The GTN Tennis Blog

Global Tennis Network would like to congratulate Roger Federer on winning the 2018 Australian Open Men's title. No. 2 in the world, Roger Federer defeated No. 6 Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, to secure  his sixth Melbourne title  and an astounding  20th Grand Slam of his illustrious career.  After going four years witho...

Nowadays tennis is becoming increasingly more difficult to fit into our busy schedules. Matches, and especially multi-day tournaments, simply take too long to complete. But, don't despair because there is a solution to this problem and it's called Fast4 Tennis. Fast4 Tennis is a shortened format of tennis that was launched ...

As the 2017 U.S. Open draws closer to championship weekend, the time feels ripe to dig up a story from the archives of one of tennis's legendary performances.  The year is 1991 and Boris Becker is the #1 ranked player in the world. He is joined by Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in the top 1...

Indian Wells is a magical desert oasis vacation destination located just outside of Palm Springs, California. Home to 350 days of sunshine, world-class, luxurious accommodations, full-service spa facilities, elegant dining, award wining golf course, and the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. It is a fun and revitalizing getaway. These are all ...

Filling out a tournament bracket is a fun way to learn about new players while enjoying some friendly competition against your tennis-loving friends.  It can also help you stay engaged with a tournament during the early rounds, when some of the matchups may be a bit less compelling. 

Here at the Holabird Sports office we have a great time filling out our tournament brackets and competing every time a Grand Slam rolls around.  Even though we only play for office bragging rights, the rivalries are fierce and we're always looking for any tip or strategy that will give us an edge.

With that competitive spirit in mind, here are some tips to help you get the most out of your US Open Bracket and pull ahead in your Bracket Challenge:

 Pick Wildcards and Qualifiers Sparingly

It's always fun to root for the underdog and it feels great being right when your dark horse, wildcard selection pulls off an unlikely upset that you had the foresight to predict.  Unfortunately, most wildcards and qualifiers generally don't fare well.  During the last four Slams (US Open 2013 through Wimbledon 2014), wildcard recipients compiled a 35-64 record while qualifiers were slightly worse at 62-116.

 That being said, it's not unprecedented for wildcards to make deep runs at Slams.  Goran Ivanisevic won Wimbledon in 1994 as a wildcard recipient and Kim Clijsters won the 2009 US Open as a wildcard as well—though both of those players had success before receiving their wildcards.  Before winning his lone Wimbledon title, Ivanisevic had been to the finals three times and reached a career-high ranking of #2 in the world.  Clijsters received her wildcard after returning from having a child, but by then she had already captured one Grand Slam title, been to numerous Slam finals, and held the #1 ranking in the world.

 Several qualifiers have fared well at Slams too.  John McEnroe reached the Wimbledon semifinals as a qualifier in 1977, qualifier Filip Dewulf reached the semifinals of Roland Garros in 1997, and qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2000.

 So while it's not impossible for wildcards or qualifiers to make deep runs, it is improbable.  Choose wildcards and qualifiers sparingly and with care.

 

Check Head-to-Head Records

 

Both the official ATP and WTA websites provide a tool that allows you to compare the head-to-head records of two players.  The details include the date, tournament, court surface, and final score of each meeting.  Admittedly, a historical head-to-head record provides no guarantees of future performance, but it can be a great tool to help you make a decision on tough match ups.

Court Surface Matters

Players aren't equally skilled on all surfaces, and depending on the player, the court surface can have a big impact.  David Ferrer, for instance, has won 71.6% of all of his matches on clay, but has won only 63.6% of his matches on all other surfaces combined.  Similarly, Feliciano Lopez has won 66.7% of his grass court matches but is under .500 on all other surfaces, winning just 49.6% of those matches.  Career win-loss records by surface are readily available on the official ATP website, but for WTA win-loss records by surface you'll have to turn to a third party like Tennis.com.  Much like head-to-head records, win-loss records by court surface don't guarantee similar future results, but they can be another useful way to help predict some otherwise surprising upsets.

Who's Hot and Who's Not

Successful tennis revolves largely around confident play and nothing breeds confidence like success.  Keep an eye on the "warmup" tournaments that take place in the weeks leading up to the main event so you can see which players are trending up and which players are sliding backwards.  Players who are winning matches and titles at the warmup events will usually carry that confidence over into the Grand Slam, improving their chances.  Conversely, players who are scuffling in the lead-up events often come into the Slam with little confidence and continue to play poorly.

Make Healthy Choices

The professional tennis tour is a grind and Grand Slam events are especially tough.  Players battling nagging injuries coming into the Slams aren't like to perform up to their standards, so keep an eye on players' health during warmup events.  Banking on players who frequently call for the trainer or retire at smaller warmup events is risky, even if they've proven in the past that they can win matches at Slams.  Also, keep in mind that Grand Slam prize money is a big draw for players; even a first round loss comes with a hefty paycheck.  There is, unfortunately, a temptation for players to show up feeling less than 100% and suffer through a first round loss rather than withdraw from the tournament ahead of time and miss out on a payday.

 

Read about the first US Open matches to watch.

Come join our 2013 French Open Bracket Challenge. Make your picks, watch the matches, and see how well you can predict the results.

1st Prize - $50 sent to your PayPal account.
2nd Prize - $25 sent to your PayPal account.
3rd Prize - $10 sent to your PayPal account.

Deadline: May 26th, 2013

 

Come join us. You can even create your own private pool. 

Sign up here: 2013 French Open Bracket Challenge

You can now allow your tournament players, or even your network members to predict the outcome of your tournaments. Players receive points for each correct prediction. You can even see who was most predicted to win the tournament, and which matches were the biggest upsets.

This is a great way to get more spectators, and interest in your tournaments. It also gives players a second chance at winning a prize. Let us know what you think.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-zKEFJuKLM 500x300]

Do you run or play in any tournaments on GTN? We just finished another great new feature you might be interested in. It is called "Predictions".

You can now allow your tournament players, or even your network members to predict the outcome of your tournaments. Players receive points for each correct prediction. You can even see who was most predicted to win the tournament, and which matches were the biggest upsets.

This is a great way to get more spectators, and interest in your tournaments. It also gives players a second chance at winning a prize. Let us know what you think.

Technology has made it easy to connect to tennis.  Whether you like to watch it live on television, record it on TIVO or still use a VCR to record your favorite matches you had to go out and find it.  Today's array of social media plug-ins, smartphone app's, instant ways to connect, rss feeds, etc, there is no excuse about missing the action.

This year make an effort to use a form of media that is new to you in order to connect to the US OPEN.  You will not only keep current on the tournament but you may also learn something new about technology. 
Some excellent ways that I like to stay connected to the action is:

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games are about ready to get started.  Of course much of the news today has been around how Twitter has had a major outage and apparently Olympic Tweets are expected to surge with the Olympic games about to get underway so this news is sure to be headlines.  On a more important note, the official Tennis Olympic website should be your constant source and up-to-the minute news for the games.  The International Tennis Federation Olympic Site provides official Olympic tennis information, Twitter and Facebook updates, A media guide you can download, access to mobile apps so you can follow the action on your phone.

 

If you generally subscribe to RSS feeds, the ITF does have several feeds you can subscribe to and if you visit the official ITF Tennis website, scroll to the bottom of the home page, you will find an area where the RSS feed icon is displayed, scroll over and it provides options on feeds and then you can get the specific RSS feed for Olympic Tennis Only... How cool is that!

A bracket challenge is a simple competition to see who can best predict the results of a tournament. This is just like the office pools you see each year during March Madness.

At Global Tennis Network, we host 4 of these challenges a year, for each of the Grand Slam tennis tournaments.

• French Open
• Wimbledon
• US Open
• Australian Open

This year, Holabird Sports has sponsored these challenges, by giving away some great prizes. For the French Open Bracket Challenge, they gave away a free racquet of choice, to the winner!

Bracket challenges are easy to sign up for, and only take a few minutes to make your picks. You can even create a private pool for some friends, or members of your Network. When you create a private pool, your contestants are automatically entered in the main bracket.

Go here to see a list of the current and past bracket challenges:
http://www.globaltennisnetwork.com/tennis-tournaments/bracket-challenges

 

One of the biggest drawbacks of entering a tennis tournament is just how much time it can consume. Players can spend the entire weekend, and sometimes more, playing in a tournament.

A one day tournament is a great way to attract time strapped, and short attention span players (like myself). A one day tournament is identical to a regular tournament, but it comprises of playing multiple mini matches throughout the day.

The match format of the mini matches depends on the size of the tournament. For example, a tournament with 8 teams would use a 8-game pro-set. This is because in an 8 team tournament, the maximum amount of matches that a team can play is three. This means a team must win three, 8-game pro-set mini matches to win the tournament. This is an achievable amount of tennis for a day, considering there may be long breaks between each match. For larger bracket sizes, you would want smaller size matches. Perhaps best 3 out of 5 games.

I would love to see some of these one day tennis tournaments here at the GTN, and would love to hear your ideas. It is a such a simple concept, and I really think it could catch on.

Aside from the Atlanta tennis championships kicking off the US OPEN series tour the tournament of mention is the 'Bet-at-home Open in Hamburg.   It might be just me or maybe others feel this way ?  A online betting site (which by the way would be Illegal in the US due to non betting laws, I believe) is the title sponsor for a Professional Tennis Tournament in Germany.  It would almost seem that we are supporting gambling online this way.  You can read my post on my site at www.racketstringingtips.com.  I would welcome all comments.  I am trying to figure this out, and maybe I am wrong, but it just seems illogical.

TennisEarth.com is one of the world leading Tennis sites and its commitment to bringing the worldwide tennis community together will once again be shown by the inauguration of its first Amateur Grand Slam Singles Tennis Tournament.

The site is inviting players of all ages and abilities to take part and in addition offers prizes for the top three players and consolation prizes for many others taking part. The Tournament will take place over 30 days with the overall winner receiving a ‘Head’ six star tennis racquet. The first runner up and second runner up will also receive the latest five star and three star ‘Head’ tennis racquets respectively. Entering the Tournament is simple.

Competitors have to play a minimum of 15 matches with a least five distinct opponents during the course of the Tournament in order to be eligible to win a prize. TennisEarth Rating (TER) points will be won based on match results and all competitors will be able to follow their progress and that of other competitors on TennisEarth.com throughout the course of the Tournament and the final result will be published on the website the day after the Tournament closes. Entry is free and full details and Term and Conditions of entry can be found on the website www.TennisEarth.com.

British Davis Cup player Dan Evans is "fully co-operating" with police over an alleged sexual assault in Bath.

Avon and Somerset police published a photo of three men as part of an appeal for more information.

The other two are also believed to be British tennis players and police say they have names for all three, who may be able to help with their enquiries.

Last month, 19-year-old Evans lost the deciding rubber in Britain's Davis Cup defeat in Lithuania.

BBC tennis correspondent Jonathan Overend said Evans' agent confirmed on Sunday he is fully co-operating with police, but has been advised not to make any further comment at this stage.

The alleged incident is reported to have taken place in the early hours of Friday 19 March.

Evans, Britain's top-ranked teenager, was beaten in the second round of a tournament in Bath that week by compatriot Josh Goodall.

Avon and Somerset police issued an appeal on their website for help in identifying three men "who may have information".

The appeal said a woman left a nightclub with a friend and they began talking with two men before one allegedly pushed her onto a discarded mattress and sexually assaulted her.

Two years ago, Evans, who is believed to be in the United States, had his funding suspended by the LTA after being caught on a late night out while still involved in the doubles event at Wimbledon.

 

Looking for tickets to Wimbledon 2010?  Check out our website: wimbledon tennis tickets

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/8603234.stm

5 April 2010 10:31 UK