Thoughts about Tennis Tradition...

[don_budge]

Winning and Losin'....what's the difference? Answer...not much sometimes.

I was so far down that I couldn't get up...you know and one day I was one of life's losers...


Winning...Santana (1981)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FmPg4lrBKc

One day I was on the ground
When I needed a hand
Then it couldn't be found
I was so far down that I couldn't get up
You know and one day I was one of life's losers
Even my friends were my accusers
In my head I lost before I begun

I had a dream but it turned to dust
And what I thought was love
That must have been lust
I was living in style
When the walls fell in
And when I played my hand
I looked like a joker
Turn around fate must have woke her
Cause lady luck she was waiting outside the door

I'm winning
I'm winning
I'm winning
I'm winning and I don't intend losing again

Too bad it belonged to me
It was the wrong time and not meant to be
It took a long time and I'm new born now
I can see the day that I bleed for
If it's agreed that there's a need
To play the game and to win again


Remember me, I was your fool, for really quite a long time...so I know how it feels to play on the losin' end...


Losin' End...The Doobie Brothers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imQ4zzg601o

There aren't enough words to say
When all I mean is I no longer love you
I'd like to leave it lie right there 'cause the rest ain't kind

I'm picking up my pride and I'll be on my way
If you no longer need me
I only have a word or two that I care to say

If you should ever find your spirit start to breaking
Girl, when your heart is aching
Remember me, I was your fool, for really quite a long time
So I know how it feels to play on the losin' end

When you finally turn and find no one around
To catch you when you're falling
To hear you when you're calling from down on the losin' end
Oh, ain't it just the losin' end

To catch you when you're falling
To hear you when you're calling from down on the losin' end
Oh, ain't it just the losin' end

Oh, ain't it just the losin' end
Hey, hey now baby, oh, ain't it just the losin' end
No, no, oh, ain't it just the losin' end

[don_budge]

How to Stop Losing? Stop being such a loser...

How do you stop losing? How about this...stop being such a loser. Listen to the words of "Losin' End" by the Doobie Brothers. I was listening to this song back in 1972...my friend Thomas Williamson was turning me on to the Doobie Brothers way back then. We were at the Don Budge Tennis Camp together. He showed me Carlos Castaneda too. The Journey to Ixtlan. The Lessons of Don Juan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imQ4zzg601o

It's pathetic...isn't it. Listening to this poor sap...playing the fool. The sucker. That's ok...life's like that. We all take a turn...we are all losers. No one here gets out alive anyways.

Down on your luck? Life got you down? What are you going to do about it?

The first thing you do is lift your head up...you just got hit by a train didn't you? Still alive? Pick your head up because you just never know...there may be another train hot behind the other one that just ran over you. Railroad tracks over your heart...like Mike MacDonald sings about in "Losin' End".

Assess the situation. How bad is it? Can you think your way through it? Can you get your head around it? You're still thinking...that's a good sign. Still alive. Still kicking. There is still hope. Ok...lift up your head. Get up. Dust yourself off. You're ok. Still in the game.

Tennis? Love? What's the difference? Losers are losers...somebodies got to love don't they? Somebodies got to lose don't they? Maybe it's just your turn. Or my turn. The question is...do you hate to lose? Will you fight with all of your heart...with all of your soul? For all that is dear to you. Will you reach down deep...to Davy Jones Locker if you have to? Don't you want to be a hero? You're damn right...said John McEnroe to Jiminy Glick.

Check out Santana's "Winning". What's the difference between this song and the one that the loser is singing..."Losin' End".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FmPg4lrBKc

Check it out. What is the difference? Come on...be honest with yourself. Honestly...the difference? Not much. Not much at all. Things could have been different. A couple of points may have gone your way. Is it luck? Is it fate? Join the crowd...all asking the same question. Chance or destiny? Hmmm...take your pick.

We are all losers. One day you are on top of the world. You show up to her apartment one day and she says...I have to go away for a while. The world crumbles right in front of you. What do you do? I don't know...I don't have any answers. Find the heart to start over...it's not so easy sometimes.

So here we are. Having this little honest discussion...me, myself and I. Winning? Losing? Those two impostors...treat them just the same. It's only life. It comes in a couple of different shades...black and white. One day you are on top and the next you are fighting for air. It can happen overnight...or it can take forever...death on the installment plan.

How to Stop Losing? Stop being such a loser. It's a hard habit to break. But you know what the kick start is...listen to "Winning". The first step is to hate losing. Then you get up...lift your head up first. Dust yourself off. Yeah...you can take a punch with the best of them. You can lose without being a loser. You hate to lose...as much as you hate being a loser. So you do what needs to be done. You do what ever it takes. You assess the situation. And you fight. You fight. You never quit. Because you hate to lose. You fight to the very last point. This is your mode of operation. It is in your genes. Because you hate to lose.

Today...I was playing against my much younger partner. We play games up to fifteen...starting the point with a groundstroke to the opponents forehand. Today we played for an hour and a half. I won 5-1. After a week...that left me weak. Thursday I didn't know what was wrong with me. No gas in the tank. Nothing. I made it through my lessons. Four hours. I had two hours of playing singles for lessons on Wednesday. Extra hours...extra lessons on Monday and Tuesday. Dog tired. I said to the wife before I left today...I don't know how much longer I can continue to play singles.

But half the battle is showing up. So I got there early and I waited on him. He won the first game...it was tough. He is motivated, strong and in shape. I have been teaching him for a couple of years now. He is playing more and more like me...only twenty years younger. Built like a real horse...my friend and partner. I won the next three games and each seemed to be tougher than the previous.

Then we were playing the longest point of the day...he had me four or five balls. Running me from side to side...I am playing defense...just barely staying in the point. Finally...I neutralize the point and we are on even footing. But at what cost? Here I am in the middle of this marathon point and I am thinking...I fought to get even...but it took all of my energy to get here. Maybe I just throw this point and take the twenty seconds or so to fetch a ball from the back of the court. I neutralized the point...but at what cost?

I didn't have the energy to get on top of it...to be aggressive enough to go on the attack. Like a punched out boxer wobbling on my legs...I pondered whether to throw the point or to try and outlast my younger, stronger, faster and more motivated opponent. I hung in there. I made the decision to hang on...to win at all costs. But I lost it. Exhaustion. I couldn't do it. But I won something. If only on the inside. I'm no loser. I finished out the game until the lights went out. "Thank God", I said. My partner laughed...he too was completely punched out. We shook hands...warmly.

I took a hot shower...and waited in my office for my lesson to show up. The two handed forehand lesson. Where was I going to find the energy? Deep down inside...that's where. These are lessons that I learned long ago. Winning and losing. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But you never...I repeat never have to be a loser. You lift up your head...you keep your head in the game.

[don_budge]

Page 4...time to bring me back

This thread had regressed to page 4. Time to come back. Back to consciousness. Traditional Thoughts...not to be confused with Conventional Thoughts.

I have crossed the threshold of 1.00 posts a day. After skipping 465 days from the day that I joined to my first post. I never even knew that I was don_budge for 465 days. It was milestone for me...I have been looking at it for some time. Never consciously posting for numbers...only for content. 1,445 posts later as of this one.

I am at 1.02 posts a day. I wonder if I can reach 2.00...without posting for numbers. I wonder if I can live to be a million! God bless everyone...and have a super day!

for clarity's sake...

[don_budge]

Stevie Wonder's Innervisions...Misstra Know It All

My mother's maiden name was Wonder's. I could have been...oh never mind.

Live...I just love the people in this one. Sister's singing backup vocals. So cool...I love this song. The drummer reminds me of my old best friend...Winston. He was about 6' 8". Cool as can be. HFCC 1972. He took me under his wing...down to the hood. To play ball with the brothers. I quit the tennis team that year...to hang out. Detroit...just like I pictured it. Dum bum bum ba bum bum. Oou...oou...oou oou...oou...You know damn well he's got the super plan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wx9RuI4rRY

or the studio version...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwPsFz85gGw

Misstra Know It All...Stevie Wonder

He's a man
With a plan
Got a counterfeit dollar in his hand
He's Misstra Know-It-All

Playin' hard
Talkin' fast
Makin' sure that he won't be the last
He's Misstra Know-It-All

Makes a deal
With a smile
Knowin' all the time that his lie's a mile
He's Misstra Know-It-All

Must be seen
There's no doubt
He's the coolest one with the biggest mouth
He's Misstra Know-It-All

If you tell him he's livin' fast
He will say what do you know
If you had my kind of cash
You'd have more than one place to go oh

Oou...oou...oou oou...oou...

Any place
He will play
His only concern is how much you'll pay
He's Misstra Know-It-All

If he shakes
On a bet
He's the kind of dude that won't pay his debt
He's Misstra Know-It-All

When you say that he's living wrong
He'll tell you he knows he's livin' right
And you'd be a stronger man
if you took Misstra Know-It- All's advice oh oh

Oou...oou...oou oou...oou...

He's a man
With a plan
Got a counterfeit dollar in his hand
He's Misstra Know-It-All

Take my work
Please beware
Of a man that just don't give a care no
He's Misstra Know-It-All (Look out he's coming)

Dum bum bum ba bum bum,
Dum bum bum ba bum bum
Bum bum bum bum bum Say
He's Misstra Know-It-All

Can this line
Take his hand
Take your hat off to the man who's got the plan
He's Misstra Know-It-All

Every boy take your hand
To the man that's got the plan
He's Misstra Know-It-All

Give a hand to the man
Don't you know darn well he's got the super plan
He's Misstra Know-It-All

Give a hand to the man
You know damn well he's got the super plan
He's Misstra Know-It-All

If we had less of him
Don't you know we'd have a better land
He's Misstra Know-It-All

So give a hand to the man
Although you've given out as much as you can
He's Misstra Know-It-All

Check his sound out
He'll tell it all
Hey
You talk too much you worry me to death
He's Misstra Know-It-All

[don_budge]

Retorded Shoulder Servers...Yoga stretch for shoulders

The older I get...the smarter I get.

Here is a shoulder stretch that I have been doing with Esther...not Escher. But at any rate...if you elect to try this you will definitely want to pay close attention to your limits as attempting to do these exercises without listening to your body will be foolish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppToA1N0CgE

As Esther recommends I have been doing these exercises for about three weeks now with some nice benefits. Better posture being one of them...increased flexibility and strength in my shoulders being another. Better posture has a good influence on the appearance of your chest...if you know what I mean.

Proceed with caution and the attitude that Rome wasn't built in a day.

[don_budge]

In the Middle of the Night...To Pee or not to Pee.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night. Out in the middle of nowhere...Frankie the American born chocolate labrador retriever deemed a nature call and as usual I decided to join him. There is something spiritually redeeming about getting up and going out into the darkness, barefoot and naked under the stars and the moon...to relieve oneself. A certain passion for freedom. A disdain for convention. A complete disregard for what others think. Piss on it. War Plans! The feel of the damp blades of grass under my feet. Frankie sniffing here...sniffing there. I hear him in the darkness...my beloved canine. Ever connected...to the master plan! Nature calls.

President Oblabla...I hate war. Play tennis...not war. To bomb or not to bomb? That's an easy one...isn't it? For a Nobel Peace Prize winner? In the middle of the night...a no brainer. Of course it is a most unfortunate incident...but fortunately it is none of my business. It never has been. Let's be sensible and sit this one out. Is it too much to ask? Of civilized man. Here in Sweden nobody is contemplating attacking anybody for any reason...in the middle of the night. Perhaps it is a bit more difficult to make peace...and not war.

So it is...returning from a nocturnal mission. I pass the little office on the right at the top of the stairs...foregoing the bedroom a meter further on. The computer with all of it's mystical allure draws me to her. Tennisplayer.net is calling my name. When I wake up in the middle of the night...many times I cannot resist looking on. To see what you guys are up to in the middle of the night. The Americans. How long will you put up with it? But of course it is not the middle of the night there. It's broad daylight. There is absolutely no excuse for not being able to see. The obvious.

Wake up! Just say no! He will be taking to the television...just stick your head out the window and shout at the top of your lungs...I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!!!

[lobndropshot]

It took its toll on him today...I won 4 games out of 7. What great fun it was...pretending to be a tennisplayer again. Getting him to chase the ball forwards is my strategy and anytime that I can I just love to send him sprinting back towards the baseline chasing a lob over his head. Drop shot and lob technique. Do this a couple of times to your opponent and you will see the discouragement etched on their face. Imagine that!

OOOOOOOOoooo yeah! Lobndropshot AKA the yoyo!

[tennis_chiro]

Doubles...old style.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/fr...ionship-finals

Fabulous. But remember, Hoad and Rosewall were just 19 and 20 years old.

don

[stotty]

Hoad, Rosewall...

Doubles...old style.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/french-international-tennis-championship-finals

[don_budge]

Underspin...

Finally, I think, a recreational player should put first interest in recreational tennis and relegate tour tennis for once to its proper place.

Well I cannot claim to have vanquished any 4.5 level players lately. But today I had some very interesting practice outdoors for the second time on the clay...the red clay of Sweden. The weather here finally turned...it has been a very cold spring. I love cold weather.

My message goes out as usual to anyone that wants to listen...hacks, losers or tour professionals. It is only food for thought and I would never think of asking whether or not anyone agrees or not. In fact in all of my 1,119 posts I have never said...I agree with you, or I disagree with you. I have never said "in my opinion"...except one time when I was joking I said "in my humble opinion". That is simply not the point of this forum...at least I don't think that it is. The point is to discuss...or rather to put your view out there as clearly and in any style that you choose...for others to ponder. It is never my intention to ruffle feathers...maybe just a bit of irony perhaps. It's allowed.

My practice partner is named Mats and he is 35 years old. I would say that he is at least two inches taller than my 6' 1"'s and needless to say his is 24 years younger. He is in pretty darned good shape too...he goes to the gym and plays several times a week. He told me that he used to be one of the elite juniors in Sweden and by that I took it to be top 50 or so....he certainly had accumulated enough points to win some pretty good level championships.

He has a huge ATP forehand (not certain if it is a 1 or a 2 or a 3...or exactly version it is) but he crushes it. He hit the lines so hard a couple of times today that I swear they were pounded into the ground and a bit more stable after his play. Mats likes to play a lot of topspin off of the backhand as well. We practice in a format where we start the rally off with a groundstroke. Usually the first shot is to the forehand but as the practice session progresses the first ball is usually played just a little less kindly than in the beginning of the session. We tend to get a little competitive...and aggressive off of the forehand. More and more the ball seems to gravitate to the backhand with the first ball.

So when Mats hits to my backhand, most of the time the ball is going to be a slice to his backhand and in this way I try to dictate the tempo of the game and slow it down so that my 59 year old legs don't lose the match for me. He destroyed me the first two games to 15...but I was working on him with what amounts to a bit of a rope a dope. My slices gradually started to turn into balls that I was cutting the bottom of the ball and the ball actually backs up on his side of the court which sort of neutralizes his huge top spin if he is in less than optimal position. Many times my severely sliced backhands are out right winners. Mixed in with this little devil, I can hit a very acute angled soft drop shot to the forehand which again completely neutralizes his ATP cannon. Another variation of my slice is low, short and wide to his forehand which again is very good at neutralizing his forehand...and yet another variation is deep into his forehand corner either driving or sort of lobbing deep. He seems to have more trouble generating his potential power and spin after I have worked on his head with all of the variations.

Keep in mind that the basis of this attack is the backhand down the line from me...ala John McEnroe as I am left handed. I can play it down the line in the same variety of ways with variation of depth, spin and speed. The key to the whole deal is consistency and placement. I rarely miss. He gets some short balls out of the deal that he absolutely eats up but all in all the strategy is one that I have used for my entire career.

The disguise of my backhand is also the other deal breaker...as I can hold off at the last split second before hitting the shot that I hit the bottom of the ball where it backs up...two balls came back over the net today. I love that when that happens. He was joking that I play ping pong tennis. My topspin forehand is 90 percent of the time trying to find his backhand or trying to make him play his forehand from as far as possible in his backhand corner...which leaves his entire forehand court open if I can reach his ATP cannon.

It took its toll on him today...I won 4 games out of 7. What great fun it was...pretending to be a tennisplayer again. Getting him to chase the ball forwards is my strategy and anytime that I can I just love to send him sprinting back towards the baseline chasing a lob over his head. Drop shot and lob technique. Do this a couple of times to your opponent and you will see the discouragement etched on their face. Imagine that!

[don_budge]

More from 1984 Wimbledon Finals...The Doubles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LyJ6BKKmSE&feature=endscreen

Just a short clip...of a 5 set doubles final...John McEnroe/Peter Fleming vs. Pat Cash/Paul McNamee. John McEnroe played this match the day before his thrashing of Connors. We don't get to see this anymore. Johnny was just warming up with the doubles final.

The tradition of the doubles...lost in the flood. Another indication that modern tennis has gone astray. The modern singles game is not conducive to stellar doubles play.

[don_budge]

My Original Response to Rick Macci...

Below are the original comments that I wrote to RickMacci in response to his comments to my comments to his video of Development of the ATP Forehand. I pared them down because...get this...I didn't want to appear to be argumentative. For me it is never a case of being right and being wrong. My only reason for ever writing anything is to state my case of how I feel...in my own style and in my own words. I know my tone...I have to live with it.

But at any rate...here are my original thoughts. I am not rebuking RickMacci and the ATP Forehand but I am suggesting that there is a whole other realm of tennis that is being ignored with the conventional wisdom that passes for tennis development these days.

Why am I sharing this with you now? It started with the traditional game of tennis. Scott's articles about the Kirsten Popp classical game and that morphed with a comment by stroke which further provoked me. Then Stotty and 10splayer said something and then it was off to the races...who cares if he flips or not? tennis_chiro had/has his doubts. It has something to do with the comments made about Tommy Haas at the Sony Open and it has something to do with the comment that gordonp has made about John McEnroe. It has a lot to do with the year of 1984 in tennis and that dubious Wimbledon final...and it has a lot to do with George Orwell and his vision. I am thinking critically about the USPTA and all the authorities in our lives that have led us astray. It may have had something to do with klacr's comments about modesty...probably not. I don't entertain thoughts like those. I only try to connect the dots...the three little dots. Just like dear old Ferdinand Celine...in his "Journey to The End of the Night".

I ran my thoughts by bottle...aka John Escher (multiple author of published books and our resident literary expert and former Ivy League English professor) and he agreed (I hate that word) with me that it was good form to abbreviate my remarks in the ATP thread and to not appear to challenge RickMacci. But in the end (and this is the end my friends) we are stuck with who we are. An old leopard cannot change his spots...although I maintain that he can change the grip on his tennis racquet. I swear...I will never be put in a box of somebody else's making. I get tired of tippy toeing around everyone's issues...except for my own. Of which I never tire...of course. You are there and I am here.

My original and traditional thoughts to RickMacci's response regarding the continental grip. Read 'em and weep...I say. With all due respect.



Thanks Rick...I enjoyed your comments.

At the highest level since the speed of the game is at an all time high and the spin of the ball is at an all time high, having the ability to naturally grab the ball with the racquet face slightly closed with a semi western or western( because the grip orientates the the racquet face) is much easier.

Rick Macci...
"let me explain...there can be little adaptions or flairs because depending upon how you are holding the racquet...western, semi, eastern...hopefully no more continental forehands out there..."

Thanks for your answer Rick. I totally understand your skepticism. But I watched John McEnroe and his continental grip based game dismantle Mats Wilander and his heavy topspin, strong gripped and standard issue two handed backhand in the Senior Tour Finals at London and he was asked after the interview if he thought that his style of play would be effective in the modern game of tennis and his answer was..."Yes"...if I am not mistaken. McEnroe himself thinks his approach to tennis is still relevant.

Even the announcers for this particular match were speculating about the court surface and how it would effect the fate of the match. Their rationale was that the surface was slower so that it should favor Wilander in that regard. But as it was the slower surface seemed to favor McEnroe ironically enough. It gave him a bit more time to maneuver Wilander around the court. In the end...Wilander was so thoroughly trounced that he ended up attempting to serve and volley. He said himself of McEnroe..."he has a way of making you feel terrible on the tennis court".

For the past several months I have been experimenting with the continental based ground stroke game, with the accompanying approach and volley game whenever possible, and I have had some very interesting results playing against much younger opponents using the current ATP style of play. Granted my experiment has been of a qualitative nature and not one supported by quantitative analysis but the results have been personally compelling. My conclusion is...I am not entirely convinced that the ATP Forehand is the only way to go here in the Modern Game of Tennis. Although you cannot argue with its' popularity.

I might add that I am a big admirer of the Federer technique as applied to the Modern Game of tennis and prior to my experiment with the continental grip I was pursuing my own play along those lines. I find the information that you are bringing forth on the ATP forehand to be very helpful and informative. It has only been recently that I rethought, retaught, relearned and retooled my game into its present continental gripped state.

The results that I speak of are of course personal in nature but I did try to document much of my experience in the two threads that I referenced. Due to their lengthy nature it is understandable if you didn't get a chance to peruse them. Your ATP Forehand video and the accompanying 3D Revolution thread provoked some rather curious thought within me. Albeit...my thoughts do not go lock step with the conventional wisdom that is taken for the basis of the technical philosophy for the Modern Game of Tennis as it stands today.

I understand everything that you have put forth so far and I have read Brian Gordon's articles about the same. Although Brian's stuff is far more technical and more difficult to interpret when discussing from a teaching point of view tennis technique...it is no less compelling. Brian even mentioned in a post that an explanation that I offered for the behavior of the biomechanics of the stroke were pretty good...even though they were so simple. Which is ok, I think...very technical material can be summed up quite simply sometimes thereby decreasing the risk of losing the students interest that are not so technically inclined.

So I have an idea for you and Brian to collaborate on in your spare time. Which I am certain is scarce...but what I propose is this. Measure quantifiably through the use of your electrodes and probes and computers the behavior of the wrist when it pertains to the differences in grip...western, eastern and the bane of modern coaches...the continental. Measure John McEnroe himself if that would be any help in furthering such a project or motivating one. He might be curious himself if this were to be proposed to him. Brian may find that this would be one of the most compelling studies ever done in tennis research. The Behavior of the Wrist and the Force that it Applies to the Ball as it Pertains to Different Grips on the Tennis Racquet. Do me a favor if you would...forward these thoughts to Brian. I wonder what his reaction would be. Would he altogether be dismissive or might he say to himself...Hmmm.

I cite the old rivalry between John and Björn Borg as the example and the possible corollary between the standard issue of Modern Tennis and possible alternatives. Borg was dominating the tennis scene at the time with his heavy topspin and his one and half handed backhand...in the waning days of classic tennis and along came McEnroe to challenge him...and his approach to tennis. He was very successful with it. Not that he altogether dispensed with the Borgian play...but it certainly proved that there was room for more than one interpretation. I wonder if the same might be true of today. Perhaps there should be an "American School of Thought" where more of an attacking style of play is incorporated into the game as well. Not that all American players would play in this style...just those that find it suitable given their physical, mental and emotional makeups. Perhaps there should even be some allowance for this in the composition of our tennis courts...make them less abrasive.

Thanks for all of your videos, drills and information that have been accessible to us in the general public via the internet. Thanks for sharing. Your contributions to the game of tennis are rather admirable...to say the least. Ever since the days of Bill Tilden and his masterpiece..."Match Play and Spin of the Ball", spin on the ball has been the game.

[don_budge]

The 1984 Wimbledon Finals...Tennis Warehouse discussion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Ypdrb4nIw

Some interesting discussion regarding the 1984 Wimbledon Final between John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors.

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=33174

Even in this discussion you can see that some people are in denial about the equipment.

[don_budge]

The Greatest Matches in Tennis History...

I find myself at least peripherally involved in three, four if you count my backhand experiment...of the greatest matches of all time...according to this source.

http://www.baseball-statistics.com/Greats/Century/tennis.htm

September 8, 1984...1984 U. S. Open: The Greatest Day

I was there with a coaches pass and did not miss any of the action. A freebie no less. Before Connors' match with McEnroe I was in the locker room and Jimmy kept asking his big black buddy..."Where's Patti? Where's Patti?" Jimmy appears to be an obsessively devoted man. Even before a big match he was really genuinely concerned for his wife. He went out and gave it everything he had. The first time that he used an oversized racquet in a Grand Slam Event. The result was much closer than the 1984 Wimbledon Final with the same.

Pat Cash nearly upset Ivan Lendl using a Prince Magnesium. Chris Evert played in the best women's match that I have ever seen and lost in three sets to Martina Navratilova. I believe that Chris was using a midsize for the first time in a Grand Slam event. The match between Stan Smith and John Newcombe was excellent...Newc used a Prince Magnesium.

1984 was the year...that the worm turned in the world of tennis. I promise to tell you guys the whole unabridged story here one day. At the end of the day...or rather into the night it was getting quite chilly...there was a decision to be made. Buy a sweatshirt or continue to drink Dewars and soda. Any guesses? My buddy Duke and I ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe later on somehow.

July 8, 1984...The 1984 Wimbledon Final: McEnroe vs. Connors

You read my account here on the forum. I feel like I was there. Another hallucination no doubt. Well what the hell...dreaming's for free.


July 20, 1937...1937 Davis Cup: Budge vs. Von Cramm

Don Budge personally told me his account of the match over a festive dinner with champagne that he was throwing for the counselors at his tennis camp. It was the summer of '72. Thanks for the memories...J. Donald Budge! You are still the man and always will be. God bless you.

September 19, 1925...1935 U. S. Championships

Tilden's defeat to Johnston inspires him to seclude himself from the real world to obsessively develop a topspin backhand. Hmmm....sounds familiar.

[don_budge]

McEnroe's Thoughts on the 1984 Wimbledon Final...

An extract from his book...You Cannot be Serious

http://tennis-buzz.com/1984-wimbledon-john-mcenroe-defeats-jimmy-connors/

And John...you could not be serious with these comments without mentioning the racquet disparity. To say that "Jimmy was just a little flat that day" is evading the truth. Guilty of truthiness. Penalty point to McEnroe. He even got the score wrong...it was 6-1, 6-1, 6-2. Notice the comment at the end of the article.

"Some people talk about my 6-1 6-2 6-2 destruction of Connors in the 1984 Wimbledon as my greatest match ever, but the truth is – between you and me – I thought Jimmy was just a little flat that day.
I was also having one of those days, when everything seemed to be going almost too right. I got out of bed in the morning feeling great, and in my practice session, the ball looked as big as a cantaloupe. Since I always manage to worry when things are going well, I stopped the session early – I was afraid of leaving my best stuff in practice.

But it just kept getting better.
In fairness, Connors had had a tough semi against Lendl, a four-set slugfest on a very hot afternoon,while I had won in three agaisnt that feisty Aussie whippersnapper Pat Cash. Cash was a tough serve-and-volleyer in that great Down-Under tadition, still a little green at nineteen, but a great athlete and a fine tennis player. I thought he was a comer – especially after he shouldered me on a changeover during the second-set tiebreaker. That, I felt, was a very interesting move: here I was, number one in the world, a two-time Wimbledon champ, one of the game’s grand old men at twenty five … This kid’s got the right attitude, I thought.

Meanwhile, my attitude had utterly changed. I had wasted too much energy at the French by getting angry, I realized; from the first match at the All England Club that year, I was determined not to do anything that would derail me from avenging Roland Garros – my only loss in fifty-two matches so fa in ’84 – and winning my hat-trick Wimbledon. I was on a five-match winning steak against Jimmy, and I felt confident I could make it six.
I just didn’t know it would be so easy.

The heat wave had continued, but I was hotter than the weather that Sunday afternoon. From the start, Connors just couldn’t find his rhythm, while I was serving unbelievably well – slicing it wide, popping it up in the middle, doing whatever I wanted. I hit seventy-four percent of my first serves in the match, with ten aces and no double faults. I had three -three – unforced errors in the match.

That’s the best I ever played

I said in the press conference afterward. It was also the best I’d ever acted at Wimbledon: The London tabloids dubbed me ‘Saint John‘."