Duncan Prior Tennis

Former world number one, Andy Murray did an under-arm serve for the first time in his career at Indian Wells in 2021 in his match against Carols Alcaraz ( click here for clip & post match interview) . Murray has become a bit of a ‘go to’ for many people on key issues in tennis as he has not only been a very successful player but also someone who seems to have a great sense of ‘right and wrong’. He has been very forthright on the topics of gender equality and also recently on players use of bathroom breaks/injury timeouts. I have been moving towards a personal position of the under-arm serving been a ‘fair tactic’ for a year or so now. I am 42 years old and throughout my time in tennis the message on under-arm serving has been pretty standard, in that it is an ‘unsporting’ shot to play. A great example being when Martina Hingis did one to save a championship point at 5-2 in the 1999 French Open. Hingis won the point but the crowd then booed her relentlessly for the remainder of the ...

Setting the Scene I realised the other day it was going to be twenty years since the terrorist attacks in New York on 11th September 2001. It was not something I had thought much about in recent years. It was though an event that has had a big impact on my life, and I have been reliving my memories a lot over the last few days. 2001 was a big year for me. I was twenty-two years old and I had graduated from University in June and was planning to be away from home for at least a year, travelling and working in the United States, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand. I started my trip in late June flying into New York and taking a bus out to Lake Greeley Camp in Pennsylvania. I had done two previous summers (1997 & 2000) at the same camp and it was a place of real magic for me. It was my second summer as the Tennis Director and we had five brand new courts to use. I had two friends, John and Rob, from my University also at the same camp. My girlfriend at the time also wor...

Its a massive two weeks for tennis, as the 2021 US Open brings about the opportunity for Novak Djokovic to claim two records if he wins the title. He could be he first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to complete a calendar Grand Slam (the last male was Rod Laver in 1969). He could also hold the outright record for male grand slam singles titles. Djokovic is currently level with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on twenty Grand Slams each (both Federer & Nadal are active players but not playing the US Open due to injury). The next best is Pete Sampras who won fourteen, retiring in 2002. 'The Big Three' (Djokovic, Federer & Nadal) have achieved unprecedented success and there has much debate as to why they have been able to achieve such a sustained level of dominance. A big part of the debate often centres around why the younger generation of players have not been able to step up at the grand slams more. In episode 50 of his podcast, Simon Mundie puts forward the theory th...

Three blogs about leaving the UK and travelling in Canada & the US in 2018 that I originally posted on Facebook notes.... Goodbye Canterbury (September) After nearly 40 years as a resident of the UK I am emigrating to Australia. My predominant feeling is one of excitement, as I am looking forward to the challenges ahead. I am also feeling sad to be moving so far away from my family and friends. The last 8 years of working and living in Canterbury have been a fantastic time in my life and somewhere I have felt truly happy, valued and content. It is the place where I met my wonderful wife Katherine and our beautiful daughter Frankie was born and will always hold so many treasured memories. As a tennis coach of over 20 years I have worked in lots of different places and in several different teams. Polo Farm Sports Club has proved the most innovative and community centred place I have worked at. It is amazing to think how much the facilities and the tennis programme have evolved in the...

A couple of Christmas blogs I originally posted on Facebook notes.... Christmas blog 2018: Festive Greetings from Brisbane  I have now been an Australian resident for seven weeks, and experiencing a very different festive build-up to what I am use to in the UK! 39 degrees Celsius yesterday! I feel for the Aussie department store Santa’s!! Katherine’s parents are kindly hosting us in Brisbane as we search for work. Frankie is now 21 months and really enjoying having so many family to entertain her. She has been: charging around the house and garden with her 3 year old cousin Winter; ‘helping’ her Po Po (granny) in the kitchen; spending lots of time in the garden with her Gung Gung (grandad); and learning the Auntie Carol ‘happy birthday’ hand washing technique! Most of my time has been spent getting my personal and work paperwork in place. I was most amused when my new bank card came through and they had me down as Miss D. Prior!!! I have been working through a process to convert my...

On 31st January 2021, my dad passed away at the age of 82. He was diagnosed with stage four cancer a few months before and had been undergoing chemotherapy. He passed away at the family home in Lawford with my mum and brother supporting him. I had last spoken to him a few days before on a video call. The last time I had seen him in person was in September 2018 on the day we left the UK to emigrate to Australia. I am a big believer in the value of reading and learning and I arrive at this difficult moment, mentally and emotionally in the strongest place I have been in my 42 years of life. I first read Stephen Covey’s seven habits book in 2011 and it was the first book that really got me thinking about how I want to live my life and what values and principles were important to me. One exercise in the book was to think about a person in my life who inspires me and embodies the type of person I want to be like. My dad was the first person that came into my head. My dad had a challenging ch...

I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I also wanted to say a big thank you to the friendship and support we as a family have received through 2020. A tough year for most I imagine and I hope this message finds you healthy and spending time with the people who matter to you the most. We feel fortunate to be living in Tamworth that has largely but unaffected by the coronavirus (so far). We did have a lock down in March and I was unable to coach tennis for several weeks but I have been coaching full time again for the second half of 2020. It has made me appreciate so many things that it is easy to take for granted. Frankie will be four in March and has been a great source of inspiration as I watch her make her way in the world. She has a great energy and enthusiasm for so many things and I love spending time with her. She is adventurous in lots of ways but sometimes takes time to try things she finds more difficult. An example being her balance bike had been lef...