Ask TTI: Follow Friday
In this off-season series, we ask the hard-working TTI staff some of the most burning questions. In our second installment, what better way to kick off the weekend than with a good old fashioned #FF?
Twitter. Facebook. Instagram.
To your computer-illiterate aunt, these are all synonyms for “MySpace.” To you, they’re all integral parts of interacting with the who’s who of tennis. Players, coaches, and commentators can keep you up to date like never before, narrating and captioning their daily lives – on and off the court. Yet, for even the savviest of social media connoisseurs, it never hurts to learn about what you might be missing.
Enter the TTI Staff, to illuminate you on their favorite follows:
RENÉ
BUT I LOVE YOU ALL! Ok, enough with the Mr. Congeniality crap.
In all honesty, I think Svetlana Kuznetsova – particularly on Instagram – might be pretty high up on the list.
CHRIS
My favorite tennis player to follow on social media is Tomas Berdych. He’s interactive with fans, posts particularly gorgeous photos of himself all the time and is generally quite hilarious on twitter.
NICK
Ivo Karlovic may not say much on the court, but on Twitter, it’s a totally different story. The Croat serves up a heavy dose of sarcasm, honesty, and humor, making him one of the funniest athletes on all the Internet. He fields questions from fellow Twitter users and rarely fails to make everyone laugh.
If there was a WTA equivalent to Karlovic, it would be Coco Vandeweghe. While not as sarcastic as Karlovic, the American is quite the comedian herself, and always seems to be enthusiastic about career and life.
DAVID
Among players, Jelena Jankovic is a must-follow on Instagram. Right from the handle – jjLICIOUS – it’s clear that you’re in for a party. The Serb documented the media tour ahead of her exhibition against Taylor Townsend with aplomb, peaking with an impromptu hoedown just before first ball:
http://instagram.com/p/wnFym6DHMo/
For news, Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times is a staple of my Twitter timeline. In addition to breaking one of the biggest stories of 2014, his varying interests and palpable enthusiasm often break up the monotony of tennis-centric tweets.
JEFF
Must-follows include syntax/nickname king @bgtennisnation, or @Hurleytennis for his outlook on life.
VIKA
Sharon Fichman, Canada’s No. 2, is a hidden gem on social media. Unlike many of her peers, the World No. 126 is frank on her Twitter account, combing her tennis travels with a flurry of non-tennis tweets. After cracking the Top 100 early in 2014, the Canadian used Twitter to chronicle every step of her WTA and Mylan World TeamTennis adventures:
Off the court, the Canadian often offers her opinion on anything and everything. She’s essentially Tumblr, personified.
FAI
Follow @serenaweave for catty name-calling and hilarious jokes. This pro-Serena account goes after everyone with no mercy.
Maria Sharapova also followed the account for a day, so she obviously gives it her seal of approval:
Screencap by: Victoria Chiesa
Who are your favorite follows? Sound off in the comments!
About David Kane
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The Tennis Island 
My core tennis tweeter follows are @ovafanboy @vrcsports @hurleytennis and @BackSwings.
My favourite players to follow are @CaroWozniacki (my happy place), @geniebouchard and @AnaIvanovic for the purdy, @laurarobson5 (so very British) and, obviously, @andreapetkovic. I should also mention @ErakovicMarina who is criminally under-followed and hilarious.
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Oh yeah, I totally agree with the inclusion of @sharon_fichman, who I find both adorable and fiesty. I have a soft-spot for her as she’s the first tennis player I ever spoke to with my actual mouth.
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