USPTA Southern Standard July 2020 by USPTA Southern

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USPTA Southern Division: Where Excellence is Standard

July 2020

Summer Edi on #1

Inside Summer Virtual Conference August 8-9 New to the Job Things You Never Hear from Successful People Make Sure you Qualify for FREE DUES

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Virtual Summer Conference August 7-8

Friday 6:00-9:30pm et

Saturday 3:00-6:30 pm et

We are excited to oﬀer a mini virtual conference with a who’s who of speakers. No travel, no hotel, just a chance to learn with some of the best in the world. No joke. We are VERY fortunate to have this world class program. COST - It’s FREE for Southern Members. Pla orm is ZOOM - Must register in advance on Ticket Tailor. CLICK to register. Informa on and bios can also be accessed at our website www.usptasouthern.com. A end all seminars and earn 3 of your 6 educa on credits. This will also provide enough credit for the FREE DUES in 2021.

AGENDA FRIDAY 6:00 Rodney Harmon - Serve & Return Strategies for Doubles 7:05 Paula Scheb - How To Create Events that Rock In the New Normal Club 8:10 Jeﬀ Salzenstein -

SATURDAY 3:00 Jay Berger - From Training Pros to Club Players: Best Practices 4:05 Mike Woody - It’s Not What You Do It/Its How You Do It 5:10 Mats Wilander/Andy Zodin - Chats with Mats: Fun discussion with a 7 me Grand Slam Champion about development, current tennis trends, and more.

About the speakers: Tour players Mat Wilander, Jeﬀ Salzenstein, RodneyHarmon, and Jay Berger show how to move from the tour to the grassroots players. And not to be le out, All American Paula Scheb. All are super successful in theirwork with all types of players. Mike Woody is the director of all tennis for Genesis Health Clubs, one of the largest employers of tennis professionals in the country.

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How I Got Started By Jennifer Hornsby—USPTA For me, coaching and teaching tennis is more than instruction on a particular technique or skill set to achieve a certain level of performance for competition. Coaching is about inspiring values, leadership, teamwork, dedication and commitment of the players that you work with on the court as well as off the court. For me, the coach that inspired me to be the person that I am today has to be my college tennis coach, Vicki Schnurr. I remember living in Tampa, Florida at McDill Air Force Base when my oldest son had just entered kindergarten. I decided to go back to school but did not have the financial means to pay for school and daycare for my two younger children. I looked up community colleges in the area and found that Hillsborough Community College had a tennis program that offered scholarships. I contacted her office and scheduled a meeting with coach Schnurr. They day of our meeting, I showed up at the court and did not have the proper attire to include not having a tennis racket to play with. That did not stop her from see-

ing me. She loaned me a racket and we went through some patterns of hitting. Prior to meeting Coach, I had little tennis experience except for attending a couple of tennis drills at the Youth Center at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs and had never played any kind of competitive tennis. Nonetheless, after our meeting she must have saw something in me that interested her because she offered me a spot on the team and a scholarship. The scholarship offer included that I promise her I would maintain my grades, work hard on the court and dedicate myself to the training that she provided to me; in return, she promised me her uncompromising support. Although I did not have the skills to be her top player, I gave her 150% of my efforts and attacked every training day as if it was my last! Coach Schnurr provided me with all the extra training and coaching that she could provide even on her off time. Our combined efforts paid off and she was able to play me in some of the doubles lineup. Our team qualified for the championship playoff in Tucson, Arizona that season. I was just happy to be a part of the championship team and I was even awarded the Tennis Coach’s Award for the

most dedicated player that season, in spiteof being the oldest player on the team and being married with children. If Coach Schnurr would not have taken a chance and believed in me, I would not be the coach, player or teaching professional that I am today. She took me under her wings and gave me a spot on the team without any questions. Because of her, I made a promise to myself that I would pay-itforward by giving back to my local community no matter where I lived and dedicate myself to reaching out to every child and adult that wanted to learn the game of tennis. Over the last twenty-one years since my college experience, I have continued to play tennis and improve my skills. I aim to make a difference in the lives of others by volunteering, giving free tennis lessons in every military community that my family is stationed and to under-served communities. I coach tennis because I enjoy teaching and because I have a great appreciation of the opportunity that was given to me. I do this to remind me of my exceptional coach and person, Coach Vicki Schnurr. She has inspired me more than she ever will ever know.

Heard Around The South GA

I’d like to start by thanking so many of you for your leadership during this time. So many of you have shared your thoughts, actions, and experience. Tennis in Georgia has come back to almost every park, neighborhood, and club with abundance. As we move forward please remember to continue your leadership and representation of the overall tennis community. So much more still needs to be done to thwart this virus. Continue following many safety protocols, socially distance your students and yourself, protect your staff and hold guidelines firmly. Thank you from the USPTA Georgia Board for all you’ve done and best of luck going forward.

MS As we all know, tennis is a great way to get exercise and stay healthy in a fun environment.

We've also learned that it is a great way to remain active while also maintaining physical distance. Street tennis and driveways with chalk lines all became part of the new normal. As we spent our days searching for COVID guidelines, Clorox, Purell and automatic soap dispensers, most of us were just hoping to get back on a real court. I hope everyone applied for the USTA Southern CARES Pro initiative and qualified for funds. Now, most of the facilities and clubs in Mississippi are fully re -opened with COVID guidelines and regulations is place. The Northern part of the state was last to reopen. The Coast never shut down completely. Tournaments and leagues started back. Players are back taking lessons and drills. Summer and southern humidity has arrived. In closing, I want to extend a special Thank You for the quality webinars

put together by Kevin Theos. We all learned a great deal from those.

LA We have all had time to think about what new ideas we would like to use and which current ones we want to keep. Louisiana has had the good fortune of being allowed to open and get our businesses back sooner than some states. Some of our members have been well taken care of by their clubs and facilities, while others have lost their positions. If you have an opening for one of our members please get the word out so we can help each other through tough times. Those of us that have our facilities back up, it seems the best thing we can do is build our businesses back and be in a position to help others.

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What I Have Been Doing Julie Fusik, GA The shutdown was hard on teaching professionals everywhere. I spent the majority of my me planning and finding ways to stay in touch with my students/clients so that they knew I was thinking about them and ready to get back on court once our facility was allowed to open again. I arranged weekly Face Time calls with each of my students and their families to check in and see how they were doing during the weirdest of mes. Youtube and Instagram videos of at home tennis drills were also recorded and sent out to students. I also lesson planned like crazy! I took all of my students and split them into small groups, rather than big group classes knowing that they weren’t going to be allowed right away. I also named each small group a er a Marvel Superhero! When we finally got the okay to open back up, I was thrilled to send out my email blast with the tle “Avengers: Return to Tennis!” All this though ulness and communica on had my students excited to come back and feel a sense of normalcy in unprecedented mes. Dan Beedle, TN During the shutdown I was able to take advantage of the extra me to get some high quality con nuing educa on done. The USPTA stepped up big making all videos on tennisresources.net free for 2 months. I watched many of those videos including some of the longer specialty courses. Mark Kovacs also offered a Tennis Serve Specialist course which was out of this world. Very in depth and tons of informa on on each phase of the serve. This was by far the most worthwhile course I have taken in the last couple years. While the Tennis Serve Specialist course covered the ins and outs of the serve process they also included a ton of infographics from various research on the serve both at the pro level and recrea onal level. There is a large sec on of exercises that will help strengthen the muscle groups needed for a successful

Stay Safe This Summer Check out the video from Chris Peck on the operaons and safety protocols for his summer camp. CLICK the Youtube logo

serve. The 14 day program was well worth the money spent. Do yourself and your players a favor and experience the course for yourself! Rick Wille , GA Educa on: A ended @ 6-7 USPTA webinars. Watched Peter Freeman, Jorge Capestany, Jeff Salzenstein videos. Podcasts by Allistair McCaw. Increased Excel skills self taught from Excel DVD. Watched UTA coaches conduct a clinic at Laurel Park in Marie a to observe some of their coaching techniques with juniors. Prac ced: Found a court to prac ce drills, and prac ce feeding balls at different speeds @ every week. New Skills: Be er focus on having a winning a tude communica ng to individual players and team players. This is from reading Developing a Winning A tude and Mindset and Becoming a Great Team Player by Allistair McCaw. Gave Back: Coached four girls in a clinic for @ 3 1/2 years. All four graduated from high school this year, yet they had no gradua on. Decided to do something special for gradua on giving them a free clinic filled with drills and live play. Pat Whitworth, GA It was certainly a crazy me. I was able to connect with a lot of people and catch up along with checking in on them. When my gym closed, it gave me the opportunity to really learn TRX and do the workout at home. I read a number of books, but was able to read a fellow USPTA writer from TN, David Berens. He has a series of thriller novels that are not my normal type of reading, but I have wanted to check out his work. He is SUPER, and I am s ll working on the 9 books. It was also a me to spend extra me viewing videos from Jorge Capestany, USPTA Tennis Resources, and some of the online coaches.

USPTA Southern Youtube Channel View our collec on of over 150 videos. While these are not professional level videos, it is top level informa on. All of the recent webinars, past conven ons, workshops, and much more. Just click the Youtube logo.

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8 Sentences You’ll Never Hear from Successful People by Jennifer Cooper Truly speaking, there’s no shortcut to success. You have to work hard and gladly accept the failure coming in your way. Today, we’re here to share with you some of the sentences that you can never hear from big shots. While going through the list, find out whether you have spoken some of them.

That’s Not a Part of My Job:

It’s okay if you feel exhausted the next morning. But, remember, by going for this dinner, you can bring in two more projects for your company. The connections you may make during such a dinner can prove to be of immense profit to you. When it comes to your career, be ready to approach the clients without considering the clock, especially when the client is giving you such an offer.

Successful people always help others in doing their jobs. Rather they prefer some smart phrases to say like ‘It would be my pleasure to help.’ In this regard, Mr. Warren Buffet once commented, ‘If Are you not getting reward for your dedication or productivity? someone has planted trees long ago, then only someone can sit Successful individuals never commit the blunder of complainunder its shade.’ Just being financially rich won’t make you sucing against the injustices of life. cess. Your focus along with Rather, they take it as a life’s your team’s can drive your part. You should also get used reputation as well as sucto the unfairness. Success cess.

I Deserve the Appraisal:

doesn’t come overnight. Dedication is crucial for achieving it. If you go on working hard, you’ll surely receive your award. Stop complaining. Don’t have a reactive approach if you find something offensive. Try to be proactive and keep yourself cool. When your mind is under your control, new solutions will come up. Present a strong case to show to your boss that you are much more deserving.

I’m Not Prepared to Handle it: Whenever a new opportunity comes, prosperous people grab it with both hands. They never say, ‘I’m not ready’ or ‘I can’t handle it.’ While it’s essential to make plans in advance, taking the first step is equally significant. Don’t limit your capabilities by becoming a victim to ‘analysis paralysis’.Instead, start working on the project and frame strategies to deal with it simultaneously.

Things Never Go as I Expect:

One of the qualities you need to adopt from successful people is that they’re passionate about what they do. When you love your job, your productivity increases automatically. Even when in an unfavorable situation, they avoid using sentences like this. The negative sentences such as ‘I don’t love my job’ makes you inactive, thus snatching away all the creativeness in you. They don’t insult either their company or their colleagues. By using tactics and proper facts, they give their best efforts in resolving the problem.

Do you think it is one of the smart phrases to say to avoid handling a situation? Actually, it’s not. Successful persons always create their own lucks through their works. Both opportunities and luck come as a result of dedication and tedious job. Take the steps in the right direction and you’ll develop an optimistic attitude eventually. As per an article published on Entrepreneur.com, pessimistic sales professionals are less productive compared to optimistic people. In that survey, it has been concluded that hopeful salespeople make 88% more sales than pessimistic sellers. So, never lose hopes whatever the situation is.

I Did Everything All Alone:

The Bottom Line

I Hate What I Do:

The sentences mentioned above may not be too bad in itself but the underlying message it conveys is sure to discourage others and the speaker himself. How you’re communicating they understand the value of their co-workers, they never take with people determines largely your position in the eyes of everyone maintaining a formal relationship with you. Words the credit alone. them, you should also recognize those who really matter. I can either motivate or demotivates you. It’s true have helped a lot in achieving your goals. Present gifts to them as a token of appreciation so they’ll be eager to help you remaining conscious of words always is not possible and you may feel disheartened at times. However, the champion alnext time too. ways knows how to get rid of a frustration, right? Those who are successful love to get surrounded by tech-savvy and dedicated workers. Where it works is that when they achieve success, they are able to give due credit to the right person. As

It’s Too Late to Do This: If at 9pm, one of your prospective clients is asking you for dinner, and if you’ve no issue with it, go on without thinking twice.

Jennifer Cooper is a personal finance blogger, who writes about successful financial stories on- budget planning, retirement planning, credit cards,

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The Written Word By Rick Wille

USPTA Elite Professional

Becoming a Great Team Player – Allistair McCaw Becoming a Great Team Player by Allistair McCaw is one he writes from a new perspecve about the characteris cs that make a great team player. McCaw’s book is applicable to tennis coaches that coach adult team tennis, junior team tennis, and academy tennis. It is also suited for players who play on junior teams, high school teams, college teams, and team tennis. He breaks the book out into four sec ons which are: -How to Be er Your Team’s Culture -What Coaches Look for in a Great Team Player -How to Develop the Skills of a Team Player -How to Build Be er Rela onships within a Team I will cover in the following some of the key components from each sec on:

by encouraging, suppor ng, and serving their teammates. They concentrate on what is best for the team, and pu ng the team’s success above their own. Strong values are what make great team players, for they want to uphold the principles each day to meet the values of the team culture.

players. These players are adept at holding each other accountable. They will speak up in team mee ngs. They also listen to what’s being said by a coach or another player. Communicators base their interpersonal skills on honesty. A team elevator is one who encourages and recognizes the great things other teammates achieve. They have great awareWhat Coaches Look for in a Team Player: ness and mo vate their teammates. A posiAdap ng is a key factor coaches look for in a ve a tude is a key aspect to have within a team player. Coaches look for players who team. This is so important because a posi ve are reliable, available, and ﬂexible. Team a tude will carry a team through so many players that can thrive with change, and play- challenges. A posi ve a tude carries each ers that can adjust to change are highly team player through adversity and success. sought a er. Coachability is one of the bedIn summary, this book is almost like an inrocks a coach looks for in a player. Being struc on book for players and coaches to coachable is signiﬁcant because a coach study how to wants a player that handles cri cism, handles soar as a team being corrected, and wants to improve. A player. The book coachable player is commi ed to his own is a detailed apHow to Be er Your Team’s Culture: development. proach to build Culture is the way things are done within a and maintain team or organiza on which includes the be- Skills of a Team Player: strong, successliefs and experiences that are exercised each -Prepara on ful teams. I have day. Usually, there are a set of rules in place -Face Adversity read all four of that signal what is acceptable behavior within -Love to Give Back Allistair’s books. the team. It takes me to build a strong, pos- -Don’t Compare Themselves i ve culture. It means every team member -Put Team Goals First I recommend buys in to the cultural beliefs. Being team Building Quali es within a Team: this book focused is what great team players possess Communica on is a real strength of team 4.5 stars

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New Pro; New Program Overview

by Farley Youman, USPTA Elite Professional

clude some 4-7 year old red ball classes. Remember that high school players will only have Many clubs already have a thriving junior proa few more years to improve and will be leavgram of 50-100 kids or more. However, what if ing for college. Whereas, the Red ball classes you are hired and there are very few juniors or will have more years to possibly improve more none at all? to an even higher level and you will have many This ar cle will cover how to build the program years of lessons. Send a tenta ve schedule and get emailed responses about the interest from before the Tennis Professional even of the days and mes. With soccer schedules, brings his racket to the club, and the pivotal etc., compe ng with tennis, let the parents first year. know that if a class on Monday and WednesPrior to arriving day at 4:15, it not a good me, and you get Include some informa on about the new pro- enough feedback for the class to be on Tuesday and Thursday that you may be able to fessional in the next newsle er. However, change the schedule when you send the official since some newsle ers only go out once a month, go ahead and email the members and one out. put on the web site. Although a Bio is fine, it Grand Opening does not get across the personality of the ProThis can take place on week 3 or later, so that fessional. Instead, do a 4-6 ques ons and anyou have me to promote the event by word swers with the new Professional, and a short of mouth with players at the club, and to nearbio at the bo om. Another op on is to do a YouTube link with the ques ons and answers. by restaurants and companies. Suggest to the restaurant manager that you will put some of A couple of example ques ons: their menus in your pro shop as a reciprocal agreement for leaving tennis fliers on their counter or bulle n board; and on their web site and yours if possible. If policies allow, both par es could use their email list to proFirst few weeks mote each other. During the first week, set up all new programming for the upcoming season. Be sure to in-

If any of us expect things to be the same a er a shutdown as they were before we will be surprised. They won’t be. I was a General Manager and Tennis Director in New Orleans when Katrina hit. Many people moved, but the biggest change was people found other places to go and other things to do. Some come back to their rou nes and others don’t. A er our reopening May 1st, I have people who have taken regularly for 10 years that are now ed up doing other things. They s ll take lessons but not with the consistency they had prior to

There will be gi cards given out to use at the pro shop and also free passes to adult and junior classes that are already programmed; these lessons are already taking place, so the pro does not have to do extra hours to implement these free lessons. Finally, a few free private lessons will be given out, which could be one hour or for a half hour. There could also be a few one hour lessons for half price. Of course, it will be crucial to get an email list, which could be the students way of entering the "raﬄe" either before the event or near the beginning of the event. The Tennis Professional could announce that the student should email on their phone and just put Tennis Raﬄe and their name in the subject ma er. You could choose the 5th., 10th, and 20th., etc., emails that come into your email box for deciding which students get the free lessons. Conclusion

Ge ng oﬀ to a great start at a club is crucial for a variety of reasons. You may have to work extra hours the ﬁrst month, but it will be certainly worth it when you grow the numbers of At the grand opening, there will be free lessons students taking enjoyable lessons. for both adults and kids, and a pro-am doubles

A er A Shutdown A er A Shutdown

exhibi on with the amateurs rota ng in as the out players are watching.

by Bill Bryan USPTA LA President

Covid – 19. On the other hand our Beginner Do the same thing for yourself as a pro. Do Adult Class that usually has 6 students, ﬁlled up you run great social events or are you all about with 12 in a ma er of 3 hours. Good, bad, but running sanc oned tournaments? Are you the high powered junior coach who travels to tournot the same. naments or are you the king of 10 & under A shutdown gives us a chance to decide what tennis? Are adults your main clientele, or high my club or facility is known for. Are we a high school players? Are you the pro who rises to priced exclusive club? Are we a hub for a high the top in the USTA structure or do you give powered junior program? Are we the host of your me to the USPTA? the most fun and biggest social events in town? Are we the place for sanc oned tournaments? Take whatever path you choose, but take a We need to decide what the emphasis is for path. If you want to change the path you are on our facility. Those that try to be everything end or establish a dis nct path for yourself and your club, a shutdown is the perfect me to do up being average at everything. it.

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Serving Up Sagacity At some point in every tennis player’s journey, their level of play reaches a plateau. In order to improve, a change is necessary. Maybe it’s a grip, style of play, coach, academy, club or training partners. No ma er what the change is, it must be done in order to reach the next level of competency on the quest to a ain their full poten al. The player must be commi ed to the change in order to make a successful posi ve transion. The only constant in life is that changes will be constant. The only constant in life is that changes will be constant When you are the one making the decision to change, it’s usually a smooth quick transi on that you are pleased to make. But what happens when you have no control of a major change that affects you and your en re family? How you cope with that change in the short and long run could define who you are. For example, someday your employer may call you into the office, sit you down and surprise you with, “We are moving in a different direc on and your services are no longer needed.” This is a life changing situa on that I hope you never have to face. It can occur for a myriad of reasons, from cost savings, consolida on, performance to new management or ownership. The reason could also be that you are doing such an outstanding job that someone above you is fearful that you could take their posi on! No ma er the reason for your termina on, the result is that you are out and you had no control of the decision. You LOST your job. I don’t think so. You know where that job is. Think of it as the universe telling you it is me to FIND something even be er. Trust divine order. Mary Francis Winters

Our Southern Master Pros Share

A Different Direction by Tom Sweitzer

blow. Now is the me to reach out to family in one of life’s e breakers, so play with a and friends who can provide you with much clear confident mind set. needed emo onal and career support. Looking for a job is a full me job! A er the ini al shock, you need to honestly Be careful not to rush into accep ng a posiexamine why this happened. If you were on that doesn’t meet the criteria you’ve negligent in your responsibili es, make changes to your way of conduc ng business. established for your career goals. This is where having that six months of living exJust like in tennis, if you lose and do not learn from the loss, then you have truly lost. penses put aside really pays off, as it literally buys you me to conduct an extensive job Learning from your mistakes makes you a search. Without ques on, having a spouse be er person. It’s me to make lemonade or significant other, who has been providing from lemons! a second income, will give you and the famiJust like in tennis, if you lose and do not ly some financial breathing room. As soon as learn from the loss, then you have truly you make it through this challenging period lost. and have secured a new job with a promising future, start restocking those coffers Next, evaluate your current skills, as well as with six months living expenses and take your longterm goals. Be realis c and honest steps to avoid the situa on from happening with yourself. Maybe you should have been again. looking for a new posi on long before you were let go. Perhaps your job had become Start with unbridled op mism, but be alert stale or lacked challenge. Regardless, this is to poten al red flags in your new job. Pay an ideal me to determine where you want a en on to workplace poli cs, but don’t your career to go and how you can get get involved in them. Avoid gossip, but there. Any me is a good me for profesknow what is going on around you and evalsional development, but especially now. uate how it could impact you. Some coworkTaking con nuing educa on courses is a ers will do anything to advance their own great way to get mo vated while you accareers, quire new skills to lead you on your career even if it’s at the expense of yours. Some path. supervisors are less than willing to help you It’s definitely me to take advantage of all along, while others are excep onal leaders. your networking. The network you’ve cul - The be er your boss, the more you’ll learn vated can now pay huge dividends. Once and advance. A good boss will encourage you have a clear message of what you are your professional development and introlooking for career wise, reach out to every- duce you to people in their network, thus one to ask for assistance in uncovering poexpanding yours. Unless you interviewed ten al job opportuni es. Many mes, the with your direct supervisor, you may not best posi ons are not adver sed, so your know which kind of boss you’ll get un l network translates to lots of eyes and ears a er you are on the job. out there digging up job leads for you. They If you find yourself in a posi on that negawill assist you in finding opportuni es, as vely impacts your physical or emo onal well as provide you with introduc ons, refhealth or interferes with your career erences and unbiased career and personal growth, get out! advice. A er that, it’s up to you.

Job interviews, like tennis, require prac ce. If you do find yourself on the wrong end of the ‘different direc on’ conversa on, reMake sure your resume is up to date. It may member that change is part of life’s journey. have been awhile, so polish your interview Be financially prepared, assess your emoskills. Job interviews, like tennis, require onal well being, examine what went prac ce. Role play with family and friends. wrong, evaluate your skills and goals, upThis forces you to evaluate your skills and date your resume, u lize your network, take goals under match play condi ons. Be pre- advantage of the me for professional depared. Do your research to get to know the velopment, and get to work looking for company’s policies and culture before your work! interview. Looking for a job is a full me job! You may find that your search seems to be The secret of change is to focus all more work than your prior job was. In a job your energy, not on figh ng the old, Beyond your bank account, your psyche can hunt, stress is exacerbated by the fear of an also take a hit. As soon as possible, focus on unknown future. At present, you are inbut on building the new. your mental state, as slipping into depres-SOCRATES volved sion is quite common a er such a drama c If you’re lucky, you might be eligible to collect unemployment benefits or may be offered a severance package to help so en the blow. Some mes post employment benefits are contested by a former employer, which may add stress and perhaps even the expense of a legal ba le. Hopefully you followed one of the Golden Rules of financial planning and have stockpiled a cash reserve to cover six months of living expenses to help weather a poten al financial setback.

SHOP THE KEY LOOKS WAKE UP THE COUNTRY CLUB. AGAIN.

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TENNIS MAGAZINE 2019 EDITOR'S CHOICE AWARD FOR TENNIS MAGAZINE 2019 EDITOR'S CHOICE AWARD FOR

BEST NEW INNOVATION BEST NEW INNOVATION

A NEW BALL IS BORN: ONE THAT’S GENTLER ON THE EARTH THROUGH LONGER LASTING, FRESH-BALL FEEL & 100% SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING. THAT BALL IS TRINITI.