Chasing Points: A Season on the Pro Tennis Tour (Gregory Howe)

Source file: Chasing_Points_A_Season_on_the_Pro_Tennis_-_Gregory_Howe.pdf.txt

Domain: mental-game / tactical-narrative

Tier: reports/tier-2-topic-depth-gaps

Used in artifact: artifacts/reports/tier-2-topic-depth-gaps.md

Abstract

Full-season diary from a mid-ranked ATP tour player. Concrete tactical patterns observed week-to-week.

Key points

When to attack vs defend on second-serve returns.
How to read the opponent's body language between points.
Why the third shot of the rally is the most tactically loaded.
How to manage momentum swings across a three-set match.
The mid-tour player balances tournament play with travel fatigue and injury risk.

Raw dump (first ~1000 words)

OceanofPDF.com OceanofPDF.com OceanofPDF.com First published by Pitch Publishing, 2018 Pitch Publishing A2 Yeoman Gate Yeoman Way Durrington BN13 3QZ www.pitchpublishing.co.uk � Gregory Howe, 2018 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e- book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher. A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library Print ISBN 978-1-78531-383-7 eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-415-5 -- Ebook Conversion by www.eBookPartnership.com OceanofPDF.com Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Prologue 1The Futures Tour Bangkok 2Rod Laver Country Queensland 3Operation Entebbe East Africa 4Edge of the World Namibia 5Heart of Darkness Southern Africa 6The Way Back London 7In Hannibal's Footsteps Tunisia 8In Limbo: In Europe Norway�Germany 9The Challenger Tour Manchester 10 Chasing More Points Senegal�Pakistan�Sudan 11 Into the Big Time Beijing ATP 12 Kingfisher Open Mumbai ATP 13 Beginning the Season Doha ATP 14 Living the Dream Dubai ATP Postscript For Mr Munckton. Thanks for everything, Fred. OceanofPDF.com Acknowledgements IF I was to look for a parallel between my experiences of being on the tennis tour to writing this book, it would simply be that � while both often appear (and are, at times) solitary, lonely pursuits � what is often not visible is the great support team working behind the scenes, without whom nothing would be possible. As I never got the opportunity to make an acceptance speech on tour, then I guess here is my chance now � A massive thanks to the great team at Pitch Publishing � as professional as any team I've encountered in the sporting world. To Jane and Paul Camillin for backing a tennis book not about one of the big stars, and to Derek Hammond and Margaret Murray for their help. To Duncan Olner for the great book cover � a fitting visual metaphor for a tennis adventure. And to Gareth Davis for editing, Dean Rockett for proofreading and Graham Hales for typesetting. Really, it was a pleasure. To Ian McMechan for his help with my early drafts and advice in navigating through the mysterious world of publishing. I'm forever grateful that your language expertise is far superior to that bloody, sliced forehand of yours. And to Amy Hanlon, who scrutinised my story from a non-tennis fan's point of view. Your brutal feedback led to months of redrafting, but the story is so much the better for it. On the tennis front, thanks to Jake Baluyut, Mark Robinson, Daniel Lazaro and John Tashiro in helping me prepare for the tennis tour and listening to my ideas. And to the players and officials in the tennis world, who knowingly or unknowingly became part of the story. I hope you find my comments fair. To the aficionados (my term) from britishtennis.activeboard.com for following me � and other unknown journeymen � on tour, and agreeing to their comments being used in the book. With special thanks to Steven Trezise (aka Steven @GBtennis) for his selfless help in getting me in contact with a world I know little about. To my brother Andrew, for joining me on tour and making the whole adventure something special. To share a lifelong love of a sport with a sibling is something I wish everyone could experience. And most importantly, to my wife, Sylvie, whose unending support for all my crazy ideas meant that my tennis tour, and now this book, was even possible to try for. Hopefully, I have a little credit left for a few more ideas ... OceanofPDF.com Introduction `Dreams do come true sometimes.' Andy Murray's Facebook, on Marcus Willis ON PAPER, Marcus Willis had no right to be there. Here was a part-time coach � a player who used to be so out of shape his nickname was `Cartman' (the fat character from the cartoon, South Park). Yet, there he was, in the second round of Wimbledon facing the G.O.A.T. � Roger Federer. You couldn't make it up. Any of the spectators who had bought centre court tickets for the 2016 Wimbledon Championships could have watched Willis for free, only a year before, in small English towns like Felixstowe or Frinton-on-Sea. I bet none of them had. The British tabloids had a field day. The Daily Express ran the headline `The Fairytale of Wimbledon's Underdog'. Romance, surreal and dream were words used to describe his journey. Roger Federer summed it up, `It is what our sport needs, where guys come from nowhere.' To the majority of the public, it must have felt like Marcus Willis had indeed emerged from nowhere. Inevitably, people started to ask, what had he been doing? Reporters attempted to tell Willis's Wimbledon backstory. Obscure facts began to emerge: he had to qualify for the qualifying; he was 772 in the world; his best 2016 result was a quarter-final in a Tunisian Futures event; and so far in 2016, he had won a grand total of �258. You could imagine the average fan's confusion. Futures...qualifying...a player ranked 772...they play tennis in Tunisia? For them, a whole new world had opened up � a world outside of the Grand Slams and marquee players. This is my world. ***** Every year, well over 10,000 players will try their hand on the men's professional tennis circuit. They will compete en masse, often in huge qualifying draws in far-flung corners of the world. It is a win � or go home � survival of the fittest where most don't survive. This is tennis's version of baseball's minor leagues � the Futures circuit. To become a world-ranked professional, a player must battle through the qualifying rounds, and then win their opening match in the main draw of a Futures event, all