Thoughts about Tennis Tradition...

[johnyandell]

Miss him already

[notibo]

I came here for the thoughts on Tennis tradition. But the thread is about everything - golf, volley, singers, bands.
YouTube Vanced

[stroke]

I came here for the thoughts on Tennis tradition. But the thread is about everything - golf, volley, singers, bands.
YouTube Vanced

Welcome aboard

[don_budge]

Yep...welcome aboard. But I have some bad news for you...you are late. Late for the party. The forum was once upon a time a different kind of place than it is now. Now it is cancel culture. If your opinion is not on board with the herd...forget about it. So it is best to have a life...golf is a much more interesting sport. I admit...my tennis playing days are over. But tradition still is on my mind. I even wonder how people lived 2,000 years ago when Christianity was introduced to the world. The birth of many of our traditions in the Western world. These are being canceled as well. For a long time I wrote about Roger Federer. I wrote about him as "The Living Proof". As if there was a time when things were actually better. Or not. I was only musing. Just as I was in the post below. Musing about traditionalism versus modernism.

Tennis is a woke sport by definition. All sense of tradition was demolished and what prevailed does not even resemble what it used to be. You cannot stop progress...but remember every invention comes with a curse. Welcome aboard. Now you are entering frontiers unknown. But one look at the modern game of tennis will tell you a thing or two...now that Roger Federer is gone. The Living Proof. It is a dead sport. The forum is further proof of that. All agreeing. Nodding in collective harmony. Diverse opinions are explicitly forbidden. It's weak. Very weak. It's engineered...not evolving. Best of luck. Sincerely. Best of luck.

The fourth post from notibo was brilliant. So was stroke's 3,654th. I'm giving it a like. Both of them. For their sheer brilliance.

Welcome aboard

I came here for the thoughts on Tennis tradition. But the thread is about everything - golf, volley, singers, bands.
YouTube Vanced

Following are some comments about tradition. Musing philosphers from another planet are wondering...which is evil? Modernism...or Traditionalism. I made up a word. Virtual Morality. I saw it coming a long, long time ago. In America...the idea of traditionalism is "The Super Bowl". An extravaganza that I have had the deep pleasure of never once taking part of. In fact...it is a golden calf. So what about tennis? What happened exactly that has brought tennis and society to a "fourth turning"? It never ceases to amaze me how tennis metaphors life.

I will never forget that beautiful September day in New York that my buddy and I sat through over eleven hours of tennis in 1984. More metaphor. More coincidence...or is it fate? The Orwellian year that dear old George predicted a society that was unrecognizalbe from the traditional one that was barely remembered. That day in New York was the first time that over-sized graphite racquets were used by all four men in the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. The tennis...it appeared to be magical. All the matches that day went to a deciding set. The senior men's final. The woman's final...and the glorious men's semis. Lendl versus Cash. McEnroe versus Connors. Bud Collins claimed it was "the greatest day of tennis ever". He never mentioned the racquets...he never did. Not even when McEnroe destroyed Connors in the that infamous final at Wimbledon when John had switched to a mid-sized graphite and James was still clinging to his "pathetic" little Wilson T2000. The results? It wasn't pretty it was so one sided, yet Bud Collins never said a peep about the racquets. Not once during the entire match and not once in the post match interviews. By the way...on that day CBS was covering the tennis and all of the commercials on that broadcast were about computers. Big dinasaurs. Slow as molasses compared to what you and I carry in our pockets today. Our iPhones. Ahh...the irony. 1984...dear old George did hit the nail on the head. Didn't he?

Some years ago I made up a word. It goes like this:

"The real impact on Humans by Artificial Intelligence. I made up a word...virtual morality. You've heard of virtual reality. Virtual morality occurs when "God is Dead" and the computer becomes the deity. It's happening. This is what all of this modern thinking is about...virtual morality. Rewriting human values and existence with the cold, clinical morality of a hard drive."

As tennis enters the fourth turning that was precipitated by the retirement of Roger Federer who was and always will be "The Living Proof" of the don_budge paradigm for coaching and teaching tennis in the modern era. Society also enters a fourth turning. The computer is the clear winner in Western society. God is dead...for the most of the West. You see what is happening. You watched it last night as an offering of the "Golden Calf". The Super Bowl. It has replaced tradition. Superceded what was once important. A glorified football game with a bunch of over-priced human beings performing a ritualistic dance for the flocking sheep. While all eyes in America are on this altar of sports...the beat goes on in much of the world without so much as an acknowledgement that it even took place. Separate realities. Which do you prefer? You do not have a choice if you have no other choice. If you are not aware of other "realities".

Ahh...virtual morality. Scrapping what we knew to be true and replaced by the latest and greatest shiny gizmo. Giving us a feeling of superiority. A false sense in fact. Nobody seems to realize that the human being is devolving. Nobody? Well it just so happens that there is a civilization that does see this coming. In fact...they have made it a national decree to go back to traditonalism. Who could that be? Who could possibly be rejecting the liberal hegemony of the West? It certainly wasn't tennis. Tennis fully embraced it headlong into the mulch pile. Here's a clue for you.

"The Devils"...Fyodor Dostoyevsky 1871

"I have already hinted that all sorts of low-class individuals had made an appearance among us. In troubled times of uncertainty or transition all sorts of low individuals appear everywhere. I am not talking about the so-called "progressives", who are always in a greater hurry than everyone else (that is their chief concern) and whose aims, though mostly absurd, are more or less definite. No, I am speaking only of the rabble. This rabble, which you will find in any society, usually rises to the surface in every period of transition, and is not only without any aim, but also without an inkling of an idea, merely expressing with all its strength unrest and impatience.. And yet this rabble without realizing it itself, almost always finds itself under the command of the small crowd of "progressives", who act with a definite aim, and it is they who direct this scum where they like, provided they themselves are not composed of utter idiots, which, however happens, too." Fyodor Dostoyevsky…”The Devils”, Part III Chapter 1

Tennis has been a progressive sport...hasn't it? The changes. Fully embraced without a peep. Traditionalism be damned. Remember tennis was the first to accept transexuals in Women's tennis. Tennis has been at the front of the wave of Progressivism. Tennis is not recognizable from pre-1984 and neither is America for that matter. Neither is Europe. All in the span of forty years. I was in Europe for six days in 1989. October of 1989. Mikeal Gorbachov was in Berlin orchestrating the fall of the Berlin Wall while I was there. Europe had a glow to it. A short lived glow. Now "Europe" is the European Union. Ruled by a coalition of unknown beaurocrats. Europe is unrecognizable from 1989. I can vouch for that...I was there. I still am here. Where will this rate of change take us in the future? Will there be a future? In tennis? In society? There probably will be. This stuff has been going on for a long time. It is just that we are sort of in uncharted waters with the resources at the disposal of the human race. Some of them quite horrific. Maybe COVID-19 was the first salvo fired.

Just a couple of quotes to follow. Society metaphoring life. Life metaphoring tennis. Vice versa. The communicative property. The associative property. A discussion about traditionalism versus modernism. From another planet. Another world. This type of discussion is forbidden in the West.

[johnyandell]

I think the Forum is doing just fine.

[stroke]

If we could just resurrect one of the best damn threads we ever had, "A New Years Serve".

[10splayer]

If we could just resurrect one of the best damn threads we ever had, "A New Years Serve".

That was an amazing thread. I have to admit, it was captivating being so up close and personal to a certifiable loon. Crazy breeds interest.

[stroke]

That was an amazing thread. I have to admit, it was captivating being so up close and personal to a certifiable loon. Crazy breeds interest.

As Rod Serling might have said, "next stop, the Twilight Zone".

[tenniscoach1]

I think the Forum is doing just fine.

So, you disagree with Don Budge? Why?

[stroke]

So, you disagree with Don Budge? Why?

Great thought provoking question.

[johnyandell]

Well the more the merrier but certain threads had gotten too personal/political

[don_budge]

11,578 views / 475 posts = 24.374 average views per post

[tenniscoach1]

Well the more the merrier but certain threads had gotten too personal/political

Generally I just show someone the door when they start giving suggestions on how to run things, arguing with my big studs and alpha males who are achieving results or being tattletale’s. Nothing wrong with the group getting political and personal: you get better when you know where everyone stands. The best posters on this board have traditionally been the most political and personal … and, that edge makes everyone better. Best way to handle problems as a coach or manager is to let the room handle it, step back and give your studs runway. A guy like Steve understands this having played baseball and working in real organizations where men act like men and the ladies hold it all together day in and day out by moving mountains.

[tenniscoach1]

That was an amazing thread. I have to admit, it was captivating being so up close and personal to a certifiable loon. Crazy breeds interest.

[johnyandell]

TC1,
I couldn't disagree more. Here are the Forum guidelines:

To all Tennisplayer Subscribers,

Welcome to the Forum and the opportunity to discuss everything having to do with the game with your fellow subscribers and our writers and contributors.

The good news is, our subscribers are passionate about tennis. We look forward to hearing you share you questions, comments and thoughts. You are free to agree and disagree as you see fit.

The (ocassionally) bad news is that passion can run rampant, and if you have experience with message boards in general you know that posters often say things in forums that would never pass in person to person communication.

Please be passionate and respectful. Personal attacks are out. Ridicule is out. Denigrating the views of others is out. If necessary, we can all agree to disagree--politely.

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What's a troll? Someone who sows discord by posting inflammatory or inaccurate messages in an online community, with the intent of provoking readers. Someone who refuses to engage in discussion when his views are questioned and cannot offer evidence to support his or her views.

So if you're able to stay in the guidelines fantastic. And if you can't you'll find your posts deleted and/or banned. These guidelines apply to our contributors, myself as well as all subscribers.

John Yandell