Tennisplayer Partners
with Tennis Magazine!

John Yandell

Ah, New York City in winter! Clear sunny skies, 25 degree temperatures and a wind chill factor that could freeze the marrow in your bones! Actually it can be quite mild in the winter here--just not today. So why am I mentioning this?

In the last couple of newsletters, I've made some cryptic references to important developments for Tennisplayer and now they can begin to be revealed. The big immediate news is that Tennisplayer has entered into a partnership with Tennis magazine. I I've been named a Tennis instructional editor. We'll be sharing content with Tennis and also, exposing our cutting edge approach to a whole new audience through the Tennis.com website.

I'll be working on this project with my old friend Tom Perrotta, recently named Tennis senior editor. Tom wrote some very insightful pieces for the New York Sun that discussed technique in pro tennis as part of his coverage of the U.S. Open. We got to know each other because I was one of the sources he interviewed for the articles.

It's tremendously exciting because I have been asked to write detailed analytic pieces for the magazine, starting with a new article on Roger Federer's forehand later in the spring. I guess the editors have some confidence it will turn out ok, because you can already see my name right there on the masthead. I'm joining a pretty distinguished list of instructional editors, including Tracy Austin, Nick Bollettieri, Peter Burwash, Stan Smith, and Dennis Van der Meer.

In addition to the articles, Tennisplayer will also be sharing some of our cutting edge articles and video analysis with Tennis.com. Tennis.com has already put up the first piece, an analysis of Sampras's serve I did based on new high speed footage filmed in his recent exhibition tour.

Judging from the comments on the Tennis.com message boards, the article and the video clips have been well received by readership. And that's just the beginning. We'll be putting up 1 or 2 similar pieces a month from here on out, articles not only by yours truly, but by many of our other great coaches and writers.

Click Here to check the article out on the Tennis site. From our point of view having this opportunity to speak to a much larger audience of tennis players and fans is huge. Hopefully we'll be attracting some of them to Tennisplayer, as well as spreading some powerful analytic information that can help more players than ever before. At this point we all think the arrangement will be a win/win with great potential for future growth.

So that's what brought me to New York just after new year's--ok, that and the chance to check out a possible summer house on Eastern Long Island and see all my other old friends around New York.

I had the pleasure of spending part of a morning at the Tennis offices in Manhattan and meeting with Tom to discuss our various print and web projects. Tom's gearing up emotionally for a grueling 20 hour plus trip from NYC to cover the Australian Open--I know tough duty! He'll be writing a blog on Tennis.com site called String Theory. So if you want to hear a new voice on what's going on at the highest levels of the game--check it out.

I also had the chance to meet with James Martin, the editor in chief of Tennis, and executive editor Steve Tignor. If you have noticed the vision shift in the magazine and the improved quality of the feature writing, you are seeing the influence of these dynamic young guys. They are creating a style and a voice based on a higher level of intelligence, something that I personally think people who care about tennis will respond to that.

There are two articles in the current issue that show an increased willingness to address the complex issues in the sport, issues that also have the potential for controversy and conflict. Check out Tom Perrotta's article on the six year old prodigies, already in training for alleged pro careers and what the issues and implications are for the coaches, the families, and the kids themselves. It's in the January issue of the magazine, or you can Click Here to read the online version.

Another very direct and informative piece written by Dan Weil talks about the state of television coverage of tennis, and the relative positions and strengths and weaknesses of the networks, ESPN, ESPN2, and the Tennis Channel, as well as the potential meaning of the ever increasing online broadcasts.

As you may know the Australian Open is ripping out the rebound ace courts, and there is a detailed story on the how and the why of that decision made by Craig Tiley, currently heading player development in Australia.

There's also a technical description of the new hard court surface, plexicushion, and how it differs from decoturf, a similar surface used at the U.S. Open. Both these surfaces have asphalt bases but add multiple layers of rubber particles in the top coats.

They definitely have less give than rebound ace, especially when it's hot. Both can be made to play faster or slower. But supposedly the plexicushion is softer. All this could actually have a real impact on the results, andtherefore, ahs the prospect of generating controversy. The next month will tell!

Meanwhile back in the office at Tennis, I also had the chance to meet with Jon Levey with whom I had worked on a couple of previous instructional pieces. He had a problem the average player probably wishes he had--an office piled up floor to ceiling with rackets, shoes, and every other type of tennis gear known to man for the upcoming equipment issue--pretty amusing.

Finally Tom and I chatted with Peter Bodo, that venerated master of tennis and tour journalism, who was also kind enough to take the picture you see of Tom and myself. Check out Peter's blog on the Tennis.com site. There's some pretty spirited conversation going on back and forth there, that's for sure. (Click Here.)

So it was great to meet this band of dedicated tennis journalists and feel like I was now a part of their team. There's only one (print) bible in tennis, after all, and now we're part of it. All you early adopters at Tennisplayer, looks like your instincts about the future of tennis instruction were correct. We'll keep you posted on the progress.