Fiend At CourtUSTA Sport Science Research 2026: High Performance Player Development By Teresa Merklin on November 2, 2025—Two excerpts:

Playing high-performance junior tennis is expensive and often prohibitively so. Families drop out of the competitive pathway not because their children lack talent or passion, but because they simply can’t afford to stay in the game. Travel, equipment, and coaching costs create barriers that exclude many promising athletes long before their potential can be realized. The USTA needs to explore sustainable, transparent ways to subsidize training and travel that are accessible, fair, and equitable.

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 Elite-level player development doesn’t just happen in academies; It starts with the local coach who spots a spark in a kid at a park court and knows how to nurture it.

Of the three grant categories, I suspect this is the one that will attract the most proposals. Everyone loves the idea of developing the next great American champion. That’s understandable, but it also misses the point. The most impactful research might not be about training elite juniors at all, but rather creating an environment where excellence can grow naturally. That starts with broad participation, access to affordable instruction, and community-level engagement.

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Another Reality

“ For every Serena or Naomi, there are thousands of families who went all in, only to come up empty-handed. It’s a system built on dreams, but powered by delusion.

And yet… that delusion is part of what keeps the junior tennis engine running.”

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Playing high school team tennis is about the only way to inexpensive match experience in the  U.S.  (Tom Parham ).  

The SHOT DOCTORS

https://tomparham.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=5840&action=edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Sg8qPj4zvCNPhYlKy0mHe9ByIkTA-JHsUAywiW9Jv0E/edit?tab=t.0

 It’s a system built on dreams, but powered by delusion.

 (Copied from NATIONAL MEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATION  ( President’s letter, July 2025)

A follow-up idea stemming from yesterday’s post about the economic inequities between junior and senior tennis is a related micro-topic. It centers around the illusion of return on investment. The junior tennis ecosystem is largely fueled by a powerful fantasy. Parents (and sometimes even the players themselves) believe that with enough money, sacrifice, and hard work, tennis greatness and a lucrative professional career are within reach. Failing that, at least there is the potential of a college scholarship.

Junior tournaments are populated by families burning vacation days to stand on blistering hot sidelines, pouring resources into private lessons, national travel, custom stringing, fitness trainers, and sometimes even homeschool tutors. It adds up—quickly. And while few say it out loud, the intentions are clear. The hope of a future payoff. Framed that way, junior tennis isn’t an indulgence, but rather an investment.

The emergence of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals has clouded the dynamic for college tennis. In marquee sports like football and basketball, NIL opportunities have turned collegiate athletics into quasi-professional ventures. However, for “minor” sports like tennis, it is starting to show the opposite effect. Athletic departments and third parties are directing resources toward programs that generate visibility and revenue. Meanwhile, tennis slips further into the background. The money is flowing, just not toward tennis. All that to say, players who earn college scholarships for tennis receive far less in financial remuneration than what was poured into their junior development.

If you watch “King Richard” or read Ben Rothenberg’s “Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice,” you can see the same haunting story of staggering costs and financial strain that comes with chasing tennis greatness. In both stories, the results are extraordinary. However, the outcomes were more likely to be ruinous for all but the most statistically improbable outliers. For every Serena or Naomi, there are thousands of families who went all in, only to come up empty-handed. It’s a system built on dreams, but powered by delusion.

And yet… that delusion is part of what keeps the junior tennis engine running.

For Coaches

On Critics 

“Bullfight critics row on row,

Pack the vast arena full.

But there’s only one there who knows,

And he’s the one who fights the bull.”

From Michener’s “Mexico” 

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Next to net play, the service return requires the most quickness. Good players “unweight” or bounce slightly to ready themselves.

You have to get wide, get low, and get ready. The first part of quick is ready!

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Diversity: Coaches hitched on to the popular gravy train of “diversity”. Diversity in college tennis became an American with a large scholarship.

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There are four corners on each side of the court. Two are up at the net.  Hint: Drop shots.

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Service Returns

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“OFF SEASON” ?

“There is no off season”

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A NEW SHOT?

Watch this shot emerge as the next  “ old “emerging shot: THE TOPSPIN LOB.

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I watched one of Coach Leighton’s varsity players use a forehand grip that violated much of Leighton’s fundamental thought. I asked, Are you gonna let him keep playing that way? He simply said, “Watch him hit it!” Boom, boom, boom! Then the Coach said, “if a flaw works don’t change it.”

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 “Every match is preparation for another match.”
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 If I taught a 2015 talented youngster I might suggest: 

You must change your western forehand to this universal grip to volley, hit most forehand approach shots, and short, low forehands.

Use a western grip for all deep forehand shots

Use the backhand to continental grip(s) for every other shot. It is the most versatile and functional grip.

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Your knees are your elevators on low volleys. Right-handers – on your low forehand your right knee almost touches the court. Backhands, left knee.

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Once Borg, when asked by Bud Collins to cite his most valuable tennis asset, replied simply, “legs!”

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Golf Advice Only?

It’s the only thing written on his (Harvey Penick’s)  personal brand of golf clubs. “Take dead aim!” ThinkTarget.

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Good Eye?

We adopted this policy: 1) In practice, if you have any doubt let it go and see if you are right. 2) In a match, with any doubt, go ahead and play it. Soon I could see our players use better and better judgment. We would occasionally let one drop in, but our percentage grew dramatically.

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—don’t have your finger in your ear and your mind in neutral
and miss the one-two of doubles.

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THROWING ?

 If you think women are anatomically limited in throwing,

watch modern women’s tennis, or better still, collegiate women’s softball.

Zing!

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Charlie Owens perfected a “just high enough” forehand lob down the line to force the net player to hit a lukewarm backhand overhead to his only logical cross-court target. Charlie would be there waiting for it with a  “passer.”

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Volley Tip

This is an area in which American players and teachers could get better. For example, we are “spot specific” on passing shots, but on volleys many of our kids just sort of “bang it over on the other side.”

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“Balance is the clue to good tennis, and footwork is the clue to good

balance” –Welby Van Horn.

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Two rally suggestions: (1. Hit ground strokes off the first bounce only. Second bounce hits are not legal, plus first bounce makes you hustle to the ball and hit some awkward shots. 2. There is no need to hit balls that are out of bounds. Just knock them down, or let
them go, and start a new inbounds rally.)

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Compare the “hit spot” for a backhand two-hander to a one-handed backhand slice.

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“Doubles is a one-two game”. “Double faults are double trouble in doubles”.

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“YOU ARE COACHING THE WOMEN’S TEAM! “

Before I said anything, one young lady offered, “we are so glad we now have a man coach.” They all shook their heads in agreement. I didn’t agree and told them so. In my first “coaching” of women. I offered, “You wouldn’t mind a good woman coach. What you don’t want is a poor coach,

man or woman.” 

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MEN COACHING WOMEN? Men are from Mars; women are from Venus. How do you identify these
differences as far as coaching goes? The best source for a “crash course”
on the subject would be to consult Anson Dorrance’s book on the subject.

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BEGINNING FOOTWORK

• Tennis starts in your eyes and brain and goes to  your feet and legs immediately.  Here is a beginning footwork drill for newcomers:  It is done without a racket or ball.  ONLY FOOTWORK.  And  mimicking several shots you will have to master.
•  ALWAYS RETURN TO THE MIDDLE OF THEIR BEST SHOT, USING PROPER FOOTWORK-BEGIN WITH A QUICK WALK-LIKE FOOTWORK TO THE BALL. USUALLY SHUFFLE STEPS BACK TO CENTER.

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A “BIGGIE “

Teaching “killer instinct” is key. Ahead a service break? Get a second.

I think that the most vulnerable points are “ahead points,” 40–15 and

30–0. These are the points that 20 year olds lose concentration on, thus

allowing that “old sinking feeling” to reenter.

When ahead, keep the pressure off yourself by staying ahead.

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THE TOUGH AREA

There are three main “parts” you have to coach: physical, mental, and

emotional. The emotional part is the toughest to deal with. However, there

are really only two villainous emotions: Fear and anger. And they are both

Self-directed.

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COLLEGE CHOICES—ANOTHER ANGLE?

Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, DAVID AND GOLIATH has an interesting viewpoint regarding one’s choice of institutions for pursuing higher education. He suggests being a

” big fish in a little pond” yields better results than the other way around. Being in the top third of your class breeds esteem, whereas being in the lower third (albeit a third with fine students) often discourages those who are always looking up at those who out-perform them.

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Some one said “… a tennis player is as strong or as weak as their weakest link, and the weakest link in tennis is the second serve.”

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BORG’S SPEECH

Borg taught a magnificent lesson one day on TV. Having just beaten McEnroe in “the greatest match ever” I watched commentator Bud Collins interview the Wimbledon Champ. Collins asked Borg how he did it? Borg, stoic as ever said simply: “legs.” Nothing more. Collins had several minutes in his hands and rambled on in a commentary I don’t remember. 

Then, Borg, having thought some, took the mike from Bud. His comments were: 

1. I was very nervous inside 
2. I thought, surely I will lose. 
3. I told myself, I must put these thoughts out of my mind. 
4. I will not quit under any circumstances. 

End of clinic. Pretty good advice for a lot of areas