Lynn, Author at NET and CLAY

April 15, 2019April 16, 2019

Ya Better Hurry Up, French Federation of Tennis

by Net and Clay in Paris, France

The French Open is from May 26 to June 9, 2019, but the French Federation of Tennis better pick up the pace of construction. On our trip to Paris, we attempted to tour Stade Roland Garros, but it is closed to the public outside of the French Open, and has been since 2015. We were like religious pilgrims during this week before Easter and Passover, deprived of seeing our clay court Mecca and relegated to scouring the perimeter to get a peek at something to report.

Stade Roland Garros is in the outskirts of Paris, easily accessible by the Metropolitan, next to the lovely Jardin de Serres d’Auteil. The stadium is named for Roland Garros, an aviation pioneer and decorated fighter pilot killed in combat during the Great War, who had been imprisoned with Charles de Gaulle. Other than his impressive military and aviation accomplishments, it’s unclear why the stadium is named for someone who had no connection to tennis.

With only a month away, the new Philippe-Chatrier central court looks skeletal from the outside. It is huge, though. Reports say between 800 and 900 workers have been working “day and night” on the site, and we can attest to seeing the housing for the workers in the residential containers or trailers, stacked two high. Were we viewing the underbelly of professional tennis, as we would by getting a glimpse of the lifestyle of the backstretch workers at a thoroughbred racecourse in the United States, where the workers are migrant, under-compensated and unseen in so many ways in the midst of such wealth and celebrity? We certainly hope not, since this year’s French Open purse increased 8% from last year’s, to a total of 42,661,000 Euros, with winners taking home the tidy sum of 2.3 Euros. The defending champions are Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep.

The current footprint of the stadium and the beginning of the modern French Open harks from 1927. After a hiatus during the second World War, the Australians, including Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and Margaret Court (still holding the most titles – her name might have something to do with it), took the limelight, but when the sport became professional in 1968, Björn Borg and Chris Evert dominated the event. Even though Rafa’s name comes up in Google searches for French Open titles, his 11 titles are two shy of Margaret Court’s 13.

We got a glimpse of the delightful signs that point to Wimbledon at 365 kilometers away; Flushing Meadows, 839; and Melbourne Park 16,950 kilometers. We also saw the charming Tudor-style ticket booths, as well as the historical Orangery in the adjacent gardens, built in 1898 and recently restored according to archival architect drawings. And we also got a glimpse of the old arena, fashioned in the Brutalism style of architecture, where the names of the winners are recessed in the concrete frieze. True to the name of the architectural style, what I saw was: 1977, Borg above Ruzici and 1978, Borg above Lloyd. Man over woman. Maybe in the new Phillippe-Chartrier stadium, with the retractable roof coming in 2020, they’ll put the names of the women’s champion over the men’s. I’m not trying to be a detractor: I’m simply being contemporary. Truly, though, the burnt sienna colors of the signage gave me goosebumps, and I hope to be back for the French Open sometime very, very soon. And, as promised, I am bringing back some authentic French Open merchandise for this website’s friends and supporters.

P.S. Last evening we went to the Montparnasse Tower to have a counter-perspective of the sights we saw the day before from the Tour Eiffel, and were shocked to see Notre Dame burning. Our words cannot adequately express what we saw.

April 7, 2019April 7, 2019

Calling all All Old Racquets….

I am working on a community service project for my Junior Tennis Star and her pals, and will be collecting gently used tennis racquets. The beneficiaries will be Pittsburgh Public School students who are in tennis programs but who do not have their own racquets. Your old racquets will be given to their tennis program, so when you clean your closet or garage this spring, please put aside those racquets that your kids have outgrown or you have retired and email me and I can make arrangements to get them. And if your junior tennis star is looking for a tennis-related community service project or a way to give back, please check back here. I will post information as the plan comes to life on the Upcoming page. Thanks!

March 31, 2019April 6, 2019

The Underhanded Serve is the Trojan Horse

Nick Kyrgios received some negative social media attention when he sent two underhanded serves to Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic at the Miami Open. In February, the Australian Kyrgios used the same tactic, although unsuccessfully, on Rafa in Acapulco. In Mexico, Kyrgios said he was cramping and looking for an easy point. He chose to do it because Rafa had positioned himself so far behind the baseline. Rafa responded that it “lacked a little bit of respect.” Social media both booed and applauded, and sports writers debated whether such a tactic was “unsportsmanlike.” My view: thumbs up.

An underhanded serve is nothing more than an allowable stratagem of the game where, if done successfully, the opponent is stunned, unable to return the ball and wondering what just happened. How’s that any different than a body serve, where by aiming the ball at your opponent, you hamper their ability to move right or left to return the serve? Tennis is all about change of pace and tactical switches, and an underhanded serve – if you can manage it – fits right in. It also fits right in with Kyrgios’s unconventional personality. The 23-years old is a full circus spectacle. He acts as his own coach, and often treats the crowds to between leg shots and other unorthodox tennis antics. In Miami, in addition to the underhanded serve, those included saluting the ball before he smashed it and a volley where he looked away after his racquet made contact. Kyrgios is definitely worth watching!

March 23, 2019April 6, 2019

The History of the Tennis Shoe

Ewing Kipspringer’s devotion to his tennis shoes (3/9/19 Commentary) touched me. I got to thinking about whether his shoes were really for playing tennis. After a bit of research, I determined they probably were. After the plimsoll was invented in the nineteenth century, the first generation tennis shoes were designed by Keds, in 1916. The Keds website has an interesting history of its original shoes, and touts that its “sneaker” was designed then and now “to empower women to be who they want to be and go where they want to go.” Its first canvas-topped rubber soled shoe would be something Jenna Coleman would wear in her role as Queen Victoria, but its 1940 relative looks more like something we recognize. Yoko Ono wore a pair of Keds when she wed John Lennon, and Taylor Swift is the International Keds Brand Ambassador.

Tretorn, a brand which my friends and I wore faithfully in college per The Preppy Handbook, also has an interesting history. Tretorn started as a rubber galoshes manufacturer in Sweden in 1891, and diversified into tennis balls and other products. The company was one of the first to offer free health insurance and vacation time to its employees (did I mention the company was Swedish?). In 1967, the Nylite, with its distinctive “wing” accent, was designed and became one of the first “luxury” tennis shoes. The shoe was worn by tennis players, including Bjorn Borg during the Wimbledon championship in 1976. The Tretorn website is also worth a gander.

I’ve curated a sampling of vintage inspired tennis shoes in order to pay homage to those early styles. See the Pro Shop.

March 14, 2019April 6, 2019

The Ugly Secret of Indian Wells

The BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California has an ugly secret. As a relative newcomer to watching pro tennis, references to Serena and Venus Williams’ multi-year absence from Indian Wells caught my attention. The commentators never explained, and each time the Williams sisters took to the court, they were wildly applauded and adored, as they always are. But back in 2001, that wasn’t the case.

In 2001, the year Roger Federer won his first title (see my 3/3/19 Commentary), the Williams sisters were to play each other in the semi-finals of what was then known as the Tennis Masters Series Indian Wells, the second biggest tennis tournament in the United States. A fellow player publicly accused their father, Richard Williams, of deciding the matches between the sisters. When Venus retired (i.e., withdrew) due to an injury minutes before the match, seemingly proving the allegation, the crowd booed. When Serena, then a teenager, went to play in the finals, the booing continued. When Venus, then only 20 years old, and her father were spotted coming down the stairs of the venue to watch the finals – you can find this footage on youtube –the fans booed and jeered. Mr. Williams told the media that the tennis fans were name calling (you know the word they used), and one said “If it were ’75, we’d skin you alive.” Mr. Williams said he stopped and looked at the person but continued on, and you can see his pause, his hesitation in the footage. While this occurred in sunny, southern California, known for its cool, laid-back vibe, the crowd was fierce and ugly.

I can’t imagine how that would affect a 19 year old girl, especially one who called that part of the country home. A reporter noted that Serena’s double faults and mis-hits into the net caused the crowd to celebrate. But after losing the first set amid this angry and hostile crowd, Serena turned inward and won the match, 4-6, 6-4 and 6-2. Even after her victory, the crowd both cheered and booed. And how did that 19-year old version who would become the GOAT handle it? She said, “’I’d like to thank everyone who supported me, and if you didn’t, I love you guys anyway,” when she accepted her trophy and purse. Yet in an interview she gave afterwards she revealed, “It has been difficult for me to forget spending hours crying in the Indian Wells locker room after winning in 2001, driving back to Los Angeles feeling as if I had lost the biggest game ever — not a mere tennis game but a bigger fight for equality.” Knowing about this 2001 incident puts the 2018 U.S. Open finals into context for me – why Serena so fiercely and rightly defended her integrity in response to the coaching charge.

Serena boycotted Indian Wells for 14 years; Venus for 15. Venus wrote a beautiful, heartfelt essay explaining her decision to follow her sister and return to the tournament, which you can read here.

We were delighted to see Venus, now age 38, reach the quarter finals in this year’s Indian Wells tournament, though she fell in straight sets to Angie Kerber.

March 9, 2019April 6, 2019

“You see, they’re tennis shoes, and I’m sort of helpless without them.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

“This is Mr. Carraway,” I said.
“Oh!” He sounded relieved. “This is Klipspringer.”
I was relieved too, for that seemed to promise another friend at Gatsby’s grave. I didn’t want it to be in the papers and draw a sight-seeing crowd, so I’d been calling up a few people myself. They were hard to find.
“The funeral’s tomorrow,” I said. “Three o’clock, here at the house. I wish you’d tell anybody who’d be interested.”
“Oh, I will,” be broke out hastily. “Of course I’m not likely to see anybody, but if I do.”
His tone made me suspicious.
“Of course you’ll be there yourself.”
“Well, I’ll certainly try. What I called up about is—“
“Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “How about saying you’ll come?”
“Well, the fact is—the truth of the matter is that I’m staying with some people up here in Greenwich, and they rather expect me to be with them tomorrow. In fact, there’s a sort of picnic or something. Of course I’ll do my very best to get away.”
“I ejaculated an unrestrained “Huh!” and he must have heard me, for he went on nervously:
“What I called up about was a pair of shoes I left there. I wonder if it’d be too much trouble to have the butler send them on. You see, they’re tennis shoes, and I’m sort of helpless without them. My address is care of B.F.—“
I didn’t hear the rest of the name, because I hung up the receiver.

This scene from The Great Gatsby seemed appropriate for St. Patrick’s Day, maybe because it was written by a man named Fitzgerald or maybe because of the thematic green light throughout the novel. Ewing Klipspringer was Gatsby’s house guest, piano player and hanger-on when times were good, but abandons Gatsby in death. Nick Carraway is desperately trying to gather friends and acquaintances for Gatsby’s funeral and assumes Klipspringer is calling to determine the funeral arrangements. Klipspringer, instead, is calling to ask about his tennis shoes. By refusing to commit to attend the funeral, Klipspringer makes clear that he values the tennis shoes over friendship, and feels no debt of gratitude to Gatsby for Gatsby’s generosity in allowing him to live at the mansion and attend his parties.

In re-reading this text from the The Great Gatsby, a novel which I have read many times before, I am again struck by the way Fitzgerald is able to invest each interaction with such meaning to expose the character’s ugly but human flaws in a way that we can guiltily understand. If you haven’t read the novel , or haven’t read it lately, here is a link to Amazon where you can purchase it. And while this post is rather dark for jubilant St. Patrick’s Day, you will find a collection of vintage-inspired tennis shoes and a Pot o’ Gold of of gift ideas in the Pro Shop.

March 3, 2019March 9, 2019

Congratulations Roger Federer.

Roger Federer won his 100th ATP title at the Dubai Tennis Championships. Federer, the 37-year old Swiss, beat Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas. It took Federer a little over a month to avenge his Australian Open defeat to Tsitsipas. Federer is only the second man, after Jimmy Connors in 1983, to reach that benchmark. The victory in Dubai makes Federer no. 4 in the world.

Federer won his first singles title in 2001. To put that date in perspective, it was around the time of Y2K. Remember that? When the world was worrying if the computers were going to crash at the turn of this century?

Federer mused about his age when he questioned if Tsitsipas was even born when Federer won his first title. (Tsitsipas was born in 1998). Through the years Federer has had the opportunity to play against tennis greats, including Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, as well as Tsitsipas, who represents a new era of future tennis champions.

Last summer, Federer parted company with Nike and signed a $300 million, 10-year contract with Japanese mass retailer Uniqulo. I like the new wardrobe with the Uniqulo embroidery on the polo shirts and henleys, but Federer’s model good looks certainly help. With that contract, only LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo currently have comparable endorsement incomes, and Federer’s endorsement earnings in the aggregate could reach an amounts achieved only by Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.