Category: Tournaments
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Post 9: Australian Open
Every January, while most of the tennis world is still shaking off the offseason, the Australian Open kicks the Grand Slam year into gear — in the middle of the Melbourne summer. It’s nicknamed the Happy Slam, and the nickname is earned. But don’t let the smiles fool you: this is also the most physically…
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From First Tournament to Nationals: The Tournament Success Roadmap
“When should we start tournaments?” It’s the question every tennis parent asks, and the honest answer is: earlier than you think, smaller than you think, and with lower stakes than you think. Tournaments aren’t the reward for getting good. They’re how kids get good — the testing ground where practice turns into match toughness. But…
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The Junior Tennis Tournament Parent Checklist (Before, During, After)
Our first tournament, I forgot the sunscreen, brought one banana for a six-hour day, and didn’t know the check-in closed 30 minutes before the first match. We’ve been the unprepared family. This checklist exists so you don’t have to be. Print it. Laminate it. Keep it in the tennis bag. The bag: what to pack…
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The 20-Minute Match-Day Warm-Up That Actually Prevents Injuries
Watch any junior tournament and you’ll see two kinds of warm-ups. The first: kid arrives five minutes before the match, hits six forehands, two backhands, three serves, says “I’m good.” The second: a real routine — movement, progression, serves last — and a kid who walks onto the court already warm, grooved, and calm. The…
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The Tournament Week Playbook: Exactly What to Train (and What to Skip)
Most tennis parents get tournament week backwards. Monday through Thursday, the kid barely practices — homework, life, whatever. Then Friday night panic sets in, and suddenly it’s a two-hour “cram session” the day before the draw. That’s the single worst way to prepare for a tournament, and it’s incredibly common. Here’s the truth: you can’t…
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Post 12: US Open
If Wimbledon is tennis’s cathedral, the US Open is its stadium rock concert. Night matches under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium, 23,000+ fans losing their minds, planes roaring overhead on the flight path to LaGuardia, and an atmosphere the players themselves describe as unlike anywhere else on earth. It’s loud, it’s brash, it’s New…
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Post 11: Wimbledon
Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and it behaves like it. No sponsor logos on the courts. Players in head-to-toe white. A queue of thousands camping overnight for tickets. Strawberries and cream. It’s either gloriously traditional or gloriously stubborn, depending on your mood — but there’s no arguing it’s the most distinctive…
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Post 10: Roland-Garros
Of the four Grand Slams, Roland-Garros is the one that changes the sport itself. Same rackets, same balls — but the ground beneath the players is crushed red brick, and that single fact rewrites everything: how the ball moves, how players move, how long points last, and what kind of athlete survives two weeks in…
