Dear Friend of the NSMTA,
Welcome to the brave new world of 2021, with the vision of better things to come for all of us! I’m starting my term as NSMTA President with the good news that we surpassed our 1000-member goal in January. We want to continue to sustain and grow our membership and find additional ways to serve our members.
One of our Board’s matters is whether having the word “Senior” in our name makes appealing to younger, but over age 35 players, more difficult. Maybe 40-year-olds don’t really feel that they are “senior” yet. Our sister women’s organization, which went for years under the moniker National Senior Women’s Tennis Association, recently changed their name to National Women’s Tennis Organization for that reason. Whether their name change results in a surge of younger members remains to be seen. Maybe a change in our motto would be a first step: “Let’s do great things for men’s tennis, together,” and omit the word senior.
Among our goals for this year are to foster competition among players on a nationwide basis. That means expanding the number of tournaments we sponsor and endorse. It also means increasing the number of events included in our NSMTA Invitational Team Series, which has been an extremely popular format. This format allows regional events to structure themselves the way they want to and emphasizes the competition’s social aspect. Currently, the NSMTA is committed to sponsoring six such events per year, and a seventh is in the planning stages on the West Coast.
We would also like to expand our Affinity Programs. Most of you know that you can go straight to the Tennis Express website for deals accessed by our homepage. We’ve also connected with Amazon Smile, which benefits the NSMTA when you make a purchase on Amazon at no cost to you. For those traveling to tournaments, we have recently partnered with Stay 22 which shows multiple accommodation options filtered by budget, room type reviews, and more via a searchable map.
Tournament players have complimented us on how much easier it is to navigate our Tournament List than the information available on the USTA website. We continue to update it on almost a daily basis as information about cancellations, postponements, and other schedule changes come in.
Our Forum has been active, and we appreciate your participation. We’ve noticed certain themes specifically with the new USTA Tournament structure for 2021, have been hot topics including Local and Sectional Ranking, Eliminating National Indoors as Level 1 (gold ball) events, and the difficulty in using the USTA’s tournament search feature. On a positive note, the USTA recently sought out feedback from NSMTA regarding some of the changes they’re implementing. For instance, it turns out that Local and Sectional rankings will still be available.
Hopefully, with your continued suggestions and complaints coming in, we can help them tinker with the system enough to overcome some of the initial issues. We will address some of these issues in an upcoming message. In the meantime, we have to hope that the vaccine’s more widespread availability will eventually result in fewer tournament cancellations and a more predictable schedule!
Sincerely,
Steve Duffel
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Tony Trabert, Top Amateur Star, TV Commentator, Ambassador, Dies Aged 90 – Obituary | ATP Tour | Tennis
/in Club News /by RobTony Trabert, Major Champion & Tennis Icon, Dies Aged 90
The tennis world mourns one of its greatest supporters
Tony Trabert, who saw the sport from all angles as a major champion and ambassador both on and off the court, has passed away aged 90. His record of 106 match wins and 18 titles in the 1955 season remains one of the greatest single seasons in tennis history.
The universally popular American enriched tennis for more than 70 years as the world’s top amateur player, a contract pro, a manager of Jack Kramer’s troupe and executive director of a fledgling players association, which helped push for Open tennis. His insight for more than 30 years as a highly successful television commentator and analyst, helped to drive the sport’s boom and brought the US Open and other major championships to new audiences. He was also a two-time Davis Cup winning captain of the United States, a coach, an author and later served as the President of the International Tennis Hall of Fame before his health and mobility began to suffer.
International Tennis Hall of Fame President Stan Smith, who succeeded Trabert in that role and was on two US Davis Cup teams captained by Trabert commented, “I had big shoes to fill coming into this role after Tony, but that is exactly the example that Tony’s life in tennis was in all areas. He didn’t just show us all how to be a great champion. He was also a role model as a wise coach and mentor, a fair and effective leader, someone who gave back to the sport, and an all-around terrific ambassador for tennis. He was a good friend to me and to so many and he will be greatly missed.”
“The world knew Tony for his excellence in tennis, from his remarkable career to his Davis Cup success as a player and captain to being the voice of the US Open during his decades with CBS Sports,” said Western & Southern Open Tournament Director J. Wayne Richmond. “Tony’s impact went far beyond the court, in particular to those who knew him closely. He was so proud of his Cincinnati roots and was always a loyal supporter of the tournament here.
“Tony also worked very hard to promote the game, developing junior players at summer camps and honoring the great history of the sport during his tenure as president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Above all else, Tony was wonderful friend and an incredibly loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He will be dearly missed.”
www.atptour.com/en/news/tony-trabert-obituary-2021
NSMTA President’s Letter February 2021
/in Club News /by RobPresident’s Letter February 2021
Dear Friend of the NSMTA,
Welcome to the brave new world of 2021, with the vision of better things to come for all of us! I’m starting my term as NSMTA President with the good news that we surpassed our 1000-member goal in January. We want to continue to sustain and grow our membership and find additional ways to serve our members.
One of our Board’s matters is whether having the word “Senior” in our name makes appealing to younger, but over age 35 players, more difficult. Maybe 40-year-olds don’t really feel that they are “senior” yet. Our sister women’s organization, which went for years under the moniker National Senior Women’s Tennis Association, recently changed their name to National Women’s Tennis Organization for that reason. Whether their name change results in a surge of younger members remains to be seen. Maybe a change in our motto would be a first step: “Let’s do great things for men’s tennis, together,” and omit the word senior.
Among our goals for this year are to foster competition among players on a nationwide basis. That means expanding the number of tournaments we sponsor and endorse. It also means increasing the number of events included in our NSMTA Invitational Team Series, which has been an extremely popular format. This format allows regional events to structure themselves the way they want to and emphasizes the competition’s social aspect. Currently, the NSMTA is committed to sponsoring six such events per year, and a seventh is in the planning stages on the West Coast.
We would also like to expand our Affinity Programs. Most of you know that you can go straight to the Tennis Express website for deals accessed by our homepage. We’ve also connected with Amazon Smile, which benefits the NSMTA when you make a purchase on Amazon at no cost to you. For those traveling to tournaments, we have recently partnered with Stay 22 which shows multiple accommodation options filtered by budget, room type reviews, and more via a searchable map.
Tournament players have complimented us on how much easier it is to navigate our Tournament List than the information available on the USTA website. We continue to update it on almost a daily basis as information about cancellations, postponements, and other schedule changes come in.
Our Forum has been active, and we appreciate your participation. We’ve noticed certain themes specifically with the new USTA Tournament structure for 2021, have been hot topics including Local and Sectional Ranking, Eliminating National Indoors as Level 1 (gold ball) events, and the difficulty in using the USTA’s tournament search feature. On a positive note, the USTA recently sought out feedback from NSMTA regarding some of the changes they’re implementing. For instance, it turns out that Local and Sectional rankings will still be available.
Hopefully, with your continued suggestions and complaints coming in, we can help them tinker with the system enough to overcome some of the initial issues. We will address some of these issues in an upcoming message. In the meantime, we have to hope that the vaccine’s more widespread availability will eventually result in fewer tournament cancellations and a more predictable schedule!
Visit NSMTA.net for tennis articles from our members as well as writers from across the tennis spectrum, important tennis news and tournament information.
No More Trips to Boston, Pain is Managed and I’m Feeling Good…
Copyright © 2021 National Senior Men’s Tennis Association, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because we have received your contact info as a senior tennis player from other sources who identified you as someone who may be interested in our organization or because you opted in via our website.
National Senior Men’s Tennis
MTC@Draws-FridayLadiesTerm1
/in Tennis Centre /by RobRound 1 started Friday January 29. Last Day is Friday March 26.
Please click below for link to Term 1 Draws.
MTC-FridayLadiesDraws
MTC@Draws-TuesdayLadiesTerm1
/in Tennis Centre /by RobRound 1 started Tuesday February 2. Finals Day is Tuesday March 30.
Please click below for link to Term 1 Draws.
MTC-TuesLadiesDraws
The World’s Best Tennis Players Are Serving Balls Into Hotel Mattresses
/in Ask the Pro, Club News /by RobTwo weeks of quarantine is a professional athlete’s worst nightmare.
In the spring, after my beloved, overpriced New York exercise studios closed, one grim “In these unprecedented times” email after another, I did what any aspiring workout enthusiast with a little cash to burn might do: I got out my credit card and I bought monthly subscriptions to three different online classes.
The era of kidding myself that I would actually exercise at home had begun.
I started with a virtual edition of a class I had attended in person. I pushed my bed into the farthest corner of the room, away from the dresser where I’d set up my laptop, freeing up the only six remaining inches of space in which I could move. I lit a candle. I shut the door. I lifted my arms to begin—well, first I paused to check if my neighbor could see me through the window—then I began. A few minutes later, my partner texted from the next room to tell me that I was stomping and breathing loudly enough to make an off-camera appearance on his Zoom call. Also, I was scaring the dog. That was the end of that experiment.
Fortunately for my checking account, my livelihood doesn’t hinge on my performance as an athlete. On January 16, a flight from Doha, Qatar, full of tennis players and their coaches touched down in Melbourne for the Australian Open, one of the four biggest tennis tournaments of the year. Soon after, all of the passengers received an email: Someone on the plane had tested positive for COVID-19. It was the third flight headed to the tournament on which this happened. All the players going to Australia knew that they would encounter a “modified” quarantine protocol, giving them just five hours outside their hotel room each day (strictly choreographed for the athletes to get to and from the practice courts and gym with as little contact as possible). But in light of the coronavirus cases, the Australian government would require everyone on the affected flights to “hard quarantine” for 14 days. No exceptions, including the freedom to leave their hotel room, would be made for the players. After all, Australia’s near elimination of the coronavirus didn’t happen by accident. Seventy-two athletes, 14 days of court-free-tennis fitness to maintain. No hitting partners, no physiotherapy visits, no kidding.
A microcosm of pandemic absurdity was born. Before last week, Google results for “How to train for a Grand Slam in your hotel room” would have turned up empty. Searching that phrase now is to encounter a treasure trove of almost voyeuristic delights. Image upon image is available of some of your favorite players—in living quarters approximately the size of a falsely advertised Manhattan studio apartment—serving balls into propped up mattresses, squat-pressing a leather reading chair, and celebrating negative COVID-19 test results with pizza delivery. The athletes received stationary bikes courtesy of the event organizer, Tennis Australia, to help with indoor cardio. The American player Tennys Sandgren plucked his from the floor and lifted it over his head. Heather Watson, a top British player, completed a 5K by literally running back and forth across her room.
At any hour of the day, the players are on social media, posting about boredom or anxiety, just like the rest of us fed up with quarantine. They get stir-crazy. They stop shaving. The occasional grumbling appears in a fleeting Instagram story, but for the most part, during all of my swiping, I found everyone in admirable spirits, the sheer athleticism of their footwork drills hypnotic. Sometimes the makeshift circumstances can get pretty noisy. “In the beginning, you would hear sounds occasionally, more from players playing video games, but now it’s constant background noise,” Andrea Petkovic, one of the athletes in modified quarantine, told me. “Players hitting balls against the walls, players throwing shit around, players jumping, players running in place. It would be hilarious if you were not about to have a nap but can’t because the person upstairs decided to do their daily workout.”
Other players have dropped the gimmicks for more typical quarantine workouts. The New Zealand player Artem Sitak, set to play doubles in the tournament, arrived in Melbourne on a flight from Los Angeles. After he learned that someone on his flight had tested positive and that he would be stuck in his hotel room for two weeks, he posted a thoughtful video explaining how he’d known the risks of traveling to Australia mid-pandemic. I reached out to Sitak on Instagram to get a sense of his daily routine. His three-hour workouts, which he starts after lunch, sound vaguely like something I would never make it through at a CrossFit gym I would never attend. First, he bikes at high intensity for an hour (admittedly not his favorite activity; he prefers to run). Then he switches to a series of wall squats, lunges, jump lunges, free weights, and medicine-ball and core work. Everything is wrapped up with stretching and foam rolling. And, like most of us, it’s Netflix before bed.
Read: The healthiest way to sweat out a pandemic
I asked Paul Annacone, a former coach to Roger Federer and Pete Sampras, what effect the forced quarantine might have on players. He wasn’t particularly optimistic. “I can’t imagine not hitting a tennis ball, or even not being outside, for 14 days, all within a couple days of playing a professional tennis tournament,” he said. (Annacone now coaches Taylor Fritz, an American up-and-comer who is playing in the tournament but is not one of the 72 players in hard quarantine.)
The Australian Open starts on February 8, so the players currently in their rooms will have more than a week to make the most of their court access once their isolation period is over. But still, two weeks in the lead-up to a Grand Slam without the regular rhythms of daily practice matches and physiotherapy, or fine-tuning responses to a hitting partner’s strokes and movements, is a significant disadvantage. Many professional tennis players pick up their first racket in early childhood—Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal both started playing when they were 4 years old—and it’s a reasonable expectation that some may go years or even decades without spending two weeks off the court. Otherworldly talent certainly helps (cue Federer), but for most pros, success is largely the result of consistency and relentless repetition. One tactic to fend off rust, Petkovic suggested, is to play “shadow tennis.” “Either actually take the racket and swing while you imagine hitting balls,” she said, “or just hold it in your hand when you’re rewatching Friends for the umpteenth time. This way the body gets used to it and it won’t feel so foreign once you step on the court.”
The rose-tinted view is that this unexpected period of rest could actually do the players some good. During the 2008 Olympics, in Beijing, the American runner Shalane Flanagan came down with food poisoning and had to forgo training to sleep and rehydrate before the 10,000-meter race. She won the bronze. Not bad. Could there potentially be any benefits to all of this? I posed the question to Rennae Stubbs, the former top doubles player in the world.
“None whatsoever,” she said.
Meanwhile, for those of us without the glory and the glamour of a Grand Slam to train for, we do what we can. A few nights ago, as I hunched forward and scrolled through Twitter for player updates, a flash of movement caught my eye. It was my next-door neighbor jumping up and down in his living room. Burpees. Unmistakable. I squinted, and saw the familiar outline of a pumped-up instructor on his television. At least he was trying.
Badge Entries Close Feb 7
/in Badge, Club News /by RobEntries for Thursday Ladies and Saturday 2021 Badge competitions are now open to members.
Entries close February 7.
MTC Term 1 2021 Ladies Competitions
/in Tennis Centre /by RobEntries for Term 1 Ladies Competitions are now open.
Tuesday Ladies Competition starts February 2. Entries close January 25.
Friday Ladies Competition starts January 29. Entries close January 25.
Club Championships: Open Men’s Doubles Final
/in Club News /by RobPic credit: Denis
Annual Senior Club Championships Entries Close Feb 14
/in Club Championships, Club News /by RobEntries for the Senior Club Championships are now open. Events are:
All events will begin at noon on Saturday and 10:00 am on Sunday.
Entries are now open and will close on FEBRUARY 14.
Badge Entries Open
/in Badge, Club News /by RobEntries for Thursday Ladies and Saturday 2021 Badge competitions are now open to members.
Entries close February 7.
Sydney Badge 2021 – Fact Sheets
/in Badge, Club News /by RobClick on the links below for the various entry and playing dates.
Saturday Badge starts 24th April, Thursday Ladies Badge starts 22nd April.
Badge-Saturday-Dates-2021
Badge-Thursday-Dates-2021
Club Social Tennis Restarts
/in Club News /by Rob