Thoughts about Tennis Tradition...

[don_budge]

Here is my answer: confidence in his racket that brought him all of his success. Why did Pete not switch from his old Pro Staff, or why didn't Roger switch earlier? Clearly, there was a material advantage to do so, but tennis is such a finely tuned sport that any change in material would take time.

Confidence? Attachment? Bonding? Interesting theory...but does that explain why Bjorn Borg would show up in a entirely different age or even a different dimension. Tennis had fundamentally changed in the years that he retired up to the point of his comical comeback. Confidence? That doesn't explain it. But love for his racquet might. Love. Adoration. Love for tennis...the sport of tennis. That game that gave him his identity. His claim to fame. To make a comeback in a different age where the racquets had definitively changed with his outdated equipment where he was out gunned from the get go...it's a mystery. A riddle wrapped in an enigma.

I know how he felt. I felt the same way. Borg retired in 1983. I'd pretty much had it with the sport as well. The change in equipment absolutely fried me mentally. I couldn't change to the new stuff after growing up with the game I revered and adored playing with wooden racquets. I experimented with the different materials. Though I always returned to wood. I quit the game too. Turned my back on the one I loved. Would love to hear it from the horse's mouth. I always hoped that I would run into Bjorn here in Sweden so I could ask him about this.

Changing to oversized was an automatic escalation in competitive tennis. He knew that better than anyone. He knew he couldn't compete with a wooden racquet in the age of oversized graphite. That is elementary. A child would figure that out. Every idiot playing tennis in that era of the game immediately knew that.

I think Borg was making a point. He couldn't seriously believe he could compete with the old wooden racquets. Roger should have switched years earlier. His overall record would have reflected this in a major way. Just look at his head to head against his major rivals after he switched. Nadal in particular. He owned Nadal after the switch. Absolutely owned him. Size matters...big time.

[don_budge]

I managed a 168 yard seven iron in the stable "golf studio" a few minutes ago. Exhausted from play for three days straight. Google AI puts that in the 95th percentile "or higher" for a 72 year old. The short intensive training sessions have been a gold mine. Did I mention that I had a putt for 72 and a birdie on the 18th hole last week. Averaging in the 75 or 76 area for the past couple of weeks. Handicap at 4.2. I can feel it. More confidence. Maturity? If I start badly, I feel that I can get it back knowing the nature of the game. This is what we call "letting the game come to you" in golf and tennis jargon.

To transfer my "findings" to the tennis world, I would recommend practice against the wall for short and intense sessions. Introduce ideas to fulfill potential in any area of the game. Go to work with a very specific idea and work on it hard for twenty minutes. Step away...do physical training. The same way...short intensive sessions. This is the way to practice to improve technique and increase mph. This kind of training would have some real sound benefits for serve training and building speed not to mention perfect and fluid service motions. Tennis and golf are God's gift to mankind in terms of recreation. The technology have rendered them unrecognizable from their original form. Is there a way back? Many old timers...past great champions suggest as much. As do I.

Regarding use of technology in training. Using images from youtube from great champions and then having the ability to immediately go out and try and simulate them is a real advantage. While a never used speed measurement devices in training my serve...some of this golf gizmo stuff is amazing. I have a very rudimentary device that measures club speed, ball speed, smash factor (ball speed divided by club speed) and distance. The instant feedback is fascinating in retrospect.