Featured Blog Posts – March 2009 Archive (7)

An Elite Eight's Path to the Final Four

The men's quarterfinal lineup is set at the Sony Ericsson Open and it's about as good as it gets. Seven of the top eight seeds made it through, with the exception being Gilles Simon (it's hard to see him ranked ahead of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga).

I figured five of them would get through over at Tennis Talk, Anyone? and was looking at Tsonga, Radek Stepanek and David Ferrer as my Cinderella stories. (Elite… Continue

Added by Van Sias on March 31, 2009 at 10:30pm — 1 Comment

Four on the Floor

Wow, the women's draw took some hits yesterday in Miami, didn't it?

Four top 10 players got knocked out today with Dinara Safina, Vera Zvonareva, Ana Ivanovic and Nadia Petrova falling to Sam Stosur, Li Na, Agnes Szavay and Ekaterina Makarova, respectively. I wasn't expecting any of those top players to win—I still think it's Serena's to lose—but my personal picks took a hit with Zvonareva and Ivanovic falling. Safina's been in a bad way lately (like Jelena Jankovic, who lost… Continue

Added by Van Sias on March 29, 2009 at 11:00pm — 2 Comments

NTRP: What's in a Number?

Ask any serious triathlete what his resting heart rate is, chances are you won't have to wait long for an answer. Likewise, ask a marathoner about her average mile time and the answer will generally come forthwith, and accurate to the hundredth of a second.

And if you're talking tennis, it's all about the NTRP rating.

The USTA's National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) is the official system for determining the levels of competition for all players. At first, a… Continue

Added by Active Tennis on March 27, 2009 at 3:00pm — No Comments

Tennis League Season 2, Match 1

Last night was the first match of my second league. I came off to a great start, winning 6-4, 6-0.

The simplest analysis of the match was that in the first set, unforced errors were killing me - especially on the shots that I had the most time to prepare for. It's like the longer I think about it, the better the chance I'm going to overkill it, or plot it right into the net. During the second set, I toned it down more, and my shots became more planned and consistent, which made a big… Continue

Added by Kristi on March 25, 2009 at 1:00pm — No Comments

An Engineer's Perspective

Many individuals and organizations have contributed to today's state-of-the-tennis-art. From racket materials and geometry to court surfaces and strings, artists, craftsmen and engineers combine skills and knowledge to deliver recreational, professional and entertainment experience enjoyable by all.

This blog will discuss tennis from a technical perspective. What do racket ratings mean? How can a player seperate substance from advertising fluff? Why do different rackets produce… Continue

Added by Marty on March 17, 2009 at 11:46am — 10 Comments

Babolat Y Series - Interesting

The Babolat Y Oversize Series has been pushed as an obsession.

Racquet companies love to use gimmicks to promote their racquets, but in the end, the quality of the racquet often does not come close to all the promises.

With the Babolat Y series though, it's clear these racquets have been carefully… Continue

Added by Tough Love Tennis on March 17, 2009 at 10:04am — No Comments

Just played on clay (har-tru) for the first time...

I'm down in Florida for vacation and just played on clay for the first time (or Har-Tru, as it were).

Anyway, the ball definitely bites and jumps up, but I haven't noticed it to be tremendously "slower". Perhaps I don't play with enough pace.

Also, I got used to the sliding pretty quickly. Except when I get completely engrossed in a point and stop thinking about needing to slide. Then I almost end up on my rear. :-)

Added by Doug Van Horn on March 17, 2009 at 7:45am — No Comments