Maureen's Weblog

Arthur Ashe

mo125 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:05:40 +0000

In another section of my paper I am going to talk about how specific people have changed the game, for example, Arthur Ashe. Arthur Ashe made it possible for African Americans to be able to take part in the game of tennis. His name may sound familiar because the center court of the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York is named after Ashe. This is the location of the US Open which takes place for two weeks in August and September each year. But back to Ashe, he began playing when he was very young and worked his way up to earning himself a scholarship to play tennis at the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1969, he became professional. In 1970, he won his second Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open. In 1975, he won the Wimbledon championship, making him the only African American player ever to win the men’s singles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, or Australian Open. He is one of only two men of black African ancestry to win a Grand Slam singles title. Outside of his tennis life, he was also an active civil rights supporter. I visited the official website of Arthur Ashe and I read a very interesting little bit of information right on the main page that I think sums up very nicely how much he was able to accomplish. It reads: “Arthur Ashe was a top ranked tennis player in the 1960s and 70s. Raised in the segregated South, he was the first African-American male tennis player to win a Grand Slam tournament. He was much more than an athlete though. His commitment to social justice, health and humanitarian issues left a mark on the world as indelible as his tennis was on the court. This site is dedicated to providing a unique multimedia resource for understanding and promoting the legacy and values embodied in the life and work of Arthur Ashe as a conscience leader, humanitarian, educator and athlete.”

Tennis star stabbed

mo125 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:26:51 +0000

In a section of my paper for this class, I talked about the whole Monica Seles scandal. For those of you who are not familiar with her, she was a professional tennis player back in the late 80s / early 90s. Her last match was the 2003 French Open, but her retirement became official in February 2008. I will tell her story in a nutshell. Back in April of 1993, Seles was playing in the quarterfinal match against Magdalena Maleeva. She was getting up from her seat after a water break about to serve at 4 – 3. Suddenly, a 38-year-old German named Gunther Parche emerged from the crowd behind Seles and stabbed her in the back, just below her left shoulder blade. Parche was described as a loner and had an extreme obsession with Steffi Graf, who he wanted to see regain her position as the number one player. As he leaned over the three-foot barrier, he gouged a ten-inch knife 1.5 centimeters into Seles’s back. She let out a piercing scream and was rushed to the hospital while Parche was immediately taken into custody. Fortunately, neither her lungs nor shoulder blades were affected. Although her injuries were not life-threatening, Seles was significantly mentally affected. Things were exacerbated when Parche was not even given a custodial sentence, therefore giving everyone the fear that he may return and attempt to strike once again. This made security become much more important, especially for the players. Today, you will often find security men sitting behind the players at the side of the court, with one facing the court to prevent any intrusion from the front and the other sitting facing the spectators behind the player. In addition to these guards, there are also two or three others in the corners of the court who are ready to protect. Even with the increase in security, it took Seles two years to return to the game. She became extremely paranoid and afraid to go back. “It was eating me alive,” she says. “I’d go out on the court, I could be playing great tennis, and it would all start coming back. I’d say, I can’t do this. I pretty much moved to daylight sleeping times. I couldn’t sleep at night. I saw shadows in every corner.” She knew it was time to get herself through it and began working out, practicing, and conditioning constantly. She almost forgot to ask herself if she thought she was ready or not. It was not easy, but finally, two years after the incident, Monica Seles returned to tennis. “You never know. I’ve gotten to the point where I live every day of my life like it’s my last. Anything can happen. You never know.”

Changes in tennis

mo125 — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:42:48 +0000

This week I thought I’d talk about how much tennis has changed over the years. In one of my early blogs I talked about the very early days of tennis, and from that we can even tell how much things have changed from then. From the equipment, to the styles, to the rules, there have been so many changes in the game. Personally, I think that the equipment has changed the game the most. This is because it allows the players to be more powerful in their strokes, which leads to a more quickly paced game. Although the game is centuries old, for a long time, the only material available to make racquets was wood. This made the racquets very heavy. The next step was to make frames out of metal, mostly steel, aluminum, and magnesium. Although this was a major step forward, there was a major drawback to go along with it: it caused a significant increase in vibration. In the 1970s, graphite was introduced, and is still being used in a composite with graphite in racquets today. During this time, Prince introduced the oversized Classic frame. This was one of the most significant enhancements in racquet technology. According to this article I found, “This allowed the handle to be connected to the head closer to the 3 and 9 o’clock positions, thereby adding much greater stability on off center hits.” Another important part of the racquet, of course, is the strings. I don’t know what the authors of the article mean, but apparently the only material used for strings until World War II was natural gut. Soon after, nylon was used, and then there was a development of synthetic strings. It may not be quite as obvious to some people, but even the small changes, such as the material used to create the equipment in tennis can change the game a great deal.

Dedication

mo125 — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:57:17 +0000

I know that my main topic is supposed to be about professional tennis, but I recently saw this story that really interested me. It was a story about a teenage girl who got a prosthetic leg and is continuing playing tennis. Ashley Hendrick, a high school senior from Grand Rapids, Michigan developed bone cancer and had the choice to either get her leg amputated, or she could have tried to save it. She opted to amputate because it would allow her to be more physically active in the future. “I always wanted to come back and play, but I did not know if I would be able to. Tennis does mean a lot to me. I had to learn how to walk again, I had to learn how to do it differently. I am just really happy that I have been able to get back into tennis and everything else I love to do.” She began chemotherapy immediately, and was very successful, but doctors recommended that she amputate in case of it spreading. She had a great deal of support; the family received numerous donations from various fundraisers. She is back on the court to play tennis and does not plan on quitting anytime soon. I believe she learned a lot from this life-changing experience. In an interview Hendrick says, “This all has just changed my perspective on life. It does not last forever, and things can change in an instant. I realize now that what is important is my faith, my family and my friends.”

Challenge point

mo125 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:11:18 +0000

While browsing the USTA website (United States Tennis Association), I realized an important topic I have yet to discuss in my blog. There is not much controversy in most of the things I’ve written about thus far, but I think that the player challenge can be very contentious. It did not even exist until 2006. This is when they started using electronic line calling technology. Before this rule was put into effect, there was no way a player could argue a point if they disagreed with the call that the line judge made. The 2006 U.S. Open was the first grand slam to use this new rule. It was called the “2 plus 1 player challenge.” This meant they could challenge two calls per set, and one during the possible tie-breaker. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, it just means, for example, if a shot was called out and the player thought it was in, they could argue for them to check the electronic line technology. If the call was, in fact, incorrectly made by the line judge, the player who challenged will receive their deserved point. I read an article about how they are changing this rule, so that the players will receive three opportunities to challenge a point, rather than the original two in addition to the one point for the tie-breaker. Jim Curley, USTA Managing Director of Tournament Operations and US Open Tournament Director says, “Electronic line calling, with its player challenge system, has been one of the most widely-acclaimed initiatives in tennis. With an additional challenge per set, we look forward to the Chase Review being used more frequently at this year’s US Open.” There are mixed feelings about the challenge point in general, with people thinking that it changes the game too much. There have even been times where the technology does a worse job with line calls than the actual judge. And there are sometimes people the players know who will sit close to the court and make signals to the players, telling them whether they should challenge the point or not. This could possibly be seen as a way of cheating.

Parents vs. Coaches

mo125 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:58:35 +0000

This week I thought it would be interesting to talk about the relationships between coaches, parents, and (professional tennis) players. Even growing up, I’m sure plenty of you played sports and noticed the parents who were either the coach or an overly involved parent. This has always been something that has really bothered me. Sure, there are plenty of people whose parents help their child with their sport, or are even the coach of the team. For many years, my mom was the coach of my softball team. I had no problem with this at all, and actually usually enjoyed it. But there were always other parent coaches who way too into the game, especially when they get to the point of screaming at a ten-year-old girl for making a mistake during a game. From watches many professional tennis matches, I have noticed that some things never change. Maria Sharapova’s coach has been her father, Yuri, for many years. When you think of one of those obnoxious parents who never gives their kid a break, this would be a perfect description of the relationship between Maria and Yuri. “Hiring the right coach is one of the most important moves a player can make,” says Andy Roddick, “Obviously for scouting and analyzing, but also for just keeping things fresh out here, having a coach is so key.” There are even some players, such as the number one player in the world, Roger Federrer, who didn’t even have a coach for his 2004 season. Some players like to be their own boss. If you ask me, coaches can either make or break your game. I found this article to be very interesting, talking about the different coaches of professional players.

Scoring in tennis

mo125 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:06:41 +0000

I’m not sure that anyone else will find this interesting, unless you are a tennis fan, but I thought I’d explain how the scoring in tennis works. It can certainly be a confusing part of the game. It makes the game much more difficult to follow whether one is playing or watching a match. I suppose I’ll start with an overview of how scoring works in tennis. In scoring for the sport of tennis, there are games, sets, and the entire “game” is the number of sets. The final score of the game is comprised of the sets that were won. Depending on whether it’s a men’s or women’s match, the number of sets are different. Usually, men will play to the first player to win the best of five sets, while women play the best of three sets. Within each set, the game will go on until one player wins six games. I think that the most confusing part of the game is the scoring within the game. The server’s score is always announced before the receiver’s score. Both players start at a score of 0-0, which is referred to as “love” or “love all.” The first point earned is 15. Then comes, 30, and 40, and finally “game.” When both players have gotten to 40, it is called deuce. It is not known where this strange way of scoring originated, but I found some information about it: “The origins of the 15, 30, 40 and so on are not known, but have medieval and French roots. One possible explanation is that the scoring system is based on the presence of a clock face at the end of the tennis court. A quarter move of the appropriate hand was made after each rest, with the score being called as 15, 30, or 45 as the case might be. As the hand was moved to 60, making the complete circuit, this was the game.” I may go into further depth with this next week, but if this explanation was not comprehensible, please let me know if I can clear anything up!

Random story about grunting in tennis

mo125 — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 03:39:11 +0000

A couple days ago I came across a news article that talked about a nine-year-old girl who was apparently banned from a tennis club in Australia. It was because she was “making noises” while she was competing. I found this to be kind of funny. For those of you who are not into tennis at all, there are many professional players who grunt basically every time they hit the ball. Lauryn Edwards’ favorite player is Maria Sharapova, who is commonly know for her grunt. Some people are thinking that she only grunts because her favorite player does and wants to be like her. Lauryn claims otherwise. “It feels natural to do my noise. I’m not faking it, It makes me play better. When I don’t do it, I don’t play my best tennis. And now people have told me I can’t play if I do it.” She has been playing since she was four years old and apparently it was suggested to her by a coach to help with her attention deficit disorder. I don’t really know if I can believe what this nine-year-old is saying. I can understand that professionals have habits that help them with their game, but this third grader is no where near being a professional. I think that this is a bit ridiculous, making national news, considering her age and abilities. I read an article about if grunting will help tennis players. One interesting part of the article I found talked about exactly how grunting will help a player: “For some players, grunting is an inherent part of their game. “The timing of when they actually grunt helps them with the rhythm of how they’re hitting and how they’re pacing things,” says Louise Deeley, a sports psychologist at Roehampton University. “It may be that their perception is that if they grunt, they are hitting it harder. It’s going to give you confidence and a sense of being in control of your game.” I can say that from joking around with my teammates, we have grunted while playing and it did damage to our game. Oh well, I guess it’s not something you can just pick up. Maybe Lauryn wasn’t lying. All I can say, is that from my experience playing in matches, it’s always nicer to play against people who keep quiet.

mo125 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:18:56 +0000

As I described in my last blog, real tennis was the beginning of tennis as we know it today. Real tennis was a popular sport in the 17th and 18th centuries in a few countries, including France. I also starting reading about lawn tennis. I had no idea that the history of tennis went so far back in time, much less had so many different adaptations. In the 19th century in England the sport changed from “real” tennis to lawn tennis. This sport became increasingly similar to the sport currently played around the world. In the 1870s, a new and improved game of tennis was patented in England. There were no actual rules or regulations until the All England Croquet Club held a tournament with a set of rules when the sport finally got it’s start. During the Industrial Revolution, people found themselves with more free time. Therefore they had more time for recreational activities, such as tennis. It became particularly popular within the upper class and the number of players around the world was rapidly increasing. Tennis was mostly played on grass courts and this became commonplace on the estates of the wealthy. Soon, other surfaces were being used as well, such as clay and eventually concrete. One of the reasons it became so popular was because the sport does not require a lot of equipment. All a player needed was the net, ball, racquet, and of course, a partner! Within a pretty short amount of time, tennis became to replace croquet as the new summer sport. I never even knew any of this about tennis until I started reading further into the subject. I think it’s pretty cool how much the sport has changed over time, and is still continuing to chance to this day. I also think it’s a good sport since anyone can appreciate it. I started playing when I was about five years old and I am still playing. It’s a sport that everyone can watch, and even play, from the young to the old.

Real tennis?

mo125 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:55:06 +0000

While thinking of a topic to write about this week, I looked online for some ideas. I actually learned something new about tennis and I thought it would be interesting to discuss with everyone. I discovered that tennis actually descended from another sport many years ago, in the 16th and 17th centuries in England and France. It didn’t start as the name “tennis” however. The term “royal” was actually used up until the 19th century when it started being called “real.” Real tennis is still played on about 35 different courts around the world in Australia, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. I didn’t really know about any of this, but during my research I learned that the term “tennis” comes from a French word tenez, which means “take it,” as a warning from the server to the receiver. The rules and scoring are basically the same in tennis and in real tennis. I learned that a real tennis court is in a building in an area much larger than a normal tennis court. The equipment used in real tennis is slightly different than that used in regular tennis. For example, until recently, white balls that were much less bouncy than regular tennis balls were used. They are still made of the same material, but they now use normal bright yellow balls to improve visibility. The racquets are made of wood and the strings are even more tightly strung due to the fact that the balls are slightly heavier. The head of the racquet is slightly bent in order for the player to reach shots that are closer to the ground. I don’t know about anyone else, but I thought this was pretty cool. I didn’t even know about any of this stuff until today. Hopefully I’ll be able to learn some more interesting facts throughout the semester.