Each year, the USTA Long Island Region recognizes the achievements of individuals, facilities and organizations who have made a positive impact on our community, both on and off the court. Nominations for the 2018 awards are now open, and the region encourages nominations. Awardees should be USTA members or member organizations. Nominations close on…
Many people have their opinions of how someone became so good on the ATP Tour and then there are those who played and saw the progression of how someone became such a great tennis player. I am not sure if I was fortunate or unfortunate to have played Kevin Anderson five times on the…
Hurry! Turn! Move your feet! Watch the ball! Hit up! These are catch phrases that so many instructors use that are really meaningless without explanation. Yet they are yelled across the court everywhere as though repeating them over and over will do the trick. Then, we have an overload of online instruction with enough…
Yes! Yes, you can play too well in a lesson. Think about the best that you have ever played. This was the time that everything seemed easy. The time you felt like you had all the time in the world to hit your shots. The time you almost wanted your opponent to play even…
Almost 50 years ago, the U.S. Open and Australian Open were played on grass courts. At that time, three out of the four Grand Slams were played on grass with the French Open being the only exception. Backtracking even farther into tennis history, you will find that before we had the ATP, WTA or…
The tennis racket spins on its head. Someone says “Up.” Four tennis players crowd around the spinning racquet. It falls to the ground. A player examines the butt of the racquet and says, “It is up and I defer.” “Oh, fudge. Gosh darn it,” I think. “The dreaded ‘defer’ … now what do I do?”…
We all saw Roger Federer win yet another Grand Slam victory, totaling 19, undoubtedly making a strong case for being the GOAT … Greatest Of All-Time. However, that’s not the purpose of this article. Let’s leave that debate to others and bring our focus to the story behind the story. What is Roger’s driving force?…
David Letterman made us realize that people like lists. I guess any of these thoughts could be article subjects, but I prefer to just take this opportunity to clear my throat. 1. I can’t stand it when a parent says “we” when talking about their child’s tennis. 2. People shouldn’t tell families who home-school their…
As we shut down a glorious summer of tennis and look forward to a great fall going into winter, I am just floored by the work done on the pro tour by the veterans who continue to amaze. When I played on the pro tour, players in their 30s were a rarity. Johnny Mac, Jimmy…
I started playing tennis when I was 10-years-old. My brother Paul and I would go with our parents to the park in Sag Harbor and eventually, we decided to go out and try to hit some balls. We pretty much picked it up right away and became regular hitting partners for the next 20…