Changes as Tennis Abides Turns 7 Dear Readers, I started writing about tennis for various websites in part due to being taken with the high level of play I saw at Masters Cincinnati 2002. I recall watching Carlos Moya up close on day 1 and thinking he would have a nice run. Little did I…
Category: Tennis
Nick Kyrgios and Tennis Excellence
I am not a huge fan of The Color of Money as it is nowhere near as good as The Hustler. Still, the film has a lot of good moments. I especially like Eddie Felson’s line “pool excellence is not about excellent pool.” Nick Kyrgios still lacks tennis excellence. I am not sure how doggedly he…
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…
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…
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…
Tennis Needs to Rework International Competitions
Originally posted on Tennis Abides: Dan Martin on Tennis and Life:
There was a time when a case could be made that tennis should not be an olympic sport, but it is not 1988 any longer. With the summer games having taken on a great deal of importance, is it time for Davis Cup and…
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…
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…
My Last Male GOAT Column for at Least 5 Years
I admit it. I am bored with speculating about who is the greatest of all time (GOAT). Has any topic gotten more ink or pixels in the tennis universe over the past 20 years? It started with Pete Sampras closing in on Roy Emmerson’s then record 12 major titles. Then Andre Agassi won the career…
Wimbledon 2018: More Twitter Content
Beautiful embrace between Serena and Kerber. Great sportsmanship. pic.twitter.com/HlVJC7pkun — Jeff Donaldson (@jddtennis) July 14, 2018 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js "I know I had to play my best tennis against a champion like Serena" Angelique Kerber did just that to become #Wimbledon champion for the first time. Here are the highlights and best quotes 👉 https://t.co/HIepsSHx70 #bbctennis pic.twitter.com/LNa7aU46vq…
Tennis Abides: Dan Martin on Tennis and Life 