Judy Dixon

Beat the Heat! Hard Court Nationals 2024

A month ago I learned what it was like to play tennis on a hard court in 98 degree heat. With no shade. No breeze. Over 80 players, aged 35 to 85, competed at the USTA Hard Court Nationals in Rancho Mirage, California. The Mission Hills Country Club hosted the week-long event in a spectacular…

Women’s 70 Team Wins Gold in Mallorca

Yes, indeed! The team of Wendy McColskey, Tina Karwasky, Jan Kirkland-Cochran and me…. This year the World Team Championships were held in beautiful Mallorca, Spain, October 8-13. Over 650 players, men and women 65, 70, 75, 80 and 85(!) age groups participated in the six day event. The sun shone every day with temperatures hovering…

A Special USTA Invitation & Honor

If you’ve been watching the U.S. Open (and who hasn’t?), you may have noticed these words in the advertising on the side of the courts: Champions of Equality. On opening night, Billie Jean King was honored for her role in achieving equality, particularly her role in equal prize money. On this important 50-year anniversary of…

Despite physical challenges, I aim for Spain

As many of you know, I have struggled in the past with some unusual health issues (chiari I, a brain malformation, for one). Maybe partly related to some underlying conditions and perhaps also indicative of getting older, I am riddled with physical challenges these days, all of which make competing a challenge. A torn labrum,…

Super Seniors World Team Championships

I am recently back from competing in the 2022 Super Seniors World Team Championships in Boynton Beach, Florida. The ITF event included more than 300 players and 98 teams representing their nations and ran April 24 to May 1. Super Seniors include men’s and women’s 65, 70, 75, 80, and 85 and is the equivalent…

Competition Resumes: Hardcourt Nationals!

On May 8, I flew cross country to play in the first national USTA Category 1 tournament since the onset of Covid. The last time I competed was January 2020 in West Palm Beach, Florida, and now, 3,000 miles away, I hoped I was ready (or ready enough) to play a national event. With 16…

Women’s Equality in Sport: One Step Forward, Two Back?

More than 46 years ago, when Title IX was an obscure law that had little bearing on athletics, I sued Yale University. I sued on behalf of the women coaches and women athletes who were mired in a system of inequities, involving the use of part-time coaches, meager coaches’ salaries, lack of facilities, lack of…

Featured Speaker on Northampton Neighbors Online Today at 3pm

I’ve been invited to speak by Northampton Neighbors today at 3pm. Here’s the group’s announcement with the Zoom link for anyone who did not receive my newsletter. My wife Suzanne will be interviewing me about my life and about my experiences dealing with inequities within the world of women in sports. I hope some of…

Suspended Play

On July 1, I was named to the 2020 Super Senior 70 World Team scheduled to compete in Mallorca, Spain, October 11-16. On July 15 the event was cancelled. There have been so many disappointments these past five months: weddings, vacations, birthdays, graduations, and now another added to the list. The ITF ( International Tennis…

Courts Closed, While We Wait…

The past five weeks have been like living in a disaster movie — unbelievably frightening and anxiety provoking. While we all are coping with the unfathomable loss and distress so many in our community, our country, and the world are facing due to the Coronavirus outbreak, we also are figuring out how to continue our…