2023 Swan Hill Carnival | Tennis Seniors

We are calling for entries to play for NSW at the National Teams Carnival in Swan Hill, Victoria from 8-13 January, 2023. More than 80 grass courts in one place beckon players with courts just as good as those we experienced in Busselton, 2020.
You will find the entry form on our website  https://www.tsnsw.com.au/tournaments at the end of the 2022 NRT events.

The Carnival is contested each year by all the states, plus there are usually a few other teams from New Zealand, Japan and sometimes other countries who wish to enter.

It commences on the Sunday evening with an Official Opening Ceremony and Welcoming Function. Attendance at this is optional as the tennis starts on Monday morning.

The Teams’ week consists of friendly rivalry and is a really good chance to get to know players from our own state as well as the other players who participate. Each state has a “State Dinner” on the Tuesday night, with both ‘old’ and ‘new’ representatives joining in a spirit of fun and camaraderie, sometimes they are on the dance floor until almost midnight – then have to get to tennis by 8am the next morning! TSNSW subsidise this dinner so its great value.
Teams of between four and eight players can be organised by yourselves or you can enter individually or as part of a team and our state Selectors will endeavour to complete your team.

You compete in up to two time slots per day. Each division has to play at either 8am and 1.20pm or 10.40am and 4.00pm, with each match lasting up to two and a half hours. All play is doubles and you start with two pairs playing two sets on adjoining courts. When those first two rubbers are completed you play two more sets on each court. If you use the same four players you must change pairs. You can introduce two new players if you have a team of 6-8 but only 6 can play in each match. Play ceases when the bell rings at the end of the two and a half hour session. Age groups are defined in 5 or 10 year increments depending upon the number of entries for Men and Women. Players can sometimes play eight sets in one day with a team of 4, but with larger teams, they get to have a rest. Play continues from Monday to Thursday in that format and there are semis or finals played on the Friday. You normally get a session or two, being a morning or an afternoon, off during the week

Averages are kept for each state’s matches throughout the week, and the winning state is the one with the highest average. Each night there is a dinner function arranged by the Swan Hill Tennis Club and the week culminates with a Presentation Dinner Dance on the Friday night. Attendance at all social functions is optional but our subsidised State Dinner and the Friday night Dinner Dance finale are highly recommended. If you stay on for the Individual Championships they don’t start till Sunday or Monday so Saturday can be a well earned rest!

Tennis Seniors NSW Committee

 

Roger Federer Talks About Life After Tennis | WSJ

Roger Federer has yet to play pickleball.

“Never,” he said. “Never held the racket in my hand. You don’t have that stuff in Switzerland.”

As for tennis, the gentleman legend has closed the book. I met Federer Saturday in a small office on the ground level of the O2 Arena, where, the prior night, he’d played the final match of his career, a doubles loss alongside his rival turned pal, Rafael Nadal. Federer was still dressed in his blue Team Europe sweatsuit, but his competitive career was officially over, at age 41.

What did he feel when he woke up in the morning?

“A sense of happiness,” Federer said.

That post-match ceremony had been a heart-tugging weeper. By now you’ve surely seen the images: Federer in tears, sobbing at the microphone and alongside Laver Cup teammates and competitors, especially Nadal, who appeared overcome.

Nadal’s tearful reaction “hit deep,” Federer said. So had emotional responses and words from Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.

“I’m happy I’m the first to go,” Federer said. “I know how I would have felt if Rafa had gone first, or Novak, or Andy. It would not be the same. Something would be missing.”

Federer’s retirement had been a closely-kept secret since late summer. A knee scan after Wimbledon proved to be concerning, and Federer faced a choice: yet another surgery and rehab, or moving on to his next chapter.

There was heartbreak, but he could get his mind around the latter. He’d never wanted to play into his mid-40s, a tennis Tom Brady. Time off recovering from prior injuries had foreshadowed his athletic afterlife.

“I’d had a glimpse,” Federer said, “and it wasn’t scary at all.”

Roger Federer is finally hanging up his racket after a record-breaking career. Follow the 20-time Grand Slam champion’s career in photos as he transitions from fiery teenager to elder statesman of tennis.Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

He will remain busy. Federer has a range of business interests, a charitable foundation and of course, a family—he and his wife, Mirka, have two sets of twins, 13-year-old girls, Myla and Charlene, and 8-year-old boys, Lenny and Leo. Mornings in the Federer home in Switzerland remain “lively,” he said. “It’s always a question of how loud can the kiddies be from the beginning?”

As for tennis, he emphasized he did not want to become a “ghost.” Federer had spoken poignantly earlier in the week about Swedish idol Bjorn Borg’s estrangement from the sport after his retirement. The silver-maned Borg is now a Laver Cup captain, prominently returned, mixing it up once more. Federer is eager to maintain his own connection.

Could tennis ask for a better statesman? After Federer announced his retirement plan on Sept. 15, tributes poured in, praising Federer for his success, style and mien. He was tennis’s James Bond. Its Baryshnikov. Depending on whom you talked to—and tennis nuts will debate it until the end of time—he has a case as its GOAT, a virtuoso expression of accomplishment and aesthetic.

At the Laver Cup, he was surrounded by idols like Rocket Rod, now 84, and Stefan Edberg, as well as veterans who’d played him at his peak. Then there were the up-and-comers who’d worshiped him since they were youngsters—talents like the Americans Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock, who would narrowly beat “Fedal” in a spirited match that went to a tiebreak decider.

Federer won 20 major titles, but when the pros talk, they talk about the way he won them—the unruffled manner in which Federer carried himself on and off the court.

“No one is bigger than the sport itself,” said Borg, “but what he did for the sport around the world? It’s amazing.”

He’s left an indelible mark. Would he consider coaching? Federer said there was no way he’d leave his family to go right back out on the road full-time. But he liked the idea of players visiting him for mini-sessions, like he did with Aussie coach Tony Roche in Sydney, tinkering with his game in Roche’s backyard court.

“I’d be open to something like that, especially with young players,” he said.

As for television commentating, he was curious, though he’s explored no formal plan. Networks would surely leap at the prospect of Fed in the booth, but there was a question: Could the sport’s most courteous diplomat be critical of his contemporaries?

“The point is to say how it is, and if it’s critical, it’s critical, but it isn’t personal,” Federer said. He added: “I’m not here to destroy players, I’m here to promote the game and make it better.”

Read more —>

MLTC Newsletter 20 Sept 2022

Manly Lawn Tennis Club Newsletter 20 Sept 2022

Club Captain’s Report

Entries are now open for our Club Championships online.

Dates are October 15 16 22 23 29 30 and Finals on November 5

A maximum of 3 events per person so we can finish on time.

If you enter 3 events you may have to play up to 6 sets in a day so be warned.

If you cannot play when drawn you will need to play midweek if your opponent agrees.

Let me know on your entry form any dates you cannot play .

Entries close October 9

Our winning Ladies 3 team also included Narelle who played 2 matches.

Congratulations again to these Ladies and enjoy your prize money. Denis

Working Bee Saturday 12pm 8 Oct

Keep some time free that day to help tidy up some places around the Club

Best wishes,

Virginia

MLTC Secretary

www.manlylawn.com.au

 

Roger Federer to retire at Laver Cup | Tennis,com

A look back at just some of what has made this Swiss player so revered to so many.

Federer’s genius began with the way he carried his body, from stance to movement. Like a ballerina, Federer appeared to glide more than trod, arriving at the point of contact with superb posture and balance. Such discipline and elegance yielded a spectrum of shot possibilities Federer deployed to befuddle opponents, delight spectators and even please himself. Speeds and spins, angles and power: all of it was at Federer’s command. He was as complete a player as tennis has ever seen.

Notably, Federer’s victims rarely felt bludgeoned. They were dissected, methodically and deftly shredded by everything from his pinpoint serve to whip-like forehand to a backhand he often sliced wickedly short—and then drove deep. No one in tennis history has possessed as many different point-winning combinations as Federer. That variety, and the smoothness with which it was executed, was a major factor for his popularity.

As the arc of Federer’s career shows, all of this genius didn’t instantly reveal itself. Over the course of more than 20 years, his game evolved, with subtle but significant shifts that allowed him to stay at least one step ahead of the bulk of his contemporaries.

Federer's finest work came at Wimbledon—not just in his eight title runs, but during his breakout victory in 2001 over idol Pete Sampras.

Federer’s finest work came at Wimbledon—not just in his eight title runs, but during his breakout victory in 2001 over idol Pete Sampras.

read article. —> https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/roger-federer-will-retire-laver-cup-2022

 

Annual Club Championships Entries Now Open

Entries for the Annual Club Championships are now open.  Events are:

  • Open Men’s singles and doubles
  • Open Ladies singles and doubles
  • Open Mixed doubles
  • A grade Men’s singles and doubles
  • A grade Ladies singles and doubles
  • A grade Mixed doubles.

Open grades are for everyone.

A-Grade is Badge Division 7 or lower for Men; Division 5 and  Thursday Badge for Ladies.

Scheduled dates are October 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30 November 5, 6. Entries close October 9.

All events will be a knockout tournament.

Maximum 3 entries per person.

Questions to Denis Crowley
MLTC Club Captain 

MLTC Newsletter 13 Sept 2022

Manly Lawn Tennis Club Newsletter – 13/9/2022

Club Captain’s Report

Congratulations to our Ladies 3 Team winning Division 5 Badge last Saturday at Collaroy.

Collaroy had only lost 1 match all season and our Ladies won the final 6 sets to 2 .

Catherine /Erryn won 4 sets and Kate/Noriko won 2 sets to complete an easy victory.

Other team members were Melinda Pam Sue Narelle Lindy Sally and Barbara.

This was Manly’s only title this season so the ladies can be very proud of their performance. See below a picture of the ladies who played on Saturday.

Our attentions now turn to the club championships which will begin on October 15 and run for 4 weeks depending on weather. Entries will soon be open.

Membership fees are now due so you will need to be a paid up member to enter the championships and to book a members courtt.

Membership Fees Due

Your membership fees are due, please email me if you haven’t received your invoice. You will not be able to book courts or play in club championships if you are not financial.

Working Bee

We have some tidying up to do around the courts so if you can spare an hour on Saturday 8 October from 12pm it will be appreciated.

Best wishes,

Virginia

MLTC Secretary

www.manlylawn.com.au

 

Badge Team Winners 2022!

Congrats to MLTC’s Ladies 3 Badge Team in winning their division last Saturday.
They defeated the top ranked team, Collaroy, and won the grand final 6 sets to 2 sets. Well done ladies.
Team Pic: Catherine, Erryn, Kate, Noriko,
Not shown: Melinda, Narelle, Pam, Sue
Sally, Lindy, Barb

Carlos Alcaraz Wins US Open Men’s Singles Title and Becomes World No. 1

Alcaraz, the 19-year-old Spanish sensation, beat Casper Ruud of Norway in four sets to capture his first Grand Slam championship and take the top spot in the ATP world rankings.
The future of tennis arrived at 7:38 p.m. Sunday with a rocketed serve off the racket of Carlos Alcaraz, who clinched the U.S. Open men’s singles championship, announcing the start of a new era in the game.
Alcaraz, the 19-year-old Spanish sensation, beat Casper Ruud of Norway, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3, to win his first Grand Slam singles title, but probably not his last. Far, far from it. A blasted serve that came off his racket like a missile sealed it. The Carlos Alcaraz era is here.
On Sunday, he reached the sport’s pinnacle in grand fashion on its biggest stage, packing the nearly 24,000 fans in the stadium onto his bandwagon as he claimed not only the men’s singles championship and $2.6 million in prize money, but also the No. 1 ranking in the world, becoming the youngest man to do so. He is the youngest man to win a Grand Slam title since Rafael Nadal won the 2005 French Open as a 19-year-old.

Mental Toughness | ATP

Whether or not you agree, it’d be tough to argue Serena Williams hasn’t had an impact on women’s tennis and what it means to be an athlete, period. Her 27-year professional career is one of the longest in her sport’s history.

And the mental toughness she’s consistently displayed throughout the decades is certainly noteworthy, says Eric A. Zillmer, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist and the Carl R. Pacifico Professor of Neuropsychology and an athletic director emeritus at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

“Some people may be ‘broken’ by a crisis, while others emerge from a stressful experience sometimes even stronger than before,” he says. An abundance of research backs this up.

While mental toughness is talked about often in sports, it translates to everyday life as well. “Mental toughness and resilience can be learned,” Zillmer says. They’re skills and qualities that are accessible to everyone.

Ultimately, it’s about treating yourself well and cultivating a sense of purpose and belonging in the world.

Losing is a key part of competitive tennis. Here are three examples of how to better deal with it….

1. Find Joy in a Highly Competitive Sport — and Show It

It’s no secret that tennis is an especially high-pressure sport. Players compete alone, travel often, and are subject to constant scrutiny by the press and the sport itself.

Williams’s appreciation for all aspects of her sport, not just winning, is key to her success. “Sports by definition is competitive, hard, stressful, and deals with a constantly changing environment,” Zillmer says. Learning to enjoy all the ups, downs, and pressures of the job, at least to some degree, is the very definition of resilience and mental toughness.

2. Find Motivation in Setbacks

Serena Williams wasn’t always great. “When I was little, I was not very good at tennis. I was so sad when I didn’t get all the early opportunities that Venus got, but that helped me. It made me work harder, turning me into a savage fighter.”

She’s fought her way out of many scoreboard holes to win matches (including, famously, the 2012 U.S. Open championship match), and has been dubbed the “queen of comebacks”.

That kind of determination in the face of adversity is part of what defines mental toughness. Rivalry is a great way for people to learn resilience starting at a young age. Learning to cope with failure early on, and even be motivated by it, is another thing that sets certain individuals apart.

3. Lose With Grace

Losing is part of ALL sports. And Williams has lost many tennis matches throughout her career. She does it with grace — even when she lost the (presumed) final match of her career.

“Dealing with winning is easy, but losing is tough,” Zillmer says. If and when a loser does muster up that good sportsmanship, s)he actually has a lot more to gain by doing it graciously than sorely.

“In sports psychology, losing graciously can also help someone maintain belief in themselves, even after (or because of) a setback.” It can help keep your confidence up, which makes you more likely to succeed in the future.

Extract: Christine Byrne September 8, 2022

 

 

TSNSW News: Entries for State Seniors Championships Close 20 Sept

A reminder that entries close for our State Championships ITF S700 on September 20 at 8pm. 

Enter Online at www.itftennis.com/ipin andwww.92computing.com.au/tsnswentry.htm.

Full details can be found by tapping the download button against the tournament on our website tsnsw.com.au. 

There will also be some combined doubles events on the Sunday or Monday. Please register for those with the Tournament Director, Arthur Olsen on 0400 525 591 or enter at the tournament desk on the Friday/Saturday of the tournament.

Sadly, Noel Fraser, the President of TSNSW from 2002 to 2008 passed away recently, on September 14. Noel had been suffering from Prostate Cancer for several years and unfortunately the cancer had spread throughout his body. He had been hospitalised in the Muswellbrook Calvary Retirement Village for some time and passed away with Val Angel his long time partner at his side. Some members would know Noel from the tournament in Muswellbrook which he ran in conjunction with Val, and in his healthier years was a regular at most of the country tournaments and captained a team at the Aust teams event every year. His funeral is at St Marks Church, Aberdeen at 2pm this Wednesday

MLTC Newsletter 6 Sept 2022

Manly Lawn Tennis Club Newsletter 6 Sept 2022

Club Captain Report

Rain proved the enemy of our two remaining Mens Teams in their Sydney Badge semis last Saturday.

Both matches were washed out which means their opponents go through to the finals as the higher placed teams.

Our Mens Division 1 Team and Division 7 Teams can both be proud of their achievements this year.

Our Ladies Division 5 Team were also washed out in their final at Collaroy.

This match will be replayed next Saturday at Collaroy.Good luck to our Ladies.

 Cameron Green has won the Mens Top Badge Set average this season with a win percentage of 85.3%.

Along with the Ladies winner Bryanne Crabb the two of them have had great seasons and the club appreciates their playing for us.

Hopefully both of them will play in our Club Championships in October.

Social Tennis is on each Saturday now from Noon to 4pm on all courts.

Denis Crowley

MLTC Club Captain

Membership Fees Due Thursday

A quick reminder that membership fees are due by Thu this week (8th Sep). Thank you to everyone who has already paid. All invoices were sent out on 1st Sep. If you haven’t received your invoice or are not renewing, please reply to [email protected].

Best wishes,
Virginia
MLTC Secretary

www.manlylawn.com.au

 

How Ajla Tomljanovic Faced Down Serena Williams and 24,000 Others

When Ajla Tomljanovic was a little girl, she asked her father about a prized photograph of him holding a big trophy on his head. Ratko Tomljanovic was a great professional handball player, winning two European Championships for Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, and was the captain of the Croatian national team; before that, he was a member of the Yugoslavian team.

His daughter wanted to know where that shiny trophy was, because she had never seen it in their home. Ratko Tomljanovic explained that it had been a team award, and that he did not get to keep it. Unimpressed, Ajla told him that she would not play handball.

“I want the trophy just for myself,” she said.

So Ajla Tomljanovic chose tennis, and she is still striving for that big trophy, for a professional championship. She has shown the talent for it, though her nerves have betrayed her at times — what she calls “the bad Ajla.”

Credit…Corey Sipkin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

But on Friday night, Tomljanovic, who is ranked 46th, demonstrated to herself and the world that she had the mettle and the shotmaking ability to win a trophy of her own. If she wins four more matches in the coming week, it will be one of the most coveted in sports.

That night, Tomljanovic beat the six-time U.S. Open champion Serena Williams, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1, in front of a raucous, partisan crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York to advance to the fourth round of the U.S. Open for the first time.

“I feel like I belong here now,” she said.

That was not necessarily what she was thinking in the moments before she took the court.

Tomljanovic was nervous, and for good reason. Williams was her idol, and Tomljanovic had never played her before. She had never played in Ashe. In fact, she had never even practiced on that court. She had asked tournament organizers if they could find a time for her to hit some balls in the largest tennis stadium in the world at least once, but nothing was available.

Then there was the matter of her playing the role of villain, of facing down nearly 24,000 fans, virtually all of them screaming for Williams to win, and millions more watching on television. It would make anyone a tad nervous.

Tomljanovic confided the anxiety to her father, who was happy that his daughter admitted to the nerves. Better than hiding them, he thought. Ratko Tomljanovic also knew about playing in hostile environments, especially in Europe, where handball is intensely popular and the stakes are high. He tried to calm Ajla by evoking the almost comical role of the hard-bitten veteran of scrappy handball matches — the kind of yarn he had spun to her and his other daughter, Hana, many times before.

“Don’t tell me you are afraid of the crowd,” he told Ajla. “I played in some terrible places with 5,000 people booing and spitting, and one time the crowd came on the floor and there was a big fight. Don’t tell me it’s hard because some guy in the 35th row is yelling at you.”

It was not exactly Mickey yelling at Rocky. It was a speech designed to lighten the mood, and it worked. Ajla laughed. “She doesn’t care about what I did, at all,” Ratko said, chuckling.

But then he brought out another motivational tool. He mentioned one of his favorite movies, “For Love of the Game,” in which a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, played by Kevin Costner, reflects on his life and career in the midst of a perfect game.

“But she didn’t know the movie, so I had to explain it to her,” he said. “I told her, ‘You have to be Kevin Costner today.’”

In the film, he told her, the pitcher focuses explicitly on the catcher’s glove and ignores everything else in the stadium. Ajla understood, and she followed the advice with her own unique resolve.

She blocked out all the noise, the roars for Williams, the indecorous cheers when Tomljanovic missed a serve, all the celebrities in the stands, the video tributes to Williams and her own childhood adulation for Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion standing across the net and playing as well as she had in years. But Tomljanovic was better.

“From the first moment I walked on court, I didn’t really look around much,” she said. “I was completely in my own little bubble.”

Read more –>

David Waldstein, NY Times