Giving (Tennis) Tuesday — Must-click women’s tennis links
By Joey Dillon
The IX: Tennis Tuesday with Joey Dillon, Nov. 28, 2023
Howdy, y’all and Happy Tennis Tuesday! Today is Giving Tuesday and my first ask is to continue your support to the entire staff here at The IX by subscribing and sharing our content. We are so grateful for all of our readers and as cliché as it sounds, I am really excited to see what 2024 has for us and I think it will be our best year yet. That being said, I want to highlight a few causes you can help support in the tennis world today:
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Your local GLTA tournament – or mine!
I’ve written about how playing on the GLTA World Tour has been a life changer for me — so much so that I’ve taken over as Tournament Director the Columbus Classic! Each tournament is independently run by GLTA chapters all over the world and while it’s great competition or an excuse to travel, each tournament has a charity component with over $5 million being raised since the GLTA’s creation. A majority of the charities support the LGBTQ+ community — for example, Chicago’s Second City Tennis Classic supported the Lighthouse Foundation, the Indy Tennis Classic benefits the Indiana AIDS Foundation and Austin’s Heart of Texas event partners with OutYouth. Columbus’ beneficiary is Buddy Up for Life, an adaptive wellness program for individuals with Down Syndrome that was founded in Columbus and was originally just tennis but has since expanded into general fitness, life skills and more.
If you are in the area of one of the tournaments — note, the schedule is constantly updated and there are plenty of tournaments to be added — and you would like to support in any way, feel free to reach out to me at joseph.dillon91@gmail.com! The Columbus Classic isn’t until July, but we’ve started the ball with fundraising and sponsorship and we would love to break our tournament record next year!
Sloane Stephens Foundation
If you’ve been reading my Tennis Tuesdays for years, you know I profiled SSF and the awesome women who help run it in the past. SSF is a 501(c)3 organization originally aimed at providing support through tennis programming with the Compton Unified School District. They offer instruction with two dozen schools, impacting tens of thousands of students. Originally formed in 2013, they continue to reach new heights and was awarded the 2023 Celebration of Service Award by the Sports Business Journal They’ve since expanded into the South Florida region and have had a national impact both on and off the court through the SSF High Performance Camp and Doc & Glo Scholarship, respectively. What does your donation contribute towards?
- $25 provides 4 cans of tennis balls
- $100 provides 4 hours of on-court tennis for 6 students
- $250 provides a weekly stipend for a summer school tutor
- $500 provides 1 student the opportunity to travel to a regional tournament
- $1,000 provides a 12-week leadership development program for 5 students
The Body Serve Podcast
James Rogers and Jonathan Newman are co-hosts of The Body Serve, a tennis podcast they’ve been hosting since 2015. What make TBS different compared to the more mainstream podcasts is that they’re completely independent. No attachments lets them discuss the good, the bad and the ugly. I appreciate their candor on topics (the gender bias in Madrid, the tragic WTA Finals, etc.) that don’t just focus within on-court strategy. Many podcasts “shut up and dribble,” but they aren’t afraid to discuss the politics within tennis and beyond, or throw a shady bone at a player, commentator, coach, etc. Their GoFundMe isn’t a requirement, but donations allow them to upgrade their equipment, travel as media to tournaments and continue to be a fun light in the Tennis Twitter community.
Now, onto links!
This Week in Women’s Tennis
I personally love these two features on WTA trailblazers Trish Bostrom and Bonnie Logan — names I admit I had never even heard of. If you click on any links, make sure they are these and read about these bad ass women.
Sky and CANAL+ have forged a partnership to broadcast over 4,000 matches across 80 tournaments in 2024.
Something to keep an eye out for in the next couple of months is the potential rise of a “super tour” that could see the Grand Slams and 1000 events, leaving both the ATP and WTA to host and run their 250 and 500 events.
Ajla Tomljanovic won the biggest title of her career in only her fourth tournament back from a knee injury. The Australian defeated University of Oklahoma graduate Martina Capurro Taborda to win the WTA 125 MundoTenis Open and a trophy that broke Tennis Twitter. The doubles title was won by Sara Errani and Leolia Jeanjean, who defeated Julia Lohoff and Conny Perrin in a match tiebreaker.
Storm Hunter was honored by Tennis Australia for becoming World No. 1 in doubles and the Australian is just grateful to be on court after injuries and illness forced her away from the game and inspiring her to play more freely.
Speaking of Tennis Australia, it was announced that New Balance will be the apparel and footwear provider at the United Cup and Australian Open. As someone who constantly loves what they put out (and wears with my extra-wide feet), I’m excited to see what they come up with:
Again, Marina Stakusic is one to watch in 2024 after her revelation at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. The Canadian has high hopes for her career as she rides the momentum of her stellar Fall.
Anastasija Sevastova is back this week at the WTA 125 event in Andorra after stepping away from the game following the 2022 Australian Open and giving birth to a daughter in December.
Angella Okutoyi will be busy on winter break from her studies at Auburn as she will be the hometown favorite at the series of $25,000 ITF World Tour events in Nairobi, Kenya.
Billie Jean King celebrated her 80th birthday and also stressed the importance of all of tennis’ bodies to unite for the sake of the athletes, especially in wake of the WTA Finals fiasco.
Serena Williams stunned on the red carpet for the premiere of Beyonce’s concert film for Renaissance:
The off-season has seen plenty of travel from WTA players — from Caroline Garcia trekking to Antarctica to Ons Jabeur joining Maria Sharapova at F1’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Tweet of the Week
I’m biased, but I was so honored to be included in Behind the Racquet:
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| Mondays: Soccer |
| By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer |
| Tuesdays: Tennis |
| By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer |
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| By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer |
