Pathological Losers: My Vic Braden Interview

[don_budge]

Serve and volley…and return of serve

I love the serving tactics of McEnroe. The way he alters his position along the baseline here and there to give the returner a different look...very shrewd...and a must that all servers, lefties in particular, should try to and emulate.

Naturally I believe that what Doug Eng is true. Particularly earlier in his career. His outburst were like nervous ticks. Later on they became sort of bad acting…when he had gone over the hill with regards to his competitiveness.

John McEnroe's serve and volley are just exquisite. He can rule out different parts of the court based on any given serve and how well he has hit it. In this manner he arrives uncannily to the precise spot where he has to be or close to it. Even when he is somewhat out of position or his opponent makes a good return he somehow has an answer…he stays in the point.

He just keeps coming in. Ashe's return tactics were quite effective in this match but Johnny kept persevering…and he surely kept his cool. Which is my point. Down 4-1 in the third against an opponent that is not only playing well but he has a game plan. Time and time again he catches McEnroe with the lob or the well disguised angle. Its a head game. Its cat and mouse. It takes a lot of nerve.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/players/fedex-head-2-head/john-mcenroe-vs-arthur-ashe/M047/A063

John McEnroe 2-0 against the great Arthur Ashe with both wins coming at the same tournament in 1978. I believe that these wins were at the Madison Square Garden and not in Britain.

[stotty]

Serving tactics...

I thought John McEnroe really conducted himself well in this match. You cannot find fault with his behavior.

I watched all his matches at Wembley and all his matches at Wimbledon over a five year period. Most of his matches were played in this manner. As Doug Eng once said, McEnroe's flare ups were quite minimal when set against his whole career.

Phil's documentary was not by the BBC. The BBC don't have adverts on any of their programmes. It was another channel's documentary using footage from the BBC archives. The other independent channels are often far less objective than the BBC. The have to put bums on seats, usually by dramatising matters. The BBC has a mandatory license fee that all Brits who own a TV must pay. Because of this license fee the BBC does not need to make money from advertising....hence no adverts.

I love the serving tactics of McEnroe. The way he alters his position along the baseline here and there to give the returner a different look...very shrewd...and a must that all servers, lefties in particular, should try to and emulate.

[don_budge]

Arthur Ashe…The Tactician

I am far more interested in Ashe's tactics. Borg could have learned a lot here. Straight out of the blocks Ashe stands well right of the sideline and fairly close in to return McEnroe's serve...perfect. He coaxes McEnroe to serve down the middle rather than wide. This way Ashe makes sure he's not dragged off the court leaving an open court for McEnroe to volley into. If McEnroe does serve out wide then Ashe cuts off the angle and steals time away McEnroe. Clever stuff, no wonder the 35 year-old veteran nearly pulled it off.

The great thing about Ashe when he employed tactics is that he carried them through from start to finish, he didn't revert to type in a crisis like Federer and many others would. Ashe knew that unless he carried out x, y and z he had no chance to beat players like Connors, Borg and McEnroe.

Interesting that McEnroe still wasn't fully sidesaddle at this point...

Astute observations…historically speaking about Arthur Ashe. The receiving tactics were quite successful in this match as it took John McEnroe's bread and butter serves and neutralized them somewhat. Good thinking by an otherwise slightly overmatched Ashe…and I only say that on account of the younger legs. Arthur Ashe was perhaps just a whisker away from being one of the very all time greats. What a great sportsman he was.

It was an interesting era in tennis. You had a lot of players like this. Guys who could play their relative strengths and weaknesses against their opponents in a tactical way that could offset an otherwise clear cut advantage. In fact…you had a lot of this going on as the hard court specialists competed against clay court specialists on their respective favorite surfaces.

I thought John McEnroe really conducted himself well in this match. You cannot find fault with his behavior. There were some close line calls too…they didn't have the benefit of Hawkeye you know.

[gzhpcu]

Look budge: I told you his talent as a tennis player is undisputed. His character as a jerk is undisputed. Period, end of discussion, let's move on. You obviously have a chip on your shoulder, but that is your problem, not mine. I have no time to play the psychiatrist.

[stotty]

Great tactics from Ashe...

I am far more interested in Ashe's tactics. Borg could have learned a lot here. Straight out of the blocks Ashe stands well right of the sideline and fairly close in to return McEnroe's serve...perfect. He coaxes McEnroe to serve down the middle rather than wide. This way Ashe makes sure he's not dragged off the court leaving an open court for McEnroe to volley into. If McEnroe does serve out wide then Ashe cuts off the angle and steals time away McEnroe. Clever stuff, no wonder the 35 year-old veteran nearly pulled it off.

The great thing about Ashe when he employed tactics is that he carried them through from start to finish, he didn't revert to type in a crisis like Federer and many others would. Ashe knew that unless he carried out x, y and z he had no chance to beat players like Connors, Borg and McEnroe.

Interesting that McEnroe still wasn't fully sidesaddle at this point...

[don_budge]

The Saint's Documentary…In Living Color

I found this BBC program:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki53vWYLrMs

Make up your own mind....

Yeah…make up your own mind as the BBC hands you one of the most negative hit piece documentaries ever developed on any single human being…since Adolf Hitler. The BBC, like its American counterpart CNN, barely can be qualified as news. The bias and the skew is so pronounced that any person with the least ability to discern takes whatever they broadcast with a grain of salt. Certainly they try to unravel the spin.

I wonder what a documentary of your worst and most embarrassing moments in life would look like. I know I wouldn't like for mine to be aired in public. Mine would be considerably longer than McEnroe's if you included my love life travesties as well. Oh well…I never did claim to be a Saint. Did I?

Dolly Llama's, Church Lady's, Saints…Pathetic Losers. Holier than thou…perfect lives. Pointing their fingers…Look out, that's the BAD guy!

[don_budge]

John McEnroe wins over Arthur Ashe…6-7, 6-3, 7-5

He's a perfectionist. He has an idea…and it is a noble one. He is going to be the number one tennis player in the world. But he's a rebel in the eyes of some even though he is a traditionalist in that he plays with a wooden racquet until it is no longer possible to do so when he is still holding onto his idea. Arther is playing with some kind of metal composite. Is he cheating? Is he playing with it because he is trying to take advantage of something in the hopes it will give him an advantage over his opponent? It's only a question. A rhetorical question.

See Don Budge in the crowd. The real one…not don_budge, the scoundrel of the TennisPlayer.net forum. Look at that serve and volley technique and tactics. Check out the serving tactics. The Kid is a genius. Ashe is no slouch either. I am Serious.

It's a great match. The 35 year old Ashe mixes up the pace and does a good bit of serve and volley himself. He uses the lob to great effect but he just couldn't quite get the horse in the barn. John McEnroe wins 6-7, 6-3, 7-5. John maintains his cool in a very tough situation. Not a peep about line calls…a couple of stares, a couple of looks but nothing pathological. His idea hasn't been corrupted yet. He's on track and this was a huge match for him on the path to the number one player in the world.

John was behind 4-1 in the third set. He had double match point against him as he served at 4-5 to stay in the match. There was something brilliant about him and I am certain that Arthur Ashe knew it on this day at Madison Square Garden. There was no bellyaching…just wonderful serve and volley tennis. I would say that both players never once stayed back on their serve…first or second. This was the classic game that John was brought up to play…like every other single tennis player at this point in time. Sure there were the clay court players from Europe and South America but it had always been this way…traditionally speaking.

Case exhibit #2. The first being the match at the U. S. Open qualifying in 1976 witnessed by yours truly…don_quixote.

[gzhpcu]

Look at that serve and volley technique and tactics. Check out the serving tactics. The Kid is a genius. I am Serious.

That is undisputed...

[don_budge]

Good guy/Bad guy…in politics and theatre it is Protagonist and Antagonist

...as "angry, old white men," like me turn out at the polls for the first time in decades...

And I for one am laughing my ass off! I count the days until Inauguration Day 2017.

That's great JeffMac. Angry, old white man. So that makes at least three of you. I'm outnumbered…in the minority. That doesn't necessarily make me wrong. I've learned this much from all of the angry, old white guys that I have known all of my life. Before everyone got all perfectly prim and correct. Politically correct. I'm so thankful I am none of that. But you're laughing your ass off at everyone…especially me and John McEnroe.

How is it that you have any ass left at all? But don't worry your vote doesn't count anyways. My father got a bit miffed at me when I told him his vote didn't count either. None of your votes count. The fix is in. What a parade, what a charade…each election gets stranger and weirder than the one before it. It's the power of information. You are being manipulated…be it the BBC or CNN. It's labelling all the way…all of the time.

Take your pick…there really isn't any. Which leads me to the question…what did McEnroe do that was so bad…so wrong? How did he draw so much of your ire? If you can phantom the level of deceit and treachery in the good old American election process and everything that implies…logically this is where your anger should be directed. Pathological losers! Metaphors aside.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnlFpOTh3Fk

But back to John McEnroe. Here's a nice match at the Garden pitting none other than "Holier than Thou" Arthur Ashe against John McEnroe. Arthur gives Ilie Nastase a lecture on behavior after Nasty handed him his ass in the finals of the 1972 U. S. Open. The other scapegoat.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cmEH0y0fA0)

It was totally uncalled for…but Ashe was biting a bullet that was much too big for one man. I really liked and respected Arthur in spite of his holier than thou attitude…nobody is perfect. Ashe in general was a credit to his race…the human race no less. Nobody is perfect…except for you know who.

This is 1978 vintage McEnroe…and Ashe. McEnroe is probably 19 or so and Ashe is on that slippery downward slide off of the charts at 35 years old. It also perfect good guy/bad guy stuff. What a great matchup in the world of tennis. Ashe takes the first set in a tie-breaker after being gifted a game that McEnroe was serving for the set at 5-4, 40-love. He double faults three times in a row! Not a peep out of the "evil" teen. Of course "evil" being in the eye of the beholder.

He's a perfectionist. He has an idea…and it is a noble one. He is going to be the number one tennis player in the world. But he's a rebel in the eyes of some even though he is a traditionalist in that he plays with a wooden racquet until it is no longer possible to do so when he is still holding onto his idea. Arther is playing with some kind of metal composite. Is he cheating? Is he playing with it because he is trying to take advantage of something in the hopes it will give him an advantage over his opponent? It's only a question. A rhetorical question.

See Don Budge in the crowd. The real one…not don_budge, the scoundrel of the TennisPlayer.net forum. Look at that serve and volley technique and tactics. Check out the serving tactics. The Kid is a genius. Ashe is no slouch either. I am Serious.

[gzhpcu]

Just remember Nadal was 19 when he won his first RG.

[stroke]

I am not saying Theim is now the favorite for the FO. I just think his age, endurance, and strokes look like a future FO winner to me maybe in the next 5 years or so.

[gzhpcu]

Not so fast, he only beat in 3 tough sets a fully out of form Nadal...
Takes more than that to win RG...

[klacr]

Watching Theim play Nadal in Argentina Open, I think he could be a future French Open winner in his career.

Austrian French Open Champ. Move over Muster!

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

I found this BBC program:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki53vWYLrMs

Make up your own mind....

[JeffMac]

Still Feeling the "Bern..."

Just as I expected Boone's Farm bottle. You've been drinking that Kommie Kool-Aid up there in your native Vermont stomping grounds. That Paradise of the unreconstructed Hippie. But you're wasting your vote.

Here's why: Hillary will be indicted for global dishonesty and placed under house arrest in a 6' X 6' cell beneath the state department for the duration of her life. Bernie will back into the nomination as the DNC quivers and quakes. Trump will then wipe the floor with Bernie in the general, as "angry, old white men," like me turn out at the polls for the first time in decades--thus assuring our final day in the sun before soon thereafter spending eternity in Purgatory.

Now, since it is a fact that over half of the presidents in U.S. history have left office with low approval ratings, why not have a president who will make us laugh and entertain us as he undermines, angers and disillusions us?

Obama is a perfect example of a president who has greatly disappointed and under performed, but can't compensate for his failures in governance with a good stand up comedy routine. Ditto the Bushes (X2). I'm tired of this pedestrian sort of boring, failed president.

This will be Trump's saving grace. If he disappoints the majority of us--as very well could happen--he will, at least, keep us in stitches. Every day we will wake up and say, "What will President Trump do or say today that I can't afford to miss? Who will he insult? Who won't he insult? Will he water board Hillary? Or maybe McEnroe?"

This is the kind of interesting and compelling president that I want to see in office and all over my TV screen 24/7 for the next eight years. The "Dear Leader" I've been waiting for my entire life. A combination of statesman, stand-up comic and general raconteur.

Now, some say that Trump is a xenophobic nativist. I don't see it that way. All of those seemingly condemnatory statements he makes about Mexicans--including Jeb Bush's undocumented wife--OTMs, Muslims, and Africa-Americans are just jokes he is trying out. He's just wants to make us laugh. Happy Americans are Americans more likely to vote. And pull the lever for the source of that laughter.

He's totally benign.

And I for one am laughing my ass off! I count the days until Inauguration Day 2017.

What gives you the arrogance to assume that John McEnroe is my hero? It is the parts of his game that I can (and have!) utilized in my own game that interest me. Miguel de Cervantes and Michel de Montaigne are my heroes. Besides, I don't think most of the people in this thread are really discussing McEnroe but rather Donald Trump. And furthermore, angry etiquette speeches whether from Donald Trump or anyone else suck worse than John McEnroe's worst behavior while in his youth out on the court (and on the Plowshares tour, too). You guys should get long poles with feathers on them and go to church in Salem and tickle anyone who is falling asleep. And then use the feathers to irritate everyone else. But don't forget to wear black hats and long black robes. Say hello to Donald for me.