Hey Gang - thanks for the reader submissions! Now let’s let it rip:

You seriously want me to boss you around for an hour? That’s a dangerous amount of power to give a 7 year old. But in all seriousness, I tried out coaching for ~8 months between 2024-2025 and didn’t love it. Not because I didn’t like the people.

But because it killed me to be on a tennis court for 8 hours a day but not actually play for a single minute. I was feeding 3.0/3.5 games for 90 minutes thinking, “omg this looks so fun I wish I were playing” the entire time.

That wore on me quickly. And then when friends would ask to hit on the weekends, being on a tennis court was the last thing I wanted. I hated that feeling.

Other coaches will say I’m just not cut out for it. But I think the reality is that I just love to play, and coaching doesn’t scratch that itch for me.

Now let’s take a look at that forehand Suzanne!

Taylor Harry Fritz.

This probably deserves it’s own, longer piece. But I recently watched the court-level highlights between Fritz & Tommy Paul from Delray Beach, and was surprised by just how skilled Fritz is. He’s:

The matchup is a fitting example. On one side, Tommy Paul has talent and raw athleticism oozing out of bald spot. And then there’s Fritz — who squeezed every last bit from the toothpaste bottle.

That every match is an away game. For most tennis fans, it’s plainly normal that tennis hops from one country to the next all year. But when you realize that the farthest the NBA/WNBA, NFL, MLS/NWSL, EPL and most other acronymed sports typically travel is within their own borders, you remember just how ridiculous the demands of pro tennis are. Here’s a concrete example:

This past Saturday Daniil Medvedev woke up in Dubai to play a final. He won on a walkover. Woot! $619,160 minus taxes in the checking account. Then on Sunday he landed at LAX, a perfect 12 hour time difference. Literally night and day. Not to mention — new bed, new thermostat to negotiate with his wife, new reality.

It’s easy to say DoN’t piTy ThEM, tHeY mAke MiLLiOnS.

But I pity anyone who has to deal with constantly having to adjust to new living quarters, rich or not. Don’t you remember coming home from your last vacation to literally 1 country exhausted and so happy to crawl into your own bed?

That’s my point.

I love a good nickname. Which one of the following tall boys was nicknamed The Tower of Tandil?

A. Kevin Anderson

B. Juan Martin del Potro

C. Marin Cilic

D. Jerzy Janowicz

Find out at the bottom!

LTA National Coach, British Fed Cup Captain, and most well known for being Andy and Jamie Murray’s mum, Judy Murray on the importance of teaching young players to be independent:

“What am I preparing them for? It’s not just tennis, I’m preparing them for life. They have to become independent. They have to think for themselves. They have to solve their own problems. So things like packing their own bag, coming to the supermarket and choosing their own snacks, taking their own racket to the stringer, understanding what tension they need, learning to grip their own rackets.

I made them do everything. Nowadays, parents do everything. You’re not doing your children any favors by doing everything for them. When they’re on the court, they need to problem solve on their own.”

Some of the best tennis content I found on the internet this week…

🎾 Taylor Fritz (while playing League of Legends) on how Indian Wells switching to Dunlop balls will affect the game

🤤 Indian Wells starts in just three days, which means I’m binging OG IW practice sessions like this one. The palm tree and mountain background is just unbeatable

🫨 What it was like serving for the US Open title, by Mr. Andy Roddick

B. Juan Martin del Potro

Delpo was born in Tandil, Argentina — hence the perfect nickname for the 6’ 6” giant.

Throwback to Indian Wells a few years ago, where I got Borna Coric’s smashed racket!