Tennischick's Articles (103)
Why touch is important in doubles
Today’s New York Times online has a lovely article about the importance of touch as a form of non-verbal communication that may enhance sports performance. In the accompanying picture appears a shot of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic giving each other a chest bump during the fund-raising event organized by Roger Federer as a prelude to the Australian Open.… Continue
Added by tennischick on February 23, 2010 at 6:56pm — 2 Comments
Agassi, Tiger, and the drama of control
...And my theory is that from day one, Tiger was shaped into being a golf machine. In this he reminds me of Agassi who, in his gut-wrenching memoir, recounts the lengths that his father went to in his bid to shape a tennis champion. Earl Woods was an LTC in the Army and an expert in prisoner investigation. I’ve read that he used some of these mental techniques when… Continue
Added by tennischick on February 19, 2010 at 10:01pm — No Comments
Serena Williams: Nail Technician??
Lord have mercy. That was my first reaction when into my inbox appeared a link to bossip.com with a picture of Serena doing somebody’s feet. Apparently Serena has decided to purchase a nail salon and, like any good business woman, has perhaps elected to educate herself from the ground up. So there she was with an orange stick and somebody’s not-so-attractive feet, as… Continue
Added by tennischick on February 18, 2010 at 11:00pm — No Comments
28 down: Rival of McEnroe & Connors
...I attempted to do the crossword puzzle in the airline magazine. I was doing swimmingly until I ran across 28 down. The clue read “rival of McEnroe and Connors”. And for the life of me I could not remember the answer. I started thinking of the contemporaries of John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. Both of these men took up a lot of the oxygen in the 1970’s, their unique rivalry… Continue
Added by tennischick on February 14, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments
El Gordo y El Flaco diss Federer
Everything ran late this morning because of an ice-storm over the weekend. My first two patients had already called in late so there was no rush. I started getting ready for work at a leisurely pace. So I’m flicking the remote control between the various ESPN alternatives, hoping of course for some more celebration of Roger’s win yesterday. Instead I ran across Mike and Mike,… Continue
Added by tennischick on February 1, 2010 at 7:35pm — 2 Comments
28 plus 28 equals…28?
I have a slight headache. This always happens to me after a Slam is over. It’s part sleep deprivation and part the winding down from days of over-excitement. I will sleep like a baby tonight. And because both Serena and Roger won, tonight I will have sweet dreams of symmetry and balance...
Go… Continue
Added by tennischick on January 31, 2010 at 5:30pm — 1 Comment
Should Rafa have swallowed a bagel?
This article isn’t easy for me to write because more than loving Rafael Nadal, I also tremendously respect him. I respect his hard-assed determination, his bull-like persistence when playing a tennis. I like that he thinks for himself, rarely looks up at his box as his mind whizzes along, coming up with strategies and calculations to help him figure out how to crush his… Continue
Added by tennischick on January 27, 2010 at 7:13pm — 1 Comment
Deconstructing your opponent
...One of the factors that makes the great players great is their ability to deconstruct their opponent’s game plan, and then make adjustments in their own game to deflate the other’s effectiveness. Pete Sampras is one of the greatest ever because of his ability to analyze his opponent and then make his move. Sampras was so brilliant at this that he made it look… Continue
Added by tennischick on January 22, 2010 at 9:00pm — No Comments
Did Nike pour $75 million down the drain?
So this is my way of saying that I don’t understand the corporate mind. In the same way that I do not understand how corporations could have miscalculated so badly on the Tiger Woods brand, I do not get why Nike thinks that today’s Sharapova is worth 75 million dollars. And if you watched her match against Kirilenko yesterday, you saw everything that is currently wrong with… Continue
Added by tennischick on January 18, 2010 at 11:00am — 2 Comments
How on earth will the cheaters win now?
...It’s gotten so that you can sometimes have a hard time telling who’s really hurting and who is pretending to hurt. It’s unfair to pick on them because they are not the only ones, but certainly both Del Potro and Almagro are among the players who have been accused by many of playing unfairly. Almagro famously took a medical time out for leg cramping just before serving to… Continue
Added by tennischick on January 17, 2010 at 6:23pm — No Comments
Serena vs. Elena: Best instructional match-up?
Yesterday while watching the Sydney finals between Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva, it occurred to me that these women have a future market in producing instructional tennis tapes if they wish. It’s incredible the degree to which their rivalry produces consistently high quality and creative tennis. They have faced each other 11 times in their career, with Serena having… Continue
Added by tennischick on January 16, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments
2010 is shaping up nicely for women’s tennis
...Not to be outdone, 15-year-old Laura Robson did her part to try to bring the Hopman Cup home to England, defeating Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in straight sets. After her sweet interview, Robson looked on expectantly as Andy Murray took on Tommy Robredo. So confident was I that Murray would win that match that I stopped watching after he closed out the first set 6-1.… Continue
Added by tennischick on January 10, 2010 at 3:36pm — No Comments
Should exhibition matches be taken seriously?
There was a time when I used to completely ignore the results of exhibitions matches. I’m talking about the era of players like Anna Kournikova who had the ability to attract hordes to her matches. Her opponents would invariably throw her some fluff balls so that she would not look like a complete moron. Pretty much the way she is now treated during Arthur Ashe Children’s Day… Continue
Added by tennischick on January 9, 2010 at 12:10pm — No Comments
Memorable Tennis Moments of the Aughts
...On the men’s tour, the decade of the aughts (00’s) belonged principally to Nadal and Federer. Among the women, there is no question that the William sisters were dominant. And while Nadal and Federer carved out a rivalry from the get-go, the sisters initially struggled when facing each other. Serena has since decisively won the mental game against her sister. But it was Venus who… Continue
Added by tennischick on December 28, 2009 at 8:35pm — No Comments
Serena’s 92K mission: Charity or passive-aggression?
Serena has just announced on her blog the launch of her new 92K mission. The figure refers to the actual amount she was just fined by the ITF (having already paid $10,000., only 82K was reported in the media). Serena says that she plans to match her fine by raising another $92,000. towards her Africa school project. She plans to auction off personal clothing… Continue
Added by tennischick on December 9, 2009 at 9:21pm — No Comments
Mauresmo has lost the fire in her belly
...But sometimes the fire in your belly goes out and there may be nothing that you can do about it. I don’t think that this is ever something that accidentally happens to people. I believe that the decision to quench the fire is always a choice, sometimes made unconsciously, sometimes with full awareness. In Amelie Mauresmo’s case, she seems to be fully aware that… Continue
Added by tennischick on December 4, 2009 at 7:17pm — No Comments
What tennis players can learn from Tiger's collapse
...Every so often the American public becomes fascinated with the destruction of a life. We pull up seats and take in the spectacle. For a while there it was Jon and Kate Gosselin who clearly got more than they had bargained for when they pimped out their children for fame and money. The latest spectacle is Tiger Woods and his apparent mistresses. Each day a new mistress emerges.… Continue
Added by tennischick on December 2, 2009 at 6:56pm — 3 Comments
My New Year wish of healing for Nadal
If Nadal lived in the US, his parents’ divorce would have been plastered across the front page of gossip magazines everywhere. Speculations about the real cause of the divorce would have been rife, and lovers would have been invented for both parties, with quotes being attributed to unnamed ‘close personal friends’ and ‘insiders’, to avoid lawsuits.
Go… Continue
Added by tennischick on November 28, 2009 at 5:48pm — No Comments
Right now, men's tennis is all kinds of awesome
I have been on such a high. My high started with the released photo of the group of men finalists all dressed in suits. Some of them looked as if they had never put on a suit before and couldn’t wait to wrench it off their bodies and go back to being sweaty. Others looked as if they were born to be dressed by Anna Wintour. Either way, they all looked all kinds of awesome, a… Continue
Added by tennischick on November 25, 2009 at 7:30pm — 2 Comments
The London draw, in haiku
Group A
(1) Roger Federer
Twin motives remind
The king, that win, draw, or lose,
Love still waits at home.
(4) Andy Murray
Irked by the sense
Of being discounted, eclipsed
London is his chance.
Go… Continue
Added by tennischick on November 18, 2009 at 8:04pm — 7 Comments
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