Brad Gilbert "Serve and Volley Boring"

Headlong into the Future...Willy Nilly!

Originally posted by licensedcoach View Post

I agree with the end of the article. Borg v McEnroe was the greatest rivalry because of the stark contrast of playing styles...both men were phenomenal players and opposites in personality...great ingredients.

I don't think Borg and McEnroe disliked each other, but Borg felt extremely threatened, which was in a way equally potent. Everything about their rivalry was perfect...just perfect.

I think the writer of the article must have been snooping on our forum for ideas because it's all been said on here before with startling similarity.

Borg and McEnroe always had tremendous respect for each other. The tennis code of ethics was still "tennis etiquette" and McEnroe was so inspired by his rivalry with Borg than he was able to contain himself for their epic contests. I don't buy for an instant that Borg was frightened or intimidated by the McEnroe rivalry. I have always wondered if it was really the change in equipment that deep down inside drove him into an early retirement. We witness even today the difficulty that Roger Federer is having in facing this conundrum.

But not only was the rivalry the greatest ever...or at least the last great rivalry of classic tennis because of their polar opposite personal attributes...it was because the game that they played transcended both of them. And they both knew it. Then the game changed...one moved on and one quit.

The game that they played was "classic tennis" and it was played on surfaces that challenged players in all facets of the game. They played with equipment that had basically been used for a hundred years. The Wimbledon finals that they played were the last of the classic years as the duels with the wood was ushered out into the sunset of our memories. Most of you are too young to remember. Hell...most of you probably cannot remember life without cellphones. Most do not understand the implications of changing one side of the equation...what you do on one side must somehow must be done to the other in order to keep the damned thing balanced. So what gives?

So here...in this article we get a whiff of the winds of change again. They sold out the game to the equipment manufacturers...much as the American middle class was sold out to the developing countries is the guise of free trade agreements conjured up by lying and corrupt politicians. Ironically all of the equipment is now being manufactured in China. So connecting the dots becomes somewhat of a convoluted affair and one needs not only historical perspective but one also needs a acute ability to discern...which is why I am here. Or so I believe.

So let me put it to you like this. Brad Gilbert is absolutely right in the sense that the serve and volley tennis that was a natural progression in the change of equipment was boring. It was as boring or more boring than the game that they are playing today. When modern day tennis aficionados refer to the great volleying games of a Micheal Stich or a Boris Becker or a Stefan Edberg or a Patrick Rafter for instance my immediate reaction is that you must put an asterisk by their accomplishments or even their ability to volley. To be certain though...Brad Gilbert was not referring to the type of all court game that included serve and volley that the Borg and McEnroe rivalry symbolized. He was not referring to the game that they were playing...which is much the same game that Bill Tilden wrote about in the 1920's in his tennis epic "Match Play and the Spin of the Ball".

Because there will always be the question as to how much the bigger and superior equipment contributed to the post classic era tennis player accomplishments or even to their ability. This tennis was just as boring as the present rendition. It was serve and possibly a return...points generally lasted on the average of something between two or three strokes. Generally speaking the game was just too darned fast...and it still is in it's current state.

Then the powers that be recognized that they would lose market share of the television audience if this trend in tennis continued so they started to monkey around with things. The onslaught of engineering was now full machine trying to fix what may not have been broken in the first place. Who knows...just maybe tennis did get the shot in the arm that it needed economically speaking but it sure did absolutely nothing for the game itself. In fact, the game was raped..and that is a good word for what happened. Violently violated in the most intimate sense.

Now the powers that be are once again mischievously at work again. Who will they consult when they make the decisions about what changes need to be made? I can tell you who it won't be...you or me. I notice one individual having enough sense to at least mention that a little caution might be observed when the monkeying around commences once again. But I predict that it will just be more nonsense. Even Pat Cash shows a bit of sense when he talks about limitations of the equipment...the strings specifically...although Cash was cashing in on the Prince racquet when he was in his prime. When you speak of specifications on tennis equipment you need to begin with the size of the racquet. Current racquet look like snow shoes when compared with the blades of yesteryear.

What you have now is what is referred to as a FUBAR...that is an acronym for “fucked up beyond all recognition”. That is exactly what it is. From the classic confrontation of Björn Borg and John McEnroe the game has devolved to its present state where there is no relevant conversion to the feats of the old timers to these modern day “one trick ponies”. The equipment, the courts and the drugs have rendered all comparison impossible.

If you think about it deep enough and long enough you realize that once again tennis mirrors life and can often be suitable metaphor for some of the changes we have seen since the virtual complete change in the game which coincidentally was in the Orwellian year of 1984. Modern life is simply not recognizable to life even as close back as 1984 which was not even thirty years ago. Modern life is also a FUBAR...much as we hate to admit. Much as most of us are too young to know the difference. Too go anywhere these days and to see SHEEPLE with their head buried in the sand completely attached and engaged with their cell phone and their computers is a scary thought. A discerning individual thinks to themselves...where is all of this leading us.

Any discerning individual immediately knew when the equipment was changed and the game was raped that nothing really good or true or faithful was going to happen to the sport of tennis. It is really hilarious now from a historical point of view to realize what the next phase of engineering will bring. It must be done gradually the one genius opines...otherwise guess what? All of the current tennis technique will have to be scrapped.

Don’t shoot me. I am only the messenger. I am only the voice in the wilderness. I am only don_quixote. I fought the establishment with Quixotic fervor over the Vietnam War and lost...the war machine morphed into the present day debacle. I fought the change in equipment in the sport of tennis with Quixotic fervor. I lost again...and tennis has morphed into the present day debacle. I protest what has been made of modern life by the powers that be and I will lose again...I predict. My heart goes out to the future generations. What a mess we have made of things. A crying shame for the most part. This is what happens when engineering triumphs over art in the scheme of things...in the scheme of human existence.

Great article...there is much to discerned from it.

Hmm...

I agree with the end of the article. Borg v McEnroe was the greatest rivalry because of the stark contrast of playing styles...both men were phenomenal players and opposites in personality...great ingredients.

Nadal and Federer, with their contrasting styles, were also terrific for five years or so. Nadal clearly disliked Federer at the beginning and was full of psychological tricks to usurp the great man. His humbleness was, still is, a facade.

All serve and volley would be boring. All baseline tennis is also boring. One versus the other is always best. Personality contrast is also desirable....better still, they should dislike each other. I don't think Borg and McEnroe disliked each other, but Borg felt extremely threatened, which was in a way equally potent. Everything about their rivalry was perfect...just perfect.

I think the writer of the article must have been snooping on our forum for ideas because it's all been said on here before with startling similarity.

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