osmigo@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (osmigo) (10/06/85)
**e REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE **There's something to be said for "one-stroke players." Many top players have built their whole careers on one good lick, such as Ivan Lendl with his forehand. I'm not familiar with Bolleteiri's methods, but we should keep this "ranking" business in perspective. Sure, Jimmy A. has settled to a lowly "#20" but that is a WORLD ranking. Even #100 could blow your local club champ off the court with one hand in his pocket.It's what Vic Braden calls "learning to hit the same old boring winner." He points to Evert and Connors as examples. They seldom use anything fancy, but have developed solid, basic, backhands and forehands which they use to just dog their opponents without mercy. ...Ron Morgan
cher@ihlpm.UUCP (Cherepov) (10/09/85)
> **There's something to be said for > "one-stroke players." Many top players have built their whole careers on one > good lick, such as Ivan Lendl with his forehand. I'm not familiar with > Bolleteiri's methods, but we should keep this "ranking" business in perspective. > Sure, Jimmy A. has settled to a lowly "#20" but that is a WORLD ranking. Even > #100 could blow your local club champ off the court with one hand in his... Yes, it's just that Jimmy in 83 could also blow away, say Mel Pursell, and now has to struggle.. Though a variety of good reasons was exposed (one-shot, transition from clay, early pressure of various sorts) I still think that perhaps Nick's camp surroundings create some sort of emotional background that provides his prodigies with high motivation, etc. Somehow pro tour disspells that, at least for some time. Perhaps havings very rich folks plays a role in Arias' etc. mode of thinking... Sounds obscure? That's because I'm not really sure what I'm talking about. Never mind... Mike Cherepov
cccallan@ucdavis.UUCP (Allan McKillop) (10/10/85)
> There's something to be said for > "one-stroke players." Many top players have built their whole careers on one > good lick, such as Ivan Lendl with his forehand. Are you trying to tell me that Lendl is a "one-stroke player"? Lendl's serve and backhand are among the best in the game right now. Yes, he did START as a player with only a forehand, but he has inproved his game from there. I don't see that Arias has. > Sure, Jimmy A. has settled to a lowly "#20" but that is a WORLD ranking. Even > #100 could blow your local club champ off the court with one hand in his > pocket.It's what Vic Braden calls "learning to hit the same old boring > winner." He points to Evert and Connors as examples. They seldom use anything > fancy, but have developed solid, basic, backhands and forehands which they use > to just dog their opponents without mercy. I am not disputing that Arias is a great tennis player with respect to the rest of the world, what i am trying to say here is that he was once as high as #5 in the world. So what happened? Why did he take a nose dive (ok, his initial dive was due to a bout of mono, but what happened to him after that?)? Tennis players are constantly improving on what has gone before them. One needs to look no farther than Chris Evert-Llyod and Martina Navratilova. They first played in a Wimbledon final back in 1978 (Martina winning). If you look at a tape of that match in comparison with their match this year at the big W, you would be shocked how much they have changed. They are still both #1 and #2 in the world, but their whole games have evolved. I don't see something like that happening to Arias. He game is stagnating. Is he really better than 2 years ago when he got to the semis of the Open? I don't see it if he is. And what has Vic Braden got to do with this? Puhleese, I try to avoid even thinking about him as much as possible. :-) -- Allan McKillop (...ucbvax!ucdavis!deneb!cccallan) "Where there's a will, there's a relative..."
osmigo@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (osmigo) (10/11/85)
Of course, Lendle has developed his serve and backhand, but his forehand got
him to the top of men's tennis in the first place. Players like Lendl, even
though they may rely mainly on a few basic strokes, are perfectly capable
of hitting any stroke in the book; it is simply that they have developed a
particular strategic style, such as Connors's hanging back by the baseline
and slamming his oppenent to death with his "limited" stroke repertoire.{_
I can't really say why Arias hasn't regained his former status. He certainly
isn't the first professional athlete to go into a "slump" or "stagnate."
Look at Arnold Palmer :-) As far as relating this to attending Bolleteiri's
school, just how many cases are we talking about here? Remember, his is
reportedly the most heavily attended tennis academy in the world, if not
THE most, i.e. literally scads of pro players have attended it, whether they
are stagnating or not. If it WERE found that his school produces players with
flash-in-the-pan tendencies, you would still have to be able to say that this
was characteristic of HIS school and not tennis schools in general. Are there
any schools with a different verifiable "record"?
Braden doesn't have anything to do with this, I was just quoting his statement
(oriented toward beginning players) that mastering one or two basic strokes
will get you farther than beating yourself bloody trying to do backspun
, oops, I mean backhand, overheads with topspin. Personally, I find his
haughty style rather condescending, not to mention all his stuff about
holding the racket face 12 inches below the ball and striking it at a
17-degree angle to the court surface, etc. Talk about paralysis by analysis!
....Ron Morgan
....osmigo@ut-ngp.UTEXAS(osmigo)
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