Thoughts about Tennis Tradition...

[stotty]

Marshall Jon Fisher...again touches a subject that I have broached in the past. As to the real reason that Bjorn Borg quit....

http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1995/07/the-feel-of-wood/304281/

"In April of 1991 Bjorn Borg reappeared on the professional tennis circuit after a mysterious nine-year absence--mysterious because when he retired, at the end of 1981, he was twenty-six years old, in the best physical shape a human being can be in, and had won five of the past six Wimbledons, not to mention the past four French Opens.

Borg had said he was simply sick of tennis. But perhaps he was also sick of what he saw tennis becoming. Although he and McEnroe fought their historic battles with wood in their hands, big-head Huns were visible on the horizon. How were these aging touch-and-speed players supposed to hold their ground?"

Borg was sick of what he saw coming...I have speculated this before. I asked Mats Wilander this question in front of over a hundred Swedish tennis trainers. He sort of side stepped the subject.

For me there are just two possible reasons for Borg's inexplicable decision the retire:

- he genuinely burnt out

- or he didn't like what was coming...and by this I mean McEnroe, who was improving all the time.

Two reasons...take your pick. I have never been able to decide.

It's a shame because I thought Borg was getting better too. He was serving better and his forehand seemed to be getting harder. I bet a friend of mine he would win the French 10 times before he retired...then he went and retired at 26.

An amazing thing that never gets mentioned is that Borg skipped one French Open at his zenith to play team tennis instead. He also only competed in one Aussie Open in 1974 aged 18.

[don_budge]

The Spin Doctor...a lesson in spin (to a student)

it's ok...you are only being impatient. remember what i told you...let the game come to you. it does no good to try and force things...on the tennis court or off. if you are trying to force things then you are probably in a more or less desperate situation. you never want to let on to your lover or your opponent that you are desperate.

what is power i ask my students...control is power. control yourself in order to control the ball and then you can control your opponent. control your emotional reactions in love and then you control your lover.

[don_budge]

Marshall Jon Fisher...again

Marshall Jon Fisher...again touches a subject that I have broached in the past. As to the real reason that Bjorn Borg quit....

http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1995/07/the-feel-of-wood/304281/

"In April of 1991 Bjorn Borg reappeared on the professional tennis circuit after a mysterious nine-year absence--mysterious because when he retired, at the end of 1981, he was twenty-six years old, in the best physical shape a human being can be in, and had won five of the past six Wimbledons, not to mention the past four French Opens.

Borg had said he was simply sick of tennis. But perhaps he was also sick of what he saw tennis becoming. Although he and McEnroe fought their historic battles with wood in their hands, big-head Huns were visible on the horizon. How were these aging touch-and-speed players supposed to hold their ground?"

Borg was sick of what he saw coming...I have speculated this before. I asked Mats Wilander this question in front of over a hundred Swedish tennis trainers. He sort of side stepped the subject.

[gzhpcu]

Don't get me wrong: I enjoy watching the old matches and Ashe-Nastase is a classic. However, nothing lasts forever, and we have to move on and accept that the environment has changed. Can't go on living in the past forever. Sure, I miss the old days in Malibu and L.A., but life goes on...

P.S. I have the book "Terrible Splendor" in my library and find it exceptional as well.

[don_budge]

Marshall Jon Fisher...

...is the author of "A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played". Just in case you didn't know.

Perhaps the finest piece of tennis literature ever written. Don Budge himself told me the story of his match with Gottried von Cramm one night over a champagne dinner with the rest of the staff at the Don Budge Tennis Camp in 1972 or 1973. I cannot remember which year...it was a long time ago. But that doesn't mean it didn't happen...just because it is ancient history.

[don_budge]

The First Post of "Traditional Thoughts..."

Well Don...I thought nobody would ever ask. Let's see where this leads us.

You are a little late there, Don. Where were you when the Prince was making her debut? I remember going to war with every player that used it against me in tournaments. I was on my way up. The racquets derailed me. I was livid. I thought they were cheating...not only me but the game herself. And she was my great love. I loved her with all my heart and soul. I wanted to kill them. All of them. In defense of her Tradition. There were too many. There was only me...but it made no difference, I didn't care. I stood up. To the machine!

Tradition? Forget about it. You are too late to be concerned with such trivia. In fact if you speak of such things you will have people calling you a "prisoner of your generation" and looking at you cross eyed. I hear the snickering. To which I say...phooey.

One of my last memories in competitive tennis was going three sets with three opponents with Princess racquets in one day, me and my Kramers...lost the third. I tried to scrape myself off the bed the next day. I lost toenails. I went down fighting. I realized a long time ago...the gig was up. Nobody cared. Not like I do...to this very day. They still don't. That was the day the music died. That was the day that Don Quixote died...again.

Only in modern tennis...or modern day politics

Well, you would probably also need more skill to play with a coke bottle as well, so what is the point? Do we need equipment which makes playing the game more difficult?

Nobody wants to make your life more difficult...certainly not I. The professional game however should have maintained some semblance of professional standards.

http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1995/07/the-feel-of-wood/304281/

From the article...The Feel of Wood by Marshall Jon Fisher (do you recognize that name tennis students of the game?)

"Revisionist proposals for improving the game have surfaced from time to time: make the balls heavier; make the court larger; take away the second serve. But this is like curing halitosis by distributing nose plugs."

"Is the solution too simple to see? Bring back wood. Major-league baseball requires wood bats for a similar reason--so that players don't start hitting a hundred homers a season, and 12-10 doesn't become a routine score. But tennis-racket companies are making too much money to let wood return without a fight: in 1975 the Dunlop Maxply--as good a wood racket as then existed--cost $25; by 1980 a decent oversized racket cost at least $100, and now many popular models cost more than $150. If the players and fans had made a stand in 1980, they could have persuaded the ITF to require conventional equipment for the pros, as in baseball. In fact, they could do it now without impinging on the racket companies' wealth, because most amateurs would still buy oversized rackets, just as softball players and amateur baseball players (even in the NCAA) use aluminum bats. But fifteen years' worth of big-head professional tennis will be difficult to overcome."

By the way...philosophically I feel quite intact. I have stuck to my guns. Never wavered. Think what you want...Model T's and coke bottles. Is that logical thought? Philosophically speaking? A broomstick with a tomato on it? As Slew Hester suggested in 1977?

I know that I am way far in the minority here...which only makes me feel more secure in my knowledge. The herd is going one way...I am going the other. Only in tennis and modern day politics does the truth make you a terrorist.

"In times of great deceit...telling the truth is a revolutionary act." George Orwell.

[tennis_chiro]

Love the clips

Roger Federer is the fourth seed in this years championships. He is slated to meet Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. I wonder what the odds are of that happening. Last year they both experienced difficulties in getting out of the blocks.

Come to think of it...how long has it been since Nadal has been a factor at Wimbledon? How many years does Federer have in him? Can he make a meaningful run this year?

With the waning of Roger's career we must look to the future of tennis. What are the prospects of restoring some of the traditional play back into the game? It appears that the powers that be are giving it considerable thought...judging from the public line of questioning in this interview with Mats Wilander. I wonder what they are saying in private.

https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/video/0619-mats-point-itw-chris-192748331.html

At the trainers symposium in Stockholm that I attended in March Mats said that a player such as Nadal should not be winning Wimbledon with his style of play.

"Lots of the information is contradictory."...Chris Kermode.

Really love the clips. I catch Eurosport courtesy of LSHunter.com, but it is always a pain to get it and not as clear as your connections here.

don

[don_budge]

Thoughts about Tennis Tradition...

Roger Federer is the fourth seed in this years championships. He is slated to meet Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. I wonder what the odds are of that happening. Last year they both experienced difficulties in getting out of the blocks.

Come to think of it...how long has it been since Nadal has been a factor at Wimbledon? How many years does Federer have in him? Can he make a meaningful run this year?

With the waning of Roger's career we must look to the future of tennis. What are the prospects of restoring some of the traditional play back into the game? It appears that the powers that be are giving it considerable thought...judging from the public line of questioning in this interview with Mats Wilander. I wonder what they are saying in private.

https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/video/0619-mats-point-itw-chris-192748331.html

At the trainers symposium in Stockholm that I attended in March Mats said that a player such as Nadal should not be winning Wimbledon with his style of play.

"Lots of the information is contradictory."...Chris Kermode.

[don_budge]

The Mission...Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons

Speaking of Ennio Morricone...this from "The Mission"...starring Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oag1Dfa1e_E

This is a movie about the "settling" and "civilizing" of the Americas. Before the times political correctness.

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v19975805P...+Mission+(1986)

You know how I love to draw parallels between tennis and life. The current game of tennis sort of a fictitious account of the reality of the game. The fictitious accounts of history have played some rather funny games with our concept of the past as well. Traditionally speaking...this post is in line with the thread.

A little taste of reality...Real Tennis...with Mats Wilander.

https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/video/mats-point-tennis-history-193456943.html

The account of the native peoples of this continent and their plight is largely a myth. The truth is much harder to swallow although it gets easier as time goes by. The same cannot be said for tennis. Tennis' connection with the reality of the game as it was played for over a hundred years has become distorted and unrecognizable. Hmmm...another "history" lesson.

[don_budge]

Don Budge vs. don_budge...time will tell

I think Don Budge would be proud of don_budge. The way you've represented the man on the forum is quite something. I think he'd be touched...that would be the best word describe it...touched. How could he not be.

The best that I could hope for...is that he would be amused. I know that he would have been. He had quite a sense of humor, you know.

On a different note...something is dawning on me. Just because you are in a minority of one it doesn't make you mad.

I have been on something of a rant in the Australian Open thread regarding the conditions of the game of tennis. While I don't apologize...it occurs to me that this is truly a phenomena that George Orwell could well appreciate. This is "Orwellian" by definition...he who controls the present controls the past.

Which sort of confirms that answer to the question that I always ask my students...What is power? Answer...control is power.

The whole paradigm of something so traditional as the sport of tennis was so radically changed and accepted by the masses without barely a whimper it is scary. Even today it occurs to me that there are those that would say that my views are criminal...because I perceive the reality of the situation differently than the masses. Truly group think...truly political correctness...truly thought police.

But if the conditions of the game are once more engineered back from where they came...I will be vindicated. Even though in my heart I am at peace with myself there is a hostility out there that I don't quite understand on "the planet of tennis". I believe that this is a case of...only time will tell. Amen.

[stotty]

What a book! I've read a fair amount already. Wouldn't you just love to have an H.G. Wells time machine to be able to go back and watch that game?

I'd use my time machine to go hurtling back to peek at ancient Rome, the final hours in the bunker, and old tennis matches...plenty of old tennis matches.

I think Don Budge would be proud of don_budge. The way you've represented the man on the forum is quite something. I think he'd be touched...that would be the best word describe it...touched. How could he not be.

And now for something completely different:

Working out the steps is a very complicated process—something like writing music. You have to think of some step that flows into the next one, and the whole dance must have an integrated pattern. If the dance is right, there shouldn't be a single superfluous movement. It should build to a climax and stop! - FRED ASTAIRE

[don_budge]

Happy New Year 2014...and beyond!

It is eleven in the evening here in Sweden, but it is only five in the afternoon back in Michigan where I lived most of my life. My former life, that is. I would just like to wish everyone here on the forum a Happy New Year...welcome back Phil. It's nice to hear from you again.

I was once again searching for one of those backhands from the past. You know...that is how I came across TennisPlayer.net. I was searching for a backhand...the "real" Don Budge's backhand. I had a student that was switching over to the one-handed backhand so I googled "Don Budge backhand" and it led me to here. The rest is history...as they say.

But this time I was searching for the Pancho Segura backhand as I was curious what he had on his left hand wing that matched the incredible forehand that I found for a student of mine. I was trying to match her right hand wing that was basically out-of-control so to speak...with something that matched her left hand wing which didn't look so bad at all.

Once again...I struck pay dirt. Somehow the search for the Segura backhand led me to this book "excerpt". The book is called "The Terrible Splendor". As the story goes...it is a story of three extraordinary men. Baron Gottfried Von Cramm, J. Donald Budge and William Tilden III. Three extraordinary men indeed. Three extraordinary men that played an extraordinary game and made it their life's purpose. Tennis.

For me...this book says it all. The book is about the greatest tennis match that was ever played and this account of it is the best that I have ever heard or read. That goes to hearing the original story from the horses mouth himself...I sat next to Don Budge one summer night in Maryland someplace at a seafood restaurant and after drinking several glasses of champagne he was telling me quietly on the side a bit about this historical match. I never did quite get the gist of the whole story until I read this account which once again filled my heart with love...the love of the game. You know what I am talking about. All of you. We share the same love.

When I found this I knew immediately what I was going to do with it. I was going to post it and share it with you guys on this forum. All of you students of the game. If you have not read it then I have a rare opportunity to give you a special gift...the gift of the spirit of the game. In these passages...should you choose to read it you will find the essence of what the game is about. The very meaning of tennis. As Don Budge dueled the aristocratic Von Cramm on Center Court at Wimbledon in a 1937 Davis Cup match that has long been heralded as the greatest tennis match ever played. In this book some of the pages have been omitted...so if you want to know the whole story you will have to order the book.

When I was eighteen years old in 1972 I spent the first of two summers at the Don Budge Tennis Camp. I wasn't old enough to realize just what that name meant to tennis. My father gave the trip to his camp to me as a gift and I was lucky that Don invited me to spend the rest of the summer at the camp and the next as a counselor. Sometimes I am tempted to write about the magic of those two summers and someday I hope that I will. But now...I am the exact same age as Don Budge was when I knew him back in 1972 and 1973 so I realize what a gift that was to be in his presence for such a long time. He took a special interest in me it seems and who knows...maybe it somehow kept me out of jail. Those were turbulent times...instead of being at Budge's tennis camp those summers I might have been at Camp Vietnam.

When I found this book on the internet I read all of it in one sitting. Knowing Mr. Budge of course is one thing...but the character of Baron Gottfried Von Cramm is another thing and then of course there is that hapless hero of the game...William Tilden III. All heroes...two of them convicted of being homosexuals in less sympathetic times. It wasn't so long ago either. Not historically speaking. Needless to say...times have changed. Just as the game of tennis has.

Well...I am old enough to know now. Old enough to know a thing or two. Maybe not only about tennis even though there may be some doubt as to actually how much I know about tennis. It was suggested here on the forum that one contributor may have forgotten more than I ever would know. I won't argue though...everyone is entitled to their opinion. Ever so humble as they may be.

But I must confess one thing here to all of you...and most of you already know it. I must confess that I never realized that when I took the user name of don_budge that I would ever be posting on the forum here. But I must confess that I am extremely proud that I did. I can honestly say that I do it in honor and in memory of the man himself and I hope that he would be proud of me...and I think that he would have. He liked me...I know that. He helped me...he helped me to let the game come to me. In my own way...I was always true to her. I defend her honor...to the end.

I joined the website on December 31, 2009 and here it is December 31, 2013. Four years to the day. I arrived here in Sweden from the United States on December 30, 2004. Nine years ago...almost to the day. Much has happened hasn't it? Much to me and much to the rest of the world. It is ironic isn't it? The earth has gone around the sun exactly four times and has returned to the same point in time and space. But isn't it the irony in life that keeps it interesting. Interesting that is, for those of us that have the luxury of pondering the irony of it. Some are fighting for the next meal....aren't they? It is tough out there. Sure it is. It got tough too, for that aristocratic son of a gun Von Cramm too. Circumstance. Is it luck or fate? You tell me. Some combination of? I don't know. I am always guessing fate though. For lack of a better answer. Well...that and for meeting an angel in my dreams. Also meeting the devil in a nightmare.

So here it is my friends..."The Terrible Splendor" by Marshall Jon Fisher. What a story about the greatest tennis match that was ever played and about the lives of the three principal characters involved. My old friend J. Donald Budge, the Baron Gottfried Von Cram and William Tilden III. If ever there was a tale that catches the spirit of the game...I believe that this is it. If it isn't...then it is at least one of the three little dots that you will need to connect the past with the present...and into the future. That being said...there is no better time than to post this now in hopes that you will enjoy it half as much as I have.

When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.

That will be ere the set of sun.

-Macbeth

Yours Truly...don_budge

http://books.google.se/books?id=Or9G72yAd9QC&pg=PT326&lpg=PT326&dq=pancho+segura+backhand&source=bl&ots=TJPSwV3hYu&sig=YzO5G2bvyn-Eeq5h49eLyLAWbuA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yDa_Uvi0Gany4QSVgoGABA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=pancho%20segura%20backhand&f=false

Good luck in the next year...and all of the years that follow. Live life as you play the game. In that way you will have fewer regrets.

[bottle]

I believe it.

[don_budge]

Winning and Losin'....what's the difference? Answer...not much sometimes.

I was so far down that I couldn't get up...you know and one day I was one of life's losers...


Winning...Santana (1981)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FmPg4lrBKc

One day I was on the ground
When I needed a hand
Then it couldn't be found
I was so far down that I couldn't get up
You know and one day I was one of life's losers
Even my friends were my accusers
In my head I lost before I begun

I had a dream but it turned to dust
And what I thought was love
That must have been lust
I was living in style
When the walls fell in
And when I played my hand
I looked like a joker
Turn around fate must have woke her
Cause lady luck she was waiting outside the door

I'm winning
I'm winning
I'm winning
I'm winning and I don't intend losing again

Too bad it belonged to me
It was the wrong time and not meant to be
It took a long time and I'm new born now
I can see the day that I bleed for
If it's agreed that there's a need
To play the game and to win again


Remember me, I was your fool, for really quite a long time...so I know how it feels to play on the losin' end...


Losin' End...The Doobie Brothers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imQ4zzg601o

There aren't enough words to say
When all I mean is I no longer love you
I'd like to leave it lie right there 'cause the rest ain't kind

I'm picking up my pride and I'll be on my way
If you no longer need me
I only have a word or two that I care to say

If you should ever find your spirit start to breaking
Girl, when your heart is aching
Remember me, I was your fool, for really quite a long time
So I know how it feels to play on the losin' end

When you finally turn and find no one around
To catch you when you're falling
To hear you when you're calling from down on the losin' end
Oh, ain't it just the losin' end

To catch you when you're falling
To hear you when you're calling from down on the losin' end
Oh, ain't it just the losin' end

Oh, ain't it just the losin' end
Hey, hey now baby, oh, ain't it just the losin' end
No, no, oh, ain't it just the losin' end

[don_budge]

How to Stop Losing? Stop being such a loser...

How do you stop losing? How about this...stop being such a loser. Listen to the words of "Losin' End" by the Doobie Brothers. I was listening to this song back in 1972...my friend Thomas Williamson was turning me on to the Doobie Brothers way back then. We were at the Don Budge Tennis Camp together. He showed me Carlos Castaneda too. The Journey to Ixtlan. The Lessons of Don Juan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imQ4zzg601o

It's pathetic...isn't it. Listening to this poor sap...playing the fool. The sucker. That's ok...life's like that. We all take a turn...we are all losers. No one here gets out alive anyways.

Down on your luck? Life got you down? What are you going to do about it?

The first thing you do is lift your head up...you just got hit by a train didn't you? Still alive? Pick your head up because you just never know...there may be another train hot behind the other one that just ran over you. Railroad tracks over your heart...like Mike MacDonald sings about in "Losin' End".

Assess the situation. How bad is it? Can you think your way through it? Can you get your head around it? You're still thinking...that's a good sign. Still alive. Still kicking. There is still hope. Ok...lift up your head. Get up. Dust yourself off. You're ok. Still in the game.

Tennis? Love? What's the difference? Losers are losers...somebodies got to love don't they? Somebodies got to lose don't they? Maybe it's just your turn. Or my turn. The question is...do you hate to lose? Will you fight with all of your heart...with all of your soul? For all that is dear to you. Will you reach down deep...to Davy Jones Locker if you have to? Don't you want to be a hero? You're damn right...said John McEnroe to Jiminy Glick.

Check out Santana's "Winning". What's the difference between this song and the one that the loser is singing..."Losin' End".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FmPg4lrBKc

Check it out. What is the difference? Come on...be honest with yourself. Honestly...the difference? Not much. Not much at all. Things could have been different. A couple of points may have gone your way. Is it luck? Is it fate? Join the crowd...all asking the same question. Chance or destiny? Hmmm...take your pick.

We are all losers. One day you are on top of the world. You show up to her apartment one day and she says...I have to go away for a while. The world crumbles right in front of you. What do you do? I don't know...I don't have any answers. Find the heart to start over...it's not so easy sometimes.

So here we are. Having this little honest discussion...me, myself and I. Winning? Losing? Those two impostors...treat them just the same. It's only life. It comes in a couple of different shades...black and white. One day you are on top and the next you are fighting for air. It can happen overnight...or it can take forever...death on the installment plan.

How to Stop Losing? Stop being such a loser. It's a hard habit to break. But you know what the kick start is...listen to "Winning". The first step is to hate losing. Then you get up...lift your head up first. Dust yourself off. Yeah...you can take a punch with the best of them. You can lose without being a loser. You hate to lose...as much as you hate being a loser. So you do what needs to be done. You do what ever it takes. You assess the situation. And you fight. You fight. You never quit. Because you hate to lose. You fight to the very last point. This is your mode of operation. It is in your genes. Because you hate to lose.

Today...I was playing against my much younger partner. We play games up to fifteen...starting the point with a groundstroke to the opponents forehand. Today we played for an hour and a half. I won 5-1. After a week...that left me weak. Thursday I didn't know what was wrong with me. No gas in the tank. Nothing. I made it through my lessons. Four hours. I had two hours of playing singles for lessons on Wednesday. Extra hours...extra lessons on Monday and Tuesday. Dog tired. I said to the wife before I left today...I don't know how much longer I can continue to play singles.

But half the battle is showing up. So I got there early and I waited on him. He won the first game...it was tough. He is motivated, strong and in shape. I have been teaching him for a couple of years now. He is playing more and more like me...only twenty years younger. Built like a real horse...my friend and partner. I won the next three games and each seemed to be tougher than the previous.

Then we were playing the longest point of the day...he had me four or five balls. Running me from side to side...I am playing defense...just barely staying in the point. Finally...I neutralize the point and we are on even footing. But at what cost? Here I am in the middle of this marathon point and I am thinking...I fought to get even...but it took all of my energy to get here. Maybe I just throw this point and take the twenty seconds or so to fetch a ball from the back of the court. I neutralized the point...but at what cost?

I didn't have the energy to get on top of it...to be aggressive enough to go on the attack. Like a punched out boxer wobbling on my legs...I pondered whether to throw the point or to try and outlast my younger, stronger, faster and more motivated opponent. I hung in there. I made the decision to hang on...to win at all costs. But I lost it. Exhaustion. I couldn't do it. But I won something. If only on the inside. I'm no loser. I finished out the game until the lights went out. "Thank God", I said. My partner laughed...he too was completely punched out. We shook hands...warmly.

I took a hot shower...and waited in my office for my lesson to show up. The two handed forehand lesson. Where was I going to find the energy? Deep down inside...that's where. These are lessons that I learned long ago. Winning and losing. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But you never...I repeat never have to be a loser. You lift up your head...you keep your head in the game.