About – Hits2Lines

Hits2Lines

Considerations of Tennis

HIts2Lines is short form considerations about tennis. We post thought pieces about the pro game, recent matches, tennis history, technique, strategy, evolution, club play, public parks ambiance, history, you name it and we’ll touch upon it. This is middle-form journalism; posts that are more than 280 characters and less than full blown articles. Hopefully you read about aspects of tennis that you haven’t considered before. Feel free to contact any of us at our Bluesky accounts, which you can find in the scroll on our landing page. And may you always hit two lines…

SKIP SCHWARZMAN

I’m an ex-USPTA teaching pro who started playing at about 11 years old, when the Challenge Round still existed and Laver was king. (In fact, Laver’s still king.) As a junior I was fortunate enough to be part of the Gold Cup program for promising juniors, in the Philadelphia area. Teaching gigs have included Philadelphia, PA, USA, Fribourg and Romont, Switzerland, and Oxford, England. I’ve been published at changeovertennisDOTcom, tennisDOTcom (at Pete Bodo’s TennisWorld), UbiTennisDOTnet, and most recently at tennisaccent.com . My old Dunlop Maxply Fort has notches for my having been at all Big Four tournaments, Davis Cup ties, and a slew of other tourneys. I first learned to teach from Mr. Frank X. Brennan, Sr., coach of Billie Jean King, who taught us that if we were good players we’d be welcome all over the world. He was right, as usual.

ANDREW BURTON

Grew up literally playing tennis on the streets of Windsor, England. Almost played a future Japanese emperor at college. Part of Pete Bodo’s Mod Squad for TennisWorld in the late 2000s, also wrote posts for The Changeover and Tennis With An Accent. First person to spot that the Lost Boys were lost. Now does match calls on Bluesky, tennis stats and the occasional podcast. Sylvia’s husband, Cathleen’s dad.

TIM MAYOTTE

Both on and off the court Tim Mayotte has been one of the most important members of the American tennis community over the last fifty years.

A native of Springfield MA, Mayotte burst on the tennis scene by simultaneously winning the NCAA Singles Championships and guiding his Stanford Team during the 1980-1981 season. That same year he made his mark on the international stage by making the quarter-finals of Wimbledon. Mayotte went on to reach the semis of Wimbledon and the Australian Open during his third season. On his way to winning twelve ATP Titles (including 2 ATP 1000’s) he beat every great of his era including Agassi, Sampras, Becker, Connors, Wilander, Edberg, and McEnroe. Tim spent most of four years inside the ATP Top Ten. In 1988 he brought home the Olympic Silver Medal for the US.

Just after leaving the game in 1991 Tim was elected to be the President of the ATP Players Council (recently held by Roger Federer,) as well as serving on the ATP Board of Directors. Mayotte also was a TV analyst for the tennis coverage of Prime Network, USA Network and the BBC.

Once dubbed “Gentleman Tim” Mayotte left the game for a few years to get his M.A. in Psychology and Theology from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

He came back to tennis and found his greatest passion in developing top junior talent as the director of the USTA’s Player Development Center at the site of the US Open from 2009-2011. He has continued to coach top juniors while writing articles for “Tennis Magazine,” “Art and Antiques Magazine” and “GQ.”

Though soft-spoken Tim has often spoken his mind on how to develop better teaching methodologies. He continues to teach and write, commenting on how to better grow the game his loves.