MLTC Newsletter 14 Feb 23

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Manly Lawn Tennis Club Newsletter 14 Feb, 2023

Happy Valentine’s Day! Lots in this one, please go all the way to the end.

Trivia Night Friday 3 March 6.30pm

Cost:$15 per person, pay into MLTC account BSB 062-197 Account 1000 0562, include your name and Trivia

RSVP by Wednesday 1st March

Upon arrival you will receive a complementary beer, wine, cider or soft drink of your choice from the bar. Pizza will be provided. For seating purposes, teams of 8 should be arranged between yourselves and advised prior to the evening at the following email; [email protected]

If anyone requires vegetarian or gluten free pizza please advise. Mobile phones are not permitted while Trivia is being run.

Hope as many members and partners can join us with what will be a fun filled night while getting to know new and existing members better.

Look forward to a great night

Cheers

Michelle – Social Secretary

Badge – What you need to do if you are playing Badge this year.

Teams will be entered into the upcoming Badge Season at the end of this week. You must have supplied your current UTR rating as it needs to be included with your entry, if you haven’t provided it, it may affect the grading of your team. Please follow the steps you need to complete a player profile. 

Unsure whether you have a Competitive Player Profile or whether your Universal Tennis Account is linked to your Tennis ID. Follow the steps below:

    • Note: If you do not have an account setup and unable to login, follow the step outlined HERE
  • If your UTR Rating appears below your profile you have a Competitive Player Profile
  • Otherwise, select the ‘ACTIVATE UTR RATING’ button located below your profile and either create a Universal Tennis Account or link your existing account. Follow the steps outlined HERE.

Aged Club Championships

The Club Championships will be played this weekend Feb 18 19
Mens 40+Singles Noon Saturday
Mens 60+Singles Noon Saturday
Womens 40+ Singles 3pm Saturday
Social 2 courts most of the day
Sunday  Mens Combined 100 Doubles at 9am
Womens Combined 100 Doubles
11am start instead of 9am
We only have 3 courts on Sunday
Badge Teams will be selected and published at the end of the week.
Denis Crowley
Club Captain
Ladies Doubles – Friday night 24th Feb
We just have a couple of spots left in our ladies doubles comp on Friday 24th Feb from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Please email your name and partner to [email protected] or call Sarah on 0432 719210 to book in.
Member’s Survey
Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the member’s survey – we appreciate your feedback very much. Once we’ve had chance to go through the responses, we’ll share the next steps.

Best wishes,

Virginia

MLTC Secretary

www.manlylawn.com.au

 

Tennis Parent’s Quiz | ATP

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TENNIS / July 1990
By Stan Smith with Cindy Hahn
I’ve known a lot of parents in my life. As a junior player, I knew them as friends’ moms and dads. As Director of Coaching for the USTA, I work with fathers and mothers of our nation’s top juniors. And, as the Father of two racquet-wielding children, I am a tennis parent myself.
Jim Loehr, the sports psychologist who oversees the USTA’s sports science program, says “When I work with kids, the relationship with their parents and how it affects their tennis is always my number one concern”
Some parents do a wonderful job. Others make me wish there were remedial parent-training courses. But all struggle with the pressures junior tennis places on tennis parents:
Has our son outgrown his coach? Can we afford the airfare to the nationals? Is our daughter burning out?
There’s no course to teach you how to handle this enormous financial and emotional investment, nor is there any tried-and-true answer for even the most common questions. But I can share with you some guidelines that may help, based on the research of sports psychologists, USTA studies and my own experience.
First, to get a sense of how you rate as a tennis parent, take the quiz below, which is based on one in Loehr’s book, The Parent / Players Tennis Training Program.
Use the scale below for your answers.
5 = Always | 4 = Almost always | 3 = Sometimes | 2 = Almost never | 1 = Never
1) Do you coach your child?_______
2) Do you watch all your child’s matches?_______
3) Do you look nervous on the sidelines?_______
4) Do you treat your child differently when he/she wins?_______
5) Do you ignore your child’s bad behavior on the court?_______
6) Do you tell your child he’s being unrealistic when he talks about a pro career?_______
7) Do you believe your family’s standard of living has suffered because of the expense of your child’s tennis?_______
8) Do you think your child should give up other sports to concentrate on tennis?_______
Total up your score and refer to the chart below:
8-16 = Good Job, as a tennis parent, you are a pro
17-32 = Slight problem, work on your strategy and consistency
33-40 = Problem parent, re-learn the basics fast.
Tips to Improve your Performance

1) Be a Parent, Not a coach.

In the beginning, it’s great to be your child’s “coach” to introduce him to tennis. He will be more interested in tennis if the initial exposure comes from you because kids naturally want to do what their parents do.
However, eventually, the parent needs to hand the coaching duties to someone else. Most parents don’t have the technical knowledge to instruct their children. But more importantly, the roles of coach and parent are so conflictive that it is nearly impossible for one person to play both.
A coach’s job is to build strong tennis players, the coach must criticize and compliment based on performance. The parent’s job is to build a strong person; they must provide unconditional love that instills self-esteem in a child. For one person to tackle both of these jobs is a formidable task, and the results are often disastrous.

2) Watch no more than 75 % of your child’s matches.

Your child needs to learn that he is the only person who can control the events on the court. It will also give him the confidence to know he can compete without his parents watching.
I also feel parents should watch 25-50 % of their child’s practices. Practice is the coach’s domain, and he needs your absence to develop a relationship with your child. Your absence will also promote your child’s on-court independence.
Parents that watch too many practices are sending a subliminal message to their children that tennis is so important, that they have to be at everything about it. It can also show a lack of trust that the parents may have in the coach’s ability to get the job done.

3) Always look positive during a match

Your child inevitably will look over at you, and your body language can make or break his confidence. Always maintain a calm, confident air, even in the third set tiebreak. If your child sees you with your head in your hands or pacing nervously, his feeling of pressure will only become more intense.
I know it’s difficult because all parents are nervous about their children. Charting your child’s match can help (we recommend momentum charting). This will give the parent something to do with their hands and something constructive to take their mind off the on-court drama. The charted results may also be useful to the coach.

4) Keep an even keel.

You may feel elated by your child’s win or deflated by their loss, but don’t show either emotion too much. This will help them realize that losing isn’t the end of the world and that winning isn’t everything.
Always say something positive (that’s easy when he wins), but even if they lose, avoid the temptation of becoming the coach. Let the coach do that job at the next practice session. Something like “Bad Luck, you competed well, you can get them next time” would be a good thing to say after a loss.

5) Reprimand your child for on-court misbehavior.

If cheating, racquet throwing, or abusive language becomes a habit, take some dramatic action. Pull the child off the court and reprimand him. Make it understood that under no circumstances is that acceptable behavior. If you ignore this misbehavior you are condoning it – and that is failing your responsibility as a parent.

6) Let your child dream.

Never take away your child’s dream, as unrealistic as it might be. Dreams are the fuel that keeps young people striving, learning, and exploring.
If your child says he wants to be a pro someday, and it’s obvious that he doesn’t have what it takes, don’t say “You’re just not athletic enough”, instead say something like “That would be great, But first you need to work hard at getting a national ranking. Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, and other pro players all competed on the national level before making it to the pros”
By helping your child realize what he needs to achieve to reach the goal, gradually he will see pro tennis is not the right track. He will begin to revisit the dream finding alternatives that can be just as fulfilling and more realistic.

7) Explore financial options.

Loehr recently talked to a woman who took out a second mortgage on her house to pay \for her child’s tennis. That is clearly too much of a financial sacrifice. When a family’s standard of living is eroded because of tennis it places enormous pressure on the child, even if the subject is never spoken about. The child is likely to feel responsible to win because of the major sacrifices the family has made for his tennis.
If your child is very talented, there are two ways to support their tennis. Families, friends, or local businesses are often willing to sponsor a talented junior, but make sure out check out any possible NCAA rules before accepting money. The USTA is another avenue of possible financial assistance. Check with your USTA sectional office about any assistance programs for talented juniors.

8) Encourage your child to play other sports.

Usually, when junior players get older (around 14 years old) they will have to forgo other sports if they want to reach their full potential in tennis. Until then, they should play all sports they enjoy.
In 1987, when the USTA analyzed other countries’ tennis programs, it found that nearly all their best players played other sports until the age of 12 or 13, and many until 14 or 15. A child will only develop half to three-quarters of their athletic potential by playing only tennis. Also, distractions from tennis help keep burnout at bay.
My 11-year-old son, Ramsey, has played baseball (he is a pitcher) for the last three years. This year, my wife and I thought maybe he shouldn’t play so that he could concentrate on tennis. But we decided that he should continue baseball. The benefits of playing a team sport, combined with the eye-hand coordination baseball promotes, and the pressures of being a pitcher ultimately will help his tennis.
Tennis Parent’s Quiz – TennisDrills.tv https://tennisdrills.tv/tennis-parents-quiz/

Eight Keys to Competing | ATP

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I hear it all the time…a parent, coach, friend, or even the athlete themselves explain away poor behavior because “they are so competitive”. Or, “they don’t like to lose!”

Examples of competing poorly happen when we observe broken rackets, verbal abuse and, generally, a player going ballistic. Google Nick Kyrios top 10 ballistic moments to see a few examples. In all these situations, let’s be clear, there is nothing competitive going on! Being competitive is about focus, adversity management, regaining calm, and never giving up. Certainly, when a player gets defaulted, they have given up their choice to be competitive. And when the player goes ballistic, they also are not focused, and managing adversity. If they were being competitive, then the player would be focused on what’s important now (W.I.N) at that moment in the match.

So, what does it mean to compete? Just look at Rafael Nadal’s entire career and especially the 2022 Australian Open come back against Daniil Medvedev, few would argue the importance of competing consistently in achieving long-term success.

I’d like to highlight eight keys that indicate a true competitor.

1. Focus on what you can control: A competitor stays focused on what they can control: such as effort, energy, patterns, routines, attitude, breathing, and bouncing back from adversity—to name a few. They understand that they cannot control how well their opponent plays, court conditions, winning, losing, and their draw.

2. Humility /Sportsmanship: It’s important that an athlete respects themselves, their opponent, and the game. Their focus is on trying their best. A competitor plays with belief but checks their ego at the door. This allows them to play free and adjust to situations. They acknowledge their opponent for putting him or herself on the line and understand that their opponent is not an enemy. Rather, they view them as a challenge, an opportunity, and a partner that is necessary to take their game to the next level.

3. Respect for the process: A competitor understands that their development is a process, and while a loss may hurt in the short term, there are lessons that can be learned. They see setbacks and losses as an opportunity to grow, not as a problem.

4. Never, ever, ever, ever give up: A competitor never gives up. A true competitor understands that not every day is going to bring top-level performance. Perfection is not even possible. Such a player cam embrace adversity, especially the adversity of having to figure out what to do when their game is not on. A true competitor doesn’t mind winning a tight, or even ugly, contest. They have perspective; they prioritize learning from the experience over the result.

5. Adapt and adjust to situations: Constantly adjusting and adapting within a match is imperative. Momentum shifts are a given in a tennis match. What’s most important is to be aware of what is happening and adjust and adapt. Too often in the heat of competition, athletes get caught up solely on the result. This singular focus takes them away from akey question: What do I need to do now, or to get back in the match?

6. Be ok with being uncomfortable: A competitor understands that during competition they may have to take a calculated risk, try something new, or hit a shot not quite the way they would ideally like to. They understand the idea of being ok being uncomfortable

7. Be aware and make high percentage choices: A competitor makes high-percentage choices during all stages of their competition. For example, they don’t try to hit a screaming winner down the line that may appear on ESPN, rather they counter with a neutral shot that will get them back in the point. Usually, the best choice is to stay patient, stay in the point until an opportunity presents itself.

8. Learn from mistakes: Mistakes are only bad if the player does not learn from them. Mistakes provide a player the opportunity to learn and adjust, essentially correcting their mistakes from the previous setback. Nothing great was ever achieved without mistakes.

source: Compete: The Key to W.I.N’ing | Long Island Tennis Magazine https://longislandtennismagazine.com/compete-key-wining

How Long Does It Take to Get Fit Again? | NYT

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When it comes to cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength, the adage is true: Use it or lose it. While regular exercise can improve heart health and increase strength and mobility, taking weeks or months off can reverse many of those benefits.
That’s not to say that rest days are not important. In general, short breaks can help you physically and mentally recharge, but whenever possible, you should avoid extending your time off for too long so that hopping back on the wagon doesn’t feel too daunting or miserable.
“Your body adapts to the stimulus you provide,” said Dr. Kevin Stone, an orthopedic surgeon and the author of the book “Play Forever: How to Recover From Injury and Thrive.” “Your muscles become used to the stress and the testosterone, the adrenaline and endorphins — all the wonderful things that circulate from exercise. When you take that away, the body initiates a muscle loss program.”

What does it mean to lose fitness

To understand the phenomenon of fitness loss, it is helpful to think about how activity and, therefore, inactivity, affects your cardiovascular system and muscle strength. Because regular exercise helps your body to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues in a more efficient way, one of the first things that declines when you become inactive is your cardiovascular endurance, said Edward Coyle, a professor of kinesiology and health education at the University of Texas at Austin.
After just a few days of inactivity, the volume of blood plasma circulating in your body decreases, Dr. Coyle said, leading to a series of other cardiovascular changes. After 12 days, studies show that the total amount of blood the heart pumps every minute decreases, along with the amount of oxygenated blood available to muscles and other cells — measured as the VO2 max.
If you return to the gym at this point, you will only notice slight differences in performance, Dr. Coyle said. Your heart rate may be a little faster and your breathing may be heavier as your body works harder to pump blood and oxygen to where they’re needed.
Scientists have found that it is around the three-week mark that people experience the biggest changes in their ability to get through a workout, as energy produced by mitochondria for muscle cells drops off significantly. “That means that exercise will be more fatiguing,” Dr. Coyle said.
Strength declines less rapidly than cardiovascular health. After eight weeks, inactivity finally starts to affect the size and strength of your muscles. For weight lifting or strength workouts, the maximum amount you are able to lift decreases, as does the number of repetitions you could manage, Dr. Coyle said. You are also more likely to experience muscle soreness a day or two after working out.
The extent to which different people experience a decline in fitness depends on age, genetics, lifestyle, diet and prior level of fitness. Studies show that older adults lose fitness at nearly twice the rate of 20- to 30-year-olds. And while people who work out consistently for months or years may experience fitness loss at the same rate as recreational exercisers and weekend warriors, athletes who start out at a higher fitness level “have more to lose in absolute terms,” Dr. Coyle said.

What can you do to keep fitness loss at bay?

While the cardiovascular and muscular changes that occur after a long break may sound dramatic, the good news is that most people do not cut out all activity in the same way that participants are often instructed to do in an exercise study.
If you have to travel or stay in because of bad weather, doing something is still better than nothing, Dr. Coyle said. Swap dumbbells for body-weight exercises. Try smaller “exercise snacks” throughout the day, take the stairs as much as you can, or better yet, set a goal to do a few short high-intensity interval workouts.
“If you spend just a few minutes a day doing interval training, that’s sufficient to keep blood volume elevated and mitochondria relatively high,” Dr. Coyle said.
If you’re a competitive athlete, tapering the intensity or frequency of training right before or after a big race or game can actually be beneficial, as long as you are intentional about it. For example, many athletes plan for a two- or three-week taper in order to give their bodies time to restore their glycogen fuel tank and allow muscles to recover.
Those who need to take longer breaks can try cross training or switching to a different sport, like skating or swimming. Or perhaps focus on improving balance instead, through aerobics classes or dance to keep the same muscles active in different ways.
“Overall fitness is a combination of many factors,” Dr. Stone said. “It’s not just muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness.”

How long does it take to make a comeback?

If you haven’t been physically active in a while, don’t despair. Just like off-seasons are a regular part of any sport, working to get back in shape is possible — and easier — for regular exercisers, too.
Research shows that even though extended breaks significantly reduce fitness, most exercisers’ levels remain above those who have been sedentary their whole lives. For instance, while muscle fibers can shrink during long breaks, they don’t completely disappear and they do retain a molecular “muscle memory” that can help them bounce back months after you stop exercising. In other words, you are already set up to regain strength and endurance much faster than when you started the first time around.
“You can regain approximately one-half of your fitness in 10 to 14 days with moderately hard workouts,” Dr. Coyle said.
After this initial period of retraining, the amount of time it takes to get the rest of your fitness back to prebreak levels can vary depending on how much catching up you have to do. One study found that older adults needed less than eight weeks of retraining after a 12-week break. Other evidence suggests that competitive athletes may need to train for two to three times as long as the time they took off.
When rebuilding your fitness, start by setting a goal of working out for a certain length of time each day, without worrying about your strength or intensity, Dr. Coyle said. Once you can comfortably walk or jog for 30 minutes a day for two or three weeks, you can start increasing your pace to a run. If you want to return to lifting weights at the gym, start with a lower load and then gradually add more.
Many personal trainers recommend amping up by no more than 10 percent every week. But rather than following an arbitrary number, tweak your routine based on how your body feels.
If you cannot afford several weeks of retraining, or simply want to get back in shape faster, you can do more intense workouts or incorporate interval training to speed up the process. “The higher the intensity,” Dr. Coyle said, “the faster the rebound.”
By Knvul Sheikh, NY Times
Published Jan. 30, 2023

MLTC Newsletter 2 Feb 2023

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 Manly Lawn Tennis Club Newsletter – 2 Feb 2023

In this newsletter reminders for signing up for Club Champs and Badge. Trivia Night, Members’ survey.

Aged Club Championships – Entries close 12 February. Entries are slow for the ladies, so please enter.

Saturday February 18 Noon. Womens 40+ Singles Mens 40+ Singles Mens 60+ Singles

Sunday February 19 9AM.  Womens Combined 100 Doubles Mens Combined 100 Doubles ( Hilton Mace Trophy)

Saturday February 25 Noon. Womens 40+ Doubles Mens 40+ Doubles Womens 60+ Doubles Mens 60+ Doubles.

Sunday February 26 9AM. Combined 100 Mixed Doubles

 

Badge – If you are wanting to play badge this season get your nomination form in asap, less than one week left to nominate. The ladies selectors will be at the courts the next two Saturdays and putting some ladies doubles on from 1-3pm.

https://www.manlylawn.com.au/2023/01/05/badge-2023-entries-now-open-web-sign-up/

Trivia Night – Friday 3rd March at the Clubhouse 6.30pm

Cost:$15 per person

RSVP by Wednesday 1st March

Upon arrival you will receive a complementary beer, wine, cider or soft drink of your choice from the bar. Pizza will be provided. For seating purposes, teams of 8 should be arranged between yourselves and advised prior to the evening at the following email; [email protected]

If anyone requires vegetarian or gluten free pizza please advise. Mobile phones are not permitted while Trivia is being run.

Hope as many members and partners can join us with what will be a fun filled night while getting to know new and existing members better.

Look forward to a great night
Cheers
Michelle – Social Secretary

Members Experience Survey
Please help us improve the club and your membership experience by completing the attached survey. It’s only 10 quick questions and the more people who complete it, the more helpful it is. If you’d like to give additional feedback anytime, please email [email protected] with your ideas and suggestions. Thank you!
Click here to start the survey – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3BLH6CS

Best wishes,
Virginia
MLTC Secretary

www.manlylawn.com.au

 

Core Values that Tennis Teaches | ATP

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It may be the oldest question about sports… Does tennis teach character or reveal it? 

Some would answer both or even neither, but after coaching for more than 40 years now. I have come to a conclusion based on more than 65,000 hours of teaching tennis on the court.

Tennis CAN teach character, but only if it is intentional. The coach needs to have character as one of the pillars of his teaching philosophy.

Studies show that sports participation does NOT in and of itself teach character. In fact, studies show that  the more time and energy athletes put in to becoming elite, that more likely they may be in justify cheating.

Just looking at the professional world of sports and you can see many examples of this happening from using illegal performance enhancing drugs as an obvious example.

Today we have a multitude of players that feel like they are failures because they don’t win as often as they think they should. A big reason is that players have been taught by peers, parents, and coaches, that winning is the ultimate goal.

Instead, we need to realize that tennis is a nearly perfect vehicle to teach players the many life lessons that are so important for all champions to learn.

Below is a list of these core values that tennis COULD teach, if the coach is intentional:

1. CHARACTER: Through the responsibilities each player has to call the lines on their side of the court, keep score accurately, and give the opponent the benefit of the doubt, tennis offers a great opportunity for players to build character.

A player’s character can also be seen in the way they keep score during a drill or even by their line calls while they drill. Good coaches can be very helpful if they can get the players to realize that their self-worth as a person has nothing to do with how well they strike a little yellow ball.

2. COURAGE: Tennis gives players the opportunity to play through tough times. The one-on-one style of competition certainly requires the guts to put it on the line. Few other sports require as much courage from their youngest athletes as tennis does in this area. Another example is when players find it necessary to confront or question someone that is cheating them.

How many times have we seen players avoid that uncomfortable job, only to wait until the match is over to tell the entire world how their opponent was the biggest cheater on the planet? Think of it, aren’t those skills the exact ones that will best serve the players in their adult life? It’s all about how you look at the situation.

Some will think this is an awful burden that no young player should have to endure, while others recognize it as a great opportunity to teach an important life lesson and skill. 

3. HONESTY: Tennis is one of the only sports where the players make calls on each other’s shots. Can you imagine a Little League game where the batter calls the balls and strikes? Although this huge responsibility in the hands of immature competitors can and has caused problems, no other sport allows for the development of honesty like tennis does.

Parents and coaches can facilitate the development of this core value if they seek out opportunities to compliment players when the players get it right. 

4. SPORTSMANSHIP: Like in other sports, tennis players will play opponents that are jerks and try to cheat. In the short run, this is uncomfortable for players and parents, but it does give young kids the chance to start to develop coping skills with these kinds of people.

I know many competitive junior players are mature beyond their peers in this area simply because they have had more chances to practice these skills than non-tennis players. Parents should view these episodes as opportunities and resist the urge to get involved and “save” the child. 

5. INTEGRITY: More than any other sport, tennis has the potential for “retaliatory” calls because it allows for your opponent to make calls that directly affect you. There will be times when people get cheated, whether on purpose or by honest mistake. How a player reacts to these times offers the player a chance to test and prove their integrity.

Will they get even, or will they do the right thing despite the opponent’s actions? Refusing to retaliate will teach players that they should avoid situational ethics by refusing to get even “because he did it to me first”.Players that succeed in this area can have a profound sense of satisfaction even if they lose the match, but only if a coach or parent is dedicated to looking for and rewarding their successes in this area. 

6. COMMITMENT: Reaching the highest level of tennis requires a great deal of commitment on the player’s part. The lessons of self-discipline and delayed gratification are great life lessons that will surely serve the player later in life.

Even within a player’s game, they will need to make decisions to try new techniques that may hurt them in the short run. Commitment to these new techniques is critical for future tennis success and teaches a valuable life lesson that players will surely benefit from as adults. 

7. HUMILITY: Through competition and partaking in drill classes, players soon come to realize people do not look upon arrogance very highly. Tennis offers players the chance to learn the difference between arrogance and confidence.

Team settings and class settings are the best arenas for players to learn this. Parents and coaches can not shun their responsibility to tell players when they are acting arrogantly.

8. EXCELLENCE:  I believe the practice court is the best arena to teach players to strive for excellence. Many players find it difficult to practice with the proper level of intensity after a long day at school.

These challenges are similar to the ones they will have in college, and ultimately when they enter the workforce and become parents. The ability to work hard when you don’t feel like it is a major life lesson in the area of striving for excellence.

If we can produce players that strive to excel in these areas and look at tennis as a vehicle to become a better person, then they will have learned valuable life lessons and in the process experience less stress in competition.

This is because they will no longer view the “win” as the ultimate goal. Instead, they will be aiming at a more important target. Almost every tough loss in tennis can be a victory if the player is tuned into the life lessons that tennis offers.

Jorge Capestany, USPTA Master Professional

Inside the Battle to Control, and Fix, Tennis | NYT

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Walking the grounds of Melbourne Park, where the Australian Open is in full swing, one could easily believe that all is well and peaceful in professional tennis.

Stadiums are packed. Champagne flows. Players are competing for more than $53 million in prize money at a major tournament the Swiss star Roger Federer nicknamed “the happy Slam.”

Behind the scenes though, over the past 18 months a coterie of billionaires, deep-pocketed companies and star players has engaged in a high-stakes battle to lead what they view as a once-in-a-generation opportunity for disruption in a sport long known for its dysfunctional management and disparate power structure.

The figures include Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund manager and hard-core tennis hobbyist who built a tennis court atop his office tower in Midtown Manhattan. Ackman is funding a fledgling players’ organization led by the Serbian star Novak Djokovic. The group is searching for ways to grow the sport’s financial pie and the size of the players’ slice. In their ideal world, one day there might even be a major player-run event akin to a fifth Grand Slam tournament.

Earlier this month, the group announced its core tenets, which include protecting player rights, securing fair compensation and improving work conditions. Players have about had it with matches that start close to midnight, end near dawn and put them at risk of injury, like Andy Murray’s second-round win in Melbourne that ended after 4 a.m. Friday. The group also announced its first eight-player executive committee, which includes some of the top young men and women in the game.

There is also CVC Capital Partners, the Luxembourg-based private equity firm that has been working for months to close a $150 million equity investment in the WTA Tour that it views as a first step to becoming a prime player in tennis.

Then there is Sinclair Broadcast Group, the American media conglomerate that owns the Tennis Channel, which wants to expand globally and has been trying to entice the people who run tennis to embrace that effort.

All of them see tennis as uniquely positioned for growth, as a new generation of stars tries to take up the mantle of the last one, a story Netflix highlights in the new documentary series “Break Point.”

Read more —> https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/21/sports/tennis/business-australian-open.html

WHY TENNIS IS THE WORLD’S TOUGHEST SPORT!

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We often tell our players at the club that tennis is the world’s toughest sport.
In the beginning, they think we are kidding, but after reading the reasons laid out in this post they grow to appreciate just how tough our sport really is.  Below are 15 reasons why tennis is the most psychologically demanding sport.
1) TENNIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL SPORT.
In tennis, you are all alone on the court. No one shares in the glory or the blame. There is no teammate to pass off to if you are playing poorly and you cannot be taken out of the game for a while you recuperate from your poor play.
2) NO COACHING IS ALLOWED.
Tennis is one of the only sports where young players are not allowed to receive any coaching. Except for a handful of exceptions like HS tennis, Zonal teams, or Davis Cup, nearly all tournaments do not allow for coaching. The no coaching restriction is unusual in sports and clearly forces young competitors to deal with the pressures and problems of playing on their own.
3) INTENSE PRESSURE AT A YOUNG AGE.
Many successful professional players have reported that the stresses of junior tennis were the greatest of their entire career. For example, Chris Evert has reported that she felt more pressure during her junior career than she did at any other time as a player. The junior player must deal with the same frustrations during tournament play as the adult, but with fewer resources and life experiences to handle them.
4) TENNIS PROVIDES NOWHERE TO HIDE.
Tennis players must remain in full view of spectators, regardless of how they perform. They may desperately wish to hide from the world but they cannot due to the structure and rules of the game. Embarrassment, discouragement, anger, choking, euphoria, they’re all there for everyone to see. Some players dislike this aspect of tennis while others embrace it. Either way, tennis provides little shelter for the emotions that accompany such an exciting game.
5) NO SUBSTITUTES / NO TIME-OUTS.
Many sports allow players to regain their composure or get back on track through the use of substitutions and time-outs. This is not the case in tennis. Players must stay in the game, regardless of how bad or uncomfortable things may get. This is particularly difficult considering that matches can be two or three hours in length.
6) ONE-ON-ONE COMBAT.
Tennis is similar to boxing. You have a real one-on-one opponent that you must defeat to emerge victorious. A match can quickly become a personal confrontation between opponents, especially if an opponent resorts to gamesmanship tactics. Such direct competition can fuel intense rivalries and threaten friendships in powerful ways among young players.
7) THE ACCURACY OF LINE CALLING.
Completely objective, professionally trained linesmen make mistakes all the time. And they are motionless and concerned only with one line. Expecting players in a match to call the lines with the same accuracy is at best unrealistic. Balls traveling at speeds over 50 miles per hour with fractions of an inch separating “out” from “in” provide distinct opportunities for conflict and controversy. Recent studies show that players are actually legally blind at the moment they land on the court when running, this is added to the fact that many matches can be dramatically changed with only one bad call, makes mistakes unavoidable and it is easy to see why tempers can flare. (Imagine what would happen if the batters in little league baseball were responsible for calling balls and strikes against themselves)
8) THE “HONOR” SCORING SYSTEM.
Unlike most other sports, in tennis, a player can take a point that is rightfully their opponent’s by deliberately calling a shot out that had fallen within the lines. The point can be the most important of the match, yet the call stands. There is nothing a player can do about it. Pressures associated with being cheated or being accused of cheating can place tremendous psychological strain on young players.
9) TENNIS REQUIRES TOUCH AND FINESSE.
Tennis is primarily a fine motor skill sport, meaning that it is comprised of many precise movements requiring “feel”. As such, these movements can be influenced significantly by subtle changes in emotion. Anger, fear, frustration, embarrassment, and other such emotions can be very disruptive to the delicate motor control needed in tennis skills such as serving and volleying
10) CONSTANTLY CHANGING CONDITIONS.
Changing temperature, wind intensity of light, court surfaces, balls, altitude, indoor/outdoor play, and equipment add to the depth of the competitive challenge in tennis. Players are forced to deal with changes such as these, many times within the same match. A player’s responses to these situations can provide an indication of their level of mental toughness. Those who are not affected by changes in conditions are often the ones who win.
11) LENGTH OF THE BATTLE.
Few sports require kids to concentrate and perform for as much as three hours at a time. It is not uncommon for 12-year old players to be required to compete in two singles matches and two doubles matches on the same day. Mental toughness and physical fitness become critical if a player is to become successful.
12) THE UNIQUE SCORING SYSTEM IN TENNIS.
The scoring system in tennis adds to the pressure a young player experiences. Unlike many other sports, there is no overall time limit. Play continues until one of the players wins two out of three sets. Consequently, there is no room for coasting on a lead or waiting for time to run out. Each player is always just a few points from a complete turn-around, and a lead is never safe. In contrast, if a basketball team is ahead by 30 points, they will almost certainly win, because their lead is too large to overcome within the time of the competition. In tennis, a player can be ahead 5-0 in the third set, lose two games, and immediately have reason to fear a loss and a huge comeback on their opponent’s part because there is no time clock to run out.
13) JUNIOR TENNIS RANKINGS.
Junior tennis establishes a clear pecking order very quickly through an intricate system of sectional and national rankings. For some young players, rankings become synonymous with self-esteem. They develop feelings of expectation, hope, and failure surrounding rankings, seeds, and titles. This can lead to a great deal of unhappiness if the player’s enjoyment is tied to winning and losing. If you’re one of the best players in 12 & under baseball players in your state, you still won’t ever be ranked so that you know if you are the 1st or 5th best player. But in tennis, you will know exactly where how you compare to your peers and friends.
14) “BIG vs. LITTLE” and “YOUNG vs. OLD”.
Another dimension of tennis is the fact that a nine-year-old child can successfully compete against a 14 or 15 year-old-teenager. A young girl of 14 may be capable of beating a seasoned veteran on the pro tour. Small can beat large, and young can beat old. A 12 year-old boy losing to a 9 year-old or a 6’3” boy losing to someone half his size can be extremely stressful.
15) TENNIS TRAINING CAN BE EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE.
Tennis training for the competitive player can be a very large expense for a family. Many times the pressures from these expenses can add additional stress to the young player who feels guilty if they are not winning because of all the money his parents are putting into his tennis.
Parents can quickly lose sight of what is important and begin to expect a “return” for their investment. This issue is one of the most frequently mentioned by families with players competing at the high national levels.
Despite all these difficulties, tennis is still the best sport for a child to play. It is the only sport that challenges players on the physical, strategic, and psychological levels. It is no coincidence that so many junior tennis players are the best students in their classes. The goal setting and work ethic needed to be successful in tennis are life skills that will help all players as they get older and enter society.
Even the difficulties experienced in junior tennis like dealing with an abusive or cheating opponent, are opportunities to learn life skills that will be an important advantage later in life. Few other sports offer as many of these types of learning opportunities.
Parents and coaches often make the mistake of wanting to get involved or “fix” on-court problems when they happen. The best thing to do is to recognize those episodes as opportunities to learn important life lessons. Children who develop the skills to deal with difficult people at an early age are usually far more successful.

MTC Ladies Competition Term 1

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MTC Ladies Competition

Entries for Term 1 Close 27 January.

Enrolments are now open online for Friday’s Term 1 comp.

Ladies Competition starts Friday 3 February.

Reserve players always welcome.  For more information, please contact or email Scott.

Sign up on the web links above.

Scott Blackburn
MTC Tennis Director & Head Pro

MTC Night Competitions Term 1

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MTC Night Competitions

Entries for Term 1 Close 27 January.

Enrolments are now open online for Term 1 comps.

Night Competitions start:

  • Tuesday night 31 January
  • Wednesday night 1 February

Reserve players always welcome.  For more information, please contact or email Scott.

Sign up on the web links above.

Scott Blackburn
MTC Tennis Director & Head Pro

Seven Basics of Tennis Strategy | ATP

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Craig O’Shannessy is a well known tennis statistician.  He recently republished the stats below in the context of the Australian Open.

Our Tennis Whisperer attempts to explain the WHYs underlining Craig’s stats in simple terms of the three primary skills underpinning every tennis stroke: ball watching, balance and rhythm . [See WHY comments in these brackets].

These are the seven basics of tennis strategy and, as always, they will be the key to winning at this year’s Australian Open.

Lesson 1: Forehands and Backhands 

Nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic has arguably the best backhand in the world. But who cares.

When Djokovic last won the “Happy Slam” in 2021, he struck 98 forehand winners and 45 backhand winners. That’s why you see players running around backhands to hit forehands. They desperately seek to upgrade.

The forehand is the sword. The backhand is the shield. The sword accounts for about two out of every three winners from the back of the court.

Forehand and backhand winners

M/W Forehand winners Backhand winners
Men 70 per cent (3228) 30 per cent (1386)
Women 64 per cent (2236) 36 per cent (1247)

[Whisperer: The NADAL VARIATION creates more extreme angles because of the racket position in relation to body.]

Lesson 2: Tennis is a game of errors

The Australian Open features the best players on the planet, who rally back and forth ad nauseam on the practice court with precious few mistakes. Then matches start, and errors flow.

Winners and errors

M/W Winners Errors
Men 34 per cent 66 per cent
Women 30 per cent 70 per cent

Winners are rising at Melbourne Park, jumping from 30 per cent for the men in 2015 to 34 per cent last year. In the women’s game, there was a jump from 27 per cent in 2015 to 30 per cent in 2022.

Because errors are so prevalent, it’s much smarter to make opponents uncomfortable and force mistakes than chase winners. Obsess over the bigger pool of points.

[Whisperer: Minimizing errors by staying in the point has always consistently won more points. ]

Lesson 3: Eight ways to force an error

There are actually eight ways to make the opponent uncomfortable and extract an error.

 [Whisperer: WHY explained in Where column of the three primary skills in any stroke: ball watching, balance, rhythm—strength is NOT necessarily the key.]

Eight ways to force an error

# 8 ways Where
1 Consistency Court:  Watching
2 Direction Court: Balance
3 Depth Court: Balance
4 Height Court: Balance
5 Spin Ball: Watching
6 Power Ball: Rhythm 
7 Court Position Me: Balance
8 Time The clock: Rhythm

These eight elements are the holy grail of tennis. If a player hits a shot that contains just one of these eight, such as depth, they will have gained the upper hand in the point. 

If their shot includes two or more qualities, such as power and direction, they will be standing inside the baseline hitting with authority when the weak ball comes back.

If they combine three elements – such as height, spin and court position – the ball doesn’t come back.

Lesson 4: Rally length

Winning the short rallies is the best way to walk off court with a victory. The study of rally length started at the 2015 Australian Open and shook the foundations of the sport because of just how many short rallies occur.

Rally length

Shots Men Women
0-4 70 per cent 66 per cent
5-8 20 per cent 23 per cent
9+ 10 per cent 11 per cent

[Whisperer: Impact of powerful racket technology and advantage to server.  Corollary: get into the point as much as possible. Use typical Djokovic/Medvedev strategy of deep returns to put server off balance to nullify server advantage.] 

Rally length is predicated on the ball landing in the court, not hitting the strings. So a double fault has a rally length of zero as the ball didn’t land in, and a missed return is a rally length of one as the serve went in and the return was missed.

Seven points out of 10 are contested by players hitting the ball a maximum of two times each (four-shot rallies) in the court. 

The data also blew the doors off the myth that winning long rallies equated to winning matches. There are, typically, not enough long rallies to make a difference.

Lesson 5: Mode

The mode simply means the most common value in a data set. We can predict with certainty that the most abundant rally length at this year’s Australian Open will be the same as last year, and the year before that.  One shot in the court. No more. No less.

Ask someone which rally length is the most frequent, and the typical answers are from four to eight shots.  You can tell them that Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray thought they played more four-shot rallies than anything else. They were very surprised, like all players, that they play more one-shot rallies than any other. That equates to a made serve and a missed return.

2015 Australian Open men: Most common rally lengths

Rally length Percentage
1 shot 30
3 shots 15
2 shots 10
5 shots 9
4 shots 8

As you can see from the table above, one-shot rallies are incredibly frequent in a match (30 per cent). The next closest rally length is three shots at 15 per cent.

Notice that three-shot rallies occur more than two shots, and five-shot rallies occur more than four shots. That’s because of the halo effect of the serve, or how long the influence of the serve lasts before things become even in a rally. 

[To repeat. Whisperer: Impact of powerful racket technology and advantage to server.  Corollary: get into the point as much as possible. Use Djokovic /Medvedev strategy of deep returns to nullify server advantage.] 

Lesson 6: You win a higher percentage at the net than the baseline

The baseline seems like a safe haven for players, while the net seems a risky place to win points. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The baseline as a safe haven?

M/W Baseline win percentage Net win percentage
Men 47 67
Women 48 66

If you rally from the back of the court, you are lucky to win half of your baseline points. 

[WHISPERER: Volleys are an ESSENTIAL stroke for any serious tennis player, and particular for junior development,  not an afterthought. Moving forward to the net (from GHOSTLINE) wins about two out of three points.]

The net has always been a fun, prosperous place to win points and nothing has changed statistically to think otherwise.

Lesson 7: Serve and Volley works

No tennis strategy has been more maligned and misunderstood than the serve and volley. Pundits say it belongs to another era and is too difficult to employ in today’s game. It’s simply not so.

Serve and volley works

M/W Played/won Percentage won
Men 709/1053 67
Women 36/57 63

Both men and women won about two out of three points serving and volleying at last year’s Australian Open. 

That is a far superior tactic than serving, staying back and trying to eke out a living from the baseline to hold serve.

[WHISPERER: Enhances probability of winning the point because of the geometry and physics of relative court positions of each player]

Tennis Whisperer

Source: Craig O’Shannessy, SMH

MLTC Newsletter – 15 Jan 2023

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Manly Lawn Tennis Club Newsletter – 15 Jan 2023

Friday Night Doubles 

The club is trying this as a new initiative for the next 3 months – hopefully a chance to practice doubles for badge, get some good tennis and socialise too. Last Friday of the month – 6.30pm to 8.30pm – Jan/Feb/Mar. Bar will be open. We’ll then review based on feedback whether to continue is as we move into badge/winter.
Max 8 pairs (4 club courts), but we’ll look to expand to 6 courts (12 pairs) if numbers warrant it and extra courts are available. Entry is free for members. First in best dressed. This comp will be graded with players put into groups of similar abilities as far as possible. Email or text Sarah with yours and your partners name – [email protected] or 0432 719210. One comp per date:
  • Friday 27th Jan – Mixed Doubles
  • Friday 24th Feb – Ladies Doubles
  • Friday 31st Mar – Men’s Doubles
MLTC upcoming calendar dates
January
  • Thu 26th Jan – Australia Day Public Holiday – 3 members courts from 7am to 6pm with social on all 3 courts from 12pm to 3pm.
  • Fri 27th Jan – Mixed Doubles Friday night comp 6.30pm to 8.30pm
February
  • Sun 12th Feb – Age Club Champs and Badge entries CLOSE
  • Sat 18th Feb – 40+ men’s and women’s singles and 60+ men’s singles
  • Sun 19th Feb – Combined 100 men’s and women’s doubles
  • Fri 24th Feb – Ladies Doubles Friday night comp 6.30pm to 8.30pm
  • Sat 25th Feb – 40+ and 60+ men’s and women’s doubles
  • Sun 26th Feb  – Combined 100 mixed doubles
March
  • Fri 3rd Mar – Trivia Night – more details to come. Get your teams ready!
  • Fri 31st Mar – Men’s Doubles Friday night comp 6.30pm to 8.30pm
April
  • Fri 7th to Mon 10th Apr – Easter weekend
  • Tue 25th Apr – Anzac Day 
  • Thu 27th Apr – Thu Badge starts
  • Sat 29th Apr – Sat Badge starts

Best wishes,

Virginia
MLTC Secretary
www.manlylawn.com.au