Results 126 to 150 of 430
Thread: Tennis 2022
-
01-28-2022, 12:15 PM #126
Lucky guy! It's a dream to hit all of the majors at least once. Lucky enough to have hit Flushing a couple of times.
The run up tourney in England is Queens.
I played a bunch of times on an artificial grass court with sand on it (U of C in Calgary, and in a super small town in Northern BC (Hazelton)). Played similar to clay.
I'm so jealous Matt, did you see this live?
I remember Connors/Krickstein as being an absolute classic as well. Murkier memories of Connors/Borg marathons and always loved watching Mac play anybody back in the day. Sadly for a small town Alberta boy, never got to see any of these guys play live with the exception in the late 80's when Mac, Connors, Lendl and someone else (if my damaged memory serves) came to Calgary for an exhibition.
Haha. I bet those assholes in Boston (Edmonton, phillie and TO) used to say that about Ken Linseman and still say that about Marchand.
Tech talk you fucking Jongs.
hahaha. Never thought I'd say that in the tennis forum!!
So all of your reminiscences got me thinking about my weapons of choice over the years and I think I remember...
1970 - 1975 Slazenger Demon (hand me down from my brother) wood
75 - 79 ??
79 - 89 Slazenger Vilas V-24 wood/graphite composite
89 - 97 (Jesus, I used the same racquet for this long???) the same Estusa ceramic composite (I remember it also said tubular), great racquet. And it never exploded and projected ceramic shrapnel into my eyes like one of my wife's vases. It was when I started buying 2 of the same racquets as I started playing tourneys and club tennis. Probably peaked here, as I was playing a club "A" level, at least 3 - 4 times a week and wasn't afraid of playing anyone in town (the town was Kamloops). Likely equivalent to a 5.0 level
97 - 2012 Same 2 estusas. I will say one thing about this racquet - a wooden (or wood composite) racquet would not have stood up to over 20 years of abuse.
2012 - current Babolat pure drive. Love this racquet.
Cannot comment on current aussie open status as I recorded the nadal/berretinni match and don't know who won.“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
www.mymountaincoop.ca
This is OUR mountain - come join us!
-
01-28-2022, 01:32 PM #127Good-lookin' wool
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Posts
- 11,763
It was something else and I'm pissed I cannot place the name. It's likely defunct now. I went looking for my tourney book and cant find it. Did find some other cool old tennis shit though and some old pictures.
Gary, here's a lead on some canuckian grass court action. I used to play this tournament when I was a young un. https://clubspark.ca/southcowichan/
-
01-28-2022, 01:44 PM #128
I beleive this is called an omni court. My hood had two of them before ditching for ditching for another PITA surface. I can't recall the name but it's a fiberglass mat expoyed to a hard surface i think asphalt in our case, as you can imagine the epoxy will give way after a bit and create dead spots.
"Can't you see..."
-
01-28-2022, 02:04 PM #129Good-lookin' wool
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Posts
- 11,763
Found it on the 1996 ATP wiki page. It is the Nottingham Open played on the week before Wimbledon and I was wrong about Korda winning that. It was Siemeriink.
-
01-28-2022, 02:04 PM #130
-
01-28-2022, 02:10 PM #131
Yeah, it is truly the golden age of tennis up here. Though the gates were opened with Rusetski (traitor), Milos, Genie, and Bassett it's real now with 2 men and 2 women going deep consistently. Be nice to see Milos mount a comeback but I'm skeptical given his age and the injuries he's had.
Never been a time when US men's tennis has been so sparsely represented at the open level. Sorry dudes.
-
01-28-2022, 02:18 PM #132Good-lookin' wool
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Posts
- 11,763
-
01-29-2022, 08:45 PM #133
Retro-week in here was great. I'd like to see Rafa get 21, but I definitely don't care as much about the current era as McEnroe/Connors through Sampras/Agassi.
Tonight I walked in to hear John McEnroe playing himself as narrator of a high school kid's life on Netfix. I had to watch some. I blame retro week. Also my wife, but mostly retro week.
Still, John McEnroe should definitely be doing more voice work.
-
01-30-2022, 07:39 AM #134
If you guys aren’t, you should really be watching this men’s final right now.
I still call it The Jake.
-
01-30-2022, 08:34 AM #135
It’s recording
-
01-30-2022, 12:07 PM #136
Final did not disappoint!
-
01-30-2022, 01:08 PM #137
So glad Rafa gets to lift #21, not because I'm a hudge fan of is, but it highlight's Novak's stupidity. That could be him with the record lead, but for a wee little poke.
And ruh-roh, looks like there may be further problems for him; because of a BBC report and findings from a German research group who dug deeper into his out of synch covid test confirmation codes, some are asking for a full investigation by the ATP on his so-called positive Covid test: https://www.bbc.com/news/59999541
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy."fuck off you asshat gaper shit for brains fucktard wanker." - Jesus Christ
"She was tossing her bean salad with the vigor of a Drunken Pop princess so I walked out of the corner and said.... "need a hand?"" - Odin
"everybody's got their hooks into you, fuck em....forge on motherfuckers, drag all those bitches across the goal line with you." - (not so) ill-advised strategy
-
01-30-2022, 04:46 PM #138Registered User
- Join Date
- Feb 2004
- Location
- MN
- Posts
- 2,979
My GOAT rank is Fed by far, Rafa in a close second, and Joke a distant third (I can’t stand Joke).
Nadal growing on me as he ages.
Really want to see Fed get #21 at Wimbledon.
-
01-30-2022, 05:17 PM #139
how can it be Fed "by far" but Rafa a "close second"?
FWIW, I agree with your rankings, though I am no tennis master and admit that likeability probably oozes into my rankings."fuck off you asshat gaper shit for brains fucktard wanker." - Jesus Christ
"She was tossing her bean salad with the vigor of a Drunken Pop princess so I walked out of the corner and said.... "need a hand?"" - Odin
"everybody's got their hooks into you, fuck em....forge on motherfuckers, drag all those bitches across the goal line with you." - (not so) ill-advised strategy
-
01-30-2022, 05:24 PM #140
Likely because Fed has won his 20 majors all over the place and Rafa got the bulk of his at Roland Garros if I had to guess.
I think Fed and Rafa are 1(a) and 1(b) respectively if we’re tossing out rankings.
Super happy for Rafa and glad I woke up as early as I did to catch that.
I’d like to see him get one more at the French and then Fed come back and get another Wimbledon title right after. Shit, then take the US Open in September and they both go out with 22.I still call it The Jake.
-
01-30-2022, 05:30 PM #141"fuck off you asshat gaper shit for brains fucktard wanker." - Jesus Christ
"She was tossing her bean salad with the vigor of a Drunken Pop princess so I walked out of the corner and said.... "need a hand?"" - Odin
"everybody's got their hooks into you, fuck em....forge on motherfuckers, drag all those bitches across the goal line with you." - (not so) ill-advised strategy
-
01-31-2022, 06:57 AM #142
"Nadal should donate his winnings to the Australian government specificaly to offset the cost of deporting djokovic"
"Can't you see..."
-
01-31-2022, 10:18 AM #143
As much as I hate to say it, if you take personality, enjoyability-of-watching and vaccine-asshattery out of it, Djokovic is probably the GOAT but he needs to do what it takes to play to prove it once and for all. But yeah my personal GOATS (of the men's side) are a tie between Fed and Nadal- Fed may have more non-clay Grand Slams but even on hard courts Nadal leads their head-to-head matches (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federe...3Nadal_rivalry ):
Considered one of the greatest-ever tennis rivalries, Federer and Nadal have played each other 40 times, with Nadal leading the overall head-to-head 24–16 and in finals 14–10. Of their 40 matches, 20 have been on hard court (14 of them in outdoor hard court and 6 on indoor hard court), 16 have been on clay, and 4 have been on grass. Federer leads on grass (3–1) and indoor hard court (5–1). Nadal leads on clay (14–2) and outdoor hard court (8–6). A total of 14 matches have been in majors with Nadal leading 10–4.[1][2] Nadal leads 6–0 at the French Open and 3–1 at the Australian Open, while Federer leads 3–1 at Wimbledon. The two have yet to meet in the US Open.
-
01-31-2022, 11:38 AM #144
-
02-07-2022, 03:04 PM #145Good-lookin' wool
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Posts
- 11,763
Ordered some new frames on tenniswarehouse and get an email today stating that my requested tension will lead to cancellation of the warranty and liability if they snap a frame so they wont fulfil unless I drop tension or accept liability if their string donkey hoses me. I have to be within 48-57 lbs. Proposed response: Thank you for your email and concern about my requested tension. As I have a girls 12s clay court tournament imminent, please consider this my acquiescence to reduce my tension to 57."
What tension are you guys playing on these days?
-
02-07-2022, 03:28 PM #146
Ah, to be honest, I only play the blades becuase MT#3 played them before becoming totally burned out and hating the game (peaked at about 10.4 UTR summer after junior yr HS). I was too cheep to buy rackets so I just kept them going how he played them, razor something string strung 50lb. I'm happy with tit, but truthly haven'd done much else.
"Can't you see..."
-
02-07-2022, 03:50 PM #147Good-lookin' wool
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Posts
- 11,763
Hope he can find the passion again. I used to only track ratings by NTRP but just looked into UTR as see that at 10.4, the guy must have been damn good. I'm thinking all these lower string tensions I see these days must be offset by new racquet and string technology, because otherwise I would expect the ball to be trampolining.
-
02-07-2022, 04:17 PM #148
They had a pretty good HS team. Here they play 3 lines singles 2 lines doubles and you cannot repeat. He was line 2 doubles and his partner was about 9.0. They got to the state final but got the shit beat outta them. That other team had a median UTR of about 11.75. They would have beaten some of the D2 colleges here. they did win the C bracket at deccoturf that year though.
"Can't you see..."
-
02-08-2022, 03:19 PM #149
I'm at 55. Have been for a while.
I know it's old news now, but fuck that was a wonderful men's aussie final. The level was stratospheric. Was super happy that Rafa got another one. What a gutsy performance for him, I've really grown to like the guy over the years. You know all this talk of GOAT has really got my goat again though. I mean, easy for us to say Rafa is the GOAT on clay. I think there should be no debate on that point.
But basing GOAT tennis player (mens or ladies) on grand slams alone is a flawed metric. Especially now that the top players all have such easy access to all the tourneys (compare ease in air travel this century to the last one). Plus, look at the longevity of players these days in light of a top 5 player's huge team to cater to their every need. Massage, physiotherapist, nutrition, life coach, plane ticket buyer, psychologist... fuck, it goes on and on. Borg didn't have that shit, nor did Budge or Laver or Martina. I'd give my left testicle to see Borg in his prime play Fed. Conners vs Nadal? Mac vs. the Joke. Or how bout Martina in her prime vs. Serena. Unfortunately, in my eyes that is the only definitive way to determine GOAT. And short of hot tub time machine, it ain't hapening.
Having said all of that, I suppose that one metric for determination should be Slam wins. But, that's only one metric. There may come a day when a player is truly head and shoulders above all others (let's hope it's FAA haha). Some dude wins 15 slams in a row, get's 3 calendar grand slams and ends up with 28 majors - then it's easy. We are not there yet on the men's side, it's too close to call IMHO. Another thing that I think is worthy of mention (I've said it before and I'll say it again), the 3 big guys have played a lot of matches. They've also met in a lot of finals. Some of those finals were so tight that it's possible that one shitty line call could have changed the course of one (or more) of those matches. So to be using a slam win as the only performance metric to determine GOAT is incorrect. Especially, when it's so tight and one guy is not head and shoulders above the rest.
On the women's, Serena may be close to this. Still given Martina's lack of a huge support team (not to mention the other shit that poor gal had to deal with in a very much less open society...), yeah it's still hard for me to give Serena the nod. I may just be super anti-american though...
Oh, yeah. No comments about my salad days wielding Estusas? I loved those bad boys. Only better racquet I've had the pleasure playing with are my current Babolat Pure Drives.“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
www.mymountaincoop.ca
This is OUR mountain - come join us!
-
02-08-2022, 05:51 PM #150Good-lookin' wool
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Posts
- 11,763
I demo'd that Pure Drive and have never crushed groundies as well, but it wasn't quite enough for me to overcome the broad range and feel of the Heads I bought. I took my decision as a sign of growth and maturity
GOAT really is an impossible game to play in just about every sport due to the evolution of technology, rules, etc. Especially so when factoring in different surfaces in tennis, different ballpark dimensions in baseball, different season lengths, home court advantages, etc. It's even tougher in team sports. But for the individual sports, there is something pure about the premise that the s/he who takes home the most brass in the biggest moments against the best competition, gets real notches on the belt that you can simply add up.
But without the GOAT game, media would have a lot less revenue.
Bookmarks