful tennis professional. I used to see myself walking up to the net after winning match point against Steffi Graff no less, and shaking her hand….
You have seen the commercials promoting membership in the United States Tennis Association with the tagline “Join a team and have the opportunity to play for a national title.” As a USTA captain on Long Island, I have come close to going to the nationals a few times with trips to the sectionals in 2001,…
I’ve been playing tennis for 34 years. I truly enjoy the game. Every time I step on to the court, it brings me back to my junior tennis years and I feel like a kid again. I wrote this article not to be critical, but as an observation on how the sport of tennis is…
While there are many ways to perform successful tennis hitting movements, there are underlying commonalities that unify and define them all. I would call these universal stroke production characteristics “fundamentals.” These fundamentals are based on the static and immutable laws of physics, mechanics, kinesiology and motor learning. If your strokes adhere to the demands of…