Golden-Set 'Hypothetical' ...................

Loose Cannon · Jun 30, 2012

Say you were the winner of some Off the Wall Contest.......with the Rules simple and as Follows:

Would you Play Roger Federer in a Set........IF:

He DOES NOT get the Golden Set AGAINST you= You collect $250,000

If He DOES get the Golden Set Against you = You Spend a MONTH in Prison

No Special Privledges or Early Release or Bail..............

The Setting is Wimbledon........Packed House.............

Are You Signing up????

TopFH · Jun 30, 2012

Hell no. Federer could play at 40% and still not let us win a single point.

The Wreck · Jun 30, 2012

I'd take that bet. Fed is amazing, no doubt. But over the course of 6 games, I'd get 24 opportunities to just win a point by some fluke. Fed could shank it, you could just go for winners no matter what, hit crazy moonballs followed up with drop shots. There's a point in there somewhere.

OldFedIsOld · Jun 30, 2012

My playing style is a derivative of his, he would be able to read my serve and strokes with his eyes closed. He would win 6-0

The Bawss · Jun 30, 2012

Against Murray I'd take that bet any day.

YK · Jun 30, 2012

I play at 4.0 level.
Several years ago I once played an assistant coach of a D1 team; the guy was their main recruiter and then went on to become a head coach of another college team. We played for 10 or so minutes, maybe longer, completed 11 games and I won whole of 5 points.
A couple years ago I got to regularly practice with a dude who tried it on the ATP tour and didn't make it. My return of his serve rate was about 5% to 10%, as in just getting it on the other side.
Playing against pros or near-pros is an eye-opening experience.

LetsGoRoddick · Jun 30, 2012

I'd be going to jail. The only hope anyone would have is a double fault, and even then he'd just hit practice serves and top spin to give him huge percentages.

Carsomyr · Jun 30, 2012

Hell no, and I wouldn't if I was 3.0 and up either. You may think that there's a shank or fluke in there somewhere, but Roger isn't going to have to rifle forehands anywhere near the tramlines to win. All he has to do is put a lot more spin on the ball than you could ever dream of and you'll mishit it.

TennisNinja · Jun 30, 2012

I'd take the bet.

BigForehand · Jun 30, 2012

depends what kind of prison it is, i'd take it

The Wreck · Jun 30, 2012

YK said:
I play at 4.0 level.
Several years ago I once played an assistant coach of a D1 team; the guy was their main recruiter and then went on to become of a head coach of another college team. We played for 10 or so minutes, maybe longer, completed 11 games and I won whole of 5 points.
A couple years ago I got to regularly practice with a dude who tried it on the ATP tour and didn't make it. My return of his serve rate was about 5%, as is just getting it on the other side.
Playing against pros or near-pros is an eye-opening experience.

Yes, but you were playing against them using your actual game. In a scenario like this, you could just hit ridiculous shots or use weird strategies just to eek out the one point.

Returning serve would be a bleak affair. But if you're a 4.5 or so with a decent serve, he won't hit a winner on EVERY return (plus Fed chips back most returns anyway). I still maintain I could get ONE point, though that may be it.

Loose Cannon · Jun 30, 2012

I just think......one point.....im just tee-ing off........maybe two.......i have to have that cash!

kishnabe · Jun 30, 2012

I'd take the bet. I would dropshot each point. Dropshot serve....hope one of them workouts.

Cup8489 · Jun 30, 2012

The Wreck said:
I'd take that bet. Fed is amazing, no doubt. But over the course of 6 games, I'd get 24 opportunities to just win a point by some fluke. Fed could shank it, you could just go for winners no matter what, hit crazy moonballs followed up with drop shots. There's a point in there somewhere.

we can't hit enough pace or spin to cause shanks. he could hit at 30% power and still give most of us trouble. Hell, he could slice it only and beat us all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjBXVQyiwg

OrangePower · Jun 30, 2012

For anyone here who is < 6.0 player... your chance of getting a point off Fed in a set is <10%.

Now whether you take the bet or not is a different story - would you risk a month in prison for a 1 in 10 chance of $250k? Some would, some wouldn't. But don't kid yourself on your odds.

Nadalfan89 · Jun 30, 2012

There is no way Fed would win 24 consecutive points against me.

I would underhand every serve, drop shot every ball and stand 15 feet back and tee off on every serve.

He would give at least 1 point and then I'd buy an Audi R8.

Sentinel · Jun 30, 2012

Nadalfan89 said:
There is no way Fed would win 24 consecutive points against me.

I would underhand every serve, drop shot every ball and stand 15 feet back and tee off on every serve.

He would give at least 1 point and then I'd buy an Audi R8.

He would have done his homework and found that that is your normal style of play.

Cup8489 · Jun 30, 2012

Nadalfan89 said:
There is no way Fed would win 24 consecutive points against me.

I would underhand every serve, drop shot every ball and stand 15 feet back and tee off on every serve.

He would give at least 1 point and then I'd buy an Audi R8.

So he'd just stand right on top of the service line and hit return winners... he'd serve and volley so he could put away your 'tee offs' without having to move much, and hit winners off your drop shots, which you'd have a hard time doing because of his sheer weight of shot.

You DO play tennis, don't you"?

Nadalfan89 · Jun 30, 2012

Cup8489 said:
So he'd just stand right on top of the service line and hit return winners... he'd serve and volley so he could put away your 'tee offs' without having to move much, and hit winners off your drop shots, which you'd have a hard time doing because of his sheer weight of shot.

You DO play tennis, don't you"?

If he stood on the service line then I'd just hit a fast serve and get a free point as it hits him in the foot.

He wouldn't hit winners off my dropshot because I'm not the typical geriatric TTer and I'd pass him all day long if he served and volleyed. I would honestly probably take a game off him, muchless a point.

Cup8489 · Jun 30, 2012

Nadalfan89 said:
If he stood on the service line then I'd just hit a fast serve and get a free point as it hits him in the foot.

He wouldn't hit winners off my dropshot because I'm not the typical geriatric TTer and I'd pass him all day long if he served and volleyed. I would honestly probably take a game off him, muchless a point.

Right. guys in the top 100 in the world struggle to win games off of Federer on grass. but yet, somehow, the savior Nadalfan89 would be able to win a game off of Federer...

what ranking are you in the world, again? Because I mean, I've seen scorelines of guys in the 70's CRUSHING guys in the 300's, and so on and so forth.

But what do I know? I mean, he can't return the biggest serves for winners like this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaIoB2RYKZg

Oh... wait a minute..

YK · Jun 30, 2012

The Wreck said:
Yes, but you were playing against them using your actual game. In a scenario like this, you could just hit ridiculous shots or use weird strategies just to eek out the one point.

Returning serve would be a bleak affair. But if you're a 4.5 or so with a decent serve, he won't hit a winner on EVERY return (plus Fed chips back most returns anyway). I still maintain I could get ONE point, though that may be it.

Nope, playing my regular game didn't make me any good. I was trying to make ridiculous shots and several of them went in, but of those all but 5 came back.
As far as serving is concerned, I did ace the dude who couldn't make it on the ATP. Once in 2 years.
If I were to make a guess, I'd say one need to be at least a 5.0 with a powerful serve to take such bet.

Raid · Jun 30, 2012

Nadalfan89 said:
If he stood on the service line then I'd just hit a fast serve and get a free point as it hits him in the foot.

He wouldn't hit winners off my dropshot because I'm not the typical geriatric TTer and I'd pass him all day long if he served and volleyed. I would honestly probably take a game off him, muchless a point.

quit lying already mate, wasnt the other thread enough to make you stop?

Rock Strongo · Jul 1, 2012

Oh why not. I'd go for every single shot and hope for some incredible fluke. I'd even go for overheads on his kickers.

Swedish prisons aren't THAT terrible anyway, they get better food than the school. We don't show up in any registry?

Mikael · Jul 1, 2012

If you have a first serve that can go around 110mph consistently (which usually means you're at least a 5.0) then I'd say there is a pretty good chance of winning a point. A very well placed 110pmh serve would be an ace or service winner at almost all levels but Fed would probably return it... still though, that return would likely be pretty soft, so you could go for a winner off of it.

Also, the original post doesn't mention what Fed's incentives are. Does he really need the golden set? If not, then I'd say winning a point is possible even for a 4.0 because he'd eventually get bored or take it easy. If he does have an incentive (like, he's the one who goes to jail if he loses a point!) then it gets a lot tougher!

joeri888 · Jul 1, 2012

I would defenitely like my chances against Roger better than against Djokovic or Nadal.

Loose Cannon · Jul 1, 2012

Mikael said:
If you have a first serve that can go around 110mph consistently (which usually means you're at least a 5.0) then I'd say there is a pretty good chance of winning a point. A very well placed 110pmh serve would be an ace or service winner at almost all levels but Fed would probably return it... still though, that return would likely be pretty soft, so you could go for a winner off of it.

Also, the original post doesn't mention what Fed's incentives are. Does he really need the golden set? If not, then I'd say winning a point is possible even for a 4.0 because he'd eventually get bored or take it easy. If he does have an incentive (like, he's the one who goes to jail if he loses a point!) then it gets a lot tougher!

oh..... this is coming outta Feds personal account.............

Jack the Hack · Jul 1, 2012

OrangePower said:
For anyone here who is < 6.0 player... your chance of getting a point off Fed in a set is <10%.

Now whether you take the bet or not is a different story - would you risk a month in prison for a 1 in 10 chance of $250k? Some would, some wouldn't. But don't kid yourself on your odds.

I think your odds are about right.

Surface could also be a factor. I'm a strong 4.5 and I played a 6.0 rated player on clay in a tournament a few years ago. I legitimately won two games on my serve by hitting lines and getting a few lucky bounces. (One serve hit a nail on the line, and went over the fence!) Give me a crappy clay court or low bouncing grass court, and my odds of hitting a lucky shot to win one point against Federer on my serve would increase. I doubt I'd win any points on return, unless I shanked a ball off the net or something.

Personally, despite the odds, I'd take the bet. $250K would be worth the chance of getting lucky. Besides, I'm married and have a 45 to 50 hour per week job... so a month in prison wouldn't be that much different. (Office = Cell, Wife = Warden.)

krz · Jul 1, 2012

eh I prefer my butthole the way it is...

underground · Jul 1, 2012

Interesting thread. But no I wouldn't give it a go. Hell Fed could go kick serving on every serve and just keep moonballing to keep it safe. You have like 0.001% of getting a point, I would rather try the lottery LOL.

Rock Strongo · Jul 1, 2012

underground said:
Interesting thread. But no I wouldn't give it a go. Hell Fed could go kick serving on every serve and just keep moonballing to keep it safe. You have like 0.001% of getting a point, I would rather try the lottery LOL.

Yeah, then you would win and later get murdered.

I'm still wondering whether it leaves a mark on the police record, as licensing to serve alcohol in Swedish restaurants require a clean sheet, and why open a restaurant when I can't serve booze?

brianb76 · Jul 1, 2012

Ill take that bet, redlining on every ball. Even if I don't win I got something to tell the grandkids about.

Faster · Jul 1, 2012

I would take that bet anyday.

I believe Fed is a nice enough guy to just hand me the one point if he had to to keep me out of jail over a 'stupid game of tennis' and let me earn $250.000. Especially since there is nothing in it for him to not give me that point

Torres · Jul 1, 2012

Any half decent tennis player would take that bet.

You wouldn't be confident that if you hit EVERY single one of your serves as 1st serves (including hitting 2nds as 1sts), you couldn't force ONE point? Sheesh.

I wouldn't be bothering with rallies since he would win every point. I'd be slamming serves. Bound to get lucky with just ONE.

Show me the $250,000!!!

sonicare · Jul 1, 2012

You guys are clueless,

I would just go to feds backhand and win some points.

It works for nadal, should work for me too.

Mikael · Jul 1, 2012

Has anyone here tried to win a golden set against someone much worse (say, a 5.0 against a 2.5) ? I'm pretty sure it would be a very difficult task, with some luck involved.

Jack the Hack · Jul 1, 2012

Mikael said:
Has anyone here tried to win a golden set against someone much worse (say, a 5.0 against a 2.5) ? I'm pretty sure it would be a very difficult task, with some luck involved.

About 12 years ago, I was a 5.0 and I won a golden set against my brother-in-law.

He's about 5 years younger than me, and was a really great athlete in the traditional American sports like football, basketball, and baseball. At the time, he was in good shape, about 6'2" with the big biceps and washboard abs. In contrast, I'm only 5'10" and don't have a physique that resembles a pro athlete. However, he had only played tennis maybe 5 or 6 times ever, and I was a ranked Open player at the time.

As it transpired, we were watching some pro tennis on TV (US Open, I think) and he kept trash talking about how tennis wasn't a real sport and that he could kick my butt on the court. I finally had enough of it, so we grabbed some racquets and went down to a local court in the park. I wasn't trying to win a golden set, but just wanted to put him in his place. I never let up, and I ended up winning every single point. I did mix in a few flat shots, but I mostly hit a lot of heavy topspin and slice. He couldn't figure out the timing on the spin at all.

In the end, he was very humbled and he's never made fun of tennis (to me) since then.

DolgoSantoro · Jul 1, 2012

Whenever I could get into a point (Not that that would happen) I'd hit a big moonball to his backhand side and try to rip a dead flat inside in forehand off of his reply. I doubt it would work anyway.

Fugazi · Jul 1, 2012

Loose Cannon said:
Say you were the winner of some Off the Wall Contest.......with the Rules simple and as Follows:

Would you Play Roger Federer in a Set........IF:

He DOES NOT get the Golden Set AGAINST you= You collect $250,000

If He DOES get the Golden Set Against you = You Spend a MONTH in Prison

No Special Privledges or Early Release or Bail..............

The Setting is Wimbledon........Packed House.............

Are You Signing up????

Of course I do! Pretty sure I'd win at least one point. Going for broke on 1st and 2nd serve.

Fugazi · Jul 1, 2012

OrangePower said:
For anyone here who is < 6.0 player... your chance of getting a point off Fed in a set is <10%.

Now whether you take the bet or not is a different story - would you risk a month in prison for a 1 in 10 chance of $250k? Some would, some wouldn't. But don't kid yourself on your odds.

Wrong. 5.0s can hope for at least a point, 5.5s will win at least 1-3 points.

roundiesee · Jul 1, 2012

I would try to find out if the prison food was half decent

Carsomyr · Jul 1, 2012

Fugazi said:
Wrong. 5.0s can hope for at least a point, 5.5s will win at least 1-3 points.

I sincerely doubt it. As you know, the scale stops at 7.0. However, there are thousands upon thousands of players who register at 7.0 who would struggle to win points and games against a guy like Federer.

Fugazi · Jul 1, 2012

Carsomyr said:
I sincerely doubt it. As you know, the scale stops at 7.0. However, there are thousands upon thousands of players who register at 7.0 who would struggle to win points and games against a guy like Federer.

Thousands and thousands of players that rate 7.0? Dude what are you smoking? There are a few hundred players at 7.0, if that. And in any case, 7.0s don't struggle to win points against Federer. I believe a 5.0 would win at least one point about 50% of the time, and a 5.5 would win at least one point about 90% of the time.

Loose Cannon · Jul 1, 2012

Fugazi said:
Thousands and thousands of players that rate 7.0? Dude what are you smoking? There are a few hundred players at 7.0, if that. And in any case, 7.0s don't struggle to win points against Federer. I believe a 5.0 would win at least one point about 50% of the time, and a 5.5 would win at least one point about 90% of the time.

I agree with Fuge!

People have confidence issues.....

I don't....... Im getting a point dammit. The odds of him not having a single UE combined with the odds that I couldnt crank a single FH winner are pretty high

Nathaniel_Near · Jul 1, 2012

Roger would be far too kind to send you to prison for a month, so I'd take the challenge.

goober · Jul 2, 2012

Nathaniel_Near said:
Roger would be far too kind to send you to prison for a month, so I'd take the challenge.

I agree- there is no incentive in this bet for Fed to not give you a point or two. Let's see - send a poor chap to jail for a month or give him a point and make him 250K richer. Hmm what to do?

For this to be a legit bet, Fed would have to have some incentive to play his best tennis against a rec player like- IF he doesn't get a golden set, Mirka goes to Jail for a month

zcarzach · Jul 2, 2012

I'd take the bet. I'd get to play a set with Roger and have a chance to win $250k. Although I'd probably have an excellent chance of losing the bet, it would be interesting to try for it!

tudwell · Jul 2, 2012

Fugazi said:
Thousands and thousands of players that rate 7.0? Dude what are you smoking? There are a few hundred players at 7.0, if that. And in any case, 7.0s don't struggle to win points against Federer. I believe a 5.0 would win at least one point about 50% of the time, and a 5.5 would win at least one point about 90% of the time.

Well, if I recall correctly (it's been a while since I've played in any sort of USTA league), a 7.0 is simply a professional tennis player. There are nearly 2,000 men who have an ATP ranking, so I would say there's about 2,000 7.0s (excluding retired professionals).

A 5.0 might win a point, a 5.5 being more likely, but I think your percentages are a little generous. Federer's spent years playing other 7.0s and beats most of them handily. What would a 5.0 or even a 5.5 have to trouble him? Federer's standard rally ball would be so heavy and deep that even a 5.0 would struggled to return it in any meaningful fashion (i.e. not simply leaving his next shot to be creamed).

Loose Cannon · Jul 2, 2012

goober said:
I agree- there is no incentive in this bet for Fed to not give you a point or two. Let's see - send a poor chap to jail for a month or give him a point and make him 250K richer. Hmm what to do?

For this to be a legit bet, Fed would have to have some incentive to play his best tennis against a rec player like- IF he doesn't get a golden set, Mirka goes to Jail for a month

I stated that the 250 K comes from Fed's Bank account.....

That is plenty of incentive.......to have a quarter a million dollars taken from his account

Loose Cannon · Jul 2, 2012

tudwell said:
Well, if I recall correctly (it's been a while since I've played in any sort of USTA league), a 7.0 is simply a professional tennis player. There are nearly 2,000 men who have an ATP ranking, so I would say there's about 2,000 7.0s (excluding retired professionals).

A 5.0 might win a point, a 5.5 being more likely, but I think your percentages are a little generous. Federer's spent years playing other 7.0s and beats most of them handily. What would a 5.0 or even a 5.5 have to trouble him? Federer's standard rally ball would be so heavy and deep that even a 5.0 would struggled to return it in any meaningful fashion (i.e. not simply leaving his next shot to be creamed).

Thats true and all......but we're not talking about 'Lets see who here at TT can take Feds to a Tie Breaker.......we are talking about 1 point.

Cup8489 · Jul 2, 2012

Loose Cannon said:
Thats true and all......but we're not talking about 'Lets see who here at TT can take Feds to a Tie Breaker.......we are talking about 1 point.

Did you not see the video I posted? Federer can hit a medium pace ball for days, and that medium pace ball would be winning shots against virtually all of us. Even if it wasn't, our shots, no matter how big they are, wouldn't be big enough to trouble him. He can take shots in the 80mph range in the rise.. what hope do any of us have?

I don't think people realize the depth of the tennis world. There's been times where Federer only allows a handful of points to opponents in the top 100...and the guys in the 500-800 range in rankings can't hardly touch the top 100, who can't hardly touch top 10..

Golden-Set 'Hypothetical' ...................

Rookie

Hall of Fame

Semi-Pro

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Professional

Legend

Hall of Fame

Semi-Pro

Semi-Pro

Rookie

Talk Tennis Guru

G.O.A.T.

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Hall of Fame

Bionic Poster

G.O.A.T.

Hall of Fame

G.O.A.T.

Rookie

Banned

Legend

Professional

G.O.A.T.

Rookie

Hall of Fame

Professional

G.O.A.T.

Legend

Rookie

Hall of Fame

Banned

Hall of Fame

Professional

Hall of Fame

Professional

Professional

Professional

Hall of Fame

Legend

Professional

Rookie

Nathaniel_Near

Guest

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Semi-Pro

G.O.A.T.

Rookie

Rookie

G.O.A.T.

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