Pat Cash on racquets, nothing new really but interesting

[jimlosaltos]

As my wife often tells me, you don't seem to get many "likes" Stroke.

Nooooo! Well, I clicked "like" on this. Merry Xmas!

[don_budge]

Nooooo! Well, I clicked "like" on this. Merry Xmas!

Whatever...hope you all feel better about yourselves. Weak.

Another fascinating aspect of this match played on a rather windy day and a fully packed stadium in September of 1984 was the use of various tactics and "specialty" shots. I say specialty because in the context of modern tennis they are indeed...specialty. On the winning side of the equation was Ivan Lendl. Lendl struggled from the beginning of the match trying to find the timing necessary to hit the ball in the rather small sweet spot of his 80 square inch racquet. The combination of wind, nerves and a huge crowd would make nearly anyone want to hide under their comfy blanket. Such is the nature of tennis. Particularly so in those days. There were not shots of the "team" of either Cash or Lendl. They may or may not have had a coach present. There wasn't a constant back and forth from player to some corner of the audience. No constant fist pumping back and forth between team and player. Just a lonely player out there all on his own. Thus the extremely tough and sometimes cruel nature of the real game of tennis.

Ivan Lendl got approximately a dozen lobs over Pat Cash's head in the course of this five set epic. Epic in the sense of balancing the equation of the game. The conditions. The crowd...who down the stretch were pulling hard for Pat Cash to get the horse in the barn. It came down to one or two points. Another specialty shot that was on full display was the forehand volley of Pat Cash. His backhand volley was rock solid for most of the day, yet the forehand was somewhat shaky and he had a tough time getting through the shot to make the ball penetrate the surface of the court. His timing was a tad off. He was a bit nervous on that side. He got off on the wrong foot literally and just couldn't shift his weight into the volley and consequently he ended up trying to steer or bunt the ball into the court and just couldn't apply the pressure he needed to get Lendl off balance. He paid the price and lost the match.

There were all kinds of adjustments going on from point to point...even from shot to shot. The backhands varied from drive to slice. Returns ran the full spectrum from defense to aggressive...to chip and charge on the second ball for Cash. The match was a thing of beauty and watching from the stands that day in 1984 it was apparent it was something special going on. Stan Smith and John Newcombe had already gone the distance in the Senior singles. Two legends in their own right. Playing better than they had any right to play...both sporting brand new shiny graphite over-sized racquets. It made for great visuals. Ivan Lendl and Pat Cash played a tremendously entertaining match and they didn't play it that clean. It was rather scrappy at times. But tennis was not a game of perfect. It was nearly impossible to find that sweet spot for mere mortals. Thus the mishits. The imperfection reminded us of our humanness. The game had a built in "humble meter".

Pat Cash had a little discussion about racquets on youtube. It shed very little light on anything that matters. What matters most is ethics. Honesty. Loyalty. Honor. You think of words like these in context with modern life. The lack of genuine morality. The new replaces the old so seamlessly nowadays. So quickly. Like values. Modern virtual morality. In contrast to this. For instance. Listen to this sermon. An angle from the Old Testament.

https://warrendalecc.org/sermons1.html

"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 become 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." ...don_budge

[stroke]

Whatever...hope you all feel better about yourselves. Weak.

Another fascinating aspect of this match played on a rather windy day and a fully packed stadium in September of 1984 was the use of various tactics and "specialty" shots. I say specialty because in the context of modern tennis they are indeed...specialty. On the winning side of the equation was Ivan Lendl. Lendl struggled from the beginning of the match trying to find the timing necessary to hit the ball in the rather small sweet spot of his 80 square inch racquet. The combination of wind, nerves and a huge crowd would make nearly anyone want to hide under their comfy blanket. Such is the nature of tennis. Particularly so in those days. There were not shots of the "team" of either Cash or Lendl. They may or may not have had a coach present. There wasn't a constant back and forth from player to some corner of the audience. No constant fist pumping back and forth between team and player. Just a lonely player out there all on his own. Thus the extremely tough and sometimes cruel nature of the real game of tennis.

Ivan Lendl got approximately a dozen lobs over Pat Cash's head in the course of this five set epic. Epic in the sense of balancing the equation of the game. The conditions. The crowd...who down the stretch were pulling hard for Pat Cash to get the horse in the barn. It came down to one or two points. Another specialty shot that was on full display was the forehand volley of Pat Cash. His backhand volley was rock solid for most of the day, yet the forehand was somewhat shaky and he had a tough time getting through the shot to make the ball penetrate the surface of the court. His timing was a tad off. He was a bit nervous on that side. He got off on the wrong foot literally and just couldn't shift his weight into the volley and consequently he ended up trying to steer or bunt the ball into the court and just couldn't apply the pressure he needed to get Lendl off balance. He paid the price and lost the match.

There were all kinds of adjustments going on from point to point...even from shot to shot. The backhands varied from drive to slice. Returns ran the full spectrum from defense to aggressive...to chip and charge on the second ball for Cash. The match was a thing of beauty and watching from the stands that day in 1984 it was apparent it was something special going on. Stan Smith and John Newcombe had already gone the distance in the Senior singles. Two legends in their own right. Playing better than they had any right to play...both sporting brand new shiny graphite over-sized racquets. It made for great visuals. Ivan Lendl and Pat Cash played a tremendously entertaining match and they didn't play it that clean. It was rather scrappy at times. But tennis was not a game of perfect. It was nearly impossible to find that sweet spot for mere mortals. Thus the mishits. The imperfection reminded us of our humanness. The game had a built in "humble meter".

Pat Cash had a little discussion about racquets on youtube. It shed very little light on anything that matters. What matters most is ethics. Honesty. Loyalty. Honor. You think of words like these in context with modern life. The lack of genuine morality. The new replaces the old so seamlessly nowadays. So quickly. Like values. Modern virtual morality. In contrast to this. For instance. Listen to this sermon. An angle from the Old Testament.

https://warrendalecc.org/sermons1.html

"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 become 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." ...don_budge

DB, Stroke is a very patient guy. I have been nothing but respectful to you on this board through the years, but you have breached my patience at this point. This version of DB, which seems eerily similar to your old buddy Bottle, is just not doing it for me. Maybe you need to start your own thread, call it "A New Years Eveyone Sucks Except Me".

[don_budge]

Interesting to see Pat likes large racquets "for volleying"...

Another interesting thing about the Ivan Lendl/Pat Cash semifinal in 1984 at the U. S. Open is the excellent commentary. Tony Trabert and John Newcombe absolutely nail it. Their old school knowledge and respect for the game comes through in sort of glowing light that comes up just short of white. But more than interesting and just down right fascinating is that on this historic day in tennis, historically no other men's Grand Slam semifinal had been played with all four semifinalists using graphite oversized racquets, is that neither Trabert, Newcombe or the sidekick Sommeral mentioned this fact to the public. Not a peep. How is that? All three were very clever, astute and observant commentators, unlike the modern ilk these days, yet not one had the moment of clarity to say something about this historical fact. Was it a conspiracy? Were they instructed to not mention it?

Furthermore...Bud Collins who was considered by many to be one of the most knowledgeable characters in the tennis world never mentioned it in his follow up coverage of the event. He never once mentioned the disparity in racquets in the infamous 1984 Wimbledon final between John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors either. Two glaring cases of omission if there ever was one...or two. Was this a conspiracy? I am sure that it was. It is a lie too big to be ignored. Lies are sometimes what you don't say...aren't they?

So it is interesting to hear what Pat Cash has to say about racquets so many years later. He doesn't mention the wooden racquets he began playing with. But he has in articles posted on this website:

https://www.tennisplayer.net/author/pat-cash/

Interesting enough...there are all kinds of comments in the tennisplayer.net forum discussing wooden racquets. Many of them posted by yours truly...don_budge.

[doctorhl]

Interesting thoughts DB! Having recently been involved in pickleball, it is amazing to witness that game's battle with paddle evolutuion. It is suffering the same aches annd pains as Tennis, only compressed in a much shorter historical period. Its battle with the amateur versus the pro side mimics a tennis documentary. The money currently driving the industry is likely to kill it within 10 years.