Sic Semper Tyrannis
I leave it to your imagination, reader, to figure out what may have recently happened on an imaginative level in these pages. Since I am an American, not a Royalist who believes in the Divine Right of Kings or American presidents, I reject out of hand macho male chauvinists of any stripe including macho conservative expats who think "Mein Donald" is just grand. And I aspire to using the "Sic Semper Tyrannis" expression more wisely than that abysmal jerk John Wilkes Booth.
I was recently devastated to learn that Pat Blaskower died of rapid cancer on October 2, 2017 . A charmingly literary person, she was also fantastically successful as a tennis coach. Just ask players in Marin County, California or the women of Trumbull, Connecticut. She was number one in the nation in Womens' Open Doubles, played Billie Jean King once in singles losing 4 and 4 but thought she should have won. The most famous book she wrote, THE ART OF DOUBLES, may be, as her obit suggests, the greatest book on tennis doubles ever written.
The only other book that comes close is THE GAME OF DOUBLES IN TENNIS by Talbert and Old. Just my opinion.
Part of the reason I was so saddened is the striking picture of Ms. Blaskower, tall, strong and youthful, on the cover of THE ART OF DOUBLES. Other photos however reveal that she got to be old like me and even went into Real Estate.
I was looking for the website Ms. Blaskower said-- a year or so ago on line-- she was about to put up. That's how I learned of her death.
I then became intensely interested in more than just Pat Blaskower's tennis. How old was she? And why, although I am neither the best nor most aggressive of researchers, could I never come close to her birth date, not even through attempts to crack the rolls of the Branson School in Ross, California, Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, the University of Cal at Berkeley which obviously offered greener tennis pastures than Vassar did.
Since you have so far humored my opinions, mein reader, let me give you another one. Page 107 is best page of THE ART OF DOUBLES, this best of all doubles books.
It and page 108 delineate four circumstances to contemplate every time your partner is receiving serve while you hold terminator position at service line.
1) is poach by server's partner. Blaskower will have you mirror the poacher's movement, "being careful to stay in line with your opponent's racquet."
2) Server does not come in or ball bounces in front of him. Your position mirrors that of ball.
3) Server comes in but your partner's service return is high. Your position mirrors that of ball.
4) Server comes in but your partner's service return is low. You get to abandon the mirroring responsibility and break for the center in a huge poach.
Knowing precisely what to do in each of the four cases could be as valuable as knowing an opening in chess whereby you can defeat players even better than you if they don't know it.
I leave it to your imagination, reader, to figure out what may have recently happened on an imaginative level in these pages. Since I am an American, not a Royalist who believes in the Divine Right of Kings or American presidents, I reject out of hand macho male chauvinists of any stripe including macho conservative expats who think "Mein Donald" is just grand. And I aspire to using the "Sic Semper Tyrannis" expression more wisely than that abysmal jerk John Wilkes Booth.
I was recently devastated to learn that Pat Blaskower died of rapid cancer on October 2, 2017 . A charmingly literary person, she was also fantastically successful as a tennis coach. Just ask players in Marin County, California or the women of Trumbull, Connecticut. She was number one in the nation in Womens' Open Doubles, played Billie Jean King once in singles losing 4 and 4 but thought she should have won. The most famous book she wrote, THE ART OF DOUBLES, may be, as her obit suggests, the greatest book on tennis doubles ever written.
The only other book that comes close is THE GAME OF DOUBLES IN TENNIS by Talbert and Old. Just my opinion.
Part of the reason I was so saddened is the striking picture of Ms. Blaskower, tall, strong and youthful, on the cover of THE ART OF DOUBLES. Other photos however reveal that she got to be old like me and even went into Real Estate.
I was looking for the website Ms. Blaskower said-- a year or so ago on line-- she was about to put up. That's how I learned of her death.
I then became intensely interested in more than just Pat Blaskower's tennis. How old was she? And why, although I am neither the best nor most aggressive of researchers, could I never come close to her birth date, not even through attempts to crack the rolls of the Branson School in Ross, California, Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, the University of Cal at Berkeley which obviously offered greener tennis pastures than Vassar did.
Since you have so far humored my opinions, mein reader, let me give you another one. Page 107 is best page of THE ART OF DOUBLES, this best of all doubles books.
It and page 108 delineate four circumstances to contemplate every time your partner is receiving serve while you hold terminator position at service line.
1) is poach by server's partner. Blaskower will have you mirror the poacher's movement, "being careful to stay in line with your opponent's racquet."
2) Server does not come in or ball bounces in front of him. Your position mirrors that of ball.
3) Server comes in but your partner's service return is high. Your position mirrors that of ball.
4) Server comes in but your partner's service return is low. You get to abandon the mirroring responsibility and break for the center in a huge poach.
Knowing precisely what to do in each of the four cases could be as valuable as knowing an opening in chess whereby you can defeat players even better than you if they don't know it.
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