518Tennis

  We have a group of outstanding young tennis players on the Northern Region Junior Council. Junior Council members “volunteer their time, skills and resources to increase awareness of tennis within their communities.” They look to promote the game in their local area, mainly focusing on new players 18 years old and younger.  The Northern Region Junior Council ran a tennis event for 4th and 5th graders on Sunday. They seemed to get as much enjoyment from running it as the kids who played in it. “I had a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to see these kids on the tennis court!” (Jeanine Cao).     “It was easy to see that engaging kids in tennis from such a young age can benefit them. They looked like they had as much fun as we did, and I was glad to have the opportunity to let them experience something new.” (Hanvitha Kunkalaguntla) The Junior Council came up with the idea for the event, promoted it, planned it out, and ran it. They started the day with a warmup and racquet skills and th

      This weekend, there was a lot of good tennis at the Level 6 SPORTIME Schenectady junior tournament.   The tournament was one of the first USTA Tournaments to use the ITF’s World Tennis Number rating system for seeding the draws.  Over 100 national tennis federations have signed on to use the World Tennis Number rating system and supply results.  We are very excited to be participating in the BETA testing.        The matches were also exciting – particularly the Boys 12 and Unders.  Aneesh Jakkamsetti won the Boys 12’s, but he had to fight through a tough match with Viggo Dennerline McClellan to make the playoffs.       Aneesh lost the first set but came back to take the second set and then won the match tiebreaker 7-5.  His brother Arnav was on the losing end of the tournament’s tightest match – a 3-5, 4-2, 11-9 marathon match with Roshan Pandya.       There was also a classic duel between Winston Banks and Roger Sheng.  Winston lost the first set but came back to win the second

  Tennis Fun Facts - Fact #1 - ATP: Who has won the most matches without winning a single tournament? Answer: The Frenchman Julien Benneteau holds this inglorious record. He has won 245 singles matches (lost 258 matches) without ever winning a single ATP tournament title.

There is a new UTR Junior Tennis Event for this Sunday.  Space is limited.  CLICK HERE - to sign up

Sportime Schenectady is running its second Women's Open USTA tournament of the year.  Sign up online ( CLICK HERE ).  Wins count towards USTA Women's Open National and Sectional Rankings.

    NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TENNIS      NEW YORK TENNIS CLUB INDOORS 3081 HARDING AVENUE BRONX, NEW YORK 10465   LEVEL 4 NCT MARCH CHAMPIONSHIPS   MARCH 18 - 27, 2022   MEN’S 45, 55, 60, 65 & 70 SINGLES WOMEN’S NTRP 3.5 SINGLES   Matches will begin Friday evening at 7:00 PM and will continue Saturday and Sunday. It may be necessary to play two matches on Saturday and/or Sunday. A consolation match for first match losers will be offered.   Online playtennis.usta.com/tournaments entries close Friday, March 11 th at 5 PM.  Manual entries will be accepted until Sunday, March 13 th at 8 PM.  Entries must be paid online, whether you enter via playtennis.usta.com/tournaments or I enter you manually after online entries close. The entry fee is $73.25.   For directions to the club, please visit www.newyorktennisclub.com   For further information, contact Andrew Weiss – (646) 220-4172 or ncttennis@aol.com or andy@ncttennis.com .  Visit www.ncttennis.

    Olivia Dartawan  and  Rajeev Rai  came home winners again this past weekend. Rajeev traveled to the Centre Court Tennis Club in Riverside, Rhode Island, and won the  Boys 12 Level 5 Tournament  there.  Olivia paired with Gabrielle Berg of Arlington, Virginia, to win the  Girls 12 Level 2 Doubles tournament  at the Virginia Beach Tennis & Country Club. Olivia also finished 4th in the singles. Level 2 tournaments are USTA National events. Player selections for Level 2 tournaments are based on the USTA National Junior Rankings. For example, this tournament had 77 entries for 32 spots. Congratulations, Olivia and Rajeev.

  LAST WEEK'S PERFORMANCE The Albany, New York native posted a 2-1 record in singles last week. Benson defeated Furman's Ivan Mitric in straight sets last Wednesday and Davidson's Maxwell Kachkarov in three sets this past Sunday. Read More - HERE

So many tennis players get tennis elbow.  The Tennis Unit Blog has a good article about how to sleep with tennis elbow.  These are the recommendations: 01- Apply Cold to Reduce Inflammation 02- Taking Heat Before going to sleep 03- Wear loose-fitting sleeves over the elbow 04- Using the Pillow to Support the Elbow 05- Sleeping on your back or unaffected side It is a short article but for more detail CLICK HERE

    The STRIDE Adaptive Sports tennis program is the 2021 winner of the USTA Eastern Service to People with Disabilities Award. STRIDE Adaptive Sports "levels the playing field." for any athlete regardless of disability.   Dave Graham Jr. runs the program with a helping hand from Dave Graham Sr. (his father) and several dedicated volunteers. In 2010 Dave was looking for a sports program for his son Luke who has Autism. After spending time in the program with Luke, Dave agreed to take it over. According to the website Dave "created a tennis curriculum and format for individuals with disabilities (including wheelchair tennis players). The program emphasizes basic fundamental tennis skills while providing the opportunity for social interaction and a place to have fun!"   "The main focus of our program has always been on just having fun while learning some basic tennis skills. We also try to emphasize socializing and encouraging peers during the classes." (Da

 The area inside the Red Dots is the expansion area Wimbledon wants to add 39 new tennis courts.   The expansion would bring the qualifying tournament to the same site as the main tournament.   Qualifiers are currently played at the Bank of England Sports Grounds in Roehampton – appx 3.7 miles away.   That allows Wimbledon to preserve its grass courts for the tournament.   Read more about the qualifiers HERE . Wimbledon  chiefs are locked in a growing row over expansion plans which have been likened to an “act of vandalism” by opponents of the scheme. The 240-year-old landscape was designed by Capability Brown on land owned by the Spencer family, the ancestors of Diana. Up to 300 trees are expected to be cut down — although the All England Club plan to plant 1,500 new ones — while the lake will be dredged with a new boardwalk built around it as part of a 9.4-hectare public park. Read more HERE

  "Tennis is a fine balance between determination and tiredness." – Virginia Wade The February 10 & Under Tournament here at Sportime was also a fine balance between determination and tiredness. These young players each had three short format singles matches – a total of almost 3 hours of singles with only 5-15 minutes rest in between rounds. Nathaniel Russaliah came out on top. "It was really fun and challenging." (Nathaniel). Jace Hill finished second, having played a fierce two tiebreaker match with Braiden Powell of Pittsford, NY. Jace told me, "I think I learned a lot from playing the tournament." Next month Sportime will host the Green Ball 10 & Under Early Development Camp. Many of these same players will probably be there.

  Many of us have known Theresa Cary as a local tennis enthusiast. Many of us have known her as a dedicated team captain. Some of us have been lucky enough also to know her as a very qualified USTA Official. Theresa is this year’s winner of the USTA Eastern 2021 Umpire Service Award.    “She has proven to be knowledgeable about both the rules and her role as an official and communicates well with players when making rulings. Theresa plays a large part in helping events run smoothly, and the award is well-deserved.” (Andy Schechter – Tri City)   Theresa has been a Certified Official and the Northern Region Assignor for 18 years. She has regularly done junior tournaments.    “The junior players are incredibly inspiring, especially the ones that are under five feet and knock the fuzz off the ball. Some are barely as tall as their racquets! I figured if they can hit the ball with such power, sure as heck, I should be able to figure out a way to do it too! Watching them has kept me