2017 Wimbledon Championships...ATP 2000...London, Great Britain

[don_budge]

2nd set tie-break. It's now or never Tomas.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Never. Federer not at his scintillating best but Tomas has a lot to do with that. The true test of a great tennis player...making due with what he has on a given day.

[klacr]

M. Cilic is the first ever Wimbledon finalist with a name entirely made up of Roman numerals.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

M. Cilic is the first ever Wimbledon finalist with a name entirely made up of Roman numerals.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Meanwhile back at the ranch...Federer to serve for the match. Let's see how he responds to the pressure.

[don_budge]

Meanwhile back at the ranch...Federer to serve for the match. Let's see how he responds to the pressure.

He responds...with class. Huge congrats! One more to go.

[klacr]

Most Victories at Wimbledon
Federer-90
Connors-84
Becker-71
Sampras-63
McEnroe-59
Djokovic-58
Murray-57

Most Final Appearance in a Grand Slam
Federer-29
Nadal-22
Djokovic-21
Lendl-21
Sampras-18
Laver-17
Rosewall and Borg-16

Federer just too good. Berdych showed himself very well. I expected that. Not many other people did. Had big chances in all those sets.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

He responds...with class. Huge congrats! One more to go.

And another big lug bites the dust...

Next please....

[stotty]

It was Sam who impressed me the most today. I didn't realise he had such a great temperament. He is so calm. He served really accurately...I mean plumb on the lines.

Cilic's temperament is not so great. He's gets really nervous at times. I just hope he can step up on Sunday and at least try and snatch the first set....give Roger something to play for.

[arturohernandez]

Cilic clearly gets unnerved. Berdych was very calm in the end as well. I think he played extremely well.

But it all comes down to movement and I don't think that anyone over 6'4" is going to be able to handle Fed on grass.

He is just clinical right now. He even overcame his own Swiss driven outburst after a missed forehand.

It should be a great match!

[tennis_chiro]

It was Sam who impressed me the most today. I didn't realise he had such a great temperament. He is so calm. He served really accurately...I mean plumb on the lines.

Cilic's temperament is not so great. He's gets really nervous at times. I just hope he can step up on Sunday and at least try and snatch the first set....give Roger something to play for.

I'm fed up with player's being able to hold their opponent in a physically taxing ready position indefinitely whlile they bounce the ball well beyond the alloted time they have to get the ball in play. It's especially taxing if you do not know if he will start his service motion after the 5th bounce or the 13th bounce.

I saw one stat that Sam averaged 17 seconds between points and Cilic averaged 23. That was average. If I was Sam's coach and he had a personality more like Lendl's (which he does not), I would have scouted the number of bounces at which Cilic goes 2 seconds over the 20 second allowance. (I'm pretty sure it would be less than 10 and he often gets up to 13 or more.)

Just imagine: Cilic gets to the 11th bounce and Sam stops play and walks up to the chair and says, "Excuse me. How much time do we have between serves?" Answer: 20 seconds Sam: "But he's going way beyond that and he's requiring me to hold a tiring ready position for the whole time he is bouncing the ball and I've played a lot of 5 set matches and I can't spare the extra energy? That's giving him an unfair advantage. Are you going to enforce the 20 second rule or not?"

Of course, the ref would say something like "Very well, let's get back to play." But the second or third time that Sam stopped play and made the same inquiry, the point would be made and either the umpire would have to enforce the rule or Cilic would have to alter his rhythm. And I would especially coach Sam to be sure to stop play on the 10th bounce in tight game situations like 30-30, 15-30 or 30-40 and for first and second serves. Well maybe not for second serves because the umpire would probably give Cilic another second serve.

If I wanted to take it to ridiculous, I have a Triathalon Times watch that will give a single beep if I set it on a countdown of less than 30 seconds. It can be set to 20 seconds. Sam could start that countdown at the end of each point and the single beep would be missed if play proceeds, but he would hear it in the dead time while Marin is bouncing the ball.

I really think this is an unfair advantage.

One other tactic would be for someone like Sam who does not take a lot of time to randomly start his service motion, sometimes after a very brief halt and sometimes wait as long as Marin is making him wait, just counting imaginary bounces in his mind. Even overdue it until the umpire gives him a warning. Then have a similar conversation to the one I outlines above. Then the umpire has to enforce the rule.

Thoughts?

don

[don_budge]

Winners and Losers...the tiny difference?

Sore Losers Really Piss Me Off...Greg Norman

I certainly admire the old Aussie fighting and competitive spirit. This is why Harry Hopman is the coach in my teaching paradigm. Winning is instilled in the player...even if they lose. I will never forget Greg Norman losing this golf tournament way back in 1996. I was only two years into my golf odyssey. He was so philosophical about a professional catastrophe that it made a deep impact on me. Not that it is one that I could ever live up to. But it is important to understand that you are on the world stage and people are watching. This is why for me it is important that the Americans, Australians and British get their acts together...to show the leadership that is so desperately lacking today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-zgr31q5F4

Greg Norman is a flawed human being just like the rest of us...but on this occasion he stepped up to the plate. I remember he said something to the effect..."well, you know, to us Australians winning isn't everything. There are other things in life just as important."

It's all about attitude in the end.

"The longer I live, the more I realize that the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts... The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and this is our attitude." -Charles Swindoll

Over the entrance to Wimbledon...I am told are the immortal words of Rudyard Kipling:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

Four players are going to take the courts at Wimbledon today and two of them are going to be losers. We are all losers in the end...nobody here gets out alive. It's how we live...and compete that make all of the difference.

It was Sam who impressed me the most today. I didn't realise he had such a great temperament. He is so calm. He served really accurately...I mean plumb on the lines.

Cilic's temperament is not so great. He's gets really nervous at times. I just hope he can step up on Sunday and at least try and snatch the first set....give Roger something to play for.

There were no losers yesterday. Sam Querry made us all proud as Americans. He showed up to play in spite of probably being very exhausted from playing three five set matches on way to the semi's. He was up a break in the fourth but succumbed to fatigue and the constant pressure that Marin Cilic was applying to him. Of the four players I liked Cilic's temperament the least. But he wasn't over the top by any stretch of the imagination.

Querry and Berdych were model citizens on Friday afternoon at the All England Club. Querry's calm approach in between points was a cool tactic in conservation of energy for one thing. For another he showed an awareness of his presence and how it might be perceived by others. By not losing his cool he showed nothing to his opponent who was doing everything in his power to upset his demeanor. He had a huge chance in the fourth to push it into a fifth and it would have been very, very interesting to see how he may have responded to that.

Tomas was incredible. He was up against "The Tennis Machine". Talk about pressure. The pressure that Roger Federer put on Tomas Berdych in the beginning of the first set on his first three service games was enough to make anybody collapse. He weathered it...even though he was broken on the fourth attempt. But he responded with a break of his own. Berdych was riding the wave with the ebbs and flows...the cresting of Federer was dizzying. But he rode out the storm and settled in to contest it every step of the way. He had a couple of opportunities but Federer was just too good yesterday. Each time Berdych got a whiff of something in it for him Roger was there to slam the door. Once they got to the tie-breaker it was all Federer as he kicked it into overdrive. Remarkable sense of dramatic timing. In the third set once he got his nose ahead of Berdych he just kept pouring on the pressure. The acid test in serving out the match was passed with flying colors. Predictable he won the first three points to go up 40-love...maybe a couple of aces thrown in. Then on the first match point he tried to win it with an over the top crushed backhand just to make a statement...an exclamation point. He missed that just long and settled in to hit another service winner and it was over. It has been a masterpiece of a tournament for Federer. Each match just a bit better than the one before. The level has been extremely high and it has been difficult for any opponent to sustain any meaningful pressure on him. Berdych played as well as he can play and he just stayed as even as he could. But when it was all on the line...it was all Roger.

Thank you Mister Federer for validating my teaching paradigm...Bill Tilden is the Book. Richard Gonzales is the model with the Don Budge backhand. Harry Hopman is the coach. Roger Federer is The Living Proof.

When teaching the game of tennis you must emphasize what is fundamentally correct. Playing the two handed game is great for some...for many. But does it limit the potential of the student in the long run. We can see that the difference between winning and losing is razor thin at times so why is Federer on the winning side so often. Particularly so when he may be giving away plenty in terms of his physical prime. Roger is the only player currently active that has or had the benefit of being trained in the classical mode of tennis play. He is reaping the rewards now that the playing field has been leveled...with his bigger equipment.

It's interesting isn't it? Connecting the dots from the 1920's to the present. And don't forget how tennis can metaphor life at times...a lot of times. Winners and losers. It's never too late to dig in a make a stand...if you don't give up hope.

[don_budge]

I'm fed up with player's being able to hold their opponent in a physically taxing ready position indefinitely whlile they bounce the ball well beyond the alloted time they have to get the ball in play. It's especially taxing if you do not know if he will start his service motion after the 5th bounce or the 13th bounce.

I saw one stat that Sam averaged 17 seconds between points and Cilic averaged 23. That was average. If I was Sam's coach and he had a personality more like Lendl's (which he does not), I would have scouted the number of bounces at which Cilic goes 2 seconds over the 20 second allowance. (I'm pretty sure it would be less than 10 and he often gets up to 13 or more.)

Just imagine: Cilic gets to the 11th bounce and Sam stops play and walks up to the chair and says, "Excuse me. How much time do we have between serves?" Answer: 20 seconds Sam: "But he's going way beyond that and he's requiring me to hold a tiring ready position for the whole time he is bouncing the ball and I've played a lot of 5 set matches and I can't spare the extra energy? That's giving him an unfair advantage. Are you going to enforce the 20 second rule or not?"

Of course, the ref would say something like "Very well, let's get back to play." But the second or third time that Sam stopped play and made the same inquiry, the point would be made and either the umpire would have to enforce the rule or Cilic would have to alter his rhythm. And I would especially coach Sam to be sure to stop play on the 10th bounce in tight game situations like 30-30, 15-30 or 30-40 and for first and second serves. Well maybe not for second serves because the umpire would probably give Cilic another second serve.

If I wanted to take it to ridiculous, I have a Triathalon Times watch that will give a single beep if I set it on a countdown of less than 30 seconds. It can be set to 20 seconds. Sam could start that countdown at the end of each point and the single beep would be missed if play proceeds, but he would hear it in the dead time while Marin is bouncing the ball.

I really think this is an unfair advantage.

One other tactic would be for someone like Sam who does not take a lot of time to randomly start his service motion, sometimes after a very brief halt and sometimes wait as long as Marin is making him wait, just counting imaginary bounces in his mind. Even overdue it until the umpire gives him a warning. Then have a similar conversation to the one I outlines above. Then the umpire has to enforce the rule.

Thoughts?

don

Thank you tennis_chiro. I think that I may have brought this up one or two thousand times. Well played. Of course it is unfair and what is more it is gamesmanship. Blatant gamesmanship that is being tolerated by the powers that be in the tennis brain trust. No wonder a fellow like Donald Trump wins the presidency by calling everyone in power an "idiot"...they are idiots. The thing is it is so obvious too.

If I were playing against one of these manic-obsessive ball bouncers I know myself...I would go full "Nastase" on them. I leave it up to your imagination. But trust me there are plenty of tricks in my bag. You fuck with me and don't expect to get off Scott free.

I would be counting those bounces and after a certain number I would get out of my ready stance and make the jerk off start over. I don't care how many times I would have to do it...I wouldn't quit until they were within the rules. The rules go both ways...if the abiding referee or umpire isn't being even handed then you have to take matters into your own hands. Don't be a pansy and let the other fellow run rough shod over you. Stand up for yourself if you are in the right and get things going on an even playing field.

Look at Federer. Bounce...or bounce, bounce. Boom...end of story.

Look at Fafa Nadal or Joker Djokovic and even Pansy Murray. Bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounc e...bounce. Pick at shorts...numerous tics. Bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounc e...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce. Finally a freaking serve. Miss the first serve...start all over. What about the opponent while all of this nonsense is being acted out. Modern tennis...getting more and more ridiculous. Watch what the brain trust or lack of brain trust has in store at the "Next Generation" tournament. Instead of doing the smart thing and just going backwards in time to when it wasn't broken they will put another layer of dysfunction on the game to render it complete shit.

Once Federer is gone...you can have it.

[bottle]

Thank you tennis_chiro. I think that I may have brought this up one or two thousand times. Well played. Of course it is unfair and what is more it is gamesmanship. Blatant gamesmanship that is being tolerated by the powers that be in the tennis brain trust. No wonder a fellow like Donald Trump wins the presidency by calling everyone in power an "idiot"...they are idiots. The thing is it is so obvious too.

If I were playing against one of these manic-obsessive ball bouncers I know myself...I would go full "Nastase" on them. I leave it up to your imagination. But trust me there are plenty of tricks in my bag. You fuck with me and don't expect to get off Scott free.

I would be counting those bounces and after a certain number I would get out of my ready stance and make the jerk off start over. I don't care how many times I would have to do it...I wouldn't quit until they were within the rules. The rules go both ways...if the abiding referee or umpire isn't being even handed then you have to take matters into your own hands. Don't be a pansy and let the other fellow run rough shod over you. Stand up for yourself if you are in the right and get things going on an even playing field.

Look at Federer. Bounce...or bounce, bounce. Boom...end of story.

Look at Fafa Nadal or Joker Djokovic and even Pansy Murray. Bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounc e...bounce. Pick at shorts...numerous tics. Bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounc e...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce. Finally a freaking serve. Miss the first serve...start all over. What about the opponent while all of this nonsense is being acted out. Modern tennis...getting more and more ridiculous. Watch what the brain trust or lack of brain trust has in store at the "Next Generation" tournament. Instead of doing the smart thing and just going backwards in time to when it wasn't broken they will put another layer of dysfunction on the game to render it complete shit.

Once Federer is gone...you can have it.

Eliminate all the stuff about flower gardens and this might be a substantial post (hard to tell)

Stet. (https://www.google.com/search?q=Stet...hrome&ie=UTF-8)

[bottle]

Moment Squashed by Missed Call on Final Point?

No way. The moment was Muguruza's smile.

[don_budge]

Winners and Losers...the tiny difference?

Sore Losers Really Piss Me Off...Greg Norman

I certainly admire the old Aussie fighting and competitive spirit. This is why Harry Hopman is the coach in my teaching paradigm. Winning is instilled in the player...even if they lose. I will never forget Greg Norman losing this golf tournament way back in 1996. I was only two years into my golf odyssey. He was so philosophical about a professional catastrophe that it made a deep impact on me. Not that it is one that I could ever live up to. But it is important to understand that you are on the world stage and people are watching. This is why for me it is important that the Americans, Australians and British get their acts together...to show the leadership that is so desperately lacking today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-zgr31q5F4

Greg Norman is a flawed human being just like the rest of us...but on this occasion he stepped up to the plate. I remember he said something to the effect..."well, you know, to us Australians winning isn't everything. There are other things in life just as important."

It's all about attitude in the end.

"The longer I live, the more I realize that the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts... The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and this is our attitude." -Charles Swindoll

Over the entrance to Wimbledon...I am told are the immortal words of Rudyard Kipling:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

Four players are going to take the courts at Wimbledon today and two of them are going to be losers. We are all losers in the end...nobody here gets out alive. It's how we live...and compete that make all of the difference.

It was Sam who impressed me the most today. I didn't realise he had such a great temperament. He is so calm. He served really accurately...I mean plumb on the lines.

Cilic's temperament is not so great. He's gets really nervous at times. I just hope he can step up on Sunday and at least try and snatch the first set....give Roger something to play for.

There were no losers yesterday. Sam Querry made us all proud as Americans. He showed up to play in spite of probably being very exhausted from playing three five set matches on way to the semi's. He was up a break in the fourth but succumbed to fatigue and the constant pressure that Marin Cilic was applying to him. Of the four players I liked Cilic's temperament the least. But he wasn't over the top by any stretch of the imagination.

Querry and Berdych were model citizens on Friday afternoon at the All England Club. Querry's calm approach in between points was a cool tactic in conservation of energy for one thing. For another he showed an awareness of his presence and how it might be perceived by others. By not losing his cool he showed nothing to his opponent who was doing everything in his power to upset his demeanor. He had a huge chance in the fourth to push it into a fifth and it would have been very, very interesting to see how he may have responded to that.

Tomas was incredible. He was up against "The Tennis Machine". Talk about pressure. The pressure that Roger Federer put on Tomas Berdych in the beginning of the first set on his first three service games was enough to make anybody collapse. He weathered it...even though he was broken on the fourth attempt. But he responded with a break of his own. Berdych was riding the wave with the ebbs and flows...the cresting of Federer was dizzying. But he rode out the storm and settled in to contest it every step of the way. He had a couple of opportunities but Federer was just too good yesterday. Each time Berdych got a whiff of something in it for him Roger was there to slam the door. Once they got to the tie-breaker it was all Federer as he kicked it into overdrive. Remarkable sense of dramatic timing. In the third set once he got his nose ahead of Berdych he just kept pouring on the pressure. The acid test in serving out the match was passed with flying colors. Predictable he won the first three points to go up 40-love...maybe a couple of aces thrown in. Then on the first match point he tried to win it with an over the top crushed backhand just to make a statement...an exclamation point. He missed that just long and settled in to hit another service winner and it was over. It has been a masterpiece of a tournament for Federer. Each match just a bit better than the one before. The level has been extremely high and it has been difficult for any opponent to sustain any meaningful pressure on him. Berdych played as well as he can play and he just stayed as even as he could. But when it was all on the line...it was all Roger.

Thank you Mister Federer for validating my teaching paradigm...Bill Tilden is the Book. Richard Gonzales is the model with the Don Budge backhand. Harry Hopman is the coach. Roger Federer is The Living Proof.

When teaching the game of tennis you must emphasize what is fundamentally correct. Playing the two handed game is great for some...for many. But does it limit the potential of the student in the long run. We can see that the difference between winning and losing is razor thin at times so why is Federer on the winning side so often. Particularly so when he may be giving away plenty in terms of his physical prime. Roger is the only player currently active that has or had the benefit of being trained in the classical mode of tennis play. He is reaping the rewards now that the playing field has been leveled...with his bigger equipment.

It's interesting isn't it? Connecting the dots from the 1920's to the present. And don't forget how tennis can metaphor life at times...a lot of times. Winners and losers. It's never too late to dig in a make a stand...if you don't give up hope.

[stotty]

The women's final was interesting. The first set was very tight with little in it. Muguruza found herself 4-5 and 15-40 down. The contest then became fascinating because it became all about steel and nothing else. Sometimes matches come down to steel and this match was one of those. Muguruza played two massive rallies to save the two set points and bring things back to deuce. She battled on to eventually hold serve. The match was won right there in my view. Venus slowly started to fold and then lost the first set. Her game then completely collapsed. Venus just couldn't hang with Muguruza when it came to toughing it out.

It was truly fascinating to watch a match won by what happened in one particular game.