How Ed Krass has blended innovation and fun for the past 40 years to make tennis more enjoyable

Tennis industry pioneer Ed Krass reflects on four decades of creating new ways to make tennis more enjoyable.

They call him “Rockin Ed” and chances are you will hear him before you see him. Blessed with an energetic voice and the gift of encouragement, Ed Krass’ excitement for all things tennis roars loud. Like any good master of ceremonies, his enthusiasm is contagious. By blending innovation, expertise and good family fun “Rockin Ed” makes tennis more enjoyable for everyone.

Perhaps the most striking thing about Ed Krass is his ability to instill belief in others. Whether it is modernizing the service technique, establishing the first college tennis placement program, or founding the One-On-One Doubles Tennis game, Coach Krass transforms traditional tennis.

In the late 1980’s Ed Krass began working on a revolutionary service technique aptly named, B.E.S.T (Biomechanically Efficient Service Technique) Serve which today has become quite common on the ATP Tour and WTA Tour. The B.E.S.T Serve enables players to create greater racquet speed by attacking the ball with a shorter motion and a lower ball toss than the traditional serve. In 1990, Ed produced his B.E.S.T. Serve video, which pioneered the abbreviated serve into both the teaching and playing ranks.

“I learned from watching how Rick Macci taught the overhead,” remembers Krass. “Also, I watched how Roscoe Tanner served and I took elements from both to create the B.E.S.T serve. I was an assistant coach for the men’s team at Clemson University so I had plenty of players to experiment with.”

Once Dennis Van der Meer heard about this new serving method, he immediately invited Ed Krass to the PTR Symposium to lecture on the B.E.S.T Serve. Soon followed invitations from the USTA and other tennis teaching conferences. Over the years, the B.E.S.T Serve trickled down to players like Andy Roddick, Gael Monfils, Frances Tiafoe, and Coco Gauff who all use the B.E.S.T Serve technique.

When Ed Krass became the Head Coach of the Harvard University women’s team, they began to win immediately. And Krass began receiving hundreds of letters from parents and players asking what it would take to play college tennis for Harvard.

“I started thinking that there is a real need to build a bridge that would help these kids get better access to college tennis coaches,” Krass remembers. “Also, for college coaches there was a need to meet the kids and see them play.”

It did not take long for Coach Krass to create the College Tennis Exposure Camp. With head coaches on every court, it was a wonderful opportunity for coaches and players to interact. Now in its 36th year, the College Tennis Exposure Camp has helped thousands of junior tennis players continue to play tennis at the collegiate level.

For as long as Ed Krass can remember he has always loved getting together with friends to play live music and games of tennis. It would be easy to mistake the rock-n-roll music and don’t worry be happy attitude of Ed Krass as a contented man. Only problem is that is not Ed Krass. For his mind never stops racing, Ed Krass cannot stop thinking for ways to make matters better.

Ed Krass hit the master-stroke of his tennis life late one night in the Hamptons. Why not combine his two passions, live music and the game of doubles, and make it a party with prize money attached for the winner?

Born out of that creative consciousness was One-on-One Doubles Tennis, a crosscourt serve-and-volley singles game including the doubles alley. The rules are simple, players must serve-and-volley on both serves or there is a loss of point; half volleys are allowed. Players earn a two-point bonus for winning volleys and overheads-hit out of the air the opponent cannot touch.

It did not take long for One-on-One Doubles to catch fire. Soon Ed Krass and friends hit the road with their music buddies while promoting a new way to enjoy the game of doubles. Today, One-on-One Doubles is sanctioned by the USTA and played on college campuses nationwide. One-on-One Doubles tournaments are sanctioned by Universal Tennis (UTR) for tournament play.

After four decades, Ed Krass is as excited as ever talking about tennis. His contributions stand the test of time. Throughout his career, Ed Krass has honored the game of tennis and as a result, tennis has honored Ed Krass.

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