Dear Readers,

I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.  I know days of thanks are celebrated on different dates in different countries, but it is always nice to recall things for which I am thankful.  My years of running my own tennis site have been rewarding and that is especially true given the great readers we have here at Tennis Abides as well as a growing host of twitter followers of @danmartintennis.

2017 has been a bit of an up and down year for Tennis Abides.  I don’t get paid in any real way running this site.  I have a family and a job (or jobs at times) that rightfully draw upon my time.  I took a new job this past year, moved, and also have had an abnormal number of colds over the past few months.  One of my children has some medical complexities.  As much as I love tennis, there are times that I won’t be writing on tennis when one might expect that I would.

That does not mean Tennis Abides is in any trouble.  Heck, I got a tweet from Andy Roddick this year and was also followed by Pat Cash on twitter.  Here are some of the changes I am making to Tennis Abides heading into 2018:

• More Interviews Will Take Place in 2018  I already have an interview in the works with a Division III NCAA player and some handshake agreements to interview coaches at various levels of the sport.
• More Product Reviews Daily tennis predictions are a mainstay of the site and drive a lot of traffic.  I am not always able to do daily predictions.  Product reviews have a more permanent value than stale predictions.  This should add greater long-term traffic flow to the site.
• More Retrospectives on Tennis as a Sport as well as the History of the Tours Again, predictions are not going away, but I think given my time constraints that pieces that are less time sensitive for readers are of greater value than predictions.  If I have time, I will do both, but if I don’t predictions will take a backseat.
• Predictions Will Continue as They Can (but not more often than that)

I will also explore new layouts and plug-ins that might enhance the site.  If I try one of these and it negatively impacts the site, I will get rid of it.  Still, exploring changes could make Tennis Abides better.

Thanks for your time and your visits,

Dan Martin

PS – I may be entering into an assistant coaching position at a highly successful high school/secondary school in spring 2018.  That will also open up plenty of opportunities for writing on tennis.