"Champions aren't made in the gym."

[gzhpcu]

It's not neglible at all. Bc is good as a cross with vs team, but too plasticky otherwise. Tens. main. is ok, spin is ok, control is medium. Much better control with vs team/nrg2 than vs/bc. Could you win a tournament strung at 32lbs? With a T2000?

Up until 10 years ago, I won a number of 4.5 tournaments and national league interclub matches just playing with what I had at the moment...

[GeoffWilliams]

I'm sorry, I don't understand...Is this a legitimate question or are you illustrating a point? Hypothetically speaking? Are you referring to a 4.5 tournament or Men's Singles?

I once won an open with a warped titanium match mate strung at 32lbs. I recently won a ntrp 4.5 with a pt57a, at 54 yrs. old, serving and volleying at 220lbs.

[don_budge]

4.5?

What does a rating of 4.5 mean to someone unfamiliar with the rating system?

[gzhpcu]

Here is the ITN ranking table with country specific rankings...
http://www.itftennis.com/shared/medi...0_original.PDF

[don_budge]

Give me a T2000!

Give me that T2000...Don, you probably have a few around. I wonder at the ripe old age of 57 how i would do against these guys with a T2000. I have never been one to fret over my racquets or strings and I have never played in a rated tourney. I ended up with about 35 Wilson ProStaff's strung with VS gut...gave 'em away and threw out my trophies when I reinvented myself. I would be willing to play you Geoff...with a T2000, even money. Unless you are a complete sandbagger!

I am going to warn you though...you are going to get plenty of chances to show me that backhand overhead (which is not really an overhead btw, it's a high or medium volley as far as I can tell)...after you have chased my drop shots, and that is if it doesn't spin back over the net to my side of the court. You are going to come to the net alright, and then you are going to do an abrupt about face and chase down one of my lobs...then you are going to get another drop shot. You might lose a couple of pounds so it won't be a complete waste of time for you. This sounds like fun!

4.5 This player has begun to master the use of power and spins and is
beginning to handle pace, has sound footwork, can control depth of
shots,and is beginning to vary tactics according to opponents. This
player can hit first serves with power and accuracy and place the
second serve. This player tends to overhit on difficult shots.
Aggressive net play is common in doubles


This player:
does not self destruct against others of the same level
can compete with higher level players and may even win
knows his strike zone
has one or two good shots that are very reliable
moves well and gets a lot of balls back
prepares 1 day late

BTW...if I should just so happen to lose would it be too much to ask for the chance to get my money back in a game of golf...straight up, no strokes?

[GeoffWilliams]

John didn't show the follow through on any of them. I've put one over the fence, one back and two off the side fences, in the last two doubles matches, 5.0 league, I've played in. Been broken once. String it at 32 lbs, since you say the equipment doesn't matter, and name how much you want to play for.

Don't play the suicidal game of golf. And you probably will lose, as my pt57A stick at 360g, strung with vs team mains: 58lbs, outer two mains up to 62lbs, nrg2 crosses, first 3 at 45/ next 14 at 55/ last 3 at 65, has excellent control and power.

[don_budge]

That is quite a racquet you have there...

I really think that you know what you are talking about when it comes to stringing racquets. The thirty years or research and trial and error have not been for naught.

Unfortunately, it's not going to be enough in our upcoming match. I have seen your backhand overhead (snicker) and I have seen your grips and your physique. You will have to be prepared to do a lot of running and play a lot of balls. I am going to drop shot and lob and move you around the court on every single well intentioned shot that I will play...one of my favorite tactics against certain types of opponents. I already know far too much about your game to give you any kind of chance. You know nothing about me...except that I am left handed and smart. How much? Everything you've got!

Since you like to talk about that overhead that you hit over the fence...think about this. I was playing doubles with my three older boys...two eighteen year olds and my best player who is sixteen. I was at net on the add side and my partner was back in the deuce court. He returned crosscourt and our opponent returned crosscourt which I poached on and "knifed" with my backhand. My shot went 90 degrees toward the sideline and landed barely a foot from the other side of the net two meters to my left. It had so much sidespin on it that it spun back over the net to my side of the court and landed about three meters to my left. I have hit many balls that return to my side of the court but never one at this angle. I still have a difficult time getting my head around the physics of this particular shot.

My backhand overhead is usually a percentage placement deep into the backhand corner or it is a ridiculously angled ball to my left, very short, close to the net and with spin that carries the ball further and further from my opponent as he is chasing it. It actually amounts to a drop shot. Usually given the choice...I prefer to torture my opponents with guile (cat and mouse) instead of traumatizing them with brute power, except of course on my serve, which I use a combination of guile and power. But then of course I am (or rather was) a Classic Tennis Player.



Game on...equipment guy!

[tennis_chiro]

Best backhand overhead

I always thought the best backhand overhead was ... the one you didn't hit because you moved quickly and hit a regular overhead. You only hit the backhand overhead when you've been beat, but then it would certainly be an advantage to have a powerful shot like Geoff's. But all the balls you are hitting in the video, with time to really set up, should be regular overheads.

don

[don_budge]

To smash or not to smash...that is the question

I always thought the best backhand overhead was ... the one you didn't hit because you moved quickly and hit a regular overhead. You only hit the backhand overhead when you've been beat, but then it would certainly be an advantage to have a powerful shot like Geoff's. But all the balls you are hitting in the video, with time to really set up, should be regular overheads.

don

I agree that the backhand overhead is the last resort or at least the second option...if I must go so far to my backhand side to hit an overhead I will generally turn my wrist out with a scissors kick and smash to my opponents forehand deep to the corner or with as much angle as necessary (me being left handed) or smash to their backhand as another option.

I disagree about the powerful backhand overhead smash as this is a low percentage attempt for us mere mortals (maybe not for Geoff). Plus the balls in Geoff's videos looked like they were rather politely hand fed to him and are not high enough to qualify as a genuine overhead. A cleverly placed high backhand is the high percentage play in my opinion. Unless you have Lew Hoad in your genes. I guess being younger helps but I have forgotten what that feels like.

[gzhpcu]

I once won an open with a warped titanium match mate strung at 32lbs. I recently won a ntrp 4.5 with a pt57a, at 54 yrs. old, serving and volleying at 220lbs.

220lbs is quite a lot Geoff. How come? That puts a strain on the joints. How tall are you?

I am 6'2" and weigh 190 lbs. Don't follow any diet, just eat smaller helpings, and never have seconds...

[don_budge]

I can help...

220lbs is quite a lot Geoff. How come? That puts a strain on the joints. How tall are you?...

Don't worry about the diet...after our match you are going to weigh in at a svelt 190-195 lb. range.

[GeoffWilliams]

6'0". A lot of talk and no action! I pulled by back worst in my life, a week ago, lifting a 300lb door up twice, and broke my foot pad in a 5.0 match, but I'll bet I'd still beat you.

[don_budge]

Sorry to hear that...

That's no fun Geoff...sorry to hear that. It will have to wait then, until you are healthy. It's got to be fair and square...well, except for the difference in the equipment. But seriously...I hope that you recover soon. God speed, brother!

[GeoffWilliams]

My desire to help a 98 yr. old lady did me in. Pain level was at 9 for a week, now it's down to 3. Had my wife beat me with a rubber flex bar 2,000 times, to break open the tightness. When tissue is damaged in our bodies, our electrical fields are damaged as well. I have a degree in electricity.

Sometimes, to jump start our fields, we need to be beaten, or shocked, which is the little known reason why they use those electrical healing shock pads, nout just to convulse muscles, but to jump start our fields; one reason not understood, that is. Nerve pinched left side hip down as well. Some stupid things I've done at work. Fell off a 26' ladder in Aug., on my face, and my elbow was broken.

Stopped a pit bull attack on my shepherd, but it cost me. Had to cut off her leg, due to nerve sheath damage. Been a tough year for injuries. Taking all the tricks I know just to practice at all. Face was messed up after the fall. Knocked me out for an hour, but they say I was speaking to them the whole time, as I woke up 4 times, gurney, ambulance, hospital hallway, room with doc, and I walked out with the green doc clothes, as they cut off mine in the ambulance. "You need a cat scan.", they said to me. Took one day off and was back up the ladder the next. High work sucks.

Broke my foot in an april tourny match, last year, and John filmed me three weeks later, foot still broken. Used this technique to speed healing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F3ovb2kZ9Q chi master

My playing weight for 20 years was 175lbs. I went to an all black high school in Richmond, ca., and held the distance records. At 135lbs, I could out lift some of the football players. We won the ca. state track meet, with 1100 kids in our whole school, but with five black guys who could all do 9.6 in the hundred. None of them wanted to stay with me past 440yds. They couldn't stand the pain like I could. We had four dead during my stay there, shot dead, that is. Bart train ends there, in North Richmond, next to the Hell's Angels clubhouse. I used to chain my work van to the concrete steps leading up to my apartment. Dirty stripped engines on every other yard. Needles in the street. Whores on the corners. Empty barricaded stores, like Wards, Pennies, etc. That school didn't have its own track. Every meet was an away meet. No coaching, no equipment, and no track to run on. It was in the streets that I ran, away from the Dobermans, Shepherds, Rottweilers, and no such thing as a pit bull yet. I ran under the bart tracks, and through the hills, and back to the ghetto.... Broken glass on the asphalt school yard, and regular beatings cause I was white. They used cake cutters.

[don_budge]

A couple of things...Geoff

A couple of things that I admire in a man...one who helps out old ladies and a guy that will go to bat for his dog. You brought a tear or two to my eyes. God bless you. You are alright with me.

I have two dogs...one an American Chocolate Lab named "Frankie" (after Sinatra) and a Czech Wolf Dog (30% wolf, the rest German Shepherd, but looks all wolf) named Dylan (after Bob). Two big boys that make a lot of noise when once in a Blue Moon someone comes to the door.

I have gone from wanting to humiliate you with a T2000 strung at 32 lbs....to wanting to humiliate a couple of rich white guys playing doubles with you...you big lug. Which side of the court do you prefer? I like the backhand, myself.

I spent quite a bit of time in the "ghetto" playing basketball with all brothers. I had a severe case of "Basketball Jones"...I actually quit the tennis team in 1972, while contemplating dodging the draft, to play with these guys. They used to do a lot of trash talking...they used the word nigger a lot. One time this guy named Sherwin, a slick point guard, was yacking in the car and said nigger about something. He then realized that I was in the car and said, "oh sorry, Johnny Tango, I forgot you were here". I will never forget my buddy Winston...who was about 6' 9"...he could dunk with his lips, turned to him and said, "don't worry about Johnny, he's a nigger too". One of my biggest, favorite compliments of all time. They never beat me up either. Well, maybe a little. Just to show they cared.

But anyways, Geoff...I hope that you recover and perhaps you should be just a touch more careful. But after careful consideration...I think that I still want to humiliate you with the T2000. Sorry, it's the "Nastase" in me.

I guess champions and mere mortals can arrive from different paths to the same conclusion. Thanks for sharing your story.