FiddlerDog
Hall of Fame
What is the guy's rating? He is amazing. Decades of skills on display.
Seniors lounge (over 50) come on in.
- Thread starter Vanhalen
- Start date
What is the guy's rating? He is amazing. Decades of skills on display.
atatu
Legend
I don't think he's currently rated but he's been a 4.5 in the past, even now at 63 I'd say he's a solid 4.5.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Well done. Was just watching this early today and couldn't remember if you were a younger older guy, or an older older guy. Just really need to put in some court time to beat that guy. Some serious retrieving skills and play there. Thanks for posting.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Well 18's 4.0 started up last week, but got rained out (of course after I drove an hour to the facility), so tonight was the first night. Got slapped right up at D1. Started off a bit slow for both my partner and I and we were down 0/3 quick. Both lost our serve, and that is our strong point. My partner Pete just looked at me and said, "We are not doing this Michael." And we shook off the fog and started playing some nice smart ball. Luckily we were helped with opponents that gave us a lot to bust out on, mostly in returns and a lot of easy baseline balls. The one player was comfortable at the net, but the other was a little cautious so, of course, we gave him lots of reasons to have to come in. My volley lob worked really well against them when they did try to crash the net. And serves started to pop and place well. We leveled up the set then won it 7/5 (should have been 6/4 but I duffed a few easy balls trying to be a little to cute on drops shots). We had our groove and threw down in the second winning 6/2. So overall happy we gathered ourselves quickly and were able to play well. Not the strongest team in the league this year looking at players ratings among teams, but no slouches either. They are NTRP 3.7 and 3.6, so middle of the road guys.
Just got the 3.5 Nationals schedule for OKC and looking froward to competing there. Get to play some different area, like Hawaii, Caribbean, and I think Eastern and Northern. Excited to compete.
Cheers all.
Just got the 3.5 Nationals schedule for OKC and looking froward to competing there. Get to play some different area, like Hawaii, Caribbean, and I think Eastern and Northern. Excited to compete.
Cheers all.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Not sure about others, but while I can serve upwards of 100 MPH still, it is more the aftermath of big serving that has changed, in that I am DANG sore for days. For me, I have dialed back power and effort in lieu of comfort and precision to set up points. I still get some free points, but my biggest serves are probably in the 90's and seconds in the 80's or even 70's if I do a bit of an off-speed kick. And really, as I have moved up I find flat hard serves are easier to handle by most opponents over anything that makes them move and adjust.
May i ask you how old are you?
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Injured Again
Hall of Fame
You'll lose power when you flexibility in your back, shoulder, and elbow. When that happens depends a lot on how hard you work at flexibility, genetics, and how often you get injured or how much repetitive stress degrades your joints.
Up until the point I had a vertebral fusion in my neck about five years ago, I could still hit it about 105-108 MPH pretty consistently. After the surgery, and after a long bout with a shoulder injury, I'm probably in the 90-95 MPH range if I try to swing at it faster than when I was hitting 105-108. I turn 60 in one month.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Whelp, and back down again. Too much variability in play still, but being competitive enough. Played D2 against two veteran 4.0's. Started off well enough being able to keep pace in the first set, but we lost that all important 7th game in a very long duece battle and that seemed to throw us off, losing the first set 4/6 and not regaining any flow in the second to lose 1/6. Got stuck in a lot of baseline grinds which to me NEVER bodes well for doubles. They hit better and more consistent there, where when we could get them in to the net we had chances. We just didn't make that happen often enough. But a decent loss against solid players, and some important lessons for my partner and I for next week.
Anyone else's leagues ystart et? How is it going if so?
atatu
Legend
Well I played in an L3 seniors tournament this weekend in the 55's, and in my second match I got absolutely destroyed 61, 62, which in and of itself isn't that surprising. However the thing that kills me is the way this guy beat me, he served and volleyed or chipped and came in on nearly every point. This guy had the best volleys I've seen and he was using the Big Bubba 137 frame ! He missed maybe 2 volleys the entire match and I was returning pretty well. Afterwards we were talking and he was telling me about how many senior guys he knows who use the BB 137. I did notice the #1 seed in the 60's is also using it. Curious to hear what you guys think about using a 137inch frame at this age.
ballmachineguy
Hall of Fame
How were his ground strokes?
Sudacafan
Bionic Poster
I did not know about this frame. Checked some articles, and found that the racket is in the boundaries of legality.
There was a version 32" long before that had to be reduced to 29", the one admitted today.
Is this the ultimate senior racket?
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atatu
Legend
Pretty good, but he didn't hit that many to be honest, he was always closing the net.
Injured Again
Hall of Fame
I've played in two L4 singles tournaments this year as a 60 year old, the only two age group tournaments in our area at all and ended up runner up twice, and suprisingly haven't run into a Bubba yet. The last year the national 60's indoors, a gold ball tournament, were held in our area back in 2019, three of the four in one of the doubles semifinals used extreme OS size racquets, including one team with two Bubba 137's. Those guys were good, with excellent control and strokes from all around the court. I only saw one of the singles semis and both those guys were using ~100 square inch racquets.
In my last tournament, the guy who beat me travels around to play a lot of tournaments, and beat me by playing highly controlled shots to small targets all around the court. He used a Pure Aero and had excellent racquet skills.
So the advantages of using a Bubba are greater in doubles, which makes sense as the guy S&V'd you and I would guess he plays more doubles than singles. I demo'd the 137 from Tennis Warehouse earlier this year and it is incredibly hard to mis-hit a volley, as long as you can get the racquet around. The sweetspot is huge and it takes just blocking the ball, which helps with accuracy and timing tolerance. It was still okay from the baseline but would have been pretty far from being my favorite for playing an aggressive baseline game.
ballmachineguy
Hall of Fame
Yeah, if I were playing with a garage door I’d volley instead of ground strokes too.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Ended up with the family going through the V'us so did not go to OKC for Nationals, just for the safety of it all. And even though I tested negative way before I still didn't have the lungs or stamina back. So bummed. Team finished in the top 10 though so was a good, but kinda silly run in 3.5 (thank you hold over ratings). But back in 4.0 play and getting some chops back and enjoying matches much more. Team is struggling a little and we are just 2/6 for the season, but alot of it is just getting those dang 3rd set tie breaks. For me I feel like I am competing better.
Played D2 last night against the number 1 team so far, and they were SOOO solid across the board. I mean, they rarely missed and that made the difference, aside from them being mostly younger players (the 40+ did not make so we are in the 18's). The one player last night was one of those self-rates and just was lights out above our pay grade. Looked him up after and he just graduated from a DIII college last year and was the line 5 singles player and top dubs. I mean he still had attackable weaknesses, but they were hard to get to. He definitely will be 4.5 soon, lets say. His partner was a solid 4.0 as well with some serious spin on EVERY shot and just smart precision. So you had the one player blasting everything and his partner with laid-up kicking shots and it was a great challenge.
With that, first set we couldn't get our rhythm, but tried to make in-roads best we could. Started out down 1/4 and only because I was serving lights out to even get that one game. We did find a way to break and managed another hold on my partners serve, but lost the first set 3/6. Again, did find some weaknesses and we were more comfortable with the differences in shots between the two making the second set a long, really solid battle. Again, I was serving probably the best I have in several years and we found a way to back-up my partner's serve, so we kept going back and forth until we FINALLY broke the higher opponent's serve to get to 5/5, thanks to him hitting a few double faults which had not happened. But then...they found a way to break back, making some aggressive returns, us duffing a few shots, and then me double faulting for the break (only my second DF the whole match). So frustrating, but we battled a little more to finally go down 5/7.
So not unhappy given the quality of opponent and these are the kinda matches that keep me coming back to improve. I have always said, I am much happier being 2/6 and feeling like I am competing well, but losing to better players, than going 12/3 throwing down bagels and breadsticks to opponents in sets with very little feeling of competition. I think that I learn more in losses and feel more challenged to improve than with winning easy.
Anyway, going through the V'us got me focused back on dropping some of that C'VID 19 pounds I gained back the last year and a half +, and I did drop down 10 lbs now. Actually got out and ran a very slow 5 miles at a 13 min pace, so looking forward to that challenge of getting back to 10 min miles as well. Funny how one can be thankful for something like getting sick, but I am. I realize that I am lucky not to have had a worse case, but some of that is also because I do eat healthier and try to stay fit. But being forced to take that 10 day break and step out of the daily routines got me to refocus. It also got me past a bit of entitlement, where it is VERY easy to let myself go on diet and exercise, thinking I deserve it somehow because I am older now and did "sacrifice" more when I was younger. It just isn't the truth when it comes to health, and the dang'd reality is, I am going to have to try harder for results and maintenance than before.
Hope everyone is well!
Played D2 last night against the number 1 team so far, and they were SOOO solid across the board. I mean, they rarely missed and that made the difference, aside from them being mostly younger players (the 40+ did not make so we are in the 18's). The one player last night was one of those self-rates and just was lights out above our pay grade. Looked him up after and he just graduated from a DIII college last year and was the line 5 singles player and top dubs. I mean he still had attackable weaknesses, but they were hard to get to. He definitely will be 4.5 soon, lets say. His partner was a solid 4.0 as well with some serious spin on EVERY shot and just smart precision. So you had the one player blasting everything and his partner with laid-up kicking shots and it was a great challenge.
With that, first set we couldn't get our rhythm, but tried to make in-roads best we could. Started out down 1/4 and only because I was serving lights out to even get that one game. We did find a way to break and managed another hold on my partners serve, but lost the first set 3/6. Again, did find some weaknesses and we were more comfortable with the differences in shots between the two making the second set a long, really solid battle. Again, I was serving probably the best I have in several years and we found a way to back-up my partner's serve, so we kept going back and forth until we FINALLY broke the higher opponent's serve to get to 5/5, thanks to him hitting a few double faults which had not happened. But then...they found a way to break back, making some aggressive returns, us duffing a few shots, and then me double faulting for the break (only my second DF the whole match). So frustrating, but we battled a little more to finally go down 5/7.
So not unhappy given the quality of opponent and these are the kinda matches that keep me coming back to improve. I have always said, I am much happier being 2/6 and feeling like I am competing well, but losing to better players, than going 12/3 throwing down bagels and breadsticks to opponents in sets with very little feeling of competition. I think that I learn more in losses and feel more challenged to improve than with winning easy.
Anyway, going through the V'us got me focused back on dropping some of that C'VID 19 pounds I gained back the last year and a half +, and I did drop down 10 lbs now. Actually got out and ran a very slow 5 miles at a 13 min pace, so looking forward to that challenge of getting back to 10 min miles as well. Funny how one can be thankful for something like getting sick, but I am. I realize that I am lucky not to have had a worse case, but some of that is also because I do eat healthier and try to stay fit. But being forced to take that 10 day break and step out of the daily routines got me to refocus. It also got me past a bit of entitlement, where it is VERY easy to let myself go on diet and exercise, thinking I deserve it somehow because I am older now and did "sacrifice" more when I was younger. It just isn't the truth when it comes to health, and the dang'd reality is, I am going to have to try harder for results and maintenance than before.
Hope everyone is well!
movdqa
Talk Tennis Guru
I'm seeing more of my older friends playing as we've moved inside. I usually don't see people playing because we're playing at various places outside during the summer but I see them in the fall, winter and spring as they're all inside. So I can see them when I'm there. I run on the track surrounding the courts so I can watch people playing while I run.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
We are always the opposite in AZ. Weather in October brings out everyone. Of course, our Surprise Tennis Center sucks because that is also the time we lose all our courts to USTA nationals through Thanksgiving. As much as I love being able to watch, I disagree they should take our tax funded public courts and remove our access. And they do not have ANY other public courts around, so we scrounge for high school courts, but none of those are open during school hours or have lights for evening play. Or you have to make friends with the old people to get access to all the retirement courts, and then you lose higher level play.
atatu
Legend
Hope everyone is ending the new year healthy and ready to hit the courts in 2022. In Dallas for a 55 and over 4.5 tournament and just woke up to a rain delay...first round played a guy who sliced off both sides, was having trouble the first 4 games but then I realized his backhand was so much better than the forehand, which makes sense as the guy who I play back home (see videos) is the same way. Checking to see if anyone is playing the L2 Wilson Tournament in Palm Desert in January ? Will be my first 60's tournament. Happy New Year.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Good luck on all the tourneys. I think I will make another goal to play at least a couple tourneys again this next year, but never made it to any. Happy playing some solid 4.0 leagues though, so not too disappointed if I don't get in any. Same thing for AZ right now. I have a rain break for the next 4 hours so heading out to court now to practice before we get drown again the next two days!
dr325i
G.O.A.T.
Next time ping us youngsters (50) in Dallas for some warm ups...
Happy New Year!
Injured Again
Hall of Fame
Still considering whether or not to go. I was dead set on going after spending two weeks down in the desert in early November, but after coming back and struggling with a couple of injuries, I'm not sure I want to make the drive all the way down just for that one tournament. I think a couple of years ago, they had a few lead-in tournaments so you could go down two weeks early and play in two or three of them. One guy from our club here won the lead-in at the Palm Springs racquet club in 2020 in his age group and I know he's training hard for the Wilson.
Are you still thinking of going? I would more strongly consider it if I could meet up with some other guys like you that I've never met.
Dartagnan64
G.O.A.T.
Well one more day of work and then I’m in retirement mode. Not expecting to suddenly get great at tennis but I’m going to at least have more time to work a bit on it.
movdqa
Talk Tennis Guru
happyandbob
Legend
Congrats!
Fintft
G.O.A.T.
Congrats and enjoy!
How are winters at your place? And are you into winter sports?
Injured Again
Hall of Fame
Congrats! I retired 50 months ago and if I had know how good it is, I would have quit the rat race even sooner!
atatu
Legend
Yeah I signed up, I'm playing both 60's singles and doubles, the fact that there's no consolation draws makes playing two draws more feasible.
Injured Again
Hall of Fame
There's a smaller age group tournament at our club that finishes up on January 16th. From what I understand, although the WWC starts on January 28th, the 60's won't start until about the 30th, so that gives me two weeks. It's enough time, but my major problem would be having to drive down in a car that is unusable in snow and pretty sketchy in heavier rain. Well, I'll take a look tonight to see what accommodations I can find. It would be absolutely nuts to draw each other first round!
onehandbh
G.O.A.T.
The northern California /Oregen border mountain pass area can be challenging when it is snowing. I drove thru there years ago in December.
Injured Again
Hall of Fame
Yeah. I'd probably drive down the coast since those roads are what the car is made for but that will take a few extra days. As long as I can get to the coast!
Entry deadline is January 7th. I've found a few accommodations but it seems silly to drop a thousand bucks on a place for a few days when I could very well lose in the first round. I know a lot of people down there but hate the idea of couch surfing. Also have some significant obligations to our tennis club that will not get taken care of if I go. What to do???
The guy who beat me in the finals of my last tournament is entered. I see @atatu in there as well and he will probably be seeded based on his strong past results. Draw is still only half full so many more will probably enter at the last moment. After my experiences this year, I feel like I know the path, but I feel I haven't moved down that path far enough yet to make this much effort yet...
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Congrats for sure! I am 9 months and 2 days out at the moment, but will see when the time comes how things look.
Congrats! I have a friend who recently retired, and his tennis game has definitely improved. He has more time to practice and is a little more relaxed. I’m getting close myself.
LuckyR
Legend
I used to think that because I loved my job. Then a light went off in my mind when I realized that retirement isn't about avoiding a job I hate (since I loved it), rather retirement is about doing all the things that I didn't have time for because of work. I put in my year's notice (for a nice bonus) and retired in February and haven't missed work a bit.
Think about it.
Happi
Hall of Fame
I do understand, and good for you
I am an artist so, in a sense I dont have a regular job. I love my artwork as much as I love tennis, so in that sense I guess I am lucky that I can live out of my art. If someone told me that after you turn 60 you cant be an artist anymore, it would be like someone told me you cant play tennis after 60.
I do however also do some assignments, most of them I really like and they make me travel the world (if not for corona) but I could see myself cutting down on that and focus more on personal work (and tennis).
Hope that makes sense to you.
LuckyR
Legend
I do understand, and good for you
I am an artist so, in a sense I dont have a regular job. I love my artwork as much as I love tennis, so in that sense I guess I am lucky that I can live out of my art. If someone told me that after you turn 60 you cant be an artist anymore, it would be like someone told me you cant play tennis after 60.
I do however also do some assignments, most of them I really like and they make me travel the world (if not for corona) but I could see myself cutting down on that and focus more on personal work (and tennis).
Hope that makes sense to you.
I get it. You get paid to do what other people do on their time off. As long as there are no tradeoffs for the money, then I would cut back my hours dramatically.
Or to put it another way, what do you do on the weekends (or on vacation) now? If it is "do art" then I guess you are doing what you want, but if you say anything else... consider retiring and do whatever that is.
Happi
Hall of Fame
There are of cause some tradeoffs for assignment work even if the assignment is well paid and take you to interesting places and working with great people. I do on average 1-2 days of assignemt a week, so not too demanding, and I guess I could do that at a old age too.
For my personal work, there is complete freedom and I can do it whenever I like, and often I work in weekends too. Iit’s work of cause, but it’s also my passion, my quest, my drive, my lifestyle and it allows me to play tennis almost every day.
If I won the big one in the lottery, and had enough money for the rest of my life, I would buy a bigger house and a summerhouse, but I would still do the same as I do now: make my artwork, play tennis, travel and hanging out with good friends.
I have struggled for a large part of my life, trying to make it into the artworld, hard work with little money and not being able to afford some basic thing as having your own car. So I am not privileged at all, no family money, I had to create everything and make a name for myself. However I did succed, it’s still a strugle (but I love it) and I am now able to live out of my artwork, that is now shown at international venues.
Are there no downsides with retirement ? I really hope there is not, but some of my friends who retired, they are really enjoying their life, but also seem to have lost that edge, that drive and getting too comfortable (I guss that could be a good thing too, after a long working life).
Cheers, H
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
I fall between this all for sure. I have worked in education for over 25 years and I absolutely love what I do. I get paid very well and really write my own schedule and develop my own projects. So almost complete autonomy. So I really have no need to retire in that sense, very much like Happi. However, 25 years....that is a long time to be doing ANYTHING, so retirement to me would fall in line with what Lucky is getting at too. I have a few side businesses I have been doing for just as long and a few other family members that also would love me to work with them. So those opportunities to work on that, completely of my own desires, interests and such are what has me thinking I might retire in education and start a new chapter.
I think for me, it is just a blessing to be in this position overall and have it be my choice. I think that is the most important part of this stage of my life is being able to focus mostly on what I really want to do over what I have to do.
Then again, as my Dad says...men plan and God laughs, so we will see!
LuckyR
Legend
One other thing I realized that helped me pull the ripcord and retire early: None of us know when we are going to die. Let's say it is in X years. In general our health is going to decline at a certain speed from whatever it is now all the way down to death at time X. Well the best health time period is on the front end. Do you want to spend that time at work? Even if X is a long, long time from now, if you retire in, say 5 years, those 5 years will likely be the ones you could have been in the best health and could have done the funnest stuff of your entire retirement, even if it ends up very long. Or to put it another way, additional years of retirement because of longevity adds years at the back end (the less healthy end), whereas early retirement adds years at the front end (the best quality years).
Think about it.
Happi
Hall of Fame
This is absolutely true, and these thoughts helped me chose an uncertain road into becoming an Artist. A very good friend died in a car crash (not his fault, as he was sleeping on the back seat when a car ran a red light and crashed into the side of the car where he was sleeping). That accident made me realize that life could be short, and I had to follow my dreams, so I quit my well paid job and never looked back, that was 34 years ago.
Happi
Hall of Fame
Sounds like a good life, teaching can be very rewarding. Great that you are now pursuing new adventures. I wish you all the best of luck and lots of tailwind....
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
I have definitely thought about it, and my personal experience/observations are kinda bleak. Not to dwell on the death thing too much, but I have seen waaaay too many family members and friends retire after busting their proverbial butt's off for 40+ years of their life (all there lives) only to get MAYBE 5 years of enjoyment of gold years living before some ailment or health issue starts dragging them down. In many cases I see them kinda check out, get lazy, have no goals or activities to keep them striving for that good life mentally and physically, so it is on some of them how they end up, but after 50 years old we all know, health is a different thing and there is most likely less years left than we have already lived.
To spin that back to the positives, as I mentioned I see some of those folks downfall and ultimate demise their own undoing, so I am very aware and ready to take on new challenges mentally and physically to try to not spiral down that hole!
