People here underestimating others serve speeds

Have a nice day off Arche3.
I pulled a muscle in my lower back, so we can stay on the computer for a while. I can't scrape, sand, tape off, and prime/paint the stairway baseboards today.
G/f asked me to replace the outlet covers in the living room today. That is a whole huge undertaking, for someone who can't touch his feet or pull one weed from the ground. There are 9 total, all below the level of my knees.
 
Kevin did.
He wrote the article. It's reprinted in August or Sept 1980 New Yorker, and it's in full inside the first blue cover Mavericks's book by Matt Warshaw.
 
Have a nice day off Arche3.
I pulled a muscle in my lower back, so we can stay on the computer for a while. I can't scrape, sand, tape off, and prime/paint the stairway baseboards today.
G/f asked me to replace the outlet covers in the living room today. That is a whole huge undertaking, for someone who can't touch his feet or pull one weed from the ground. There are 9 total, all below the level of my knees.

make sure you leave the circuit breakers in the ON position. That way you don't ruin any elctrical stuff.
 
Why? The surfing at the tennis is directly related.
Guys here question if I could serve.
The surfing story helps verify I could serve. Practice with a NorCal A/Open then No.6 shows I had something, and it wasn't groundies.
 
Why? The surfing at the tennis is directly related.
Guys here question if I could serve.
The surfing story helps verify I could serve. Practice with a NorCal A/Open then No.6 shows I had something, and it wasn't groundies.

Actually the surfing doesn't prove you could serve and it isn't tennis related.

You aren't going to convince people, so stop wasting your time.

In any case, thanks for answering my question.
 
It's LAIRD.
I met him at the Halliewa Cafe back in '87 or so. He was eating lunch with some other old surfers, and g/f and I walked in for a smoothie.
One of the other guys said "THAT girl was the one windsurfing at Backyards, but waay outside on a green sail".
We stopped and laughed, acknowledged, and was asked to join the 4some. Ends up, the guy who recognized my g/f was out on a boat, and saw her pass by a few times.
We launched at Mok's that day, about 7 miles SE of Backyards.
 
It's LAIRD.
I met him at the Halliewa Cafe back in '87 or so. He was eating lunch with some other old surfers, and g/f and I walked in for a smoothie.
One of the other guys said "THAT girl was the one windsurfing at Backyards, but waay outside on a green sail".
We stopped and laughed, acknowledged, and was asked to join the 4some. Ends up, the guy who recognized my g/f was out on a boat, and saw her pass by a few times.
We launched at Mok's that day, about 7 miles SE of Backyards.

Yeah I know him too. We went tow in surfing off teopu one year.
 
He'd be ****ed at you if he knew you spelled his God like name wrong, don't you know?

Meh. one time at mavericks he was towing in while I was paddling in like a man and I called him a girl. He got mad and after I met him on the beach I kicked his ***.
 
Yes, I can see you winning a fight against young (46 now) 6' tall athlete in great shape who weighs around 210, with little body fat.
You work keeps you in fighting shape, no doubt.
 
Should I join a Wing Chun class at my school? I really want to see this cute girl more often haha

Just go up to her and start a conversation. If it goes well, you win, and if it doesn't, just hide behind a crowd of 5,000 students every time you see her. UCLA's a big school. Those crowds are around everywhere. :wink:
 
Arche3...
Guys making your kind of money just pay some big lunk to do the dirty work for them. Don't you watch TV or movies?
How many ArcheVillians actually need to strike out against an opponent, unless said opponent is already down and out?
You gots to play you ROLE, not ad lib and make up things as you go.
 
Just go up to her and start a conversation. If it goes well, you win, and if it doesn't, just hide behind a crowd of 5,000 students every time you see her. UCLA's a big school. Those crowds are around everywhere. :wink:

I've known the girl since middle school, I'm just too scared to talk to her :wink:
 
Just go up to her and start a conversation. If it goes well, you win, and if it doesn't, just hide behind a crowd of 5,000 students every time you see her. UCLA's a big school. Those crowds are around everywhere. :wink:

Also my wife (who is caucasian) tells me all asians looked alike to her at first. So if maxmag messes up she will not recognize him anyways.
 
Arche3...
Guys making your kind of money just pay some big lunk to do the dirty work for them. Don't you watch TV or movies?
How many ArcheVillians actually need to strike out against an opponent, unless said opponent is already down and out?
You gots to play you ROLE, not ad lib and make up things as you go.

do you know kung fu leeD? Please say yes. ...
 
I've known the girl since middle school, I'm just too scared to talk to her :wink:

Watch the karate kid. Danielsan was scared at first too. LeeD is your miagi. Learn from the master how to get girls to not just like you but basically pay for all your stuff too. Thats bawssss
 
Nope to martial arts.
Bud in CCSF, the former half back for Lowell high, kept using some form of kung fu on most of his friends, including me.
He was demonstrating to a friend of mine, to my side.
I tackled ErnieLi as hard as I could, him then 215lbs., me 135. His fullback, bigger, came to his aid and asked me "why'd you do that?"
I shrugged and said.." I don't know, seems what we did in high school worked OK".....
Ernie didn't mess with me after that.
 
The girl is also Asian so I think she can tell haha

You think? I mean, u've known her since middle school.

I say move on. There's so many other fish in the sea. There could be an opportunity right in front of your nose, but u could miss it because you're so fixated on her.
 
I"m Asian...
Out of several g/f's I've had in my life, NONE total was Asian.
I did date ONE other Japanese girl for a first date.
In my defense, my older sis was 4th runnerup MissChinatown SanFrancisco, and all her friends would be hanging around the house when I was in junior high, before I stared sports in 8th grade.
 
This is a very entertaining thread! Here are some of my serves... not exactly fast, lol. My back which was stiff from the last two days of playing, and the early morning cold didn't help... but what the heck, I didn't want to wait for ideal conditions to video my serves!

For your reference, I serve almost all my serves with some kick to get them in, and these are typical. I can go faster if I go flat, but they will be more erratic, so I only use my absolute flat serve once or twice a game (if that). If I direct these serves right, I can get some errors and easy returns at my level, but the very good guys I hit with can cream them. It feels like speed wise, these serves are probably around 75 MPH.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lk1Oe4ARNw

I know, I know - I see my action could be much better! Feel free to rip it apart, lol! I haven't started my serve improvement project yet since I am still stabilizing my forehand.
 
Yes, like most 4.0 second serves, around 75 on good ones, slower on other's.
One improvement project at a time.
 
Alas, yes.
I'd think, No.4 runnerup for MissChinatown, SanFrancisco is rather cute, in some way or form. As were her friends, who also competed in it.
Ever been home when 7+ of them were yelping, laughing, ridiculing, howling, and plotting?
I have, most of 6th grade thru 8th.
Whenever I think of my older sis, I think of the rat that told on me, the bully that co inspired to pin me down and drip spit on me, and the leech who planned her future based on money, prestige, and the lack of need for HER to work.
 
Alas, yes.
I'd think, No.4 runnerup for MissChinatown, SanFrancisco is rather cute, in some way or form. As were her friends, who also competed in it.
Ever been home when 7+ of them were yelping, laughing, ridiculing, howling, and plotting?
I have, most of 6th grade thru 8th.
Whenever I think of my older sis, I think of the rat that told on me, the bully that co inspired to pin me down and drip spit on me, and the leech who planned her future based on money, prestige, and the lack of need for HER to work.

But Lee, you never really worked very hard either by your own admission, right?
 
I never worked hard, but I never expected anyone ELSE to work for me.
I can live in poverty. I've lived in a 25' sailboat for 2 years. I've lived in my HondaCivic Hatchback for 2 years. It matters little to me.
I"ve lived on breakfast and lunch Ramen or Nissan noodles, then half a pizza for dinner.....for years.
I can wear the same pants for 2 weeks, if I don't play tennis in them.
Big difference from the Asian girls I know, who from 2 years onward, were taught to expect the GUY to provide them with a 4 bedroom house, a white Mercedes and a black Beemer, a bit of property around, new furniture every 7 years, and a constant upgrade every 10.
Sure, we can blame our Moms.
 
I have the footage but it's pathetic lol, both my partner and I served horribly. Sorry.

I wasn't making any of my serves that day and I hit like 10 doubles. I'll keep recording my sets though and see what my first serve % is when going for 100mph+ serves. If after a couple of sets I see that my first serve % is way lower than 50% then I will take back my statement and admit I was wrong. It wouldn't be the first time lol

I will post a set soon though and we'll see. I have no problem admitting I was wrong but my honest estimate is that my first serve % will be 40-50% for 100mph+ serves. I know for a fact that I can hit 100mph pretty easily, I'm just not sure as to what my percentage in a match situation will be since I usually just record hitting/practice sessions
Fair enough. Let's wait and see.

hey, Ballinbob, any luck on those 100mph+ serves with 40-50% of them being in?
 
Why the thread necro? This thread died after big mike hit his 120mph serve in the video..I posted.. hehe.

It's back!

Actually, I think people lost interest and the goal posts shifted a bunch of times. We showed that there isn't a lot of video of amateurs hitting over 120mph, but it does happen. We definitely showed that 100mph is rare but quite doable for a small fraction of rec players.

I wanted to shoot some video of my attempts at hitting 120mph, but I've been out with a wrist injury for two months now and wasn't even hitting over 100mph last time I tried.:cry:

I did break out the radar gun and some young guys started trying to hit over 100mph. One guy told me he could and didn't make it (though I believe he has in the past just from his form): he was forcing it and consistently hitting 96mph. Another guy took five tries to hit a 104mph serve into the box. I've played him in the past and used to serve a lot harder than he does (injuries are terrible!).
 
We showed that there isn't a lot of video of amateurs hitting over 120mph, but it does happen. We definitely showed that 100mph is rare but quite doable for a small fraction of rec players.
I think that about wraps it up. Define "isn't a lot" as virtually none and I think you nailed it!
 
I think that about wraps it up. Define "isn't a lot" as virtually none and I think you nailed it!

That was the big dispute. But virtually none and really rare are about the same. As I said, I've seen it happen.

On the other hand, if I can just go out to courts and get 2 guys hitting around 100mph in just a matter of minutes, it means you're mistaken about how rare 100mph servers are (again, I'm not claiming that as an average). I'd say both the 96mph guy and the guy that hit 104mph are playing at about a 4.5 level, so they're definitely better than average players and both were under the age of 30.
 
I love these threads. Men seem to equate the speed of their first serves with the size of their penises. There is a lot of wishful thinking going on.
 
I love these threads. Men seem to equate the speed of their first serves with the size of their penises. There is a lot of wishful thinking going on.

If you actually read this thread from the beginning, you'll see that evidence with video and radar has been provided.

I know that 100mph flat serves hit by aggressive players (mostly young) are happening on rec-courts because I have a radar gun and I've measured them. I don't know why that makes so many people either angry or suspicious?

If you're not actually measuring serves with a radar gun it is bad form to insult everyone else as liars and claim it is all wishful thinking. Much like the dick joke, it is just being rude without cause.
 
Sure, sure. Evidence with rulers and tape measures can also be provided. #SmellTheTestosterone

Yes, players talking about and measuring serve speed on a board talking about tennis. That must just be macho posturing because we all know that serve speed has nothing to do with tennis performance.
 
Hey, nowhere did I make the claim that threads like these are IRRELEVANT to tennis. But c'mon...you don't see any macho posturing by a lot of posters in threads like these? [grinning]
 
I did break out the radar gun and some young guys started trying to hit over 100mph. One guy told me he could and didn't make it (though I believe he has in the past just from his form): he was forcing it and consistently hitting 96mph. Another guy took five tries to hit a 104mph serve into the box. I've played him in the past and used to serve a lot harder than he does (injuries are terrible!).

Lots of guys can hit 100 - especially if they have some experience in a throwing sport, IMHO. Find a pitcher on a varsity HS squad and they can usually hit much harder then that..

Do they do it games? Actually they do because there is a segment of the tennis population that doesn't really care about the score they just want to try to hit the ball hard and are having a good time..

Its not the power that makes the pros great - its that they can hit all their spots and add wicked spin to it if need be. That stuff takes a lot of practice.. A very hard flat serve - no big.

FWIW I think the tennis serve is a ton more natural then a golf drive. But just like in golf there are some dudes that don't even really play golf that drive the f'in crap out of the ball. (Granted there is SOME money in long drive contests so they are kinda like pros).. Tim Burke who won the last one is 6'6" 230. Find some guy with that kinda size and has a decent throwing motion who is fooling around playing tennis and like big Mike they can bring some big serves.

Rec tennis attracts a ton of little guys - mostly because a large part of the sport is finesse and speed. But like a baseball pitcher with some coaching the biggest guys have the longest levers and most have huge potential.
 
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Lots of guys can hit 100 - especially if they have some experience in a throwing sport, IMHO. Find a pitcher on a varsity HS squad and they can usually hit much harder then that..

Do they do it games? Actually they do because there is a segment of the tennis population that doesn't really care about the score they just want to try to hit the ball hard and are having a good time.

The game topic came up a bunch of times in this thread and I tend to agree with you that we can't assume practice serves are always hit harder than match serves. Some of the biggest serves I've hit have been in matches. Some players simply like hitting hard serves, and will go all out sometimes in a match.

I've also coached players who were the other extreme. They could hit hard but would only hit slower kick serves in matches, even for first serves because that's how they were comfortable playing and did not want to risk double faults.
 
If you actually read this thread from the beginning, you'll see that evidence with video and radar has been provided.
I'm not going back over 20 pages but despite all the talk and boasting the most humorous thing I recall is that NO ttw poster has presented a vid of any ttw poster hitting 100 serves. Much less 120.

Rec guys do hit 100; just 1/10th of the ones who think they do - the top tier of true rec tennis. And ttw rec guys aren't hitting 120. No way; no how.
 
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