Which points are most important in a tennis match? (technical discussion)

[don_budge]

So yeah, giving away games is probably in general a really bad idea, though working less hard on less important points - and points where a win is less likely - is probably an important part of the pinnacle of the game, for energy management.

Oh man...it's a slippery slope giving away games or even points. If you have your opponent on the ropes it may be tempting to "get cute" but the best advise is to close him out. No shilly shalleying around.

Tilden mentions that when your are up 2 sets to 1 in a best of five scenario one might "afford taking the chance of running him in the fourth set and, even if you lose it, tire him so much that he will be easy in the fifth. It is, of course, better to keep pressure on in the fourth set, and take no chances."

So fundamentally speaking I am all in for not taking unnecessary risks. Close him out at the earliest possibility and don't give him any unnecessary reasons to believe that he can get back into a match. Perhaps one might say that once up a break that the really secure server can sort of coast in the ensuing return games. Coast in the sense that you take some chances to get up early on your opponent's serve to try and secure another break. But all in all...when teaching match play psychology you stress only "maintaining constant and relentless pressure on your opponent whenever possible". Once you open that door a crack he may just come charging through. Never underestimate an opponent. It is one of the worst ways to lose.

The unique scoring system of the game of tennis assures both players that it isn't over until it is over. Finish it...and then enjoy a moments respite.

[don_budge]

Tennis metaphoring Life...George Orwell's 1984

Here it comes. Just as I have been saying all along. They are constantly reengineering the game and even now it is unrecognizable. The net and approach game has been eliminated. Serve and volley is nonexistent. First it was the racquets. Sorry guys...it was about the size of the racquet. From then on it was child's play for the tennis "brain trust". The tennis "lack of brain trust".

Courts...strings...racquets...you can obfuscate the truth in a variety of ways. Call it what you like. I call it cheating. Plain and simple. Why mince words?

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/shorter-format-next-gen-atp-finals-2017

Now it's the scoring system and Hawkeye is calling the game. Listen to the reasoning. Listen to the "Orwellian" double speak. The problem was you had to be a cognizant human being by 1984 or you have missed the boat. Unless you make the effort to study the past. From 1984 on it was just as Orwell wrote in 1949. His book about the Dystopian Society was on the money. Tennis surely was following his blueprint.

In 1984 at the U. S. Open men's semifinals all four men used oversized graphite racquets for the first time. Bud Collin's, a famous tennis historian, warbled that it was the greatest day of tennis ever! But he neglected to mention the aforementioned fact. Conveniently. It wasn't proper to talk about such things. All controversy was quickly swept under the rug via manipulation of the truth and facts. Sound familiar? Grease a palm here...grease another palm there. Read Nick "Bowl of Cherries" articles...he confesses to receiving bribes to bring down the traditional game of tennis. Wonder if he had any qualms...nah...he got his 13 pieces of silver.

Next Generation. Into the future we go. No questions. The herd in lock step. "Meaningful moments"...that is what they are calling the new scoring system. It's Orwellian speak...if you ask me.

[bottle]

Broken 33 and a third record scratches on. A right-hand man of Big Brother (who has orange hair this time), once again speaks.

[bottle]

Pepi Bunchcheek

Popeye the sailor man was born just last Thursday. He will develop into a beloved tennis player. It won't be the lack of serve and volley in his game that people will most remember but rather the charm of his bulging jaw. A hundred years in the future people will look back and say, "Yes, Popeye was as much fun as Roger Federer if not more."

Note to author of this paragraph: "Since I'm a tough guy from Detroit, I'm not going to take no shit from you or nobody."

Hey, someone has been doctoring my posts once again. I can't be held responsible.

[faultsnaces]

Yeah this try at changing the scoring system and match format etc is a fail.

Some comments I wrote in another venue on this subject :

Switching to no-ad scoring virtually destroys the tennis scoring system: it makes the match outcome far more random and has far less statistical power for determining the proper winner.

First to four, tiebreaker at 3 all, isn't nearly as bad, but it has a major flaw in that one end of the court becomes significantly favored: at three all, both players have served twice from one end and only once from the other end. Fail!

As to hawk eye: contrary to how the system is presented, it doesn't have infinite precision!
It is very unfortunate that the system is used to make calls that require more precision than it is capable of delivering - when the ball is too close to being in vs out compared to the precision of the equipment, the original human line call should stand.... Letting the machine always overrule the humans regardless of the lack of sufficient precision opened the door to this new all-machine approach and is a huge loss.

[johnyandell]

Faults,
My own take is just regular sets with no ad scoring. Dick Gould once said the better player finds the way to win. Having played a lot of no ad and coached teams playing it, there is nothing like a 3all point. But that takes a mental shift to accept and appreciate. Probably never happen. But to me a long 5 set match is just too long--and especially for TV and for possibly growing interest in the sport. There just aren't that many dramatic moments.

As for Hawkeye, agreed. When I met Paul Hawkins who created the system many years ago I think they had it down to 3mm accuracy. That errror factor is the dirty secret in pro tennis line calling.