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Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: Jeff Gomez & The Tennis Twins

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n celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which takes place Sept. 15 – Oct. 15, USTA Florida is recognizing members of Florida’s rich Hispanic community whose talents and dedication help to grow the great game of tennis every day — at every level. We applaud them all for making tennis a better and more inclusive sport, and for making the face of our game more accurately reflect the dynamic diversity of our country. 

When it comes to tennis for Jeff Gomez, family is the first thing he thinks of. Gomez, who got into tennis later in his life, has dedicated a lot of time to the sport as he supports his twin daughters. “Family means love, and that means everything to me, my kids, my wife, they are everything!” 

Jeff Gomez and the Tennis Twins 

Gomez comes from Columbian decent, as his parents moved their family to America due to hardships back in his home country. He grew up playing baseball, but always had a passion for professional sports. “When I was in college, I would turn on ESPN and I used to watch the highlights of Pete Sampras and Serena Williams, and I was like, this is a pretty cool sport.” 

Jeff loves to watch his daughters play tennis and supports them everyday.

When Jeff’s twin daughters, Jordyn and Jaedyn turned about 4 years old, he wanted them to get involved with sports. So, his wife said, “Tennis is an explosive sport and it’ll be great for girls. It builds character and girl power.” 

Having a smaller background in tennis at the time, Jeff had to hit the books and learn everything he could to prepare his girls for the sport. “I’d go on YouTube and I’d watch videos, read books, find tutorials so I could learn how to teach these kids.” 

Even though they were active in other sports, the twins decided they wanted to stick with tennis because that’s the sport they had the most fun playing. That decision has paid off well for the girls as they are well known throughout their community and the tennis scene. 

“They go to school, and everybody knows them as the Tennis Twins,” he said. “Kids will come up to my daughters at tournaments, as go ‘you’re the tennis twins, can we get a picture with you guys?’ So, that’s cool to see.”  

Since the girls have social media presence, Jeff tells them to live their life to inspire others. “You never know who’s looking at your social media,” he said. “There could be a 13-year-old girl somewhere, who might click on a picture and want to play tennis or feel inspired.” 

In his free time, Jeff loves to paint and teach others how to. “I started drawing young, and in high school I took art classes. Then I went to college, and I majored in art,” he recalled. “It’s just the love of it that stayed there.”  

Jeff recently painted Rafael Nadal, who is a major inspiration to tennis.

He enjoys painting on canvas and loves to capture moments of professional athletes. His most recent one was of tennis legend, Rafael Nadal. “I look to an athlete that inspires me and that has made an impact.”  

Why It’s Important To Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month 

Jeff finds it extremely important to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month both in tennis and outside of it. On the tennis side, he talked about some of the game’s best players being Hispanic. 

“In the Spanish Community, there’s a lot of people up there that we can look at as are our heroes,” Gomez said. “That’s inspirational, look at tennis, the top two players in the world are from Spain, in Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal.” 

He also talked about his parents, who grew up and lived in Colombia for years. His father instilled work ethic into him, because in Colombia “there was a need to work hard,” Gomez said. “I saw how hard they worked just to help us with baseball practice, driving us to games and there was a sense of pride. This is where we’re from, this is our language, our food, our culture, and our community.” 

When it comes to his daughters, their tennis coaches have all been Hispanic, so he knows how important they are to the community. “My side, being full of Hispanic Heritage, they got to see that and be inspired, and it has to stick to them.”  

The post Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: Jeff Gomez & The Tennis Twins appeared first on USTA Florida.



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Inside The Struggle to Survive In Professional Tennis

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The 2023 US Open in New York brought to light an issue that affects professional tennis players around the world. Recently, Vox Video spoke with players and the head of the Professional Tennis Players Association to discuss the pay problem in our sport.

It turns out that tennis is unique in how players are paid, what costs they are responsible for, and how they are categorized as independent contractors. Unfortunately, this means that unless you are consistently among the very top-ranked players like Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Coco Gauff, and Iga Swiatek, it’s nearly impossible to make a living with income from tennis alone.

It’s concerning that, unlike other sports (like football, baseball, and basketball) that provide support for athletes outside the very top performers, tennis leaves them high and dry. Professional tennis players not only have to pay for coaching, training, travel, and accommodations for tournaments, food, equipment, and all medical needs.

  • A shocking 80% of the top 1000 players don’t earn enough from the sport to cover the expenses of playing at the top level.
  • Even players ranked between 751-1000 earn between $5500-$4400 compared to the top 10, who bring in between $6.5-3.69 million.

It’s important that we hear from professional players like Taylor Townsend, Hubert Hurkacz, and Alycia Parks, as well as the Executive Director of the Professional Tennis Players Association, Ahmad Nassar, to understand the challenges they face and work towards a solution.

Yes, we understand that Taylor Townsend is currently on a come-back winning streak, with year-to-date earnings of $988,223. And Hubert Hurzack has earned $1,988,312 so far this year. Alycia Parks has also had a good year with $690,400 in earnings. So why do they appear in this video discussing tennis players who are struggling to make a living? Simple – they used to be those players, and are open to talking about it. And if they get injured and need expensive surgery(ies) and treatment, they can easily become those players again.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you feel that the lower-level professional tennis players should earn more for their matches? Or do you feel that the system is fair as it is? Let’s discuss in the comments below.



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Famous Tennis Players Who Wore Glasses On Court

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Tennis has produced plenty of stars famous for what they wore on the court – it’s made a fashion icon out of the like of Anna Kournikova. Likewise, Emma Raducanu’s Tiffany jewelry pieces have already become the talk of the tennis world.

Like Raducanu’s jewelry, it isn’t always what a player wears off the court that raises eyebrows – indeed, many players have made fashion statements on the court in the form of glasses. Players wearing glasses is not new – Billie Jean King often wore glasses while playing, and she often stressed their importance in her career.

Tennis Players Who Wore Glasses On The Court

Whether they wore sunglasses or eyeglasses, these tennis players made huge statements with what was on their faces during their matches.

Sam Stosur

Sam Stosur is one of many players who chose to wear an iconic brand of sunglasses while playing. Indeed, Oakley sunglasses have become a staple of the game for many players. Stosur preferred the Half Jacket range when she was on the court. They’re both lightweight and functional, with polarized lenses to protect from glare and high-quality acetate frames.

The 39-year-old Australian player was a US Open winner in 2010 and was once ranked number one in the world for doubles with victories in the French Open (2006), Australian Open (2019), and twice in the US Open (2005, 2021).

Natasha Zvereva

Natasha Zvereva was often seen on the court wearing sunglasses and was also known to favor Oakley. She often wore a wraparound pair, which increased the stability while playing, and had tinted orange lenses for some matches.

Though Zvereva played singles tennis, she became famous for her doubles tennis. From 1989 to 1997, she amassed 18 Grand Slam titles, including four Wimbledon titles in a row between 1991 and 1994. She also broke ground politically as the first major Soviet Union athlete to publicly request that she should be able to keep her tournament earnings which were going into Soviet coffers, while she received only expense money.

Janko Tipsarevic

Janko Tipsarevic is a player we featured in our article Tennis Careers That Sparked But Never Flamed and is another player who, like Billie Jean King, needed prescription glasses for tennis. He also favored Oakley, utilizing the Oakley True Digital Corrective Lens technology when beating Andy Roddick in 2010. Towards the end of his career, he wore the Oakley Rx Flak Jacket sunglasses, popular with cyclists and golfers.

Unlike our first two players, Tipsarevic never tasted Grand Slam success. However, he made it into the quarter-finals of the US Open in 2011 and 2012 and was a member of the Davis Cup-winning team in 2010.

Martina Navratilova

While Tipsarevic needed prescription sunglasses, Martina Navratilova needed regular glasses to get her through a match. The image of her wearing eyewear and lifting trophies is something etched onto the mind of tennis fans from the eighties. She started wearing glasses in 1985, attributing a loss in form to her failing eyesight.

The fix must have worked for her; she won three Wimbledon titles on the bounce (1985, 1986, and 1987) while wearing glasses, as well as the Australian Open (1985) and two US Opens (1986, 1987). She also captured 13 Grand Slam doubles titles while wearing eyeglasses, usually with long-time doubles partner Pam Shriver.








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The Best Cooling Towels And The Rec Tennis Players And Coaches Who Swear By Them

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If you’re a tennis player, you probably already know what a “cooling towel” is. And if you live in the South like me, spending your summer on the courts as often as possible, you no doubt have one or two stashed in your tennis bag right now.

On the hottest summer days, cooling towels can help prevent heatstroke, and other heat-related illness. Even pro tennis players and golfers can be seen on TV, casually wrapping one around their neck in an attempt to keep from getting too hot under the collar (in more ways than one, I might add!)

Competitive spirits and soaring temperatures make for an explosive combination, as we just saw Stefanos Tsitsipas lose it in the New York heat at the US Open, dropping a couple of F-bombs on live TV. It probably won’t diffuse the tension, but a good cooling towel can definitely help you chill out 🙂 And tennis aside… an older teammate of mine swears they help her handle hot flashes too!

That being said, these are our top 10 (no particular order) cooling towels and the reviews from the tennis players and coaches who have purchased them on Amazon:

FROGG TOGGS CHILLY PAD COOLING TOWEL

cooling towel

Frogg Toggs is all about the ability to stay cool no matter how hot and bothered you might get. They’ve designed a range of products that are made from a unique and technically superior evaporative material which is lightweight and soft to the touch, like a chamois cloth. When wet, the Chilly Pad works very quickly and effectively to deliver a burst of much needed cooling hydration. Whether you’ve worked up a sweat on the court, in the gym, or on a long bike ride, you can count on this cooling towel to deliver instant relief. You can even store your Chilly Pad in the fridge so that its ready to grab and go the next time you head to the courts for a gruelling 3-setter in the scorching summer sun. It’s the perfect size to wear over your shoulders and around your neck. It’s machine washable, too, and made to last for years.

This tennis player gave it 5 stars and a great review from a player and coach on Amazon:

“I play tennis every Tuesday and Thursday (average age 62). I purchased Frogg Togg Chilly Pad to see if they really stayed a little cooler and they do. Totally saturate the Chilly Pad with water and lightly squeeze. Put them back in container and put them in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before planning to use them. Wow, almost takes your breath away. After the first hour of tennis, I soak the Chilly Pad with iced water just to get relief from the Texas heat. The main advantage of the Chilly Pad is how it holds water. I absolutely love the product and bought fifteen more to give to my tennis buddies.”

<< CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON >>



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