Month: August 2018

The Big 3 since 2003: The US Open as the Best Opportunity for Everyone Else

Roger Federer did not win his first major until July 2003.  Rafael Nadal picked up his first major in June 2005.  Novak Djokovic won his maiden slam in January 2008.  Even if one starts with the Australian Open 2003, the Big 3 have posted similar levels of domination at the first 3 majors of the…

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Another Conversation with Tim Mayotte: The Kinetic Chain

This past June I was fortunate enough to have a second interview with Tim Mayotte.  Mayotte is an incredibly nice person with a lot of well-rounded interests.  In that conversation, we discussed multiple things, but when it came to tennis Mayotte explained that the Big 3 in men’s tennis all share certain commonalities in how…

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The Complex Case of Rick Pitino and Basketball in Kentucky

Complete with hyperlinks and endnotes News of dueling books about Rick Pitino as well as stories surrounding the lawsuit between Rick Pitino and the University of Louisville regarding the recruiting scandal that led to his firing in 2017 have me reflecting on Rick Pitino’s time in my beloved home state of Kentucky.  Kentucky cannot make…

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The Self-Similar Nature of Tennis

Tennis can be thought about at a number of levels, but each level is of a similar complexity to the level above or below it.  I will look at 3 of these levels. The Level Most People Talk About: Individual Skills One’s technique when hitting the ball, one’s movement on the court, and one’s conditioning…

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John Isner and Intentionally Slower Surfaces

Wimbledon decided to look into slowing its courts down and increasing the length of points after the 1998 men’s final.  The rest of the tour tended to follow Wimbledon’s lead as outdoor and indoor hard courts were slowed down, indoor carpet events went away, and tennis balls were slowed down too.  It may not be…

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