Tennis Headlines

Racquet Sports Industry Magazine Names 2020 ‘Champions of Tennis’

Michael Dowse, the CEO and executive director of the USTA, has been named “Person of the Year” for 2020 by Racquet Sports Industry magazine in the publication’s January 2021 issue. Dowse led off the magazine’s 20th annual “Champions of Tennis Awards,” which honor people, businesses, and organizations dedicated to improving the sport and business of tennis.

Shortly after starting his job with the USTA a year ago, Dowse was immediately immersed in dealing with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, as 90 percent of tennis facilities were forced to close and 90 percent of tennis pros were unable to work. Dowse, though, acted quickly to help bring the industry together.

“He spearheaded the formation of Tennis Industry United to make sure key groups were coordinated and communicating with each other,” says Racquet Sports Industry Editor Peter Francesconi, “and, among other initiatives, he helped secure USTA funds for facilities and teaching pros to weather the downturn in business, focusing on ‘relief, recover, and rebuild.’”

With all of this going on, Dowse also initiated a major transformation of the USTA from a program-based organization to one focused on service, looking to promote and grow the sport of tennis as a whole. The most visible achievement, though, may well be the US Open, the largest professional tennis tournament in the world. “As the pandemic started to accelerate last spring and summer, Dowse and the USTA took a measured approach that led to a successful, and safe, 2020 US Open — and the result was a major win for tennis and for tennis fans,” Francesconi says.

“Mike Dowse has a solid history in this sport, from competitive player, to stringing racquets through college, to working as a sales rep and major tennis equipment manufacturer executive,” Francesconi adds. “He clearly brings this ‘tennis DNA’ to this job, and his dedication, passion, and effectiveness have earned him RSI’s 2020 Person of the Year Award.”

In addition to its Person of the Year, Racquet Sports Industry also named winners in 24 other categories for its 2020 Champions of Tennis Awards:

2020 Champions of Tennis Awards

Municipal Tennis Facility of the Year Tennis Industry Service Award Pro/Specialty Retailer of the Year Private/Commercial Facility of the Year Builder/Contractor of the Year Grassroots Tennis Champion of the Year Community Tennis Association of the Year Tennis Sales Representative of the Year Adaptive Tennis Champion of the Year Stringer of the Year Public Park of the Year Junior Tennis Champion of the Year Wheelchair Tennis Champions of the Year High School Coach of the Year Tennis Advocate of the Year Park & Rec Agency of the Year Youth Tennis Provider of the Year Richland Tennis Center Richland Hills, Texas Alex Levitsky Mason’s Tennis Miller Tennis Center Fair Haven, N.J. New York, N.Y. Williamsville, N.Y. Cape and Island Tennis & Track Pocasset, Mass. Dee Henry La Mirada, Calif. Asheville Tennis Association Asheville, N.C. Chris Allen, Putterman Athletics Chicago, Ill. Marcy Hirshberg Alpharetta, Ga.

John Brekken Clifton Park Hopkins, Minn. Baltimore, Md.

Tracy Lawson Hilary Muehlberger Karen Ronney Jim Winters

Tempe, Ariz. Greenwood, Mo. San Diego, Calif. Lemon Grove, Calif. City of Orlando Families, Parks & Rec Orlando, Fla. Kendra Becker Norwalk, Conn.

National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) Chapter of the Year InnerCity Tennis Mass Merchant/Chain Store of the Year Dick’s Sporting Goods

Adult Tennis Provider of the Year Guillermo “Bill” Lucero

Innovative Tennis Event of the Year 2020 US Open

Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) Member of the Year

John Borden U.S. Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) Member of the Year Jenny Gray U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) Section of the Year Minneapolis, Minn. Pittsburgh, Pa. Surprise, Ariz. New York, N.Y. Germantown, Md. Austin, Texas Atlanta, Ga.

FILA Athletes Open 2021 Grand Slam Season in New Legends and Back Court Collections

FILA-sponsored tennis players stepped into the New Year and onto the courts of Melbourne sporting two new collections designed to beat the Aussie heat — the Legends collection for the men and the Back Court collection for the women.

ATP Tour players Reilly Opelka, Diego Schwartzman, Guido Pella, Sam Querrey, and Andreas Seppi were seen at the Australian Open wearing the Legends collection in a color palette of White/Navy/Beach Glass/Paradise, including the Legends polo, which is available in two contrasting styles: the Ombre Stripe Polo, featuring a three-button placket and contrasting neck tape; and the Rally Polo, a yarn-dyed, performance mesh polo printed in undulating ocean-hued bands.

FILA’s roster of sponsored WTA players, including World No.1 Ash Barty, World No.4 and Defending Champion Sofia Kenin, No.6 Karolina Pliskova, and Defending Doubles Champion Timea Babos, made a splash in the women’s Back Court line, which features dimensional details in tones of Purple Heather/Marlin Heather/Wild Lime. Staples of the Back Court collection include the Full Coverage Tank, which provides a contemporary spin on a FILA classic with peek-a-boo back detailing; the Halter Tank, featuring a curved bottom side seam and unexpected pops of citrus; and the Racerback Tank, offered in white, navy or wild lime.

All FILA-sponsored tennis players wearing the two new Melbourne collections completed their on-court looks with specially designed colorways of the Axilus 2 Energized shoe.

Dunlop Names Jeff Lininger as Director of Sales

Dunlop recently announced the promotion of Jeff Lininger to the position of director of sales. Lininger was promoted from national sales manager after a successful 20 months in that role.

As director of sales, Lininger will be responsible for sales management of all customers and sales channels in the United States. He has led Dunlop’s Pro and Specialty Sales business to sales growth each of the last two years and to record-level bookings for 2021.

“With his additional responsibility, I am confident that Jeff will continue to take our business to new heights,” said Kai Nitsche, VP and general manager for Dunlop Sports. “The past year was challenging to say the least, but I am pleased to report that through all the difficulties we were able to finish ahead of our 2019 sales, in large part thanks to Jeff’s guidance.”

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New Book Focuses on Doubles Tactics

“Doubles Domination: The Best of the Best tactics, tips, and strategies,” is now available online. From turning the losing set into a championship point to improvising the game through the upper psychological edge, this new book is a complete synthesis of everything that a doubles tennis player needs to know to win at all club and tournament levels, says author Bob Allcorn.

“It is not your usual guide on tennis tips, tricks, and tactics; it is a quest of what it takes to be the best of the best, to evolve your game — and inspired from the biggest and known names and mavens of the game,” Allcorn said.

Benefit from the acumens of world-class pros by getting their insights. The author has taken lessons from hundreds of pros around the world who specialize in doubles and has compiled the best tips, tactics, strategies, and set plays in one easily readable book. Even if you apply just some of the many ideas, you will observe a dramatic improvement in your game. The book reveals the tips and techniques of top doubles players. The in-depth insights include all aspects of the doubles game — serving, returning, server’s partner, returner’s partner, poaching, fake poaching, squeezing, pinching, targets, drills and plateaus. Allcorn, a dedicated doubles player and successful former attorney, has taken the same keen eye he used during his 40-year litigation career along with authoring of an 800-plus page treatise on litigation strategies and applied those tactics to use on the tennis court. He has taken information from pros all over the world, including Martina Navratilova, the Bryan Brothers, Gigi Fernandez, Nick Bolletieri, former All-Americans, and many pros who specialize in doubles tactics. The book is available from Amazon.

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THE 18TH ANNUAL NET NEWS Photo Contest

ONLINE DIGITAL PHOTO SUBMISSIONS ONLY!

ENTRY CATEGORIES: HUMOR | ACTION | COURTSIDE | CHILDREN | PETS | STILL LIFE

NEW! Contest Rules and Regulations

1. You must be a member of ALTA. 2. Photos must relate to tennis and/or tennis play. 3. All contest submissions must be received

ONLINE by 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 17, 2021. 4. Decisions of the judges are final. 5. Limit three entries per ALTA member. 6. Each photo entry must include a completed

ONLINE entry form. 7. Judges reserve the right to title photos if no title is provided and to change the category into which a photo has been entered. 8. Photos not taken by the entrant must be accompanied by a release form signed by the photographer. ALTA and Net News are not responsible for any copyright violations. 9. Judges reserve the right to disqualify any entry that does not meet the above rules and regulations. 10. All winning photos will be featured in the annual

November/December edition of Net News. 11. Questions may be addressed to production@ knowatlanta.com.

NEW! Photography Specifications

1. Photos must be provided in a high resolution format. (300dpi at a minimum of 5" x 7") This means your photo will be a file that is between 1.5MB and 3MB in size! 2. When uploading images from your phone, always choose the "Actual Size" option. 3. Low resolution, nonreproducible images will not be considered for the photo contest.

Prizes courtesy of

Upload original digital photos through the Net News website at netnewsmag.com/photo_contest All photos must relate to tennis • All entries due September 17, 2021

Last Issue’s Trivia Contest Winner Is …

Congratulations! We drew our winner from a pool of readers who submitted correct answers, and Heather Shaver, Winding Vista, Sunday Women C2, won a pair of shoes from Mizuno! Try your luck with this issue’s contest and see if you can join the ranks of our previous trivia contest winners. Here is the original quiz and the correct answers:

1. How many members are on the Executive

Committee and who will be the 2021 ALTA

President? 18 and Debbie Gaster

2. Which ALTA volunteer wanted to be a marine

biologist? Mitch Falkin

3. Which ALTA volunteer wanted to be a high

school band director when he grew up? Bill Price

May/June Trivia Contest

Enter for your chance to win a new duffle bag from Adidas!

To enter the contest, correctly answer the following three questions, in addition to submitting a new favorite courtside recipe, and mail it to New South Publishing, Attn: Cory Sekine-Pettite, 9040 Roswell Road, Suite 210, Atlanta, GA 30350. Answers and recipes may also be submitted online at netnewsmag.com. Hint: The answers can be found in this issue.

Entry deadline: Monday, April 5.

1. Who is the 2021 ALTA Chairman of the Board?

2. What is the name of the organization which benefited from the round robin charity tournament organized by the Windermere and Fieldstone tennis centers? ______________________________________________

3. Who was the first female ALTA President?

Please submit a favorite courtside recipe along with this entry to be eligible.

Name _____________________________________________________________

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League ____________________________________________________________