Travel Day; JP Smith Feature; Movement as Weapon; Last Chance to Enter Topspin4 Contest

I have a long travel day to Stanfor ahead of me, and it could be very late before I am able to post tonight, so I wanted to get this brief post up before heading to the airport.

JP Smith has already had a historic career at the University of Tennessee, becoming only the second player to be an All-American in both singles and doubles for four years. USC's Rick Leach is the only other player to have that distinction. The Associated Press article about Smith's quest for an NCAA title (he has four finals on his resume: team in 2010, singles 2008, doubles 2009 and 2010) is being featured in newspapers across the country today, which is good for JP, good for Tennessee and good for college tennis.

Weapons are always a part of player development conversations, but movement is rarely considered one of them. Having seen Michael Chang as a 15-year-old, I learned early not to discount its impact on any level. Greg Garber of ESPN looks into one of the foundations of all great players in this article at espn.com.

And finally, this is your last chance to enter the contest to predict the teams in the NCAA Division I finals. The winner gets a copy of the Topspin4 video game. Details on how to enter can be found in this post. Entries close at midnight EDT tonight.