ERSA Pro Stringer Magazine Issue 4 - 2018 prostringer4-18 13.06 | Page 18

www.ersa-stringers.com INDUSTRY NEWS Tennis Teachers Conference Set for August in New York City More than 1,000 tennis professionals and industry leaders are expected to gather in New York City on the eve of the US Open for the 2018 Tennis Teachers Conference. The event will take place Aug. 24-27 at the Grand Hyatt and is presented by the USTA and USPTA. The conference will feature more than 30 classroom and on-court educational sessions. The on-court sessions will take place at SportTime Randall’s Island Tennis Center on Saturday, Aug. 25. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to attend opening day at the US Open on Aug. 27. Stay tuned for registration information. The 2018 US Open will use a 25-second serve clock It´s going to be the first time such a system will be deployed in the main draw at a major tournament. Players will have 25 seconds from the end of a point to serve for the next one. The first violation will be a warning, followed by loss of a point and then loss of a game. The US Open also will enforce a seven-minute total warm-up period before each match to ensure ontime starts. Violators face a $20,000 fine. iTPA World Conference. July 21-22 in Atlanta The iTPA World Tennis Fitness Conference will be held July 21-22 in Atlanta. The conference, which takes place alongside the BB&T Atlanta Open, will bring together experts across many disciplines of tennis performance and injury prevention, focused on improving tennis-specific fitness training in the gym, on the court and in the training room. Dr. Mark Kovacs, executive director of the iTPA, is the conference chair, and other speakers will include renowned physical trainer Gil Reyes, Georgia Tech strength and conditioning coach Dan Taylor, former pro player Robby Ginepri, Dr. Jason Vescovi of Tennis Canada, and tennis analytics expert Warren Pretorius, among others. The conference also offers a new “iTPA Tennis Technology and Analytics Summit” on July 22. Continuing education credits are available. Early-bird pricing ends June 15. For more information or to register, visit itpa-tennis.org. Tennis champions Serena and Venus Williams have joined the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative advisory board. 18 ERSA PRO STRINGER // ISSUE 4-2018