My thoughts on improving in tennis is that the sport that does reward hard work even more than most sports do. Hard to say how much BA wants to put into winning this bet but my impression of most people--in tennis that is--don't really know what it is like to really work hard. I am talking mostly about juniors and some pros. During my hardest working years I could have probably been considered certifiably insane. Never really had that same drive for poker but it is nice not to stay awake at night replaying every point over again in my head.

Two times in my life when I really had an eye opening experience what hard work "really" was.

Freshmen year at college (I am 18) first day of practice this 22 year old sophomore from Slovakia is hitting for two hours before practice and another hour and a half after practice with our assistant who was former top 5 dubs and top 40 singles player in the world. He did this everyday and our coach would have to beg him to take it easy before match days.

My first main draw ATP event in Beijing I sat in the stands and watched Nadal practice with Uncle Tony for about 4 hours straight, then they packed it up and to my amazement went to a different court for two practice sets against Nalbandian. I remember thinking my little 45 minute hit with my partner was an embarrassment compared to this.

this you dangerfish?

I posted this in the pokercast thread as the topic was discussed but here is my take on it...

not sure if there is another thread about the topic (if so would love a link) but thought the discussion about the Brandon Adams v PA tennis match was interesting. I played tennis growing up and played the satellite/challenger tour around the same time Patrik would have been playing. I have no clue how good Adams is but Antonius has literally zero results on any decent level. He has never picked up a single ATP point in his career and there is no record of him playing any junior ITF events.


I think its likely he was at the very best, a decent level junior although not great. He was certainly never a professional and if Adams trained and competed in Florida while growing up it's likely his side of the bet at 11-1 (was that right) is ridiculously good.

a minimum of 15-18 hours pers week on court is pretty standard during the teen years and into the mid 20's if you are a high level player and attempting to or playing pro. Off court training would be on top of that.

Who was your assistant coach?

getting back into tennis. I feel my strokes are fine, I think. It's like riding a bike but I played poker/gambled out of college and now have an office job. So I am very out of shape.

I can hit ok but movement is a big problem and to top it off I played yesterday and my knees are killing me. Are there special insoles to help this? What are some good movement exercises for serving and volleying. I feel slow side to side but it's not really a problem unless I hit a short ball. What are good movement exercises/activities especially for someone moving forward.

Now serving and volleying, I feel slow as molasses, it's actually what's tough on my knees. Maybe it's the new strings/spin of the generation, my slow movement, inability to close and catch the volley high but I really sucked it up. Even decent deep approaches I feel I needed to constantly watch the short angle crosscourt pass. Maybe I'm too old/slow for singles. Is s&v dead, too difficult with nowadays? My buddy played college tennis and just destroyed me playing almost all exclusively baseline.

I havent read through the thread but what level a player are you? S&V tennis can work just fine on hard courts all the way up until the highest levels provided you have a biggish serve and can get in quick behind it.

If you're out of shape I would get into a good lifting routine with a trainer, re-build your leg strength and explosive power and just hit a ton. I know the toughest thing to get used to after a long layoff is adjusting to hitting while moving. Footwork patterns are a bit tricky and timing is off, the only way to deal with that is to hit a ton of balls and play a lot of points.

If he did he had absolutely zero success as he has never picked up an ATP point.

2eazy, which province are you from? Im also a Canadian and have been heavily involved in tennis for awhile

Gresh, Cerratani, and Gojonovich? Those the guys on your team?

I'm hoping to hit with Dangerfish in LA in late Feb. He can give a scouting report.

Nadal and Fed both out of Aussie. Very strange. Djoko put on a dominating performance.

Re- Weights..... in the modern era, pros just crush the weights, right? Why is that federer seems to avoid the weights? i've seem him in person twice and i have a hard time believing he spends any time in the weight room. Nadal, on the other hand... weights, at a min.

pkrts... i'd be keen to hit some time in exchange for a small freeroll. But tough to work out given the austin location.

sasha ermakov... from the youtube video i posted ten pages back or so...trained me for five weeks during 2008.

Last year patrik was hitting a lot with a former top 100 in the world.

re-ziplok though, patrik is good, but very very far from a D1 player at a top 25 school, much less a pro.

BA

Strange not to see either of them in a final, but not a big surprise. Nadal was struggling coming in, Fed had a bitch of a draw (though lucked out that roddick pulled a roddick) and Djokovic had been on fire coming in. I didn't check the odds before the match, but if Fed had been a favorite I'm sure many sharps took advantage.

I'm really curious what you meant by this comment.

is any action still open?

what are the final rules regarding injuries? Normally 2+2 uses pinnacles rules for bets, but normally the parties playing arent the main bettors so that kind of changes things. Many books have one set must be completed for action, some have 2 sets for action

Hitting a lot with a top 100 in the world would def. be good for the game. I have never seen Patrik hit but I can't find a single tennis related result so I just struggle to believe he was anything more than a competitive junior.

BA - Where abouts do you live? I'd also be up for a hit if you're ever around Vegas. My level was very close to Nick Raineys (I give myself a significant edge in singles and about even in dubs) and I in fact travelled with him on tour for awhile. Give me pm if interested.

I also find it very unlikely that Fed doenst lift any weights. He may not lift for size but he is extremely explosive with great balance and I think at least at some point in his career he most have devoted a lot of time to explosive leg and core type lifts - ie: cleans, push press, jumps squats, squats. I dont think there is any benefit for a tennis player to lift intensely with their upper body so him looking pretty slim from the waist up makes sense for a tennis guy.

I'm really hoping to see Murray win a slam this year. He can be a bit grumpy on court but he is currently my favorite pro to watch. He just beat ferrer and I managed to win a 4k bet on the match!

I would go a lot further than saying Fed didnt have it easy, I believe he has it tougher than Sampras did. Just because Pete played against some tough, well known American competition I believe Fed. has it tougher. I think Nadal is a tougher match-up and an all time great that Sampras never had to contend with. The tour has more depth now than when Sampras was playing although thats hard for Americans to imagine.

The sport is far more physical now, tougher rallies, less easy points as the returners have gotten that much better and the average time per match is longer. I think Fed is getting his results in a tougher era than Sampras did and thats not even going into the fact that Fed. won a french in an era holding the player who is likely the greatest clay courter of all time and he has also won more total slams. I cant think of a single argument in favor of Sampras being the GOAT over Fed.

fun thread, Im sorry I missed it as it happened. So many interesting posts. BTW, I completely/100% agree with the fella that said he would take anyone in the top 400 to beat Nadal if he had the doubles alley. I dont even think it would be remotely close. For the folks arguing the other way, maybe you are not aware just how deep a sport tennis is worldwide and how strong players in the top 400 really are. A top 400 guy is a legit tennis pro with an extremely accomplished game, like devil said, its too bad Nadal has better things to do because I would love to put money on the top 400 guy in that bet.

Tres Davis, you may know who I am and if interested shoot me a pm. Im a tad older than you are though and we would have been grinding the tour at different times. My career singles high was 232 and doubles 152.

heh, i'm pretty sure you lost 4k? i had the same bet

Is gresh's first name surya? cerranti i dont recognize. what was gojonovichs first name?

Based on the information in this thread and rumors on Patrick, I think PA is about my level. I played D3 ball and fun tournaments after graduating. Now I try to play once a week. I play against a guy that plays 2 - 3 times a week and plays 4.5. We have probably played 100 sets total and he has probably only won 5 sets.

If the levels are represented correctly and Brandon is really a 4.5, he should not be able to beat PA unless PA just has a horrible day. I have played a lot of guys who played as juniors but not in college. They all have leaks in their games, just like I would against the 2+2 Tennis pros. There is just a huge difference between juniors and even D3 college.

The only way BA can win is if someone is sandbagging or PA has a bad day. That is more than 11-1.

fed was like -210 or something when i checked yesterday

Lost 4k? I had Murray to win, thought it was close to a sure thing.

What date is this tennis match scheduled for?

So when is this on Eurosport or ESPN?

to be fair though, training/recovery methods, supplements, etc have all really taken off since sampras' time, and as for fed's french, while hes obviously a master on the surface too (coming in 2nd every year to rafa is prettty prettty good), he didn't beat rafa that tournament. Obviously a win is a win and its an incredible feat, but that's gotta be pointed out

Oh, I thought you were referring to this exchange (and am still not sure you aren't).

That exchange has him taking Murray.