You know, there just isn’t a whole heck of a lot of things going down on the courts right now. I mean – other than Rafael Nadal cruising into the Barcelona final in smashing fashion and Vera Zvonareva taking the Prague Open title without dropping a set the entire tournament.
But there’s a lot going on off the tennis court and there is a particular cause that is very near and dear to my heart: May is ALS Awareness month. For those who aren’t in the know, ALS is a terminal illness that attacks motor neurons. It’s also commonly known as …read more

The weather is getting better, Mother Nature is teasing us with hints that summer is just around the corner, and it all means one thing. Tennis time!

(Image: Newscom) – The tennis court at Beijing…what an amazing view!
Amazing how the number of people on the tennis court grows in leaps and bounds when the sun is shining warm, isn’t it? People I never thought would be seen holding a racket are out there chasing fuzzy yellow balls.
So what do you need to do to get ready for the summer tennis season?
1. Get in shape, yo. I know, I know – …read more

Considering I haven’t even been able to hit the courts for my own amatuer level of play (thank you, Pacific Northwest…), it certainly isn’t my wisdom that comes to the fore in this edition of Rackets and Balls. The Journeyman, however, gives a few tips and pointers on ways to make it on the pro tour.
Mark Keil sums up what it takes in a few short paragraphs for the Tennis Grand Stand. He doesn’t say anything profound; actually I could have come up with everything he did but he beat me to it. If I’ve learned one thing in my …read more

As we are all painfully aware, Christmas is just around the corner and the hoop-lah of gift giving is upon us. Maybe I’m the only one that dreads this time, but I’m sure I’m not.
I enjoy giving gifts – seeing the looks on peoples’ faces when they open something they like…but there is the ever-so scary moment of “what if they don’t like this gift?” I think everyone has at least one person (and some of us have many!) they don’t know what to get for them.
And that’s where I come in to help you: tennis-related gifts. The staff of …read more

I have struggled with finding something to talk about this evening. It’s been one of those days where, at the end of it, you just fall into bed, stare at the ceiling and mutter, “Ugh, one of those days.”
And so - I’ll keep it short and sweet with my tennis tip for the day:
If you see a hot guy (or girl) walking by while you’re playing your game and you think it would be really wicked awesome to impress said hot person with your slice serve; don’t. It’s a guaranteed shot into the net. Or ridiculously wide. Or a complete miss …read more

I am working out of the home office today which gives me added flexibility in how I use the hours in my day. Like surfing the web for cool tennis blurbs.
Because of me pulling the home office card today, I was able to find this rather interesting column on tennis. Ron Waite writes a monthly column for Tennis Server and this month, Ron wrote his column on passing shots.
It’s a well done article. Very informative. Definitely worthy of a read with a lot of valid points. There really aren’t very many serve-and-volley players on the pro tours. Or at the …read more

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And while you’re subscribing, you have to check out Tomaz’s latest post on how to pick up a tennis ball. It’s quite funny – I’m totally going out this afternoon to work on my tennis-picking-up skillz…I have a long ways to go to reach the jedi master level!