Tennis Everyone With Brian Teacher & Steve Pratt

The country's oldest amateur tennis tournament, The Ojai Tennis Tournament, affectionately known as "The Ojai" returns April 26-30 with 1,400 players and 500 volunteers. Steve Pratt and Brian Teacher join us to talk about the tournament's astonishing history and importance to the world of tennis. Teacher, multiple Ojai champion, winner of the Pac-8 single and doubles title in 1974 and a member of the UCLA squad that won the NCAA title in 1974 and 1975, was recently entered on the Wall of Fame in Libbey Park. Pratt, communications director of the tournament, was on hand to talk about Teacher's incredible career as well as The Ojai's return to full vigor after three years of pandemic-related interruptions and curtailments. There was also pickleball talk. Teacher, once ranked no. 7 in the world, went pro after UCLA and won the Australian Open in 1980. Along the way, he beat legends like fellow UCLA Bruins Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors. He now runs his eponymous Tennis Academy in South Pasadena. He has also developed an application called Full Court Teaching App that keeps comprehensive records of a player's games and form and allows coaches from all over the world to analyze and advise. It also makes it easier to hire coaches and get real-time help from anywhere with an internet connection. We talked about the changes in the game since Teacher's pro days, the physical demands of the sport and of all high-level athletics, the rigors of the road and where tennis goes next. The behind-the-scenes glimpses into the massive logistical challenge of The Ojai was also discussed. We did not talk about Robert Peary's North Pole expedition, why hot water freezes faster than cold, or the development of the Wankel engine.