Category: Info

Our time for the annual spring-clean is nigh and as we’re all preparing for the dreaded task of sorting through all the unnecessary stuff we’ve accumulated over the last year, we’re already thinking of ways to recycle some of the things that might find a second purpose in life.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that we need to treat our planet better, and one way to contribute to a healthier environment is by responsibly recycling materials that could otherwise harm our natural eco-system. This doesn’t always mean simply paying attention to the way we separate our waste, but also finding creative and innovative ways to upcycle items and use them for another purpose.

If you’re a passionate tennis player or happen to have a dog with a serious tennis ball collection, you’re probably wondering about a good way to recycle them. Even the best tennis balls deteriorate eventually so here are some creative and efficient tips on how to recycle old tennis balls!

Start a Toddler Band

Tired of listening to your kiddos’ incredibly noisy shows full of high-pitched characters? Then get them away from the TV and encourage them to start a band instead – you’ll still have to deal with noise, but at least it’ll be of the musical kind. Grab a few of the many tennis balls you’ve been looking to recycle and slit them open on one side. Fill them with pebbles or bells and superglue them shut again. They’ll make for great toddler instruments that will get everyone busting a dance move to the family band’s favourite tunes.

Emoji Party

Trying to think of fun decoration ideas for your teen’s upcoming birthday party? If there’s one thing all teenagers share in common, it’s their love for emojis. Your old tennis balls are the ideal canvass for making your teen’s favourite emojis come to life. Use a permanent marker to draw on the faces and then place them all together in a bowl to act as a centrepiece for the party table. Who knows, you might even inspire the future generation to find their own creative methods of recycling their tennis balls.

Tennis Court Painting

If you want to pay tribute to your favourite sport in the world, why not use your old tennis balls to paint a picture of a tennis court? Use a sturdy surface such as a wooden board or a piece of drywall and paint it tennis-court green or terracotta. Choose several contrasting colours, dip your tennis ball into paint and softly serve it on to the canvass. Repeat the process until you feel happy with your tennis ball prints.

Floor Protectors

It’s not easy keeping your floors pristine when your kids are constantly scraping their chairs against them. Avoid adding further scratches to your lovely floorboards by cutting an X into your old tennis balls and slipping the chair’s leg into them. Ensure they have a firm grip and you’ll never have to worry about damaging your floors again.

Bug Repellants

Spring has sprung early this year, and with the blossoming flowers and rising temperatures, the flies have come out to play too. Go back to enjoying your garden without having to ward off these pests all night, by creating fun-looking bug repellants you can hang from your trees or the patio ceiling. Attach a string to the ball using a pin and coat the tennis ball in Vaseline – gnats and flies will be more attracted to the Vaseline than to you!

Tennis Wreath

Prepare for the holy tennis season this summer by creating a funky tennis ball wreath. This will be the perfect décor feature to get everyone excited about the tennis viewing party and will set the tone for a winning afternoon/evening.

reBounces

Collect 200 tennis balls from your own personal collection or your local club, request a pre-paid shipping label and send them into reBounces. This program, in partnership with Ace Surfaces, will grind up your old tennis balls and use the materials to create innovative and sustainable sport surfacing systems such as the Laykold Master 5 and Laykold Master 8.

Gift Recipient

Surprise your tennis buddies with lovely little gifts presented in a tennis ball recipient. Simply slice the ball in half – always leaving the bottom half bigger than the top half – and fill it up with candy, homemade treats or whatever else you might think of. Hand it to your friend as is or wrap it in cellophane for an elegant presentation.

Pacman Letter Holder

Finally, a great way to keep all your letters and papers organized in a fun, creative manner! Turn your tennis balls into little Pacman characters by cutting a triangle-shaped mouth into the middle and sticking plastic eyes above it. Use strong, double-sided tape to stick your Pacman to the wall and feed him with your letters.

If you are a little confused as to what’s going on in the tennis court and trying to read the scores when you watch it on TV but you want to have a game and need to be able to keep score, then don’t worry.

Tennis is not a straightforward sport to understand at first, but once you get the fundamentals down, you’ll feel like a seasoned pro.

In this post, we’ll go over how to keep score in tennis, so you can enjoy anice game of tennis at your local court. You should be able to get through this post pretty quickly, as we’ve stuck to only the key ideas!

The basics

• Each game of tennis consists of either three or two sets. In order for a player to win a set, they must win at least six games.
• Every game is scored starting at zero, and goes up to forty points – even though it’s technically just four points. From zero, the next point is 15, then 30, then 40, which wins the game for the best player.

Getting the game started

• To start a tennis game, one person flips a coin or spins a racket to determine who serves first. Whoever wins the toss gets to decide several things:
  • Whether to serve first or second.
  • What side of the court to start on.
  • Or if the winner wants to leave the above choices to his or her opponent.
• Whoever serves first will serve throughout the game until its conclusion.
• Players serve from the court’s baseline, which is the right-hand side of the court.

Scoring the Game

• Before the player serves the ball, they should announce the score, with your score first being the first number spoken and then your opponent’s number.
• A player gets two attempts at serving. The ball must go over the net, and land in the ‘service box’ on the opposing side, as well as bouncing towards the opposing player.
• If the ball does not land in the service box, the player is required to serve the ball again. If the second attempt misses again, the player loses a point.
• If the ball grazes the net but lands in the box, the serve does not count, but you must take that server over (this is known as a “let”).
• If the serve goes in and the other player is successful at returning it, players continue hitting the ball back and forth until it hits the net, lands out of bounds, or someone misses the ball. Any of the aforementioned events will cause one player to gain a point at the expense of the other player.
• The game continues until the score reaches 40 at which point the player on 40 can win the game by winning the next point. If the game is tied at 40, it is known as a “deuce.”, which in tennis lingo means a tie. In order to break the stalemate, a player must earn two points in a row.
• Once the game finishes, the other person begins serving. Every odd-numbered game a different player will be the one to serve.

Scoring a Set

• Before the beginning serve in each new game, the server is required to announce the score in sets. One should announce their score first and then the opponent’s score.
• One set consists of six games; the first person to win six games and be 2 games ahead wins the set.
• If the score ties at 6-6, you play a tiebreaker.

Scoring the Match

• All of the above is known as a match. The match is then determined by the best out of two of three sets. In other words, if a player wins two sets, they win the game. If you each win a set, then you must play a third set to determine the overall winner.

Conclusion

So that’s pretty much everything that you need to know when it comes to keeping score in tennis.

If you’re still stuck scratching your head trying to figure out the game, (which is understandable) there are plenty of tutorials that can give you some visual and audio clues on how to read a game, as well as some content that can break down everything for you in real time.

If you’re stuck trying to find a gift for your tennis-loving friend, then have no fear, they’re actually pretty easy to buy for. Here are some great ideas to help you find gifts for tennis players or just lovers of the game.

Tennis Gifts

There are more than a billion tennis fans around the world, and if you can guarantee anything when something becomes that popular, it’s that people will start selling novelty gifts that cater to them. Even if your tennis-playing friend has gadgets up to the eyeballs, they probably won’t have one of these…

Does your tennis-fanatic friend serve their salad with the same kind of gusto as they do their topspin groundstroke? Then ensure they do so in true tennis fashion by gifting them these quirky, lightweight beechwood salad servers.

These SALADTEN1 salad servers from Suck UK will make a great addition to your friends’ kitchen and will keep them motivated to keep their diet light and healthy while training for their big tournament.

Tennis Bubble Gumballs

For some fun, tennis-themed stocking-fillers, you can’t go wrong with these flavourful Tennis Bubble Gumballs. They come in a pack of 12 tennis ball tubes and are made to look exactly like tennis balls – so real in fact, your friends will probably be tempted to give them a bounce.

These Tennis Gumballs are great novelty gifts for all ages and will prove to be a hit for tennis-themed parties or gift bags too.

ChalkTalkSports Personalized Printed Tennis Ball

Make sure your friends stay on top of their game by gifting them a personalized printed tennis ball from ChalkTalkSports. This ball – whether you customize it with your friends’ name or a personal message – will become the visual inspiration they need to slay on the courts.

This personalized printed tennis ball is not intended for use but decoration and motivation. It will become your friend’s favorite tennis-themed decorative piece for their desks or bedside tables.

You Just Got Served T-Shirt

This is the ultimate gift for that friend of yours who loves a good pun. This stylish, black t-shirt featuring the slogan, “You Just Got Served”, is made of 90% cotton, and will be sure to keep your friend cool and cheeky on the courts.

The text is printed in classic yellow-green and white tennis colors and is bound to get your friends a few giggles around the club.

Tennis Heartbeat Shirt

If you are certain your friend’s heart beats to the sound of tennis balls bouncing off the court, you can’t go wrong with a t-shirt that illustrates his sportive heartbeat. This simple and eye-catching Heartbeat t-shirt is made from 100% cotton and will make a great addition to your friends’ tennis wardrobe.

It’s Not My Fault: 150 Hilarious Excuses Every Tennis Player Should Know

One of the most important things we all need to succeed in life and our game is a good sense of humor. This funny little book of tennis humor features hilarious cartoons and the most ridiculous excuses that have been heard on courts from around the world.

It’s Not My Fault: 150 Hilarious Excuses Every Tennis Player Should Knowwill remind your tennis pals not to take themselves too serious and always find their sense of humor even during the toughest of matches.

Love Hurts Trucker Cap

Make sure your friend stays protected from the harsh sun rays during the next tennis season, by hooking them up with this cool “Love Hurts” trucker cap, featuring an embroidered tennis ball as the “o”.

The cap will act as a great reminder that, sometimes, we need to move through the pain and muscle-ache of training in order to thrive in the game we love.

Tennis Ball Wine Bottle Stopper

This is an excellent gift for the people in your life who have found the perfect balance between training and relaxation: a tennis ball wine bottle stopper. This unique gift is elegantly designed and will remind your friends to celebrate a great match with a good bottle of wine.

Candy Shop Tennis Gumballs

Here’s another great idea for your sweet-toothed tennis friends. These tennis gumballs have a deliciously fresh lemon flavour and can be used as cake-toppers and cookie decorations too. The ideal gift for your hard-hitting friends at the club!

Tennis Dammit Doll

If your friend is known to be a sore loser on the courts, help them avoid future embarrassment by hooking them up with a dammit doll. The tennis dammit doll was specifically designed to help keep your friends’ verbal aggression in check.

Instead of going on a foul-mouthed rant and throwing around their racket, they will now be able to throw around and beat on their dammit doll to let out their sore-loser aggressions.

You Got Served Served Wine Glasses

Allow your tennis friends and family to serve their favorite wines as beautifully as they do their backhand strokes with these cheeky You Got Served wine glasses. Dishwasher safe and stylish, these stemless big wine glasses will also serve a mean whiskey on the rocks or liquor of choice.

With so many tennis-lovers in the world, it’s not surprising that there’s a wealth of tennis-related equipment, gadgetry and novelty for all your gift-giving needs.

Official Wimbledon Towel

The Official Wimbledon Towel is a bit of a classic. In iconic purple and green, the towel is immediately identifiable with the century-old history of the world’s longest-standing Grand Slam tournament. Every Wimbledon towel sold is identical to those used by the players on court, so why not help your friend or loved one feel like a Grand Slam pro?

http://shop.wimbledon.com/stores/wimbledon/en/product/wimbledon-mens-2018-championship-towel/216355

Roger Federer Life Size Cutout

Every amateur tennis player will have an idol, whether from the long, nostalgic history of the sport, or a modern pro battling it out on the tour today. Tennis fans have idolized players for decades, with celebrities like Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras and Martina Navratilova all reaching pin-up status in their time.

However, the innovation for the modern age is that now your idols can be sent to you in the post – in life-size Roger Federer cutout form!

So why not give the perfect gift, and let your tennis player spend some time with their idol?

Personalized Tennis Mug

Perhaps it just looks like a mug to you, but tennis fans will really love this. This mug is full customizable so your imagination. Commemorate your loved one’s imaginary victory over Rafael Nadal, or create a lasting record of that friendly office match, and with this tongue-in-cheek gift.

TopspinPro

The best thing you can gift a friend who is struggling with their topspin groundstrokes is a tennis-coach-approved tool that is guaranteed to improve their technique. The TopspinPro can make that happen – in just two minutes a day.

The TopspinPro screens are designed to force players to hold their racket tilted forward, providing a constant angle within the contact zone. With the ball mounted to a spindle, this tennis tool will allow players to practice the movements needed to brush up the back of the ball for perfect topspin shots.

BusyBee Tennis Dampeners

Everyone can use some motivational language from time to time, especially when preparing for an important game. Show your friend support by gifting them these colorful BusyBee tennis dampers.

These high-quality and durable dampers will kill any unwanted vibrations during your game while keeping your mind focused and calm. Each damper comes in a different color and features a different mantra such as, “Focus”, “You Got This” and “Move Your Feet”.

With so many tennis-lovers in the world, it’s not surprising that there’s a wealth of tennis-related equipment, gadgetry and novelty for all your gift-giving needs.

Tennis Gadgets

But what to do if you know a tennis player with all the latest equipment he could ever need? Well he may not know about some of the fun tennis gadgets being made today. You can buy everything from a Tennis Ball Dryer (because no one wants to play with damp tennis balls), to a portable tennis ball machine, helping players to practice their serve by firing out 150 tennis balls at them.

Adidas MiCoach Cell

Here’s the idea behind the Adidas MiCoach Cell: you take a little green sensor and clip it to the laces on your tennis shoes, synchronize it with the MiCoach app on your phone, and there you go.

MiCoach will track your rallies, your speed, the distance you run, the directions you run. All you need to do is check your phone afterward for a full roster of performance stats. What tennis player wouldn’t be tempted by that?

String Thing Tennis String Straightening Device

If you’ve ever watched a tennis match and wondered what the players are doing when they constantly look down at their rackets and pluck at the strings, I’ll tell you.

The players are straightening out the strings after the impact of the tennis ball onto the racket has knocked them out of alignment. Naturally enough, there’s also a gadget that can straighten those strings for you and that is the String Thing Tennis String Straightening Device.

Zepp 2 Tennis Swing Analyzer

Charge the Zepp Tennis Swing Analyzer, sync it to a phone via Bluetooth, attach it to a racket and then get swinging. That’s all a tennis player needs to do, and then when they check the App afterward they’ll be greeted by an amazing breakdown of stats. S

hot power, spin, the length of rallies – they’ll be amazed at what the Zepp Tennis Swing Analyzer can tell them. Even better, the app analyses the player’s swing and offers personalized tips, coaching and drills.

Tennis Ball Machine

If you have a friend that is really into their tennis and you don’t mind splashing out a bit on them, a tennis ball machine could be a great gift to help them get better at the game and practice without the need for a partner. Be warned they are quite expensive!

Tennis Gear

Why not begin with the basics? Tennis has come a long way since the age when rackets were made from wood. These days, having the right equipment can make all the difference to a player’s comfort and performance, so why not help your friend or loved one to get ahead?

Tennis Rackets

High-tech tennis rackets made from pro-grade, ultra-light nano carbons with motion sensors in the handle are no longer the preserve of the tennis elite. Brands like Babolat, Wilson, Völkl and Yonex have been working hard to make high-tech options affordable.

Something Like the Babolat Pure Drive is light and responsive enough for a pro to feel at home with it, and comes complete with sensors in the handle to help you track your performance. A gift like that should be enough to make most amateur players shout with excitement.

Tennis Shoes

A lot of people think that trainers are trainers and that a shoe that’s good for the gym will be just as good for the Tennis, but that really isn’t the case.

Tennis is a very specific sport that requires shoes tailored for sprinting and high impact movement (to absorb the shocks from all that jumping). Excellent grip and a well-cushioned heel are the features to look out for.

Buy your loved one some high-quality tennis shoes, like the Addidas Barricade Club, and their feet will love you forever.

Tennis Lessons

Lessons may not be “gear” precisely, but they’re the purchase most likely to help improve your loved one’s game. Once you’ve mastered the basics, real improvement in tennis tends to come from minor corrections in technique to one particular shot or another. That’s why almost any amateur player is going to be delighted by the opportunity to learn from an expert.

To make it even easier, many tennis clubs these days will offer gift vouchers for tennis lessons so that your giftee can book them for a convenient date and time.