In her run to a second Australian Open title – her fourth major championship overall – Naomi Osaka convinced me that she indeed has the intestinal fortitude to reign on the throne of women’s tennis. About a year ago, I had begun to have my doubts. After failing to defend her 2019 Australian Open title … More Osaka answers the question Down Under
For a skinny former pharmaceutical sales rep who grew up on the south side of Chicago sharing hoops dreams with former NBA player Quentin Richardson, Kamau Murray has made quite a name for himself as a professional tennis coach. Most notably, Murray is the coach of Sloane Stephens, whom he guided to a U.S. Open … More Kamau Murray finding Success in XS Tennis
I want to give a high five and a fist bump to former WTA player Leslie Allen for her rebuke of a recent statement released by the United States Tennis Association during the surge of protests ignited by the brutal killing of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis cop. The death of Floyd … More USTA omits its past in statement on race
It has been a pleasure watching Chanda Rubin grow as an analyst on Tennis Channel. She adds a wonderful blend of insight and perspective to the network’s match commentary. Yet, as I tried to connect Rubin’s keen knowledge of the rigors and nuances of professional tennis with her own career, I realized I had forgotten … More BTHF deserves award of its own
At the conclusion of the 2017 US Open Women’s tennis championships, I wrote about a young phenom who had just competed in the girls title match. Her name was Cori “Coco” Gauff, and she was 13. Let me repeat that: She was 13! The youngest girls’ finalist ever. At the time, I was struck by … More Coco’s Wimbledon run a preview of what’s to come
In 2004, Gael Monfils won the first three of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments – Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon – and finished the year as the top-ranked junior in the world. Later that year, he gave fans good reason to salivate over his star potential when he reached the quarterfinals of his … More Gael Monfils: From Wakanda With Love
At the end of this year’s Citi Open, I began drafting a blogpost on how far Donald Young had fallen in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings. But I procrastinated…and now I’m glad I did. As I thought about it, I realized that was too easy a story and maybe a cheap shot. After … More Donald Young overcoming another slump
When Sloane Stephens beat fellow American Madison Keys to reach the finals of this year’s French Open, I began preparing my appetite for a little crow. Madison had been playing well on the red dirt at Roland Garros and, though it’s not her favorite surface, I was among those who predicted she would avenge her … More Sloane erases doubt about her desire
I was describing my blog recently to a real estate client and mentioned I was working on a post about Althea Gibson. “Who’s that?” she asked, then quickly apologized for not knowing. I was momentarily stunned. Here we were in the middle of Black History Month, and this intelligent black mother of three, a graduate … More Althea Gibson: A Phenomenal Woman
Promoting the growth of tennis in communities of color.
A daily selection of the best content published on WordPress, collected for you by humans who love to read.
The Art and Craft of Blogging
The latest news on WordPress.com and the WordPress community.
