Posts tagged singles player

Forever Friends

3
1 year ago
in , ,

My dad is the one 4th from the left. His opponent/friend from yesterday is on the far left.

This week, I’m visiting my parents in Shreveport, Louisiana, where I grew up.  Yesterday, I had the chance to go watch my 74-year-old dad play tennis against his long-time friend and rival in what has become a once- or twice-weekly ritual.  These two guys have been competitors since childhood.  They have also been friends since childhood.  They played against each other in the juniors and with each other in college.  Yes, the level of tennis has changed over the years.  Neither one moves too well these days.  Neither one has the piercing groundstrokes that once defined their games.  And neither one has lost the desire to win when facing the other More >

Are Junior Rankings Truly An Indicator of Future Success?

8
1 year ago
in ,

Rafael Nadal

I read a very interesting post this morning on ZooTennis.com showing the top 10 men and women currently playing on the pro tour with their highest junior ITF rankings.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

Now it would be interesting to see a study on how many Top 10 ATP/WTA players over the past 15 years were never top 10 in the juniors. I’ve done a tiny bit of that research on the current ATP/WTA Top 10s and here’s the numbers, with the player’s highest ITF singles ranking in parentheses.

1. Novak Djokovic (24) 2. Rafael Nadal (145) 3. Roger Federer (1) 4. Andy Murray (2) 5. David Ferrer (-) 6. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2) 7. Tomas Berdych (6) 8. Mardy Fish (14) 9. Janko Tipsarevic (1) 10. John Isner (93)

1. Victoria Azarenka More >

When Hard Work Leads to Lucky Breaks

7
1 year ago
in , , ,

My son to his high school tennis coach (after not being in the lineup for 3 consecutive matches):  “Coach, when you put me in the lineup last week, did I do what you asked and expected of me?”  Coach’s response:  “Yep.”  Son’s next question:  “What do I need to do for you to put me in the lineup again?”

That conversation happened about 2 1/2 weeks ago.  Since then, my son has been in the lineup for each subsequent match.  What changed?  The same 13 boys are still on the team.  They all show up for practices and matches.  So, why has my son had the opportunity to play these last few matches?

When my son met with his coach, the coach thanked him for taking the time to talk then told him what to do to get back into the starting lineup.  My More >

If the Pros Do It . . .

6
1 year ago
in ,

A while back, I wrote an article about watching the pros play in order to improve your tennis game.  Well, what about watching them in order to improve your tennis parenting skills?

As y’all know, I was lucky enough to get to go to the BNP Paribas Open last weekend in Indian Wells and see some amazing tennis.  In two of the matches – Isner (Go Dawg!) vs. Djokovic and Nadal vs. Federer – the higher-ranked player lost.  And, in my non-professional opinion, they lost not only because their opponent played a better match but also because they just weren’t 100% on their game that day.  They were missing shots that they would normally make in their sleep.  They were a half-step slow in their movement around the court.  They seemed a bit out of More >

Wayne Bryan vs. USTA

5
1 year ago
in , ,

For those of you trying to follow the extensive back-and-forth between Wayne Bryan, father of doubles champions Bob and Mike Bryan, and Patrick McEnroe, Head of Player Development for the USTA, I have included links below to all of the communications I have seen to date.  If you know of additional letters and/or emails and/or articles, please post a link to them in the Comments box below.

I would like to point out that there have been some extremely well-though-out comments made to many of the original posts, so please do take the time to read through them as well.

If you are the parent or coach of an American junior tennis player, I think it is imperative that you educate yourself on what’s happening with our governing body and the More >

A Sickening Lesson

1
1 year ago
in , , ,

My son and I both learned a very valuable lesson this week.  Unfortunately, it involved a nasty case of food poisoning (we think), but, hey, sometimes you have to suffer in order to grow, right?

Wednesday was the first scheduled match of my son’s high school tennis season.  He didn’t know if he would get to be in the lineup as a first-year Freshman, but he was so excited at the prospect of playing for his school.  He was coming off a great tournament win the weekend before and was working hard to be ready to compete.

The Tuesday before was Valentine’s Day.  Since my hubby was out of town, I figured I’d fix a dinner for my son and myself that wasn’t one of hubby’s favs – Shepherd’s Pie.  We had a nice dinner followed by home-made chocolate More >

Pardon My Gushing, But . . .

3
1 year ago
in , ,

When I first decided to write this blog, I made a promise to myself that I would steer clear of self-congratulatory pieces praising my kids (and myself) for their accomplishments.  However, today I’m giving myself a “pass,” so please bear with me!

The path to success is usually pretty twisty and hilly – there are good days and not-so-good days, days where you’re on top of the world and feel indestructible and days where nothing goes your way.  When your kid is on that path, and you’re just the observer and facilitator, it’s a tough place to be.  You have to watch as your child struggles with failure, struggles with losses, struggles with injuries, struggles with self-doubt – all the while, continuing to love them and encourage them toward More >

Playing Up

1
1 year ago
in , ,

Playing up is one of those controversial topics in junior tennis.  Should my child play up?  If so, when should he start playing up?  Which tournaments?  How many?  Should he keep playing his own age group as well?  Ask 5 different coaches, and you’ll get 5 different answers!

What I have learned is that, as your child gets older, it becomes more important for him to establish a good ranking early in his age group so that he can actually get into the higher-level tournaments (see Life In Limbo).  Since many of the tournaments will admit a certain number of players from the younger age group, it’s good to take advantage of that opportunity to play up and earn some ranking points, especially as your child gets closer to his official aging-up More >

Doubles, Doubles, Toils, & Troubles

0
1 year ago
in , ,

When I was a kid playing junior tennis, everyone I knew had a set doubles partner.  You practiced together, you played tournaments together, and, at the end of the year, you had a doubles ranking together.

One of the highlights of my junior tennis “career” was winning the state high school doubles championships as an 8th grader.  My partner and I had played together the entire season and had helped our team get to State.  In the doubles competition, we had beaten girls much older than us to take home the big prize.  I still have that trophy sitting on a shelf above my desk.  I’m still very proud of that accomplishment.

Today, it seems that doubles has become the ignored step-child of junior tennis, the afterthought.  USTA awards only 15% More >

Go to Top