” I learned to listen to an old man who had been there, even though I didn’t think he knew much .” ( Thomas Linne )
I taught THE CARE OF ATHLETIC INJURIES for twenty years. I had a confrontation with football people in 1968. Spearing, or the helmet to helmet and helmet to knees technique, was killing and maiming football players. ( still a problem ).
I believe I have been presient on several issues because of direct experience. Some serious ( Iraq, sports gambling–see news today, current events ). Probably have written more about International college tennis players than anybody. You can read about that growing like kudzu in college basketball in today’s news also.
Tennis evolution ( see dropshots , drop shot defense, topspin lobs, the circle stinger, match length).
Politics today ? James Carville amonished a mythical Oshkosh Wisconsin couple recently : ” You thought if you voted for Trump he’d get you that new refrigerator. But you f&^$#ed up. It ain’t happening. You made a mistake!”
The NO KINGS protest gave us our slogan ( “We are the leader we have been looking for.”)
Some see mocking him is the ploy. Carville doesn’t self censor much but
“Always remember, if you mud wrestle a pig, the pig likes it.”
From Dylan -IT’S ALRIGHT, MA
While one who sings with his tongue on fire Gargles in the rat race choir Bent out of shape from society’s pliers Cares not to come up any higher But rather get you down in the hole That he’s in.
If he can’t stand criticism —-Enough paper cuts may do the job.
The link below is to an article written January 2004. Twenty one years seems a long time for an argument to last, but the truth is this conundrum began at the begining of American college sports. ( 1852–Yale vs Harvard rowing teams )
Winning (money ) vs Education (people ). Bare bones.
How to let wallets rule one and separate the “student/athletes “into their own strata?
What would emerge? No one seems to know.
If the gamblers continue at the current rate they will create pain. If, as suggested , the Government engineers the future, grab your ankles .
American players are doing better than they have in a generation. Both the men and the women are winning tournaments and crowding the top 20.
American tennis associations have done a great job of making sure the best kids got access to top coaching during the past 15 years. Tennis is an expensive sport. Few families can afford the costs of elite development. Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Amanda Anisimova, Coco Gauff — all needed help and got it in various forms. Title IX also means the government must provide the same amount of opportunities for women’s sports as men’s sports, which has built a culture of women’s sports over the last 50 years.
Losing can be hellish. I envisioned Hell as sports losing. Seated in a black, damp room, hell was being forced to repeatedly hear the sound of a second tennis serve hitting the net. Alernately silence is hell , as a 2 foot golf putt is “pulled”.
Lately I have wondered about some issues unrelated to sports. So, at 85 years I googled my symptoms:
“…characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Common tics are blinking, coughing, throat clearing, sniffing, and facial movements. These are typically preceded by an unwanted urge…”
NOTE: With an impressive list of personal health issues , I am sensitive to sufferers.
The quote above appeared under the definition of Tourette’s Syndrome.
Reflecting on my symptoms, while similar, I realized the problems developed in concert with my attempts to use new technology. Daily, while trying to find a password, add a new skill or remember an old one, I would turn into Mr. Hyde : Angry, screaming, retching. violent unsolicited jerking, blinking and throwing things.
Eventually I realized I was and am experiencing a new syndrome I have decided to define as
‘Challenger level is about survival’: brutal reality of life below elite tennis
Clips from THE GUARDIAN by Ervin Ang
“The cities, conditions are not the best, different from when you play the best tournaments. The Challengers are tough. Sometimes I get very upset because you go a long way to win 30 matches and you’re still outside the top 100. It’s way too much.”
The life of a player can be far from fancy. Casual fans may look toward Carlos Alcaraz’s lucrative sponsorship deals with envy, but those on the fringes of the top 100 and beyond live a starkly contrasting reality. The less glamorous side of the sport involves endless travelling, cost cutting to make ends meet and battling bouts of loneliness.
Kevin Clancy, a sports psychologist who worked with Ireland’s top players, believes tennis and golf are the most psychologically demanding sports. He says: “It’s roughly about 20% of the time that you’re on court and hitting the ball, so there’s 80% of the time where you’re doing a lot of thinking.
“Tennis is a sport that mentally could beat you up really, really badly. For players at Challenger level, it’s about survival. They need to play more tournaments and have that constant pressure of, ‘I need to perform and get points’.
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“These players are playing in front of a man and his dog in the middle of nowhere. It’s really tough from a psychological perspective.”
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“It’s not just forehands and backhands, it’s how much can you suffer? How much can you travel? How much can you sleep in different beds every week? We take almost as many flights as pilots. It’s a lonely sport.
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For all their sacrifices, a juicy financial return is far from guaranteed. In 2024, Nikoloz Basilashvili returned from an elbow injury and earned $63,183 in prize money. But after subtracting flight costs and paying his coaches, the Georgian said he made a net loss of about $120,000.
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“You are mostly alone and you don’t really have a lot of friends to talk to. I don’t know if there is any other sport like this, to take a flight on the same day you play a match and then next week you are in another city.
The Little Green Book of Tennis 