Debbie Graham was a competent tour player in the late 80s. Yesterday I viewed her offering a segment on the Tennis Channel’s Academy instructional series. These are generally about 25/25/25/25…some good, some very good, some bad, some very bad. This one, featuring Graham, also a USTA player development coach, is an embarrassment.
She is joined by a 1o year old and they are hitting groundies with only 1 racket which they are passing back and forth hurriedly to keep up with, I suspect, a ball machine feeding balls out of camera range. Why? “This will really help you bond with your doubles partner and have fun.” No mention is made of utilizing this as a fun interlude for recreational beginning, young junior players, which is the only possible benefit.
Drivel! This is a USTA coach giving us insight on how to improve our game? Another example of USTA cronyism, and USTA sponsored so-called player development crap. You cannot make this stuff up. Very disappointing at best.