You might think it’s hard packing to go on holiday? Then try and pack to go on the pro tennis tour for what might be weeks on end! It can be challenging. You want to pack enough to cover at least the first week/10 days of your trip but at the same time, you haveContinue reading “128. HAVE YOU GOT EVERYTHING?”

As I have mentioned before, one of the benefits of travelling on the pro tennis tour with a player is that I get to meet all sorts of interesting people, all of whom have a similar interest in tennis as myself. These people might be players (current and former), coaches, parents, equipment suppliers, sponsors, organisers,Continue reading “127. POPPING OUT ONCE AGAIN!”

It’s been a few years since I attended the Grand Slams but this year I have been to all four of them – this time with a pro player as opposed to a junior. It’s been fun and a real privilege and I have thoroughly enjoyed being at each and every one. Have these eventsContinue reading “126. THE SLAMS – 2025”

One easy way to spot a pro tennis player is to ask them to take their shoes off! The dead give away sign are the tan lines – on ankles, wrists, thighs, arms and backs. However hard a player tries with the Factor 50 SPF, the lines appear. One of the prices a player hasContinue reading “125. IT’S A FINE LINE!”

There’s a saying in (northern) England, “nowt as strange as folk,” or in other words, there is nothing as strange as people (and how they behave), and how true that is when it comes to the pro tennis tour! I am referring in particular to the collection of people, (the majority of whom I haveContinue reading “124. “NOWT AS STRANGE AS FOLK””

I have been travelling on the pro tour for a long time now and it never ceases to amaze me how little consideration appears to be given to the well being of the players and the ease of logistics when the tennis governing bodies (the WTA, ATP, ITF etc) and the tournament organisers (the clubs,Continue reading “123. SPARE A THOUGHT”

What’s insurance got to do with the tennis tour I hear you ask but you would be surprised. Not only do pro tennis players need to think about medical insurance in case they get a career threatening injury, but they also need to make sure they have all the other insurance policies that every dayContinue reading “122. PENALISED FOR BEING A PRO”

If someone had told me that supporting and travelling with my tennis playing daughter meant that I was going to have to become a “specialist” in foreign tax, I would have run a mile, but it turns out that if your player wants to maximise the amount of money she can earn then someone inContinue reading “121. TAX SPECIALIST?”

Back in the day, when tennis racquets were made of wood (they really were!), there used to be an extra piece of coloured thread on the top or bottom rows of the cross strings. This thread was looped over and around each string horizontally by a process called trebling, and this was done to helpContinue reading “120. ROUGH OR SMOOTH?”

I think it would be fair to say that the majority of tennis followers assume that all the pro players have some kind of sponsorship, for things like racquets, strings, shoes and kit, but this is so far from the reality! For sure, the top singles players – Sabalenka, Gauff, Sinner, Alcaraz and the likeContinue reading “119. A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS”

Only this week, one of the high profile players reportedly told the press that she might start studying again whilst on the tour. The press are calling it a ‘shock career move’, making it sound like this is something radical, but it is far from that. In fact, in reality, there are quite a fewContinue reading “118. FILLING TIME PRODUCTIVELY”

There are highs and lows in tennis and as a parent of a pro player I have had to learn how to deal with both. Obviously the down days are the hardest and knowing what to say and do when your player is feeling low is incredibly tough. I have covered this topic in earlierContinue reading “117. DEALING WITH THE DOWN DAYS”

As a player progresses up the rungs of the pro tennis tour, she will find that, more often than not, there becomes a need for her to apply in advance for ‘accreditation’ or ‘credentials’ for herself and her support team prior to the start of a tournament. The amount of detail and benefits attached toContinue reading “116. ACCESS ALL AREAS?”

Travelling on the pro tennis tour takes you all over the world for many weeks at a time, and that means you need to pack with foresight. Only last week, my player and I were in Merida, Mexico where the day-time temperatures were c.+30 deg. Celsius (C). This week we are in Trois-Rivières, north-east ofContinue reading “115. WHITE LINEN – SERIOUSLY?!”

There are 3 main types of pro doubles players: (i) Those who only play doubles. (ii) Those who play predominantly doubles, but also play singles when they can get in the draw. (iii) Those who play predominantly singles, but will also play doubles if they can get in the draw. And then there is theContinue reading “114. “BANK JOB””

Last week my player made the final of a W35 in Luxembourg. This was a great achievement as she hasn’t had the opportunity to play too many singles matches recently. The reason being is that her doubles ranking is higher than her singles so when she goes to play a doubles tournament (which she needsContinue reading “113. GOING IN COLD”

This blog is being written at the request of some players who contacted me after a recent competition in India and wanted to raise awareness of the conditions that they had to endure, particularly with respect to air quality. The tournament in question was an ITF W50 in New Delhi and when I first sawContinue reading “112. FRESH AIR PLEASE”

Due to a doubles focus of late, it’s been a while since my player and I were at a Futures, singles event but this week we find ourselves at an ITF W35 tournament in chilly Luxembourg, trying to get some matches and earn some valuable ranking points. I had forgotten how tough they are, andContinue reading “111. NOTE TO SELF!”

Jules Verne eat your heart out! His character, Phileas Fogg, travelled around the world in 80 days. That’s nothing for a tennis pro, or parent of! In terms of travel, during the last year alone my player and I visited 16 different countries, and some of them (for example, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal) we visitedContinue reading “110. AROUND THE WORLD IN <80 DAYS”

It’s been 7 years since I first came to the Australian Open (AO) as the parent of a player but this year I have been fortunate enough to return. It’s a little bitter sweet as my player is first Alternate for the ladies doubles event, so may not get to play, but it would beContinue reading “109. AO 2025”