Author: horvath

They Mastered the Drill, but Finished on the Wrong Side of the Bracket

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Every team has a special warm-up routine, as evidenced by watching the match play at any local club tournament. Typically, the coaches are either tossing balls to players or observing with their arms crossed in a calm collected manner to demonstrate they have things under control. Most teams appear to be organized and teammates are communicating with each other. In most cases, the warm-up is a snapshot of  harmony and solidarity.

Players have a tendency to sneak a peek at their opponents to see what their warm-up looks like and to pick up any last-minute tips about how good their opponents are.

In some cases it is intimidating to check out the opposing team’s warm-up routine, especially when their setters make Alisha Glass look like she has wooden hands and their middles jump higher and hit harder than Inky Ajanaku.

On the other hand, some warm-ups give a team a warm fuzzy feeling that the match will be over in two quick sets.

One of the most unique warm-up drills/routines was demonstrated by a team at a recent USAV National qualifier. For the purposes of this blog post it will be called the Popcorn Drill for the way the ball pops up in the air like popcorn in an old-fashioned air popper.

The Popcorn Drill is simple: Player A sets a ball down on the court. After a short wait, Player B runs forward like a matador charging a bull. She picks up the ball, runs a couple of steps then throws it up in the air. The process is repeated.

Good coaches know that effective drills focus on skills that transfer to match play. With that in mind, it is clear the  Popcorn Drill must have been borrowed from the sport of hockey. The drill teaches game-like skills for situations when hockey players need to pick octopus, squid, fish, and hats from hat tricks and throw them up in the air to the crowd.

It is questionable if the Popcorn Drill teaches any skills that transfer to volleyball competition.

To the team’s credit, they were enthusiastic and disciplined and their fans loved them. They mastered the drill. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough and they ended up on the wrong side of the bracket.

American and Russian Juniors Dominate Wimbledon

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The American and Russian juniors dominated the 2015 Wimbledon Junior Championships.

The Russians dominated the girls event. Of the seven players, three made it to the quarters and the two who made it to the semifinals met in the finals. Unseeded Sofya Zhuk defeated fellow Russian Anna Blinkova in the finals in straight sets and gave the Live@Wimbledon Studios a poised and charming interview afterwards. It was refreshing to hear her passion for life and tennis.

Nine of the ten American girls won their first round matches. Unfortunately, Tornado Black and Michaela Gordon were the only girls who made it as far as the quarterfinals. Overall the American girls were 17-10.

American Girls 1st Round 0-1 2nd Round 1-1 3rd Round 2-1 Quarters 3-1 Semis 4-1 Finals 5-1/6-0
Francesca DiLorenzo X
Kayla Day X
Ravenna Kingsley X
Carolyn Dolehide X
Sofia Kenin X
Usue Maitane Arconada X
Claire Liu X
Tornado Black X
Ingrid Neel X
Michaela Gordon X
Total W-L 9-1 6-3 2-4 0-2 0-0 0-0

The American boys owned the tournament. Combined, they had a 21-7 record.

All eight entrants were victorious in their first round matches. Taylor Fritz (#1 seed), Reilly Opelka, William Blumberg, and Tommy Paul (#7 seed) reached the quarters. Blumberg and Paul lost in the quarters and Opelka knocked out Fritz in the semis. The 6’10″Reilly Opelka defeated Mikael Ymer of Sweden, 7-6,6-4. It is great to see an American junior hoist the trophy at the end of the tournament; however, it may not bode well for the entertainment value of the sport when the victor had 15 aces in the championship match and there was only 1 service break in 2 sets.

On a positive note, it was encouraging to see  anAmerican junior win back-to-back Grand Slam events. (Tommy Paul won the French in June). Time will tell whether the recent success of the boys translates to titles for American men in future Grand Slams events.

American Boys 1st Round 0-1 2nd Round 1-1 3rd Round 2-1 Quarters 3-1 Semis 4-1 Finals 5-1/6-0
Taylor Fritz X
Ulses Blanch X
Reilly Opelka X
William Blumberg X
Emil Reinberg X
Nathan Ponwith X
Michael Mmoh X
Tommy Paul X
Total W-L 8-0 5-3 4-1 2-2 2-2 1-0

Next stop, the U.S. Open!  Will the American and Russian juniors have a repeat performance?

Changing of the Guard in Women’s Tennis

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On Saturday, Serena Williams captured her 6th Wimbledon title and her 21st Grand Slam event with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Garbiñe Muguruza. By winning her 3rd Grand Slam event of the year Williams is positioned to be the first woman since Steffi Graf (1988) to win a calendar-year Grand Slam if she captures the U.S. Open in September.

Finalist Garbiñe Muguruza joins Eugenie Bouchard, Belinda Bencic, Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova, and Simona Halep as the young women who are part of the changing of the guard in women’s tennis. At the moment Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, and Coco Vandeweghe are the leaders of the pack of American women who have flirted with being in this group of elite players.Changing of the Guard in Women's Tennis

Collectively the 16 American women were 24-15 at the 2015 Wimbledon. The best showing was by the Williams sisters, Vandeweghe, and Keys who all made it to the round of 16. Venus was the only player to lose in the 16s as she bowed out to Serena.

On a positive note, three American women reached the Wimbledon quarters. The last time this happened was in 2004 when Serena, Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati reached the round of eight. Unfortunately, Keys lost in three sets to Radwanska, while Vandeweghe suffered a similar fate at the hands of Maria Sharapova.

American Women World Ranking 6/29 1st Rd 0-1 2nd Rd 1-1 3rd Rd 2-1 16s 3-1 Qrtrs 4-1 Semis 5-1 Finals
Serena Williams 1 X
Madison Brengle 36 X
Venus Williams 16 X
Bethanie Mattek-Sands 158 X
Nicole Gibbs 103 X
Shelby Rogers 47 X
Irina Falconi 50 X
Coco Vandeweghe 51 X
Edina Gallovits-Hall 53 X
Sloane Stephens 58 X
Lauren Davis 60 X
Alison Riske 63 X
Varvara Lepchenko 40 X
Christina McHale 86 X
Sachia Vickery 98 X
Madison Keys 21 X
TOTAL W-L 8-8 6-2 4-2 3-1 1-2 1-0 1-0

Congratulations to Serena on her 21st Grand Slam title and to the young women who are part of the changing of the guard!

Another Weak Performance by American Men at Wimbledon

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Only one of the seven American men made it to the second week of the Championships at Wimbledon. The top performer for the Americans was Denis Kudla, a Ukranian who moved to the U.S. when he was a youngster.

Kudla entered the tournament ranked 105th in the world. He won three matches before losing in the round of 16.

The storyline hasn’t changed for the American men and it won’t in the near-term. The American men are excellent players, but they are not among the elite players in the world.

The top ranked American, #17 John Isner, won two rounds before losing to Marin Cilic in another excruciating five set match. Isner’s big serve isn’t enough to make him a Grand Slam champion.

American Men World Ranking 6/29 First Round Loss Second Round Loss Round of 32 Round of 16
John Isner 17th X
Denis Kudla 105th X
Donald Young 58th X
Steve Johnson 52nd X
Tim Smyczek 77th X
Jack Sock 31st X
Sam Querrey 36th X

Combined the American men were 7-7.

While the short-term outlook for the American men is dim, it should be noted that all eight junior boys won their first round matches in the Junior Championships. There may be a light at the end of the tunnel for the American men if the current juniors can make the transition to pro game in the next couple of years.

Dynasty Ends in Hot Dog Eating Contest?

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All sports dynasties come to an end.

UCLA dominated college basketball during the John Wooden era, the Steel Curtain was untouchable for five years, and during the 1950s sports fans were hollering “Break up the Yankees”. In time, these dynasties came to an end.

Most recently, Joey Chestnut’s winning streak at the Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island came to a crashing halt when Matt Stonie downed him 62 to 60.

Chestnut had won the event for 8 consecutive years.

Was this upset an anomaly or is it the changing of the guard? Was Chestnut’s breakup from the woman he proposed to at last year’s event the source of his demise? Did the lack of competition keep him from coming out on top? Will Chestnut go into retirement, even though the third place finisher only downed 35 dogs and buns?

God only knows why ESPN broadcasts the competition, but they did. And some view it just the same as a major sporting event. The top two finishers had the following comments about the contest.

• “I trained hard for this. We don’t just go up there and eat hot dogs. We practice for this. We prepare our bodies.” – Stonie.
• “I’ve been looking for competition for a long time and I finally have it. He made me hungry.” – Chestnut.

On the women’s side, Miki Sudo downed 35 dogs and buns to defeat Sonya “Black Widow” Thomas for the second consecutive year. Thomas consumed 31 hot dogs.

Sudo credited her victory to her tactical decision to separate the dogs and the buns. For her, the buns went down easier after being dipped in Crystal Light.

According to Nathan’s website Stonie consumed 17,360 calories, 1,116 grams of fat, and 48,360 milligrams of sodium. This is based on the content of one hotdog. The website also includes the winners of the event for all 42 years.

Can you imagine that – 42 years of hot dog eating contests?  And the winner receives $10,000 and a mustard colored belt.

hot dog eating contest

 

Wimbledon Trivia

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The following facts, figures are a small part of the Wimbledon trivia highlighted on the official website of The Championships.

The Crowd
• In 2014 the attendance was 491,084.
• On a daily basis there are 39,000 spectators
• There are 15,000 seats for the finals matches.

Courts
• 41 total
• 19 Championships grass courts (Centre + Numbers 1-19, less 13)
• 22 grass practice courts in Aorangi Park and at Southlands College.
• Championships playing height 8mm. Court grass composed of 100% rye grass.

Balls
• 54,250 balls are used
• Slazenger is the official ball.

Racket Stringing
• Championships stringing team string on average over 2,000 rackets
• 60% for men
• 40% for women.
• Over 40 miles of string.

Catering
Wimbledon is the largest activity for catered food in Europe:
• 350,000 cups of tea and coffee
• 150,000 bottles of water
• 207,000 meals
• 230,000 glasses of Pimm’s
• 190,000 sandwiches
• 150,000 bath buns, scones, pasties and doughnuts
• 130,000 lunches
• 100,000 pints of draught beer and lager
• 60,000 sausage baguettes
• 40,000 char-grilled meals
• 32,000 portions of fish and chips
• 30,000 liters of milk
• 142,000 portions of English strawberries
• 28,000 bottles of champagne
• 15,000 bananas (for players)
• 60,000 portions of ice cream
• 12,000 kg of poached salmon and smoked salmon
• 7,000 liters of dairy cream
• 6,000 stone baked pizzas.

Retail
The top selling items in the Wimbledon Shop were:
• 16,000 Men’s Championships Towel
• 9,000 Women’s Championships Towel
• 11,000 Mini Tennis Ball Key ring
• 10,000 Twin pack wristbands
• 10,000 Mini Umbrellas
• 8,000 Yellow Midi Autograph Balls.

Staff
Around 6,000 staff are on staff for the Championships:
• Ball boys & girls: 250
• Ball distributors: 7
• Building Services: 84
• Catering Staff: 1,800
• Cleaners (night): 191
• Cleaners (day): 114
• Court attendants: 151
• Data Collectors: 36
• Dressing room attendants: 22
• Groundsmen: 20
• Left luggage office: 30
• Lift operators: 30
• Physiotherapists: 14
• Practice courts: 8
• Media staff: 38
• Referee’s Office: 15
• Scoreboard operators & data collectors: 46
• Security guards: 700
• Stewards (Honorary): 185
• Stewards (Service & London Fire Brigade): 595
• Transport service drivers: 320
• 350 officials on duty comprising mostly British plus 60 from overseas.

Serving – Aces/Fastest Serve
• Men: 212 Aces – Goran Ivanisevic (CRO) 2001
• Ladies: 57 Aces – Alexandra Stevenson (USA) 1999,  Serena Williams (USA) 2008
• Men: 148 mph – Taylor Dent – 2010
• Women: 129 mph – Venus Williams – 2008.

Hawk-Eye – Challenges (singles only) 2014
• Men made 428 Challenges and 120 were correct, a 28.0% success rate.
• Ladies made 191 Challenges of which 49 were correct, a 25.7% success rate.

Broadcast totals for 2014
• Gentlemen’s Singles final drew a peak audience of 10 million viewers. (BBC)
• The Ladies’ Singles Final drew a peak audience of 3.1m viewers (BBC).
• ESPN’s broadcast of the Gentlemen’s Singles final drew an average of 1,894,000 homes and 2,456,000 viewers.
• Australia: Channel Seven indicated the Kyrgios quarterfinal match attracted a viewing peak in Metropolitan and rural districts at just over 3.4m – the Gentlemen’s Singles final peaked at 2.5m and the total reach for The Championships was close to 7m.

Website
• Unique users – 17.1 million users
• Visits – 63 million
• Page views – 473 million
• Geography split in order of most trafficked: UK, US, Australia, Canada.
• Mobile app downloads (iPhone, Android and iPad) – 1.7million
• Live @ Wimbledon – 1.3 million streams
• Live @ Wimbledon Radio – 6.3 million streams
• Wimbledon-hosted Russian service – 3 million streams.

As can be seen by this list of Wimbledon trivia, The Championships are much more than a great tennis tournament.

Not All Athletes are Dumb Jocks

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There is a stereotype that college athletes are dumb jocks. As a result the NCAA set up the Academic Performance Program in 2003 to “incent” colleges to help their students be better athletes, thus eliminating this label.

In late May the University of Colorado released the results of the Academic Progress Rate (APR) report prepared by the NCAA for its 17 programs. Highlights of the report are:
• 13 of 17 team averages exceeded the national average for their sport.
• The men’s cross country team had a perfect four-year APR score of 1000 (top 10 percent in its sport), along with an NCAA Championship and 4 consecutive Pac-12 championships.
• The women’s lacrosse team, completed its second year with a perfect 1000 APR score;
• Five sport programs achieved a perfect 1000 score for the 2013-14 academic year, men’s cross country, men’s skiing, women’s basketball, women’s golf, and women’s lacrosse. (not shown in the table below)
• Football increased its APR performance to a 957 score. In 2008-09 the program had a 919 score that led to a six-scholarship penalty.

This year CU had a composite APR score of 977, well above the penalty level of 930. In other words, not all athletes are dumb jocks.

This score projects graduation rates that will be above those of the general student population. It is common for special groups (music, theatre, clubs, and other organizations, etc.) to have GPAs or academic achievement rates above the school average. In the case of athletics that is also a result of the special academic and tutoring programs established for athletes to help them meet the demands of sports and school.

Go Buffs!

Team 2013-24 APR Four-Year APR 2010-11 to 2013-14 2013-14 Team GPA
Men’s Cross Country 1000 1000 3.015
Women's Lacrosse 1000 1000 3.040
Women's Basketball 1000 995 3.028
Women's Golf 1000 991 3.285
Men's Skiing 1000 980 3.282
Men's Outdoor Track 989 986 2.856
Men's Indoor Track 989 985
Women's Soccer 988 994 3.304
Women's Cross Country 985 996 3.362
Women's Volleyball 979 989 2.874
Women's Indoor Track 979 986
Women's Outdoor Track 979 986 3.152
Men's Golf 976 967 2.845
Women's Tennis 969 983 3.340
Football 966 957 2.703
Men's Basketball 959 975 2.538
Women's Skiing 944 965 3.595
Penalty Level 930 930

The Junior Team Tennis Scoring System

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With summer upon us it is time for clubs and recreation programs to begin play in the USTA Junior Team Tennis (JTT) program.

The rules are fairly simple. First and foremost, you have to be a junior player at any level. Players are placed on teams of at least 4 players of the same gender and ability.

Most teams hold practices several times a week that may include all players (boys and girls). Once a week, team matches are played that consist of 2 singles and 1 doubles. Play is the best of three sets using no-ad scoring with a tie-break at 6-6. If players split sets they play a 12-point tie-break for the match.

The interesting part of the program is the match scoring. The winner of a match is the team that wins the most games, not necessarily the most matches. Standings for the season are based on the team that has won the most games.

For example, a team can win one match 6-0, 6-0 and lose the other two matches 6-4, 6-3. They will be awarded 26 points, while the other teams earn 24 points. In this case, the team that won only one of the 3 matches came out on top.

The scoring system seems inappropriate for the following reasons:
• Most players are familiar with playing on teams where points are awarded for matches won. If there is a tie in the standings, it would be broken by sets won, and games won. In JTT, the only thing that matters is games won!
• When players are just learning the sport they are forced to learn the JTT scoring system on top of everything else. It seems that a simpler approach will make the sport easier to learn.
• The scoring system puts pressure on players to win every point. Often they are struggling to stand in the proper space and keep track of the score. The pressure of trying to win every point adds an unnecessary burden.
• Players are rewarded for beating their opponents as badly as possible. Is that the message that should be sent to entry level players and intermediate players in a recreation program?
• If the two singles matches are played first and one team wins both matches by a score of 6-3, 6-2 or worse, then the match score is 24-10. It is impossible for the other team to win the team match even if they lose the final match 6-0, 6-0.

The rationale provided by the USTA divisional organizers justifies the scoring system by saying:
• Every game matters – players shouldn’t give up if losing or take it easy if winning.
• A lower skilled player can contribute to the team, even if he/she never wins a match.
• In cases where teams have less than 4 players, you can either play the doubles or two singles. Once two matches are completed, it is possible the match has been decided, i.e. one team won both matches.
While the merits of the scoring system can be debated ad nauseam, league coordinators usually notify parents about the intricacies of the unique scoring system in advance. In other words, most players enter the team match knowing how the winner will be determined.

Despite the oddities of the Junior Team Tennis scoring system, the important thing is that kids are playing tennis.

I am Serena Williams – What is Your Super Power?

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Given her performance at the 2015 French Open,  the perfect Christmas gift for Serena Williams is a t-shirt that says, “I am Serena Wiilams –  American tennis player. What is your super power?”

She was one of 17 women playing as an American at the 2015 French Open. The event had a lopsided draw for the American Women – 13 were in the upper half and 4 were in the bottom half.

First round losers for the Americans from the upper half of the draw included:
• Alexa Glatch
• Venus Williams
• Shelby Rogers
• Christina McHale
• Alison Riske
• Coco Vandeweghe
• Bethanie Mattek-Sands
• Taylor Townsend
• Varvara Lepchenko

All four of the women from the bottom half of the draw were eliminated in the first round.
• Louisa Chirico
• Nicole Gibbs
• Lauren Davis
• Madison Brengle

After the first round there were only four American women left in the draw and they were all in the upper half. Both Irina Falconi and Madison Keys were 2-1, winning their first two rounds before bowing out in the third round. Sloane Stephens was 3-1 before losing to Serena Williams in the fourth round.

Williams was not particularly dominant  as she captured her 20th Grand Slam (6 Australians, 3 French, 5 Wimbledons, and 6 U.S. Open Championships). She only won 2 of her 7 matches in straight sets.

Overall, the American women were 14-16.

After the first two Grand Slams in 2015, the scorecard reads – two wins for Serena Williams. Historically she has fared well in Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Is a calendar year Grand Slam in the cards for Serena? Will the other American women make a stronger showing at Wimbledon? The former is more likely than the latter.

Stay tuned, the Championships will begin on June 29 and run through July 12th.

American Juniors Dominate French Open

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In the online version of Tennis Briefs Bob Larson recently reported that Patrick McEnroe, former director of player development for USTA, said that he believes the current gang of teenagers is a good reason for optimism.  In other words, McEnroe expects to see American juniors dominate the Grand Slams in the not-to-distant future.

McEnroe was correct, at least as it pertains to the French Open Junior Championships.

Eight of the 64 boys were Americans – of which Tommy Paul and Harry Taylor Fritz met in the finals. Paul was the upset winner.

William Blumberg was ousted in the first round and Alex Rybakov, Ulises Blanch and Nathan Ponwith won their initial matches before losing in the second round.

The remaining four players won their matches in the round of 16. Reilly Opelka was defeated in the quarterfinals and Michael Mmoh was ousted in the semifinals. Three of the four semifinalists were Americans.

Overall the American boys were 21-7.

There were also eight American girls. The following four girls lost in the first round: Raveena Kingsley, Sofia Kenin, Francesca Dilorenzo, and Michaela Gordon. After winning her first match Usue Maltane Arconada was defeated in the second round.

Carolyn Dolehide won two matches before losing in the third round and Katherine Steward was defeated in the fourth round.

The last American girl standing was C.C. Bellis. She won four matches before bowing out in the semifinals.

Overall the American girls were 10-8.

Hats off to the American Juniors. Hopefully Patrick McEnroe is correct and we will see American juniors dominate the Grand Slams for many years to come.