C'est Si Bon - The French Open in Springtime

Les Courts Rouge. La Rive Gauche. Porte d'Auteuil. Roland Garros. C'est Paris en les printemps.

I have been to the French Open on two occasions. One was way back in my post student years when I was working with the ATP Tour. The more recent opportunity to visit was a few years ago. One of my best friends, who is French, was having a tough time and his father, who had never called me and doesn't speak any English, called me to see if I could go and visit and spend some time with him - we met in Paris and hung out and the French Open seemed like a great day out. It was. C'est si bon...

Yves Montand - C'est Si Bon

Paris in the Spring, as Cole Porter wrote, is truly special. There are other cities I guess that have some great qualities in the Spring - Washington DC's cherry blossoms are amazing - but Paris has that "je ne sais quoi" and The French Open at Roland Garros is a part of the Spring Saison. In 1865, Jules Jaluzot founded the famous department store Printemps - which surely meant that Springtime in Paris is surely special.

Have you noticed that the French really love wearing ties and scarves? The crowds at Roland Garros, named after the aviator above who was the first man to fly across the Mediterranean, are by far the best dressed in the sporting world.

Named after one of the aviators at an exclusive Parisian Club, Roland Garros is perhaps the most intimate of all the tennis majors. The show courts are comfortable, unlike Wimbledon. They are cozy, unlike the US Open and Australia. The site was given to the French Tennis Federation back in 1928 by Stade Francais to host the 4 Musketeers who had just beaten the Americans on US soil in 1928

Jacques "Toto" Brugnon, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste in fact took French tennis global, winning five Davis Cups and winning the long awaited rematch at the new French tennis home in 1928 at Roland Garros. These Frenchmen went on to win an unprecedented five Davis Cups in a row.

The Four Musketeers who won The Davis Cup in 1928 at the new Roland Garros. Rene Lacoste already has the alligator. All they're missing are the ties!

The surface has never changed, and the maxim that the red clay is a leveler is surely appropriate. What's most interesting in looking at the list of Champions and even runner-ups is who is not there. Pete Sampras never won here, which in my book denies him from being the best player ever. The fact that Roger Federer has won this Championship only once speaks volumes. One of the best finesse players ever to take the court, Roger finally won here in 2009. Guess who only won once as well? Rod Laver who many say is the greatest player of all time won it just once - the year he won all the majors fortunately for him. And Ilie Nastase, who arguably was the greatest finesse player, won it just once.

On the women's side, people rarely note that among all her majors, Martina Navratilova just won it twice whereas the clay favored diminutive Justine Henin who took home the trophy on four separate occasions.

The list of Champions is surely a quirky statistic that we can reflect on every year as the red clay in Paris covers socks, ankles, racquets and balls. But there is an art to tennis when the tour makes its ultimate annual stop in what was once fields just to the South of the beautiful Bois du Boulogne. Even the cameramen for France 2 find artistic angles and views which I believe bring the viewer in closer to the action and help the television viewing world to feel just that little bit Francais.

Thus far this year's French Internationale, as it was called when they opened the tournament to non French Club players back in the early 20th Century, has not waivered too much away from the seeds. Upsets are coming I am sure and the quirky list that mark the Championship's winners I am sure will have another surprise in store for us this year.

The Evolution of the Grip and The Loss of The Continental

I was told one day years ago the following: Tennis was developed in Continental Europe and therefore the real first grip used was termed Continental. When the New World (i.e. New England) took on the sport of tennis, the Eastern grip was really developed on the East Coast of the United States. As you move the grip around the racquet, you move Western. The Western grips were established by West Coast American players and finally the Semi-Western and Full Western grips by the Australians.

Now, I cannot find anything to back that up, and the basis of the story may or may not be true. But, it's a nice story to use when teaching children tennis and geography and to use the sides of the racquet as a globe as you move around the world... and the racquet.

In doing some research, the 1860s saw the use of a Western Grip - and we thought it was a new grip in the 21st Century (well at least I did)! And perhaps my story above holds out as Californian Bill Johnston played our splendid game in the early 1900s and used his Western Forehand grip to help the USA win seven consecutive Davis Cups. His forehand was considered the best in the world at the time and he finally relinquished his number one American rank to Big Bill Tilden in the early 1920s.

The modern game of tennis sees most of the students learn a forehand first and usually, with an Eastern grip where the knuckle is straight behind the racquet's grip, taught primarily to help juniors with their groundstrokes. For years, through the 1960s and 1970s, many students of the game, initially held the racquet with a continental grip and then moved over to the Eastern grip. This is how I learned and, perhaps you may call it old school, there are some advantages to this progression or at least familiarization with the Continental grip.

Once we are out of our comfort zone at the baseline, the Continental grip is ubiquitous. In reality, any time one moves forward, the continental grip is really the grip of choice. There are several reasons for this and many of my students ask "When should I change?"

The only time I can think of keeping your full forehand grip, whether it be Eastern, Semi-Western, or Western as you move into the court and toward the net is on a ball that is presented to you above waist height where you can really hit top-spin on an approach shot. If the ball is low and forcing you to reach, well then the "Do the Continental with me..."

The Continental grip really forces the racquet head to angle upward underneath the ball at contact if contact is made in front of the body. Therefore on any low ball, requiring slice or simply to get it back up over the net, the Continental grip alleviates the flat racquet head position with the strings flush to the net which is caused by an Eastern or Western grip.

This comes in handy on a low approach or a low volley. I harken back to Andy Roddick, who too often didn't change to a Continental grip and one can remember how many balls would be caught by the net as he approached. The picture above illustrates this. The racquet head is flat to the ball and flush to the net, whereas a continental grip in the same situation would allow the strings to be angled upward.

One of the greatest players at the net and inside the court was Stefan Edberg. I had the opportunity to practice with him just prior to Wimbledon years back and at the net he was flawless. I use a more recent photo, but look at the Continental grip and the angle of the racquet as it approaches the ball.

Same ball, same place on the court... different racquet and hand angle due to the grip. In fact, I think you can spy his index finger up along the back of the grip. The next time you practice volleying, try just volleying with your index finger and thumb on the racquet and controlling the racquet head angle with the heel of your hand. Those three points of contact are really what control the racquet in a Continental grip, not fingers three, four or five.

Unfortunately, we teach the Eastern or Western grips all too often and all too long with our juniors who spend hours on the baseline. A good opponent, noting that you are not comfortable at the net, will bring you in to net and test that volley. Once you leave the backcourt, you leave that grip behind at the baseline. Andy found it hard to change and if he found it difficult to change, as one of the best players in the world, so is a junior looking to climb the rankings who doesn't practice it or learn it early on in development.

If one feels comfortable with the Continental grip, they can remain in that grip for even a return of serve if they feel they don't have the time to change grips on a service return. Once at net, no need to change grips between a backhand or forehand volley or an overhead. All Continental. Simplicity.

In each lesson, I try to reserve at least 15 to 20 minutes of the hour to working with a continental grip - whether it be for the volley, approach shot, overhead or serve. A good junior player, in fact any player, should feel comfortable with the Continental grip. And if you are an odds maker - well that's four strokes with a Continental grip compared to the one stroke for the other forehand grips.

 

 

The Drop, Technology, Media and The Penalty of Being the Best and Worst in Sport

Technology, Media And A Penalty Drop

After his round Friday, Tiger Woods was just behind the leaders and thinking how he could overtake the leaderboard on the third day at Augusta. He received an early morning text message to meet with the Rules Committee and was told that he was receiving a two-stroke penalty for an improper drop.

The rule, in and of itself, is vague. The rule stipulates that after entering a hazard an option is to: "Proceed under the stroke and distance provision of Rule 27-1 by playing a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played." But, this is golf. Rulings are always complicated. But now, they take on even more complexity when the media, television and Twitter are involved.

A television viewer initially made contact with a Rules Official at Augusta noting that the drop on the 15th hole was in violation of the rule. The Rules Committee investigated and decided that no rule had been violated. Then, Tiger, as he does so often, said too much. In his television interview he said that he had dropped "two yards" behind his original divot and hit the same exact shot. The Rules Committee then decided that there was intent to achieve a better position and thus assessed the two-stroke penalty. All because of a television viewer and a television interview. My question, initially, was where was the Rules Official walking along with Tiger's threesome? Obviously not on the ball if he or she didn't notice a "2-yard" difference. In fact, it looked more like two feet in reality. But, then again, a good on-course official may have been able to avoid this whole issue. As a former official, I look at the official on the spot.

A friend of mine asked yesterday if Major League Baseball could have changed the first base call that cost a perfect game. First base umpire Jim Joyce cost Tigers' pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game back in June 2010 when, on replays, he clearly missed a call at first base on the last out. We all saw it. Major League Baseball and Jim Joyce had to stomach the mistake and move on. Viewers called. But there was no change in the call.

On Friday, viewers called, the Committee made an initial decision, viewers called, Tiger spoke, The Committee changed its ruling - it's hard being the best in the world. Everyone sees you and actually listens to you.

Did we see every swing of the club of Adam Scott on Friday? No. How about Angel Cabrera or Brandt Snedeker? No. But we saw almost every stroke that Tiger took, including the drop. If we hadn't, Tiger would be just two strokes off the pace. Being the best in the world has its drawbacks.

Technology, Tennis And The Penalty Of Being A Lower Ranked Player

While on tour with the ATP Tour as a chair umpire, a similar outcry came from the players who were not on the same level as the tennis Gods of the time: Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf. The lesser players felt they were being penalized by Cyclops, and then Hawkeye. Now known widely as Chase Review, the system that can verify a ball being in or out at professional tournaments, the ball tracking system is not on every court at every tournament in the world. It usually is found on stadium court and perhaps another "show" court, as they term it in the industry. I find the term "show court" an interesting one as it denotes a difference from other courts.

Show Courts and Lesser Courts - all are used at tournaments but all do not have the same number of officials or Chase Review.

I always felt that lower-ranked players were penalized long before the Hawkeye system. On the tour, televised courts receive a bigger plethora of line umpires. If you look at a televised court, there are almost always three officials along the back screen on each side. One umpire calling the center service line and an umpire on each sideline. The non-show courts have just two officials at the back of each court and one official is required to run from the center of the court after calling the serve to the sideline. I know while I played, I found this quite distracting. As an official, I found it darned right difficult to cover that sideline after a 126 mile-per-hour serve.  But television, in its way, demands a bigger and better team of officials for the "show" courts. It demands Chase Review. And that actually makes for better line calls.

Walk, Talk and Walk

Sports personalities, as they gain insight into this media age, will do the walk on course or court, talk the interview and keep it short, and then walk away from the microphones. Twitter has, on so many occasions, created celebrity sports figures wide-ranging issues. As we pass through the Social Media century, I believe we will find that more and more celebrities and sports personalities will clam up. Tiger's post-round interview on Saturday was a lot shorter and a lot sweeter than normal. He probably doesn't want to get another two-stroke penalty, unwittingly.

As for us in the industry, we should perhaps revisit the rules of our individual sports and realize that perhaps instant replay is not always the way forward. Perhaps Major League Baseball has it right not allowing instant replay or review. The call on the field stays in almost every situation. The rules are part of the game on the course, court, field - wherever the game is played. The rules should stay on the course. They should not be subjected to the Twitter and Social Media fad, which will come and go. Golf, and its archaic rules, will be here a lot longer than Twitter, and even Tiger.

Time To Make The Call

There are certain times of the year that bring into relevance how quickly time flies and how a year, which seemed to last so long when we were children, tends to shorten as we grow older.

My daughter just turned four this past week. For us in our 40s, a year goes by so much more quickly than when we took in everything as kids. My daughter said, "Daddy I was three for so long." Whereas to me, it seems like yesterday I was helping the nurse put sensors on my daughter's chest to ensure her heartbeat was regular after walking her from the delivery room. A former tennis partner once said to me years are simply shorter as you get older. She was right.

Years are marked in different ways: Holiday songs started to be played on the piano in our household around the 10th of December... Strawberries and cream in late June for Wimbledon weekends on the television... unpack the football or rugby ball in early September for those crips Autumn weekends.

But there is one, absolute moment, when I know summer is just around the corner. I am sure it is the same for many people who visit the islands in the summer months. It's the phone call to or website visit to The Steamship Authority - the company that ferries the throngs, the workers, the visitors and the islanders to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

Three days in the truck ready to load on to the ferry.

There is a sense of calm when I look at the schedule and see four boats debarking from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven four months away. There's always a bit of trepidation that all the ferries are going to be sold out, but somehow, even when sold out, there's a way those ferries fit most of the "standby" line alongside a truck or deep in the corner of the vessel.

I park my truck on the deck, stretch my legs after the three-day drive from Florida, go upstairs and grab a beer and head outside onto the passenger deck to watch the Vineyard appear over the horizon. Yes, that rock - it's still there a year later.

For years, I visited Nantucket. All through my post-college years, I rented a house on Surfside Beach in early September, after the throngs had departed back to their suburban homes. Nantucket felt more real at this time. Albeit having been there on July 4th to mark our country's birthday is a great day on the island, I prefer the quieter times on the island where I have unrestricted access to all of Nantucket's natural assets and beauty.

The same holds true for Martha's Vineyard. I arrive there in early June to "set up shop" and unpack for the three months during which I call the island home. Restauranters are remodelling for the season, white lines on tennis courts are being laid out, and there's only one boat working the three car ferry to Chappaquiddick - The Chappy Ferry. I have time to meet people and enter into real conversations in comparison to during the season when I gasp for air and collapse into my apartment at 7.30 to cook and sleep. So early June is the time to rest up, enjoy and relax with the possibility of experiencing all that such a wonderful, special island has to offer.

I've arrived.

It's a strange feeling indeed. When I turned my back on the Vineyard last September and boarded my ferry home, I couldn't wait to get onto the mainland. But now, I am looking back ready to get on that spit of sand once again and enjoy the summer months with friends and acquaintances I have made. It's like the conversation never ended and the 9 months on the mainland were simply a blink of an eye. How time flies as we get older.

I have new tennis drills and ideas ready for the season, goals set in terms of work and finance, but that seems to take a back seat to the evenings bicycling past the gorgeous homes with the warm, amber lights radiating out onto the cobbled streets.

And, unfortunately, the time flies by and before I know it, it's Labor Day. I'll be ready for the migration South, but will know this feeling will be around faster than my daughter's birthday in February.


Yep... back to the website. I think I'll go on the 10.45 from Woods Hole which gets me into Vineyard Haven for 11.30. Get some time to visit The Black Dog before I head over to Edgartown to let the summer begin.

Inauguration Day and an Inaugural Run At The Australian Open

New Year's Eve may come and go, but I always get a bounce in my step in mid-January every four years when the USA shows that we can do pomp and circumstance pretty well. We may not have a King or Queen, but we do lay out the red carpet for our president every January 20th.

This inauguration was no different and I watched intently as Barack Obama and the politicos in our nation's capital put on a show. I have to say, Beyonce Knowles has a set of pipes and the arrangement of our anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, was one of the best I have ever heard. If you haven't heard or seen it, here is the performance. Beyonce Knowles National Anthem

That aside, we Americans have some business "down under" in Australia, another "colony" which in fact still has The Queen as Head of State. In a very interesting match, the up and coming American Sloane Stephens, will take on Serena Williams on Wednesday in what might prove to be a match for the memories. The time is coming when Sloane will take over the American baton in this sport's relay and it might be at this tournament that she appears in the theatrical spotlight in this inaugural run in the first major of the year.

Sloane has the power and athleticism to compete with Serena who has been playing some of the best tennis of her career over the past two years. They both have power games and big serves. Stephens at the age of 19 is in her first major quarter final and in the biggest match of her career as of yet against her country woman. Serena and Sloane are friends and practiced together frequently while playing the Federation Cup.

Whereas Serena is playing through her matches quite easily, Sloane had some tough struggles to get to this point in the tournament and this may in fact serve her well as she has been tried and tested in the Melbourne stadium. Serena has not been and nerves will play a role here for sure.

She may not win her first quarter final tomorrow, and in fact Vegas has Serena as a heavy favorite, but I think Sloane's time is here and she will take that baton from Serena soon enough and it may be as early as 2013. I'll be tuning in late night.

Yemassee and a New Year

I have been thinking of this post and rewriting it as it has nothing to do really in regards to tennis. But as we turn the leaf over into 2013 it is always a good time to reflect.

One of the benefits in being a "seasonal" teaching tennis professional is that I get close to 4 months off a year. I enjoy this time with my family and I get some father/daughter bonding time before and after my 3 months working in Martha's Vineyard in the summer.

It's always tough to leave the family for an extended period of time. I had to travel to Singapore and Australia in my prior work leaving my wife back in the UK alone for up to a month at a time. But 12 weeks is a long time to be gone from one's home and family. My answer is: "Our American soldiers go farther away for a longer period of time and are doing jobs that endanger their lives on a daily basis." I am very lucky to be able to lead a life teaching tennis.

I do get to travel with tennis and I drive up and down the East Coast and once in a while I find a place that makes me realize how big a country we are and just how many cultures we have here in the USA. But then again, no matter where we are, we all have the same goals and objectives in life. One stop I made on my a recent migration was Yemassee, South Carolina.

I was on the hunt for gas as I had allowed the small gas tank light to come on and I had travelled off the beaten path this one morning of my journey. I had left behind most of South Carolina's back roads and was on Highway 17A when my tires rolled into Yemassee, South Carolina.

A town of approximately 1,000 people, Yemassee boasts one gas station that I could find: El Cheapo Gas.

Yemassee was the center of the Yamassee tribe of Indians up until the Yamassee war of 1715. Few towns boast a whole war with the town's name. As I drove down into the village, I noted Civil War encampments and fortifications by the roadside and I realized I was in the heart of a town that had a big Civil War history. In fact, all of the churches in town were burned during the Civil War except the Presbyterian Church which served as an army hospital for the Union soldiers.

The railroad passes through Yemassee and I learned that over 500,000 troops travelled through the Yemassee depot on their way to Parris Island and training just 45 minutes away. Yemassee has seen war and its ramifications in many ways over 2 centuries.

It's amazing to think, as you drive into what seems a small paradise, that the past and the events of war is never far away. Will 2013 see peace and prosperity? For those 1,000 people in Yemassee in their South Carolina small town through which AMTRAK rumbles through twice daily, life is no different than those of us in bustling South Florida and our 6 lane I-95 just 400 miles or so South. Cultures may vary and accents may have different twangs but we worry about peace, we tend to our families and friends and we live with our faults and strengths, our memories and our future, of which 2013 is just a stepping stone.

30 Years On And We Still Miss Him: John McEnroe & The Complete Player

I was having dinner with my sister last week and she was asking for events that had happened exactly 30 years ago in the tennis and golf sphere as we are both employed in the country club industry. So, where else to start but type into Google: Wimbledon winners, 1983

John McEnroe defeated New Zealander Chris Lewis. Remember Chris? I didn't. He beat one of my favorite players South African Kevin Curren in the semi final. Lewis was only the second New Zealander to ever make a final and was unseeded. McEnroe ended Ivan Lendl's tournament in straight sets in the other semi-final. Tougher match for sure.

It was a good year at Wimbledon. But what I noted was who won the doubles: John McEnroe and Peter Fleming defeated the American brothers Gullikson. Guess what? Big Mac did the same thing in 1984 taking home the singles title after beating Jimmy Connors in the final. McEnroe and Fleming again won the doubles against Australians Pat Cash and Paul McNamee. That's four Wimbledon titles in 2 years. I didn't look at mixed. The story was there. On the men's side McEnroe and Fleming were just complete players. At the same time, Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver were doing similar things on the women's side. They just don't make tennis players this complete anymore. When was the last time, I asked, that the men's singles player also won the men's doubles title at Wimbledon? You guessed it. John McEnroe.

Perhaps it's me looking back at the history of the game I love with rose-tinted glasses - I actually wear contacts now for those high school friends who read my ramblings. Perhaps I am not giving enough credit to the players of today - Serena and Venus play the singles and doubles at most of the major events. But they just don't play that many events.

Fleming and McEnroe won four doubles titles at Wimbledon and three at the US Open. All the while Fleming maintained a top-ten singles ranking and McEnroe stayed either at the top of the rankings or in the top three. We wonder why McEnroe is such a great commentator - he was not only a fantastic player, but perhaps one of the most complete players we have ever seen.

If you look back at his time on the tour, McEnroe may be remembered for his behavior, but in reality we should remember him for his fabulous, yet unconventional serve, his simple and effective groundstrokes and his amazing hands while volleying at the net.

To look closely at his forehand, it's so simple and relies on his great eye-hand coordination rather than power. He forfeits any type of a loop backswing, taking the racquet directly back to the low position before he comes up to meet the ball rather flatly, using the pace of his opponent in most cases to hit back with speed. Have a look here:
Perhaps you could out finesse the Big Mac and not allow him to use his power? Only one player was able to do this: Guillermo Vilas who won more matches then he lost against the Big Mac.Vilas was another great who is largely overlooked. He won seven, yes seven, consecutive titles, following Wimbledon right through and past the US Open. Most players today don't play seven tournaments in a similar 8 to 9-week period. Oh, Vilas played doubles too. This was the era of the complete player - on any surface and in singles and doubles and at the baseline and at the net.

This match, against Stefan Edberg, perhaps proves the finesse and yet, the power too with picking winners cross court and down the line by both players. Look at how both exploited the weakness of their opponent and used their own strengths to create and build a point.


The legacy of McEnroe is enormous as we think of his serve and volley game combined with fabulously simple ground strokes. McEnroe remains perhaps the leading example of the complete player and perhaps that is why we either love him or despise him as a commentator. He is perhaps the greatest tennis commentator of our time for the BBC in Britain and back here in the USA with insightful tips and great understanding of the minutiae of a match or point.

When asked to perform an impersonation, Novak Djokovic often mimics Johnny Mac and his unorthodox serve. Djokovic's imitation alone proves just what an icon McEnroe was in his time because in 1983, thirty years ago, Djokovic wasn't even around yet.