Image by saturnshine

Dinara Safina overtook Serena Williams as the world’s number one female player.

Image by James Marvin Phelps

This guy got married. Check out People Magazine’s website for details about Andy Roddick and Brooklyn Decker’s nuptials.

Image by James Marvin Phelps

This guy also got married. After what seems like an eternity of dating, Roger Federer and girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec finally tied the knot (and are expecting a baby!). Click here for photos.

Image by chuki

The clay season started. Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in three sets to win the Monte Carlo Masters.  Earlier today defending champion Djokovic defeated Juan Martin del Potro to reach the semi-finals of the Rome Masters. Check out the full bracket on cbssports.com.

Bob Bryan, Serena Williams and Andy Roddick are the latest players to join Twitter. Follow Bob at @bryanbros, Serena at @serenajwilliams and Andy at @andyroddick. Bob’s tweets are great, but Serena and Andy still need to work on their tweeting technique.

]]> http://buzzonthebaseline.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/rip-van-winkle-effect/feed/ 0 the buzz on the baseline 2825985851_f9283c6c24 360648673_8e4beec26c 400px-federer_ohio_2008_5 1305666156_2c49410393_b bryan http://buzzonthebaseline.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/174/ http://buzzonthebaseline.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/174/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:20:03 +0000 ardengibney http://buzzonthebaseline.wordpress.com/?p=174 Continue reading →]]> A few weeks ago former tennis coach Lauren Foster weighed in on how young is too young for a child to start playing tennis. This week Lauren and I covered the bases on other tennis topics, from getting started and choosing the right equipment, to tennis fans and the world’s top players.

Hit the jump for my Q&A with Lauren.

Buzz on the Baseline (BOTB): I’m working on a post this week about choosing the right tennis racquet. Do you have any advise to offer on that topic?

Lauren Foster (LF): There’s so much new technology out there. There really is a racquet for everyone, but I guess finding it is where you’re asking for my advise. So I guess I would say to do as much research as you can online and try everything. There’s no better way to find out what works for you than to try it out. When in doubt going with a standard racquet with with a larger head is a good bet for a beginner.

BOTB: Speaking of beginners, if someone has never picked up a racquet before, how would you suggest they get started?

LF: There are lots of ways to get started. Most country clubs and rec centers offer lessons. The USTA also keeps a list of tennis programs throughout the country, so people can go on their Web site and find a local location. Group lessons are a good way to get started.  But you definitely don’t need lessons to start playing. Go to your local Wal-Mart or Meijer and get a cheap racquet and some balls, grab a friend and start playing. The keyword there is “play.” Have fun with it.

BOTB: Do you think tennis will ever have its moment in the sun in the U.S.?

LF: I’d love to say “yes,” but I’m not sure. The sport has become increasingly popular in the U.S. with Sampras and Agassi in the 1990s and the Williams sisters in the 2000s. I think we’re slowly but steadily growing fans and cultivating players. Whether we’ll ever be as popular as football, I doubt it. The key to tennis’ success in this country is having great American champions in the professional game.

BOTB: Who do you think is the greatest American champion (and why)?

LF: Pete Sampras.  He’s just a truly great champion, and not just because he’s won the most majors. There was a point in his career when he was close to retirement, he had fallen out of the top rankings and no one else believed he could win another major. Pete proved everyone wrong and won the U.S. Open to close his career.

BOTB: Is Pete Sampras your favorite tennis player? Do you think he’s the all-time great, or just the all-time American great?

LF: I think he’s tennis’ all-time greatest player. I’m biased though, because I’m an American, I think. There’s obviously a strong arguement to be made for Rod Laver, but Pete holds the number one spot in my mind. The era he played in was much more competitve than when Laver played, and he finished at number one more times than Laver. I don’t know. I think the jury is still out on that one.

BOTB: How about today’s top players? Federer or Nadal?

LF: (laughs) The jury is really still out on that one! It’s too soon to tell, I think. If Roger can get over this mental roadblock he’s hit, I think he has potential to surpass even Pete. I also think Rafa has that same potential. That’s why tennis is so exciting right now.

BOTB: We haven’t talked about the women’s side of the game yet…

LF: That’s because there’s not much to talk about.

BOTB: We have the Williams sisters.

LF: We do have the Williams sisters. Venus and Serena are great. They’ve brought in millions of fans for the sport, don’t get me wrong. The problem is that they’re all the women’s side has right now, especially since Sharapova has been out this season with injuries.

BOTB: How can the women’s side get out of its rut?

LF: The best way is obviously for more young players like Venus and Serena to emerge. Whether they come from the juniors or out of local clubs, they need to come out for the women’s game to rebound from where it is now. The more girls who sign up for lessons, or play for their schools, the bigger the pool is for elite players.

BOTB: How can tennis generate more fans and gain more viewers?

LF: It’s all a big cycle. Exciting players will attract more fans, which will motivate  kids and their parents to start playing, which will create more players and more fans, etc. The USTA needs to focus on the players and on marketing the players to people, not necessarily the sport. The sport and the excitment of the game will follow naturally after the players. People really care about other people, not the technicalities behind the sport.

BOTB: Why should people love tennis as much as we do?

LF: Whether you’re a beginning player or a professional, tennis is fun. It’s just a terrifically fun game to play. If you’ve never picked up a racquet before, give it a try and within a couple hours you’ll be able to hit the ball back and forth and even get some serves in the box. That’s the number one reason. As a fan of the sport, I don’t think there’s another sport that requires such mental and physical ability as professional tennis. When you watch the sport being played, you can’t help but to appreciate the level of athleticism that’s being displayed.

Image by Phillipioo

From weight and size, to brand and price, and even color and feel, choosing the right tennis racquet can be daunting.

Racquet science has come leaps and bounds from the wooden racquets of yesterday, and now even the most elementary tennis players must take numerous factors into consideration when selecting a new racquet. By choosing equipment designed for specific skill levels and playing styles, players are able to play with more consistency and confidence, and maximize their enjoyment of the game.

Racquet design often makes compromises between power and control, comfort and feel and weight and stability. Some of the differing design elements that make this possible include:

• Head size – Power and head size are directly related. The larger the head, the more power a player can wield from his or her swing. The average head size is between 95 – 110 square inches, however racquets are made with heads between 85 – 135 square inches. Though a large head size means more power, a smaller head means more control. Generally speaking, a smaller head size appeals to more accomplished players, while beginners should aim for a larger, more forgiving racquet.
• Length – Racquet length ranges from 27 – 29 inches. Though this may seem like a small difference, a longer racquet can add leverage on serves and more reach on groundstrokes. Ultimately this comes down to personal preference.
• Weight & Balance – Heavy racquets are more powerful, more stable and transmit less shock than lighter racquets. Lighter racquets are more maneuverable, allowing the player to swing faster. Raquets are either heavier, head-light, or lightweight, head-heavy. The former is preferred by most players, but the latter also has advantages for players who want to increase their maneuverability.
• Frame Stiffness - Stiffer racquets bend less, thus take less energy from the ball. They also transmit more schock to the wrist upon impact. The opposite is also true.

There’s no better way to select the right racquet than to try it out in person. If you’re weary about ordering a racquet online, a great way to test the field is with Tennis Express’ racquet demo. Browse racquets online, demo up to four at a time, and they’ll ship them to you for free. Another good way to select the right raquet is by reading user reviews online. You can also talk to other players’ on the USTA Web site.

After watching this video, I thought I’d share some of my own favorite You Tube tennis videos. From the random to the awesome, these miscellaneous clips have been accumulating on my YouTube “favorites” for years.

Check out the videos after the jump.

Because I’m a Fedophile, this video gets the first spot on my post. The highlight reel documents some of Roger’s best moments, and has had more than 2 million views on You Tube.

French doubles player Michael Llorda’s forehand is killer. Literally. An unlucky house martin met its end when Llorda’s ball collided with the bird mid-air during a 2002 Australian Open match.

In his twentieth year as a professional tennis player, Andre Agassi announced he would retire at the 2006 U.S. Open. The moment came when Agassi fell to 112th-ranked Benjamin Becker. In obvious pain, Agassi lost the match, but won an eight-minute standing ovation from the crowd. He delivered a tear-filled speech and one of my favorite tennis memories of all time.

Dinosaurs play tennis with a pig. There’s not much else to say about this video, but it’s super-cute.

For those, like me, who were too young to see John McEnroe in his prime, here is a clip of him going ballistic at a match.

Image by Yoshimov

From the professionals to the rest of us, when is the right time for your child to start playing tennis?

The Professionals

When Andre Agassi was an infant, his father hung a makeshift mobile of tennis balls over his crib. Mike Agassi believed this would help his young son develop good coordination. At the young age of 14, Venus and Serena Williams bypassed the junior circuit and became professional tennis players. However, it was their father, Richard Williams, who first dreamed of his daughters becoming tennis stars.

There’s no doubt that family plays a pivotal part in many professional tennis players’ careers. Numerous players travel with their families, and some are even coached by family members. Current top-players Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic are each coached by a relative.

A high level of family involvement, and even pressure, may be the norm for the world’s top players, but what about for the average young tennis hopeful?

The Rest of Us

“My mom loves tennis, so she made me take lessons when I was little,” college senior Allison Martin said. “I didn’t like it very much, but I stuck it out through the end of summer.” Martin said she was eight years old when she took her first tennis lesson.

In CNN’s Children and Sports Special, Edward Laskowski, co-director of the Sports Medicine Clinic at Mayo Clinic, said children between the ages of seven and 10 are the perfect age for taking up tennis.

Lauren Foster, a former tennis coach from Columbus, Ohio, taught tennis lessons for more than 20 years. During her career, she worked as a tennis instructor at different facilities, from country clubs to recreation centers. “At all the places I’ve worked for, six has been the minimum age for children to begin group lessons,” Foster said. “Private lessons are a little different. That can be up to the instructor. Personally, I have only worked with a couple children under six.”

The age a child is ready to start playing tennis, or any sport, depends on their physical and mental development. Between ages six and nine is when children further develop sports-related motion skills and the ability to understand more complex concepts and rules behind a game. According to Foster, most parents naturally wait until around six to sign their children up for lessons, however there are always exceptions. When Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati were popular in the early 90s, Foster said more and more parents tried to turn their sons and daughters into young tennis phenoms.

“Many professionals have been playing tennis, in some capacity or another, since they could walk,” Foster said. “But for most kids, that’s not the right path.”

Martin said she quit playing tennis because it was her mom’s dream, not hers.

“I liked softball better, and my mom was OK with that.”

If you’re interested in signing your son or daughter up for tennis lessons, click here to find a facility near you that offers the USTA’s 1-2-3 Tennis Lessons.

Image by HAMACHI

After making the rounds on some of my favorite tennis blogs this morning, mainly Peter Bodo’s Tennis World and Go To Tennis,  I realized that sooner or later I would be forced to finally ask myself a question I have been avoiding for months … Is Roger Federer’s career F.U.B.A.R.? (For those not savvy on the term, check out the wikipedia page, here).

Go To Tennis raises the F.U.B.A.R. question in contrast to Tennis.com writer Peter Bodo’s “career maneuvering” theory.

According to Bodo, great champions go through three career stages: the introduction, where they struggle to make a name for themselves,  the Golden Age where they rack up titles and bask in their own glory, and the third stage, which according to Bodo is the…

period when the reality of tennis mortality sinks in, and the piper demands to be paid. A player, while still a young man, begins to sense that things may be slipping away, and – if he’s any kind of champion at all (and remember, there’s no law saying he must be,) he pulls out all the stops and kicks and claws to keep his place at or near the top.

With the champion’s heartbreaking loss to Rafael Nadal at this year’s Australian Open, it was inevitable that people would question Federer’s future in the game. If Bodo’s so-called stages exist, I hope Roger will bring out his claws soon. Perhaps he already has.

Good news came for Federer fans this afternoon when Roger said he plans to stay in the game for another seven or eight years.

(Photo Credits:  Ivanovic by Richard Fisher, Federer by HAMACHI, Nadal and Williams by Brett Marlow, Djokovic by Yagan Kiely)

Players always bring out vibrant, spring colors for the Australian Open. Bold, jewel tones seem to be the name of the game this season, from Ana Ivanovic’s amethyst asymmetrical dress, to Novak Djokovic’s emerald color shorts.

Also noteworthy, is the addition of the Adidas by Stella McCartney spring/summer collection. Maria Kirilenko, the 27th seed, sported a McCartney-inspired dress in her brief run in this year’s Australian Open (pictured right). I was surprised more of the Adidas-sponsored ladies didn’t wear a McCartney creation this year. Her collection is fun, fashion-forward, and truly has a great grasp on color and movement. The embroidered details at the bottom of the dresses are also a very sweet touch. McCartney says of her collection:

“This collection tries to provide for all the needs of a modern woman. Style meets performance is crucial for women today, and I’ve tried to address this in my most recent collection. Remembering you’re alive is key, health is wealth!”

Perhaps most surprising at this year’s Australian Open was Serena’s boring Nike look. The usual risk-taker switched between a solid white, solid blue and a boring print dress. This is what she had to say about the boring print:

I love patterns. . . I’m really inspired by prints. I remember I was sitting in my apartment and I literally had to go to, like, different pages on the computer and kind of graphically design the pattern. So it was interesting. It was just really weird concepts. We came up with some circles and some lines, just kind of things like that. It was cool.

Apparently the design for her dress was in-the-works for the last year. Click the link to read more.

For fellow tweeple out there, I’ve created a list of the most worthwhile tennis tweets to follow. If you don’t have an account, “joining the conversation” only takes a few seconds. All you need is an e-mail address, and you’ll be tweeting with the pros.

Tennis.com (@tennis) – Tweets range from scores, rumors, opinions, gear updates and blog feeds from Tennis.com.

USTA (@usta) – Mostly blog plugs and scores, the USTA has only been on Twitter for a few days. I assume they’ll liven things up as they go along.

Andy Murray (@andy_murray) – Murray’s Twitter is the only professional players’ Twitter I’m aware of, and it’s definitely worthwhile. His tweets often doesn’t make sense and his frequent, asinine updates and heavy use of acronyms and abbrevations make for a good laugh (See: “Out 4 lunch wit treacle, AI + james chaudry. Bn brain training on nintendo this morning. Got my brain age down to 30. Best yet”) Huh?

Tennis Express (@TennisExpress) – Although TennisExpress mostly consists of equiptment updates, there is also a heavy emphasis on interactivity. Followers are encouraged to participate in discussions and equiptment reviews.

Image by Jim Phillips

My first tennis memory was watching Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras play in the 1990 U.S. Open final. Agassi’s feathered mullet, scruffy beard and neon shirt were a stark contrast to Sampras’ more conservative coif, clean-shaven face and white polo. The rivals were not only night-and-day in appearance, but also in their style of play – Sampras was one of the game’s last great serve and volleyers, Agassi prefered to strike the ball from the baseline. Their differences made for one of the most compelling rivalries in tennis, and certainly contributed to why I am a tennis fan today.

Agassi and Sampras would meet four more times in Grand Slam finals, Sampras taking four of the five matches. In total, Sampras went 20-14 in head-to-heads with Agassi.

Rivalries are what make tennis great. Rivalries are what make any sport great. They add a plot to the sport, create die-hard fans or die-hard haters.

So in honor of of Andre and Pete, I’m counting down the sport’s five greatest rivalries in the last 10 years.

5. Justine Henin (9) v. Kim Clijsters (6): 2002 – 2006

Though it only spanned four years,  matches between these two Belgiuns were always exciting to watch. It was truly a loss when Clijsters retired so early to start a family in 2007, with Henin following her into retirement in 2008.

4. Stefi Graf (1o) v. Monica Seles (5): 1989 – 1999

Unfortunately this rivalry was cut short after a lunatic fan attacked Seles in 1993.

3. Venus Williams (9) v. Serena Williams (9): 1998 – present

After a rocky start in head-to-head matches, the sisters eventually got over the awkwardness and started playing some tremendous tennis agaist one another.

2. Rafael Nadal (13) v. Roger Federer (6): 2004 – present

The top two players since 2005, Nadal and Federer have shattered the bar on the men’s side of the game. From their epic match at Wimbledon last year, to Federer’s most recent heartbreaking loss to Nadal at the Australian Open, this rivalry has been one sided (in Nadal’s favor) in more recent years.

1. Pete Sampras (20) v. Andre Agassi (14): 1989 – 2002

Nadal and Federer still have a way to go to surpass this great rivalry.