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04-27-2007, 07:40 AM
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#1 |
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Professional
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,057
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finished a bjorn borg book
o.k., i'm like my own little tennis reading club. now, i've finished a borg book in addition to a mcenroe book and i've 85% thru a becker book.
the borg book is "love match" by his first wife mariana, the romanian women's player. top 50 i think, and of course her career was probably basically halted by attending to bjorn's needs..... unfortunately, my library system has bjorn's own book listed as missing. i'll buy it used at some point in future. very, very entertaining and easy book to read. so interesting tidbits. practiced 9 hours a day as young teenager.. shows you how much you need to want it (i hate mentioning maria S and bjorn in same sentence, but she seems to have it too) always competitive during practice. always kept score (not sure about 9 hours, this was later as pro). basically NO rallying or drills for bjorn. had incredibly comprehensive and painful massage sessions before all grand slams. he and his coach (????) were absolutely obsessive about racquets. and they'll play them somewhat like musical instruments before big matches. trying to find the ones with the right sound. obsessive about weight... completely changed his diet if he gained/lost a few pounds (both said more like half a pound, but i'm wondering about sweat, timing, bodily functions etc) two tennis tips: 1) huge breakthru on his serve once he started tossing off his front foot, and then i assume he rocks backwards after toss; 2) wasn't hung up on mechanics at all. get to ball early and swing (seriously what it said). "swing thoughts" are very bad, make you tight. an absolutely amazing athlete. trained with elite soccer players and cleaned their clocks in races..... during european superstars competition (remember that show? old like me?), he beat the european 110 metres hurdle champion at 400 metre hurdles..... i think that says it all about athleticism, and this is really his key at the very end of the day (and the ice in his veins) lastly (and comes thru loud and clear in boris' book), these guys used to have incredibly demanding schedules. tournaments, exhibitions and endorsements all over the world. 40 weeks a year living out of hotel rooms. ... seems like fed/nadal et al have it pretty easy these days, although i don't think they're the mega-star that bjorn was. as far as i'm concerned, bjorn is #1 tennis ICON ever by a huge margin. agree/disagree?? no real insight as to why bjorn retired... i guess huge demands on him, 40 weeks a year of hotels and i think he said being #2 in the world was useless (might have been borg/connors in mac's book saying that too), but i think he said it in this book. anyone want to suggest more books for me.... i figure i'll get thru every player and then move on to more general books about the tour. |
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04-27-2007, 07:43 AM
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#2 |
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Banned
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 2,495
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tx for that, very interesting.
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06-27-2007, 08:47 AM
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#3 |
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Legend
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 7,464
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was just reading 'arthur ashe
 ortrait in motion', essentially a diary ashe kept from '73-'74. the travel schedule was/is brutal. its pretty clear how poorly tennis players were treated back then(atp only started in '73 & it took a while for them to be taken seriously), & cliff drysdale isn't the fool so many seem to think he is, the players of today should give him part of their checks, he was instrumental in getting players a lot more rights.and amazon has the ashe book for 10 cents! |
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06-29-2007, 12:37 AM
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#4 | ||
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Banned
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: A not so parallel universe...
Posts: 5,271
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Looks like I'm the odd one out of this thread - a grizzly, a gorilla, and a moose having preceded me.
Quote:
Borg "wanted it" because he was driven to reach down and get the best out of himself. Sharapova's motivation is that she wants to be as famous a 'glamor girl' as possible. Quote:
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06-29-2007, 09:36 AM
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#5 | |
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Legend
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ottawa, ON
Posts: 5,270
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Quote:
I'm sure she enjoys the glamour. But she clearly loves winning. The glamour is already there - why does she keep trying? |
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06-29-2007, 10:18 AM
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#6 |
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G.O.A.T.
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: at the bottom of every hill I come to
Posts: 11,110
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Great review. Looks like I have to add it to my list now.
__________________
Wilson Steam 99S poly Luxilon 4G 1.25 @ 45 |
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06-29-2007, 11:55 AM
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#7 | |
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Legend
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ottawa, ON
Posts: 5,270
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Quote:
It's pretty dry, but on the plus side much more analytical than the crap by McEnroe. Less folksy, more to the point but clearly ghost-written. It's very interesting just for the fact that it was written before Borg won that huge Wimbledon over McEnroe and started to break down. It's like playing 'spot the indicators of foreshadowing' (of Borg's eventual collapse). |
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06-29-2007, 09:10 PM
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#8 | ||
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Banned
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: A not so parallel universe...
Posts: 5,271
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Quote:
What else are opinions based on? Quote:
Gee... I dunno... perhaps she - or one of her 'entourage' - has figured out that if she stops winning, the attention - and thus the glamour - will be gone, too. |
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06-30-2007, 05:17 AM
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#9 | |
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Legend
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Ottawa, ON
Posts: 5,270
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06-30-2007, 05:42 AM
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#10 | |
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Semi-Pro
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 408
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Quote:
BTW, I've read 'Martina', 'The rivals', 'Boris (disappointing)', You cannot be serious (JMac) and one of Ashe's book. I want to read about late 80s-90s players (Edberg, Becker...In his book, Becker mentioned Edberg was unbeatable as a junior). |
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07-02-2007, 01:59 PM
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#11 | |
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Semi-Pro
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 461
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