Category Archives: tennis tournament

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May 8, 2011

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tennis, tennis court, tennis participation, tennis partner, tennis player, tennis tournament

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Longest Tennis Rally

There has been much information pertaining to the longest rally, but the most accurate so far was the 643 times over the net between players Vicki Nelson and Jean Hepner on September 24, 1984. More than twenty six years ago, this 643-shot rally lasted for 29 minutes and remains to be the longest point ever played in a professional tennis match. It happened during the first round of the much-coveted $50,000 Virginia Slims-sponsored Ginny tournament at the Raintree Swim and Racquet Club in Richmond, VA.

Nelson got the point after waiting for half an hour. She also won the match after 6 hours and 31 minutes of play. The match consisted of only two sets which led to a final score of 6-4, 7-6 (11).  Since she lobbed a lot, her coach told her to become steadier and more patient.

When Nelson was interviewed by popular host Robert Siegel, she said that she wasn’t thinking anything during the match, but just trying to get the ball back to Hepner. She just didn’t want to give up hoping her opponent won’t be able to keep on hitting the ball back to her.

According to The New York Times, John Packett, a local sportswriter in Virginia has started counting the shots for some reason. After the rally, Nelson bowed in leg cramps and the chair umpire strangely called a time-violation warning but she composed herself and got back to the baseline to continue the match.

It seemed ridiculous for Nelson that the game lasted for so long just to win a tennis match. She didn’t actually realize that the match ended after six and a half hours. People who were watching then basically left and didn’t wait for the final set. Nelson even said that it was the worst day of her life.

Nelson is now married to Keith Dubnar, a former professional tennis coach. They currently reside in Ohio and she remains involved in the sport. Hepner on the other hand, retired from the sport soon after that longest match and seldom had the chance to play again.

Curiously, if Hepner hadn’t won the legendary tennis rally, she might have had to play a third set and nobody knows how long the match would have lasted then.

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Find a tennis partner in Chicago and tennis courts in Chicago on Tennis Round

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May 2, 2011

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Davis Cup, tennis, tennis participation, tennis player, tennis tournament

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Fastest Serve in Tennis

For a true blooded tennis enthusiast, nothing really beats talking about cool and amusing stuff during a tennis tournament. It is quite amazing how Ivo Karlovic of Croatia broke the world record for fastest serve in the 4th set of 2011 Davis Cup. You could almost miss seeing it, for it was too quick. His serve is well-known to be a terrifying bludgeon on the men’s tournament as he fervently delivers his 156mph (251 km/h) serve. He actually broke the record of Andy Roddick who clocked 155mph (249.4 km/h) during 2004 Davis Cup.

Karlovic is the tallest player at 208cm (6 feet 10 inches) in professional tennis today. Taking the benefit of his height, he is greatly dependent on his serve and delivers many unreachable shots on the court. His initial serve has superior chance of coming in with a heightened direction from his racquet to the service line. Even without good volley, his serve can make a surefire victory with bad returns from his opponents. He has also mastered his serve, making it an offensive weapon to gain points and win the game completely.

With the unique style and speed of his serve, Karlovic became known for tie-breaking set. Since his serve is difficult for his opponents to break and most often he builds a serve-dominated game, it caused him to prolong most of his game. This is also the reason some players say they should be prepared for two tie-breaks, rather than two sets, when playing with Karlovic.

Some critic say, though, that he wouldn’t be able to become remarkable just by being a serve-only player. Surprisingly, he proved all his detractors wrong as he has defeated top players Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, James Blake and Fernando Gonzalez. Another shining moment for him was when he almost beat Roger Federer in a game that ended with a tiebreaking set in the finals.

In many occasions, Karlovic said that he wanted to break the world record for fastest serve in a professional tennis tournament. He’s finally achieved the record of tennis’ fastest serve. He also shares the record for the third fastest serve of 153mph (246 km/h) with Andy Roddick and American tennis player, Roscoe Tanner.

Though Karlovic made the record-breaking fastest serve in professional tennis during this 2011 Davis Cup, he and his doubles partner Ivan Dodig were beaten by opponents Philipp Petzschner and Christopher Kas that gave Germany an overall lead of 2-1.

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Find tennis partners and tennis courts on Tennis Round

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April 27, 2011

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SAP Open, tennis, tennis tournament

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SAP Open Highlights: Milos Raonic

The SAP Open boasts a long line of great tennis champions and if you are taking some notes and following the game of tennis real close, then the name Milos Raonic would ring some sort of a bell. In the recent 2011 SAP Open, Milos Raonic became one of those that made the biggest jumps in this season’s tour rankings. Months ago before the tournament, Milos Raonic was the 152nd ranked player in the world but if you are keeping track of his career since dethroning top seed and defending champion Fernando Verdasco in the SAP Open, you would be amazed on how fast he landed in the 27th rank this week.

20-year old Milos Raonic hails from Thornhill in Toronto, Canada and is the first Canadian player to win an ATP singles tournament since Greg Rusedski way back in 1995. He had been receiving rave reviews from tennis enthusiasts and sports writers alike since his outstanding performance in the Australian Open though he was defeated by the World No. 7 David Ferrer.

“He is one of the most difficult players to play against,” Verdasco said. “Maybe he won’t serve so well and I’ll win the match but I can’t count on that.” And that claim is true enough as Raonic defeated Verdasco (again) in their match in Memphis, two days after facing each other in the SAP Open.

Raonic was beaten by World no. 12 Andy Roddick in the Memphis final. Nonetheless, everybody witnessed a really great play as the young upstart with the huge serve continued to “wow” the crowd, and should I say the commentators as well. His ranking skyrocketed to no.37 after their match.

There has been a swift maturation in the young Raonic’s play and his pure unique talent can still be nurtured in the long run. He’s just 20 and already pouncing, what more when he become a veteran in the coming age! I must say this “Maple Leaf Missile’s” performance on court would lead him to become one lethal player soon enough. Raonic’s matches are lined up the whole year and with that aggressive but timely forehands and tactical volleys, I will be looking forward for more nail-biting performance and winning moments from him.

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Find tennis partners and tennis courts on Tennis Round

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March 13, 2011

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Australian Open 2011, tennis, tennis court, tennis lesson, tennis partner, tennis racket, tennis tournament, TV schedule, US OPEN

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Tennis Tooltips

They say little things can make a big difference. One little thing that was missing from the tennis courts map was the tooltip, with details about each tennis court facility. People would often ask “What are these red dots on the map? The green bubbles must be the tennis courts in the list, but what are these red dots?”

Well, guess what – the red dots are tennis courts, too. And now you can click on them to see a tooltip with the court’s info – private or public (paid or free), lights for night play or not lighted, if it’s indoor or outdoor, number of courts, name and address.

If you need more info, like phone number or would like to email the link to this court to someone, the court’s name hyperlink will take you to it’s profile page. Where available, you can also see the court’s “street view” and get an idea of the location’s parking and driving situation. “Street view” is one of my favorite features, especially if I’m going somewhere for the first time.

1) Click on red dot on map

2) Click on court name link to go to it’s profile page

tooltip for red dot on tennis map

red dots and tooltips

Of course, clicking on the green bubbles does the same thing, it shows a tooltip.

1) Click on the green bubble on map

2) Click on court name link, if you need more info

tooltips on tennis map

tooltips on tennis map

We use the green bubbles to reference the courts in the list on the left. And because there’s only room for 10 listings, we select only the ones in the center of the map. If you’d drag the map, the courts in the center would change, and the list on the left would refresh. Just drag the map to search for courts. And if you clicked on the court name link in the tooltip (2), you’d land on the court’s profile page, in this case it’s the South Austin Tennis Center.

South Austin Tennis Center Profile Page

South Austin Tennis Center Profile Page

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December 24, 2010

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tennis, tennis court, tennis lesson, tennis participation, tennis partner, tennis tournament

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Top 10 Cities on Tennis Round in 2010

Before we launched Tennis Round we wondered if we should roll it out in one particular city or state, before we introduced it to other cities.

Naturally, we did a bunch of research about which state and which city are the most active tennis places. The strongest candidates were Florida, Texas, California, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Atlanta and New York and the biggest cities in those states. In the end we decided to throw it out nationwide and see what happens.

Four months into it, we have some basic stats to share. Turns out, there’s more to tennis than overall tennis participation per capita, namely – technology. That is – where the most techy tennis players live.

You will notice that the top 4 cities are also the cities that happen to be some of the most wired places in the country, where people look at a screen for most of the day.

I’m surprised Boston didn’t make the cut, maybe they’re not looking for a tennis partner when they’re snowed under. I expected more from Miami, as I’d love to hit when I go on vacation, or if I move there (again). But after all, if they were looking at a computer as much as people do in Seattle or San Francisco, they’d have a website for the tennis ladder at the Flamingo Park Tennis Center in South Beach instead of a whiteboard with badges, and I would’ve never thought of building Tennis Round in the first place. They’re probably just too busy having a good time.

Here are the top 10 cities with the most Tennis Round members. They represent 174 players (29% of the 602 total).

City, State Members
San Francisco, CA 51
Seattle, WA 28
Austin, TX 17
New York, NY 15
Houston, TX 13
Los Angeles, CA 12
Oakland, CA 11
New Orleans, LA 10
Tucson, AZ 9
Chicago, IL 8
Total members in top 10
cities:		 174 29%

P.S. This data is probably skewed by a thousand different things – seasonality, local presence and buzz, media coverage, etc. But thought it might worth sharing anyway.

map of tennis round registered users

Geo distribution of Tennis Round's registered users Aug 22 - Dec 24, 2010

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October 20, 2010

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tennis, tennis court, tennis lesson, tennis partner, tennis racket, tennis tournament, US OPEN

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How to Use Tennis Round to Find a Tennis Partner

In this brief video clip you will see how to use Tennis Round to find a local tennis partner at your skill level.

The movie also shows how to drag the map to find tennis courts in your area, how to save favorite courts by clicking the star icon, how to invite tennis players, and send or receive messages when scheduling a match. You can filter local players by skill level, gender or proximity.

Click here to watch this cool movie.

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September 23, 2010

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tennis, tennis court, tennis lesson, tennis partner, tennis racket, tennis tournament, US OPEN

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Find a Tennis Partner on Tennis Round – Video

This brief tennis partner video tutorial demonstrates how you can find suitable tennis players in your area and invite them to play. If there’s no one in your area yet (which is likely, since it’s a brand new, 3 weeks old site), you can create your free account anyway, so the next person can find you. Tennis Round is an online match making portal for connecting similarly skilled tennis players and finding tennis courts.

When you sign up for your free profile, we will assign you the closest tennis court. This will help us display the closest tennis players for you, and ideally others who use the same court. You can keep that tennis court as your favorite, or change it to a different one, since the closest tennis court might not be the most convenient or in best condition. If you have more than one favorite court, you can add a few by clicking the star icon. To remove a favorite court, just click the star icon again.

The registration process is quick and easy. It gathers only the most relevant information that’s important for any tennis player – name, skill level, tennis court, gender, age. While age is not a huge factor in finding a compatible opponent, we need to make sure the site is not used by minors.

Visit our Tennis Round You Tube channel for more videos. They’re all High Definition and best viewed at 720p HD – you can adjust that setting in the bottom right corner of the You Tube display window from 360p to 720p.

To become findable in Tennis Round and be able to send tennis invitations to other players, sign up today at this registration link.

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September 3, 2010

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tennis, tennis court, tennis lesson, tennis partner, tennis racket, tennis tournament, US OPEN

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The US Open of Tweener Shots – Videos

I few days ago I was watching the latest Nike TV commercial, featuring Roger Federer explaining how to hit a shot between the legs, ending with a humorous word of advice from the Maestro: “Don’t try this at home. I am a professional”. Then almost right after that, I watched Federer hit that shot in live TV broadcast of his opening night match against Brian Dabu. Here’s a video of that tweener shot

John McEnroe thought that Federer’s between the legs shot against Djokovic last year was better, though the other commentator liked this years exhibit.

Today Francesca Schiavone hit another tweener shot and then went on to win that rally.

The 2010 US Open might go down in history as the tournament with the most tweener shot. At least the one with the most tweener shots that resulted in winning the rally, and then the whole match. Who knows, perhaps a shot between the legs spooks the other player ever more and forces a final surrender.