Sets of first to four games, sudden-death deuce points and no service lets "could all be trialed later this year as part of a series of reforms to revolutionise tennis." The Association of Tennis Professionals board will "vote in the coming days on the proposed changes, which are set to be road-tested at November’s inaugural Next Gen Finals in Milan." In-game alterations being debated "include no service lets being played -- in the same way the point currently continues for mid-point net cords -- and the introduction of a sudden-death deuce point where the receiver chooses which side the server serves from, a rule already enforced at doubles events outside the grand slams" (London TELEGRAPH, 4/4).
Four of Australia's leading female cricket coaches will start a study tour in the U.S. from April 22-30. The trip is aimed at developing Australia's elite and upcoming coaches. The tour will engage various universities, professional sports and int'l organizations including Facebook and the MLB San Francisco Giants (Cricket Australia).
Irish Boxing has taken a "major hit for failing to reach its Rio Olympic targets," with Sport Ireland cutting funding by €200,000 ($213,370) on the '16 figure. The cut was announced as part of the Rio Olympic review. Sport Ireland funding for '17 will deliver over €20M ($21.3M) to national governing bodies and elite athletes. The overall Government funding for '17 will see €1.8M ($1.9M) in direct athlete investment, €7.2M ($7.7M) in high performance program funding, €10.8M ($11.5M) to the 58 national governing bodies' core funding, and €600,000 ($640,110) in the Women in Sport Programme (IRISH TIMES, 4/5).
The Lawn Tennis Association followed up last year's launch of Tennis for Kids "with an expanded programme of free lessons for children aged five to eight." Nearly 1,000 coaches have "undergone training to deliver the course of six lessons," which are available to 20,000 participants across the U.K (BBC, 4/4).
