Thoughts about Tennis Tradition...

[don_budge]

Statistics vs. Reality...

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - Mark Twain

"What is power", I ask the student. It's a rhetorical question. A question asked primarily to make a point or create a dramatic effect rather than to elicit an answer. Control is power. The three elements of control are speed, placement and spin. Since tennis is such a situational challenge it is the combination or blending of the three elements that express the true measure of power. If you control the ball, then you can control your opponent. If you can control your opponent, then you control the match. Tennis metaphors life...always. Control being an essential element in the living of one's life. Think of relationships as an example. The constant jockeying for control.

Statistics have their place, but it certainly isn't in tennis. Attempting to quantify a qualitative experience is bound to be ineffective. That being said...the herd likes statistics. MPH. RPM. %%%%% ad infinitum. That's fine. Impressive MPH...means nothing in terms of control without spin and placement. In golf it is said that the woods are full of long drivers of the golf ball. Modern tennis has certainly become a game of speed. An over emphasis of speed compared to the original game. The true game of tennis. It actually changed the paradigm of tennis. Perhaps it would be best to rename the game. Bang Ball. Something moronic and simple. Or return the game to original meaning. Original definition. Make Tennis Great Again!!!

[don_budge]

This sounds a lot like when people were writing off Sampras even as he just made 2 US Open finals....before come back to win the 3rd. Maybe this is it for Novak, but every set was good and each got closer in score. Novak has already been written off a couple of times, and at his age, odds do favor his departure soon. Personally I think he may have a few more surprises left in him.

It doesn't have any semblance to what "people" were saying about Pete Sampras some years ago. I'm all for Novak to keep going and to upstage the newbies...if he is or was capable of it. I'm not writing off Novak. I don't have that kind of power. It's Father Time who will decide and as I pointed out...the writing is on the wall. He's been an amazing competitor for many years and any way you look at it, that is a lot of miles on those legs. That is the one advantage that Sinner and Alcarez have on Djokovic...fresher legs. All things being equal, Novak is definitely the better tennis player. Even in the match with Sinner he kept things close. He kept it respectable. But he isn't in it for appearances. He wants the hardware.

Novak has been messaging for months now that the end is near. He doesn't play much. When he does play, he often opts for the quick exit to lesser players. But when it is a Slam, he is all business. He had a great tournament as far as 99% of the field was concerned. There would have been a lot of players that would kill for a semi-final appearance. It's old hat for this guy. He isn't entering tournaments to finish second. He hasn't for a long, long time.

So, I just call it like I see it. Personally, I would love to see him pin the ears back on the two rascals. One a drug offender and the other not so bright. Not a stitch of charisma between the two of them. Novak has a presence and he is punching above his weight off the court. His no-vax stance during the Covid fiasco was something of heroic proportions to millions of people and not all tennis "fans". The guy has balls. A real man. He stares down the unseen power on and off the tour. I never really liked his style of tennis. I figured he would be cat food for a prime time Pete Sampras for instance on a slick grass or a speedy hard court. Sampras had the weapons to dismantle such a defensive player. So did many players in the "Classic Era". Without his big bazooka racquet on a slick court he might just be another player in the draw.

Thanks for weighing in airforce1.

[don_budge]

Hi, I would like to hear a few of your ideas. Right before John passed away he read my book and expressed surprise that tthe debate about today's mechanics went back to the 19th century. He said "I get what you've done." I got lucky when John gifted a book to an esteemed associated he designated to run the site and told him "You'll like this." After the new manager (owner?) read my book, I was interviewed, and found him open to a few ideas and suggestions of my own. There will be a new emphasis on tennis tradition and history. I just wrote my first article on here in June issue, "Intro to The Birth of Lawn Tennis" if you wish to know a bit about me. By the way, I agree with you about artistry. Tennis will always be about tactics in the end. My contact info is in the article and inside the cover of my book which you can find easily.

Well, well...what a great surprise. Thanks for touching base. Just want to get back to you quickly. A couple of other posters who never frequent this thread started to pile on all of a sudden. But yours is an important post in these parts. Traditional thoughts...about tennis. I thought that I was the only one.

Sphairistike...from the Greek, playing with balls. How apropos. What a magical game tennis used to be. Before they reinvented it. Engineered it beyond recognition. FUBAR...fucked up beyone all recognition. How's that for a thought. I abhor conventional wisdom. Herd mentality. Modern tennis sucks...there I said it again.

Here's a thought, John Carpenter. The book is William Tilden II. The model is Richard Gonzales with the Don Budge backhand. The coach is Harry Hopman. Roger Federer is "The Living Proof". The don_budge tennis teaching paradigm. Just for starters. Please allow me to introduce myself...I'm a man of wealth and taste. Can we be friends? Loved the article. My interest in tennis is rock bottom. I'm a golfer now. Passionate golfer. A student of the game.

Here John...friend me on Facebook for starters. https://www.facebook.com/don.budge.313

Here's another thought...modern tennis is fake tennis. The French Open final was a classic example. It wasn't that great of a match in my opinion. Both players were just swinging for the fences. Sinner is a robot and Alcarez is a gaping, open mouthed showoff. The match was close. It was long. Anybody that watched the entire thing needs to get a life. Long, monotonous, dreadfully boring baseline rallies. Not a stitch of imagination between the two of them. A fellow at the golf club here in Sweden asked me if I was going to watch the final the other day. My reply was..."no interest". He was a bit surprised as I have the reputation of being the American tennis coach. I went to say it was "fake tennis". He looked at me curiously. We then got into a discussion about "fake golf". The technology has changed the basic paradigm of the game. Modern people take great fake satisfaction in their superiority of the past. Much to their discredit as the human race has ceased to evolve...just as tennis did some forty years ago.

Looking forwards to your future contributions to the website. Nice to meet you. They engineered the art out of tennis. For which I will never forget...or forgive.

[stroke]

I would expect those surprises to show up at Wimbledon. Would love to see him win it.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/67PnpLCpaNXnPb8N7

He is the 3rd favorite. I think he could very well win it. There are only 2 players he would not be favored against.

[jeffreycounts]

This sounds a lot like when people were writing off Sampras even as he just made 2 US Open finals....before come back to win the 3rd. Maybe this is it for Novak, but every set was good and each got closer in score. Novak has already been written off a couple of times, and at his age, odds do favor his departure soon. Personally I think he may have a few more surprises left in him.

I would expect those surprises to show up at Wimbledon. Would love to see him win it.

[airforce1]

2025 French Open...Roland Garros...Paris, France...ATP 2000

The semi final featuring Novak Djokovic and Jannick Sinner was extremely telling and I'm sure that the drama was lost on all hands on deck on this forum. The last remaining "Musketeer" has played his hand. He was relevant until he was not. He no longer is and he will disappear soon. It's a matter of months, if not weeks.:

This sounds a lot like when people were writing off Sampras even as he just made 2 US Open finals....before come back to win the 3rd. Maybe this is it for Novak, but every set was good and each got closer in score. Novak has already been written off a couple of times, and at his age, odds do favor his departure soon. Personally I think he may have a few more surprises left in him.

[teachestennis]

Hi, I would like to hear a few of your ideas. Right before John passed away he read my book and expressed surprise that tthe debate about today's mechanics went back to the 19th century. He said "I get what you've done." I got lucky when John gifted a book to an esteemed associated he designated to run the site and told him "You'll like this." After the new manager (owner?) read my book, I was interviewed, and found him open to a few ideas and suggestions of my own. There will be a new emphasis on tennis tradition and history. I just wrote my first article on here in June issue, "Intro to The Birth of Lawn Tennis" if you wish to know a bit about me. By the way, I agree with you about artistry. Tennis will always be about tactics in the end. My contact info is in the article and inside the cover of my book which you can find easily.

[don_budge]

2025 French Open...Roland Garros...Paris, France...ATP 2000

We used to have "The Big Four" and now it is reduced to these two. The "The Modern Era" reduce to the "Post Modern Era". Divided by two. Seriously? I said all along that when Roger disappeared from the scene...when he left the stadium there would be a huge sucking sound like the air escaping from a balloon. Right again. The semi final featuring Novak Djokovic and Jannick Sinner was extremely telling and I'm sure that the drama was lost on all hands on deck on this forum. The last remaining "Musketeer" has played his hand. He was relevant until he was not. He no longer is and he will disappear soon. It's a matter of months, if not weeks.

Where is tennis going? The Lord only knows. It appears to me to be headed right into the toilet. The sheer monotony of play suggests something dreadfully boring. Sinner and Alcarez? Come on...neither has an ounce of charisma. Not a tiny little bit. Sinner is a robot and Alcarez is a dull knucklehead. Neither has anything remotely resembling the wit and charisma of the champions of the past. Not that I don't perceive the athleticism. Obviously these are the best in the world. But there is something integral to the game of tennis missing. What is it? Artistry. The engineering has mission accomplished written all over it. Shock and awe. Sheer speed. The game reduce to analysis by the numbers. Statistics? Stick 'em where the sun don't shine. MPH. RPM. Meaningless. It's a game of tactics and these days the tactics are just fast and faster. Throw in the occasional drop shot and let that suffice for the razzle dazzle we used to get in quantum doses from Roger. Roger Federer. The Living Proof...no longer present and accounted for. There's a huge vacuum in the game.

What about this website? Hmmm...how do make a silk purse out of pig's ear? I am referring to the game of tennis as the pig's ear. I have a couple of ideas. An upgrade. John is gone and there is a vacuum in his place. No knock against the present staff. But the website is going to have to adapt. Written by Charles Darwin in the "Survival of the Species". The ability to adapt is the key to survival. I have a couple of ideas and management can feel to contact me.

[don_budge]

John's Legacy: Visual Tennis

Great article and wonderful tribute to John Yandell. I remember when I first joined TennisPlayer.net there was a fellow named Geoff Williams who was advocating John for the Tennis Hall of Fame. Being new to the site I thought it was just some yokel sucking up to the owner for brownie points. That was some fifteen years ago.

Visual Tennis and "The Winning Edge" certainly are important landmarks in John's career. Those videos of John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl turn out to be sheer genius in retrospect. I believe those videos were actually done in 1984. Ah...the Orwellian year. Coincidentally the same year that tennis entered its own Orwellian phase and McEnroe and Lendl certainly captured the essence of this in their rivalry. Somehow John was at the exact precise point in time and space to have the wherewithal to produce such a masterpiece. Somehow John's legacy in in the remarkable timing of his work and the inflection point in history that tennis was precariously balancing on. How many times have I written on this forum about the 1984 U. S. Open and made the statement that this was the first time in tennis history where all four men's semifinalist's used oversized graphite racquets? The two finalists at that seismic event? None other than the two stars of John's epic "The Winning Edge"...John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl. I was there on the scene at Flushing Meadows. I saw every match that magic Saturday that Bud Collins claimed was the greatest day in tennis ever. He may have been right in more ways than one. He was speaking of the level of tennis but he never mentioned once the crossing of the rubicon into "Modern Tennis" as exemplified by the equipment.

If this website in its totality is not the legacy of John Yandell then I am missing something. John and I are the same age. We were brought up at a magical time in the tennis world and obviously tennis had a great impact on both of our lives...as it did millions of others. John was about fourteen years old when the game went open. That is...when professional's were allowed to play in the Grand Slam events in 1968. The game virtually exploded into the public domain from that point forwards. John was old enough to have been schooled in the traditional school of tennis, The white clothes. The white balls. Tennis etiquette. Most importantly...wooden racquets. John cut his teeth on classic tennis. He was on the edge. When it tipped...he was there to capitalize on the fallout. He was a bridge between the classic era and the ensuing make believe tennis. But he captured it. With his video. With his analysis. With his attitude. Hall of Fame material? Yes...why not?

May God bless John. He was an important man in my life these past fifteen years. He knew what I was talking about in the romance of the old game. He never once criticized me for this thread and the commentary in it. I put my heart and soul into this forum and John knew it. He even appreciated it. He gave me VIP status here. Behind the scenes. John pretty much left the forum alone. He left it up to the members to pretty much breath life into it. Every once in a while he would step in to mediate. He was the Boss. A good one and a fair one. A couple of years ago we lost Roger Federer on the playing field. Roger...being the last remaining link. Between the classic era and the modern era. The Living Proof in the don_budge paradigm for teaching tennis. John felt the same way. I believe he agreed with me that the game was in trouble when Roger left. At least in for some big changes. They are coming too.

Wonderful article and a great tribute to John. His passing really hit me. It still effects me. The website will be an interesting thing to watch without his influence. They say nobody is irreplaceable. John just might set the record straight on that. We will have to wait and see.

[don_budge]

Roger Federer...Forehand Not Gone

Forever grateful for this video. For the song. Gone...Gone...Gone. Some sunny day, baby. When everything seems okay, baby. Then they're gone. Really gone.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/article/music-videos/

Gone Gone Gone...Robert Plant

Some sunny day-hay baby
When everything seems okay, baby
You'll wake up and find out you're alone
Cause Ill be gone
Gone, gone, gone really gone
Gone, ga-gone, cause you done me wrong

Everyone that you meet baby
As you walk down the street baby
Will ask you why you're walkin' all alone
Why you're on your own
Just say I'm gone
Gone, gone, gone
Gone, ga-gone, cause you done me wrong

If you change your way baby
You might get me to stay baby
Ya better hurry up if ya don't wanna be alone
Or Ill be gone
Gone, gone, gone
Really gone
Gone, Ga-gone
Cause you done me wrong

I've lost another. This time I had the time to say good-bye. It helps a little. Still...the emptiness. It's humbling.

[don_budge]

Killing the Blues...Remembering John Yandell

Ahh...feeling blue. Remembering John. His love of tennis. His love of music. His talent for combining the two. You learn something of a person from their taste in music. His masterpiece music/tennis video...Roger Federer, Forehand Not Gone. Music by Robert Plant and Alison Krause. The youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YVRxAX6fwg

Killing the Blues...Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQG1hmP4VM0

KILLING THE BLUES
Leaves were falling, just like embers,
In colors red and gold, they set us on fire
Burning just like moonbeams in our eyes

Somebody said they saw me, swinging the world by the tail
Bouncing over a white cloud, killing the blues

Now I'm guilty of something
I hope you never do
Because there is nothing
Any sadder than losing yourself in love.

Somebody said they saw me, swinging the world by the tail
Bouncing over a white cloud, killing the blues

And then you've ask me... just to leave you
To set out on my own
And get what I needed.
You want me to find what I've already had

Somebody said they saw me, swinging the world by the tail
Bouncing over a white cloud, killing the blues

https://www.tennisplayer.net/article/music-videos/

[don_budge]

Does anyone remember when it was not polite for the crowd to cheer for an unforced error? Is it possible for a pro game to be played with the players calling their own lines?? The humble nod of respect for a good shot has been replaced by the philistine "fist pump".

The fist pumps are sickening. From Jannik Sinner's little lame fist swish...to Carlos Alcaraz beckoning and begging the crowd to acknowledge something that is part of his job. Real ham. Real hot dogs. Humility is no longer a word applicable to professional sports and tennis no exception. Particularly among the younger players. Djokovic will occasionally be demonstrative but he is many times doing it for effect. He plays the crowd like a real maestro. They are often hostile and he is a master of using this hostility to his advantage. An old ploy of Ille Nastase and John McEnroe. A bit more subtle in the Djokovic theater of acting.

[neilchok]

yeah I think what makes tennis unique is the sportsmanship. The fact that men and women play in the same venue at the same time. Men and women actually play in events together, and the matches are entertaining. And they have the boys and girls tournaments as well at the same venue. I feel tennis is at such a higher level of respect and spirit. I actually think that the X-games for skateboarding also shows that type of sportsmanship.

I think in my opinion other sports should try to become more like tennis. Tennis is a sport that players don't try to injure each other purposely. It is extremely athletically demanding, you have to be very talented as well. Some people say it is the hardest sport to play.

I think these new players are super insecure and trying to make them fit with other sports. I remember Nick making the comment I am trying to mix basketball with tennis. Why??? The NBA sucks now, and ratings are down, and the players don't even want to play. With tennis for the most part, you know most players are going to give a 100% even if it is an ATP250 or a GrandSlam. The NFL is a sport now about Taylor Swift and making money, and making sure certain teams make it to the playoffs.

To me what makes tennis fun is when you have a good tennis match between two players going at it. Tennis is fun for the sport, not the drama and free agency outside the sport.

[doctorhl]

Does anyone remember when it was not polite for the crowd to cheer for an unforced error? Is it possible for a pro game to be played with the players calling their own lines?? The humble nod of respect for a good shot has been replaced by the philistine "fist pump".

[don_budge]

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.

This is the reality on the ground...as they say. Just take a look around you. People walking around with their heads stuck in their phones. I took a train to Gothenburg recently and everyone on that train was hooked into a gizmo. Sometimes two. Me? None. I've been on this divorce myself from the new reality kick.

But tennis certainly does metaphor life. More and more every single traditional aspect of tennis has been erradicated from the game. Compared to the game in 1968...when the game coincidentally went "open" and I first picked up a racquet. Let's call it for what it is...a FUBAR. Fucked up beyond all recognition. Well...it has hit the bottom of the barrel. The number one player in the world is not only the most boring one dimensional player ever, he is also a convicted drug cheat.

More and more the game is referenced to in terms of digital means. Stats galore. Cyclops...or rather Hawk Eye. The entire shebang. It is what it is...the game is a progressive game in terms of modern political speak. A rather interpretation of progressive below. Censorship is in vogue. Even soft censorship. Old school announcers rolling over to the Modern game like the old one never existed. The occasional oblique reference. Yeah...give me McEnroe and Borg anytime. Like magicians compared to the new nonsense.

The modern game of tennis is the result of progressive intervention. You can see the same in society today. Tennis metaphoring life...again.

Virtual reality. Virtual morality. Where does it end?

"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