British Tennis "Blog"

BradMarx90 · County player

British Tennis "Blog"

paulisi · Tennis legend

I know nothing about blogs, but this site actually has a good reputation, has a lot of followers and a lot of players or people connected to players and people of influence read and occasionally post.
I'm not sure if there is a need for a blog.

LordBrownof · Futures level

I think it's a great idea - tennis fans like me read lots of different blogging sites but there aren't any specifically focused British tennis. Blogging sites serve a different purpose to messagebaords like this so I'd see them as complementary to eachother, not competition.

Posting instant results, I wouldn't worry too much about - there are lots of ways of easily finding them. But I think what is missing is interviews with players, LTA staff (if you can get them), tournament directors, coaches etc, and commentary by players themselves. Clearly many of them (Cav, Helen P, Liam) do want to express their views on key Tour and tennis issues and a credible place for them to do that would be fascinating for fans.

My friend recently redeveloped his website, which is based around film, but I imagine it's the same kind of result and format you'd be looking for - www.puremovies.co.uk/

I think it was pretty low cost - happy to find out the details for you.

BradMarx90 · County player

I'm going ahead with this project.

I'll hopefully be launching in 2016 when the new season comes around.

I already have a Twitter handle, @britennisblog, and I'll be attempting to create interest and contacts during that time, as well as a decent, functioning and good-looking website.

It will be running as complimentary to this website and indeed, I will be hoping to use some of what is discussed on here as potential article material and direct quoting if I get permission.

I hope to have your support!

indiana · Tennis legend

Interesting, and ready to hear more.

But I do worry about dilution of a great forum and maybe some uncertainty about what's where ?

We analyse, discuss and debate matches, players and tennis issues to many varying depths here.

Would you hope that that continues and the blog picks out many of the highlights of that in some form ?

If it is also meant to lead to further discussion attached to the blog then wouldn't we have separate britishtennis originated discussions ?

The interviews with players, coaches etc and specific player pieces is interesting if that can be achieved.

For some of the other mentioned discussion / debate issues, thinking as I go, maybe short pieces with links to forum threads to see wider discussions and give people ( hopefully new people ) an opportunity to add further. So the forum remains the general discussion base, maybe enhanced ?

Anyway, just musing ( and I'm no sort of authority at all on blogs ). This is Sheddie's baby and I see him still popping in no doubt keeping a little eye on it. For a long time in active terms Steven has been the main heart and soul of it ( oh yes, Steven ! ) with also his super rankings / stats section plus widespread tweeting ( from his @GBtennis handle ). Now I know Steven has had very little available time recently, but their thoughts on linkage to and use of this site ( privately and / or publicly ) I guess is needed plus such as the other mods.

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 10th of August 2015 07:34:49 PM

LordBrownof · Futures level

Sounds great! I think it will undoubtably be complementary - blogs and forums are entirely different beasts.

I run a digital content platform so happy to help in any way I can!

BradMarx90 · County player

indiana wrote:
But I do worry about dilution of a great forum and maybe some uncertainty about what's where ?

We analyse, discuss and debate matches, players and tennis issues to many varying depths here.

Would you hope that that continues and the blog picks out many of the highlights of that in some form ?

If it is also meant to lead to further discussion attached to the blog then wouldn't we have separate britishtennis originated discussions ?

The interviews with players, coaches etc and specific player pieces is interesting if that can be achieved.

For some of the other mentioned discussion / debate issues, thinking as I go, maybe short pieces with links to forum threads to see wider discussions and give people ( hopefully new people ) an opportunity to add further. So the forum remains the general discussion base, maybe enhanced ?

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 10th of August 2015 07:34:49 PM

Indy, thanks for your ideas and spitballing, as it were.

I have no intention of diluting the discussion on here; in fact, I aim to provide links to this forum as part of the various articles. They will be based on, and include thoughts from, topics in the forum, but it will mainly be used to be a direct source of news and interviews (hopefully!) with players.

The forum is and should be the primary place to discuss our boys and girls. The blog would simply be a way of collecting and honing that information in a more digestible manner, and a way to open the information up further to the general public.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

BradMarx90 wrote:

I already have a Twitter handle, @britennisblog,

So that was YOU that gave me a follow today then. smile

Good luck with your new project. As I visit tournaments, I will try and get some "exclusive interviews" which will be posted on here, but you will be more than welcome to put them on your blog as well.

Born2WinTennis · Club Coach

I think this is a great idea, one that had also occurred to me after I somehow got signed up inadvertently to both a weekly world tennis newsletter/email (first link below) and also a monthly US tennis business email (2nd link) . You can see the type of thing here:

www.tennismediagroup.com/aWTATPNew.html

t.e2ma.net/message/wq47k/gq1shg

The second link has US Tennis Jobs, adverts for companies, new gizmos, all sorts of interviews, including coaches, venue managers etc. My idea was to have a British version of this.

Would you cover all levels of UK tennis in this blog? I would like to see (or perhaps be involved in) something that celebrates tennis across the whole of the UK and not just national level players, but can celebrate and enthuse all the average Joe's playing in county doubles leagues etc (myself being one of them). Obviously as the email database grows you can then take subscription advertisements and generate a revenue.

I read this blog yesterday, from the British Tennis Coaches Forum on Facebook, the author might be able to help with blogs, I believe he runs a small media company too:

markgillett.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/the-value-of-experience/

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Born2Win, just to tell you that your weekly newsletter email (your first link) gets blocked by my Bitdefender antivirus programme.

Loved the Mark Gillett article though. Very interesting. Didn't realise that there were many coaches who didn't play competitively at all any longer. Of course, he didn't talk about the other end of the spectrum, where the coach is basically 90% interested in his own tennis 'career' and 10% in his players, as a necessary 'evil', so to speak.

Born2WinTennis · Club Coach

Not sure why it should get blocked, it's just a normal website link.

Yes I have come across many coaches who don't play anymore, also former county players who give up as they don't want to play tennis if it is under the level they are used to. I believe it's a real problem, players playing/training 3-5 times per week as teenagers and when they don't "make it" just pack the game in, rather than competing at a lower standard. Obviously after school they get further commitments, with work and family and can no longer get the same amount of practice in, a real shame.

A typical example was on Monday night at Lee Valley Tennis and Hockey Centre, my Direct Line Group (former employer) were playing JP Morgan the guy I was playing was 38, he had played county for Essex aged 14 and gave up for 25 years, until he found out his company were looking for players. Another recent example is a team mate who has gone to Cambridge Uni, he wasnt quite good enough for their 3rd team, so has now effectively given up aged 19.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

To be honest, Born2Win, I can see why regular players pack it in for a good number of years: bit bored having played so much as a kid, new challenges to try, work commitments etc. etc.

It's like kids who learn a classical instrument - so many give up for 20 years or so, having reached a good/excellent standard in their late teens, and then often take it back up again (at a lower level) when 40 or so....

But I find it very strange that a tennis coach no longer plays any competitive matches.

It's not really possible in France. Certainly not done. If you're the coach, you're a member of the club (assuming you're the coach of quite a big club, otherwise if you coach at several clubs, you'll be a member of one of them). And then you're expected to play for one of the teams (maybe the second team, or a veteran 35+ team). If you don't, your ranking will go down, and you won;t get much respect from anyone as a coach.

And you most certainly have to play that club's money tournament - you couldn't not inscribe for that - you'd be lynched.

BradMarx90 · County player

Born2WinTennis wrote:

Would you cover all levels of UK tennis in this blog? I would like to see (or perhaps be involved in) something that celebrates tennis across the whole of the UK and not just national level players, but can celebrate and enthuse all the average Joe's playing in county doubles leagues etc (myself being one of them). Obviously as the email database grows you can then take subscription advertisements and generate a revenue.

Thanks for your thoughts B2W. I do intend to cover, at the very least, ATP, ITF and the Junior circuit, Male and Female Singles and Doubles if time allows.

I am hoping that as time passes, I will not be the only one involved in the blog and, as such, if there are people more qualified than myself to comment on, as you mention above, County Competitions and the British Tour, then they are more than welcome to do so.

The blog will hopefully incorporate a layout which allows the user to navigate to whichever aspect of the tour he is interested in, so the ability to have articles on the level below the ITF and the British Tour is very much in my mind.

BradMarx90 · County player

If any of you are interested in contributing, PM me, and I'll send you a more detailed breakdown of what I hope the blog to consist of.

BradMarx90 · County player

Hi guys,

So I've been working very hard on this project and I'm happy to say we'll be launching in January 2016, ready for the new season. I won't reveal the name of the website, as we're still putting together the finishing touches, but I will explain what we have on the site already, what we plan to incorporate in the process, and how the forum will play its part.

Our "About Us:"

We are a brand new online news platform, launching in January 2016, which focuses on British tennis players and tennis in Great Britain at all levels of the game, and is aiming to become the go-to website for all things British Tennis

From Grand Slams to Grass Roots, our aim is to chart the progress of as many players as possible currently plying their trade for Great Britain, whether it be on the main ATP/WTA tours, at college in the States or in the UK, or at the upper echelons of the LTA national game.

We are not affiliated with any governing body of the game, and exists simply to provide completely independent, balanced and comprehensive content to our readers, whether they be fans, players, ex-players, coaches, tournament officials, umpires and anyone else in between.

I have managed to pull together a team of contributors, including current professional journalists and Harry Brown, founder of PointToProve, which is the agency for the likes of Marcus Willis and Amanda Carreras, and have also been in dialogue with David Law of The Tennis Podcast and Leon Smith, who have both suggested an interest in becoming involved. If ANY of you would like to contribute in any way to the site, be my guest. Send me a PM, or wait until the site is live and find the contact details from there.

One thing I will be using the forum for (apart from your regular pearls of wisdom) is for our Featured Series called "Forum Feedback", in which I will be bringing topics debated on this very forum to the public eye. I'm currently writing an article based on the topic debated here: http://britishtennis.activeboard.com/t61326425/what-should-the-lta-change-to-be-more-effective/. Occasionally, you may see me post on a thread if I can use a quote from someone on the forum in an article. I will not mention your username if you do not give me permission, I will simply work around it.

Something I'm most excited about is our Players section. We will have lists of Players (and hopefully, eventually, with pictures of everyone) on the ATP Tour, WTA Tour, ITF Boys and Girls, LTA Combined Rankings (top 100) and US College Players, with links to relevant information by clicking on the photo. This enables the reader to instantly learn more about the player, where they're studying, and as you can see from the screenshots, I've also added a short bio for the players on the Pro Tour.

We'll also be aggregating content, which is where Google Alert has come in handy - maybe some of you have noticed I've been posting useful articles on certain threads in the Men's Forum - these have shown up via there, and we'll be using them to aggregate content on the site when we can't report it ourselves.

This has become my full-time endeavour. I don't expect it to make any money in the short term, but perhaps with your support we might get somewhere - and when it comes to fans of British Tennis, I think here is the best place to start. I'll be sure to create a brand new thread once the site is launched so you can all have a nosy.

It would be great to hear your thoughts.

-- Edited by BradMarx90 on Wednesday 16th of December 2015 08:50:59 AM