Thoughts about Tennis Tradition...

[don_budge]

Henry David Thoreau…Individuality

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

[GeoffWilliams]

Tennis tradition bitches go hand in hand with tennis technology bitches.

Serena got away with giant red under wear at Wimbledon, while fed got fined for a tiny red Nike swoosh. Where was the bitching then?

Fed didn't lose because he has a one handed back hand. He lost because his back hand sucked worse than in any previous match and he choked out from nerves: fh ues, and missed firsts on big points.

He will never win another slam with that back hand. Hey, fed, you better learn to keep your hitting foot grounded and forwards, not side ways, like Wawrinka does or die out. Blocking weakly back to the center of the court won't work with any top player in any big match ever again. Pretty cowardly of him not to fix something so badly in need of fixing, as if he can run around anything at all times and not have to face a Nadal or a Dj.

[don_budge]

James Fenimore Cooper…Individuality

“All greatness of character is dependent on individuality. The man who has no other existence than that which he partakes in common with all around him, will never have any other than an existence of mediocrity.”

[stotty]

Nothing in the world says tennis has to move ever forwards or become ever better. Life doesn't know the meaning of such a theory...doesn't have a clue. What happens, happens.

In some ways tennis has gone backwards, while in other ways it has gone forwards. Equipment has been the main game-changer. I think this at least is universally accepted. You only have limited time to make a world-class tennis player. It stands to reason you cannot work on every conceivable theory that might or might not make a better tennis player.

Already we've seen what happens when certain aspects of the game, either through court surface or coaching, or both, become too specialised: we get one-dimensional tennis. We get advancement that is detrimental.

I really like this thread. It has a definite place of the forum. It's a thread that can be bounced back in to life when anyone has any meaningful thoughts about tennis tradition. I think John summed things up nicely once when he said it's "readers' choice". No need for others to put the boot in just because the content doesn't float their boat. Just go and read another thread or start you own. That's the bottomline with just about any thread come to that.

To me, this is a thread for meaningful, intelligent thoughts on tennis. The owner tends it like a garden and we should respect it so.

[hockeyscout]

And minions, I do like the movie. Its funny. Just like you.

Hold on my brother don't give up
Hold on my sister just look up
There is a master plan in store for you
If you just make it through
God's gonna really blow your mind
He's gonna mak it worth your time
For all of the trouble you've been through
The best seems double just for you

[Chorus:]
The best
Is yet
To come
The best
Is yet
To come
The best is yet to come

[Verse 2:]
Hold on my brother don't give up
Hold on my sister just look up
There is a master plan in store for you
If you just make it through
God's gonna really blow your mind
He's gonna make it worth your time
For all of the trouble you've been through
The best is just for you

[Chorus:]

Today is the first day of the best days of your life [x4]

[Chorus:]

[Vamp:]
You ain't seen nothin
You ain't seen nothin yet

[hockeyscout]

It appears you are anti-progress.

I call it Armageddon Tennis because I feel it will destroy the modern and classic paradigms of how tennis is played. And, it happens every 10 - 20 years, and I can really see a shift moving forward even if you do not believe it will happen.

Tennis is now developing into an arms race, and the player who accumulates the best all-around weapon's will have a tactical superiority, and blow the classic, and modern paradigms out of the water.

I will tell you what, if I was a top 15 - 19 year old player right now and performing at a world class level, I'd sign Geoff Williams to a contract so quickly, budget $100,000 a year for his salary and expenses, set him up with a top end shop and have him agree not to work for any player in the world. A guy like him would save so much wear and tear on an athlete, and help them achieve that 1% extra advantage that is a real separator. Hockey players really respect their equipment people, as you're worthless if you don't have the best piece of weaponry in your hands that'll maximize your performance. Tennis players really don't care to much about their rackets, and the stuff I see on store shelfs is real crap.

I truly value what he has to say on equipment that much, and it's guys like him are worth their weight in gold.

[don_budge]

Bat Sht and Thoughts about Tennis Tradition...

Anyways, I do not want to engage you in bible talk on a tennis message board as that would be bat shit crazy.

Minions? Like the movie?

Right up your alley. Minions? Like the movie?

Minions…GeoffWilliams. Gibberish.

This thread is entitled "Thoughts about Tennis Tradition…". Bible talk? You are the one advocating "Armageddon Tennis". You invoked that word. You put it in bold letters. To emphasis the point. It's obvious what side you represent…there are only two. It doesn't take a Bible to understand that. I'm making the sign of the cross on you just in case.

Obviously you are anti-tradition. So why post here? To disrupt? To mock? To provoke? To destroy? To prove something? Looking for trouble? Hockey style provocation where eventually the combatants drop the gloves and slug it out? This is a tennis forum. Bat shit is right up your alley.

Go now…you are nothing to me. But keep posting. It's amusing…the two of you. Like a duet. A very strange duet. Still waiting on that Tsonga forehand fix. You know…the one where you show us all the way.

[hockeyscout]

Ecclesiastes 1:9

There is nothing new under the sun ... the Bible tells me so.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 - ah, interesting, so you're into the Bible. Well, Corinthians 5:17 states (the old things passed away; behold, new things have come) and Isaiah 43:19 states (behold, I will do something new). Anyways, I do not want to engage you in bible talk on a tennis message board as that would be bat shit crazy.

Minions? Like the movie?

[don_budge]

The Times Have Changed…by hockeyscout

For you don_budge it will be the end of the world ... classic gone, modern tennis going to the way of the dinosaur, and the next (new) Armageddon style of game. I guess the name Armageddon fits perfectly doesn't it?

So, don_budge, times, they are a changing (and for the better).

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

BTW, I am kidding of course about the WWF, cheerleaders and horns.

I understand you hockeyscout. Everything you say is crystal clear to me. It doesn't matter to me if I like it or not. That is not the point…and you know it. You understand me too. I'm not kidding and you aren't either. Armageddon is a strong word but not for someone like you. It doesn't scare me…I know who butters my bread.

You are like one of the four horseman…of the Apocalypse. Conquest, War, Famine and Death. Not an actual one of the four…but you can be connected by anyone that can connect the dots. This I recognized for a long time with your references and reverence to death…and Satan. Your instinct is to attack me because I am on the other side. This has nothing to do with big racquets. But you are right again…this is the end of the line for me. I won't be around to participate in "your game". You can have it…I conceded that a long time ago. I am only a messenger.

As for your little evil song…"the times they are a-changin'". It's your New World Order and it began a long time ago. Your little ditty is Satan's call to action. There is nothing new under the sun….the Bible tells me so. You are not some great prophet…you are a tiny little cog in a very big and very evil machine that is rapidly destroying this planet.

You gloat…you swagger. You threaten and bully. You twist words…and the truth. But your agenda is an empty one and there is no 2020 or 2030. There is only now and you have swung mightily…and missed. You have missed the point. You and your minions.

Tennis is such small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. It is only a tiny metaphor of the much larger and much sicker picture. The fact that you think things are getting better is a surefire sign of just exactly how far from the truth you represent.

[hockeyscout]

I was laughing at Geoff's comments. They were funny. I was not laughing at you, don_budge. I apologize. It may have been inadvertently insensitive of me.

I'd certainly never question anything Mr. Williams has to say about tennis. He think outside of the box. Geoff is the type of person the USTA needs more of in the coaching ranks. I like people around me who are perfectionists, and Geoff is about as thorough as they come. His message is very consistent, and to the point. I never work with a guy, be-friend or hire anyone, that I would not want as a son-in-law, it is my number one rule of business, sports, coaching, investments and family.

Anyways, I have never met Geoff, but he comes across as a man's, man.

Now lets move on ...

Lets face it, the classic game is dead, and the "modern" game as we know will be as well soon, and it will be replaced by a technically superior brand of Armageddon tennis.

The deal in tennis (in my opinion) is the science of movement in the sport of tennis hasn't yet caught up to the brilliant advances in equipment, however, when it does watch out! It'll be a whole new game. Their are a lot of top end players who are not great movers (Tsonga and Raonic), and a lot of other talents who are quick, but lack proper field speed and control needed to excel consistently day in and day out. That will change.

In tennis, the athletic ability hasn't caught up to the equipment (yet). But, it will, and, when it does it will be a whole new game. Its inevitable. . I think between the years of 2021 to 2030 you'll see big 6'6 - 7'0" men (and woman) who can move, serve, volley and move like NBA players. Its a matter of time. Right now, no one is that big, and of that caliber in the world of tennis, but soon a new wave will arrive. I firmly believe tennis is on the brink of a revolution.

For you don_budge it will be the end of the world ... classic gone, modern tennis going to the way of the dinosaur, and the next (new) Armageddon style of game. I guess the name Armageddon fits perfectly doesn't it?

For you, well, you won't like it, however, for the rest of the world tennis will pretty exciting with big slam dunk serves, swinging drive volleys, flying body shots galore and short rallies. Now, if the power that be could just make the sport a bit more exciting, say like the WWF, cheerleaders, horns, rowdier fans, or something more like college football that would just be great wouldn't it?

Somewhere in the world right now some lucky kid has beautiful rackets with powerful strings, and they are learning to play the game in a whole new way where they can innovate and do things with a racket no one thought was possible EVER. And, if they truly understand new age technique, and have the disciplined "feel" and "respect" for the power of their equipment, and know how to respectfully use this new "hunting" equipment properly, they'll be deadly, dangerous players, who'll play a game of space age projectile bombing "shock - awe target practice."

I was watching a Chris Everett coaching video from the 1980's the other day with my daughter. She was watching it, and saying, "My god, this is crazy." 1980's tennis had a lot of myths, and the majority of coaches we're wrong about everything, unfortunately, and this site exposed a lot of those myths.

Modern tennis, ATP 3, science, John's site ... it really is incredible how much things have advanced. I am sure Chrissy looks bad on her 1980's training habits, and wonders, how good could I have been if I knew then what I know now.

So, don_budge, times, they are a changing (and for the better).

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

BTW, I am kidding of course about the WWF, cheerleaders and horns.

[don_budge]

Whiney Bitches…according to GeoffWilliams and hockeyscout

And the 1918 Ford model T was the best car ever. Would have blown away the formula one cars! Cornered better, handled better, had better acceleration, better driver protection, gas mileage.

Technology whiners are the worst little bitches. Does anyone think that the drivers/players of old would not have wanted the modern tech for their own advancement?

LOL - Geoff, you crack me (in a good way). Little bitches.

Low brow types like and actually prefer to resort to name calling when they have exhausted their limited ability to reason or present logical arguments. I resist the temptation to follow suit or even resort to referring to stupidity or moron like arguments. It figures the two of you have found something to mutually slobber over each other about. You do it all the time. One says something and the other is right there lapping up the vomit. It's like a knee-jerk reaction. "You crack me"…indeed. What is that? Some sort of Freudian slip? Whatever.

Does anyone think that the players of old would not have wanted the modern technology for their own advancement? Well…inside of every human being is a vast reservoir of greed and longing to advance their own interests. In this regard you are only infatuated with deluding yourself about your own ability. It gives you that warm superior feeling when using the modern technology…your obvious lack of respect for the "old" game is as obvious as your own lack of talent. Such superior feelings it must cultivate in your maligned heart. But you're not alone…you are in line with the herd. It's only human nature. Whiney little bitches.

The greatest technological improvements that the human race has made are in inventing ways to kill each other or cause the greatest sadness possible. There is your infatuation with technology. It will end up destroying everything in the end. At least it threatens to. It did destroy the game of tennis and golf…much as Mad Mac O'Grady says explicitly. As I have said so explicitly. I won't make any bones about it.

The human race as a whole doesn't show much initiative to do the heroic or to stand their ground on principle…do they? The reason? It interferes with their own greedy self interest. It's easier to go along with the crowd of morons and idiots. It's herd mentality.

John McEnroe stood on the cusp of two eras and to his great credit he hung out to the very last. He is the only player ever to rule both sides of the tennis world as the number one player in both worlds…classic and modern. Here is what he had to say and he only voiced what the greatest tennis players in the world felt at the time.

From the thread entitled..."John McEnroe versus Bjorn Borg...1980 U. S. Open Finals

ART...has left the stadium. Only the Great John McEnroe would have the balls to suggest something so outlandish as to do the right thing. The right thing to do by THE GAME.

From John McEnroe's most excellent autobiography..."Serious"...his top ten recommendations for improving tennis in the 21st Century:

"A return to wooden racquets would be a huge improvement for professional tennis. The biggest change in the game in the last twenty five years...the replacement of wood by graphite...has been a bad one. I happen to think that wooden racquets are beautiful aesthetically and purer for the game.

Look at baseball. Kids start with aluminum bats in little league, then move on to Kevlar or whatever in college and then...and only then...if they make it to the majors do they get to use those beautiful wooden bats that require greater expertise for success.

Why not do the same thing in tennis? I think that it looks great to have a little wand in your hand, instead of some ultra thick club big enough to kill somebody with. Wood...to me...has glamour. You need strategy and technique. Tennis, these days, is sadly lacking in all these things.

It's all (as David Bowie says) wham, bam, thank you ma'am." ...the great John McEnroe.

Seconded by the not so great...don_budge.

Does anyone think that the players of old would not have wanted the modern technology for their own advancement? Beautifully and eloquently put. No name calling. No put downs. Just honest heart felt words. I find it touching. John McEnroe at his finest.

Whiney bitches are fat nobodies that hide in crowds making hideous noises at professionals trying to concentrate on their craft. You admitted such behavior yourself. You admitted it while applauding yourself as if you had accomplished some major humanitarian feat. What did you describe the noise as…a howling monkey. That figures. We don't even have to address hockey etiquette or the behavior of the players or audiences. It speaks for itself…and does so loudly and unashamedly.

More on the connecting dots about Mac O'Grady when the peanut gallery gets the mischief out of their systems.

[hockeyscout]

And the 1918 Ford model T was the best car ever. Would have blown away the formula one cars! Cornered better, handled better, had better acceleration, better driver protection, gas mileage.

Technology whiners are the worst little bitches. Does anyone think that the drivers/players of old would not have wanted the modern tech for their own advancement?

LOL - Geoff, you crack me (in a good way). Little bitches.

[GeoffWilliams]

And the 1918 Ford model T was the best car ever. Would have blown away the formula one cars! Cornered better, handled better, had better acceleration, better driver protection, gas mileage.

Technology whiners are the worst little bitches. Does anyone think that the drivers/players of old would not have wanted the modern tech for their own advancement?

[don_budge]

Mac O'Grady crawls out of his hole…and finds don_budge

Meet Mac O'Grady…golf "eccentric".

http://www.golfdiscussions.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=16407.0;wap2

From the article...

AUBURN HILLS, MICH. - Tiger Woods would not have stood a chance against Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
That is what former PGA player Mac O'Grady, 56, said Monday at Fieldstone Golf Course about the No. 1 golfer in the world.

O'Grady, who failed to qualify for Thursday's Buick Open, said Woods, the three-time PGA and four-time Masters Champion, is the worst driver to win the Masters.

"When Nicklaus and Palmer played, when [Ben] Hogan played and Sam Snead played, on a scale of zero to 10, they were a nine-plus," he said. "Tiger Woods is not even a one-plus."

O'Grady said technology is the reason for players' success today. A change in the drivers' grooves from a V shape to a box shape allows golfers to hit the ball farther with more spin.

When in the rough, players go straight for the hole instead of trying to reach the green. This, he said, has ruined golf.

"The reason why [Woods] can hit it on the green is because he has square grooves," he said. "He doesn't have that, he's dead. He cannot do it -- it's impossible. For him to go after Nicklaus's records is cheating. This is like steroids."

O'Grady, who shot a 1-over-par 73, has studied the swing for 23 years and plans to turn his research into a book.

"The problem is the teaching hypothesis," O'Grady said. "All the teachers have different theories, and anybody can say anything. It's unregulated. One of the reasons I've done the research study is to bring in the sciences, to try to clean up some of that hocus pocus. I did the research and the science because I think there's a lot of questions that have been unanswered."

He said technological advancements in clubs and balls have eliminated curve problems.

Balls used to have what he called a concentric arc dimple configuration, meaning their indentions were in a circular shape and each dimple was the same size, allowing for even dispersion of air across them. Now dimple sizes and positions vary, eliminating the balls' curve.

"It allows all these guys to come into the game that ordinarily couldn't do it," O'Grady said. "This ball is designed for the 30-handicap. It's not designed for the pro tour. The 30-handicapper hits the ball and it goes up to the apex, it comes down straight. It doesn't slice. So when the tour pro gets it, it's robbery. It's not fair."

He said there should be a special ball for PGA players with the concentric arc dimple pattern, which he said showed who had natural ability and who did not.

"The degree of athleticism has changed," he wrote in notes he took during qualifying. "What was humanly impossible is now technologically possible."

O'Grady, who won two PGA tournaments from 1983-89, made his own nearly impossible shot Monday when he hit into a hazard on the fifth hole.

He called an official after a disagreement with a player in his group about where McGrady had to drop, which he did three times before making the shot.

Monday was O'Grady's second PGA qualifying attempt this year. He quit the tour in 1990 because of a condition called spondylolisthesis, which he noticed when he started golfing left-handed.

A disc had broken in his back and moved forward on his spinal column, and he suffered nerve damage in his feet and other areas. It took three surgeries to correct.

"We started this project in '84, then three years later I said, 'OK, I'm going to take all this research and start applying it to my left-handed game. How long would it take me to develop the skills to go left-handed?' " he said.

"In 1987, I started really practicing left-handed, and three or four months later my back started bothering me really bad. If I had to do it all over again I would never touch a club left-handed."

O'Grady said he used the qualifying event as research for his book, taking note of driving distance and players' performance.

"I still love the game," he said. "I don't enjoy the technology because what's happening is these kids now are shooting 63s, 62s. What Michelle Wie is doing is not humanly possible. It's technologically possible because the balls go too straight, they go too far."

O'Grady said in the Champions Tour, what he called former "powder-puff" players such as Jay Haas are defeating "dinosaur guys who had the best technique."All those big players, they can't say anything because they're being paid by the manufacturers [for sponsorship]. But they know it's wrong. This is the worst dark chapter in the history of professional golf with this technology.

"Steroids [are] not in the athletes today -- [they're] in the balls and the drivers. Guys don't have to hit it far. The equipment is going to do it for them."

[don_budge]

The Reality of Tradition…is that it is a thing of the past

Without tradition, new things die.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

http://augureye.blogspot.com.es/2015/06/sweeping-changes-and-high-strangeness.html

Speaking of tradition…here's an interesting article about tennis traditions…in a roundabout way. There is some serious dot connecting to do. It's not like everyone has eight hours a day chasing leads down this rabbit hole and the other one. But if you take the time…I'm not suggesting one way or the other…you will find that things are not what they appear to be these days. If they ever were. My dear old mother told me once years ago…"don't believe what you hear and only half of what you see".

Is that one wise woman or what?

From the article…he calls it like I see it. From my unenviable position of being forced to speculate. But that being said…I try to discern. I try my best.

"When things created in 3D begin breaking down in 4D - don't waste time or energy attempting to make things as you remember them; just bless it, release it and move on. Learn to recognize when something has served its purpose for you, and just let it go.

4D is not 3D, and the reason so many are dealing with cognitive dissonance and fear right now is because they're still carrying on as if we're all still skipping along in 3D reality. There is a reason why so many things and institutions and governments are breaking down just now: their time is done yet they continue thinking and behaving as if all the same old "rules" still apply. They don't.

The rules have not only changed, they're in a kind of fluid state where they morph abruptly without notice or warning, into something entirely different; forcing us to be vigilant and cognizant of our surroundings day to day. No, things definitely are not as they seem much of the time these days, because of conflicting world entities who are at cross purpose with one another. Leaves the rest of us in the unenviable position of being caught between them as they grapple."

What does it mean? Well to me it means that tennis has morphed into something that is not tennis any longer. Roger Federer is the last dot connecting tennis to the reality that was once tennis. He is finishing off his illustrious career and he will no longer be a viable solution to the existing problem. The problem for me that is…me and my cognitive dissonance.

So it will in all likelihood be adios from don_budge…an alter ego that I created for myself here on tennisplayer.net. An alter ego to indulge myself and to serve as a warning to others. In reality though don_budge is not all that far from the myself. It's only that he has had a forum from which to speak. An audience that he can "trust"…trust to be themselves. To think for themselves. An audience that has become in some ways…the best friends that I have ever had.

"Learn to recognize when something has served its purpose for you, and just let it go."