Roddick & Petkovic Put Delusional Fans In Place
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ForehandCross
G.O.A.T.
I don't exactly remember but Djokovic was once practicing when a National (?) level pro asked to serve to him. He obliged and then hit 4 clean winners on every serve of his. He stopped the practice thereafter because he wanted intensity.
Those people who believe they can win a game are legit fools
Those people who believe they can win a game are legit fools
TheNachoMan
Legend
Roddick knows ball.
McLovin
Legend
25+ years ago I played in the 'Legg Mason Challenge', a local DC tournament that gave the winner a spot in the main draw of the Legg Mason Open (now known as the Citi Open). It was later revised to give the winner a spot in the qualifying draw, but this was the first or second year of the Challenge.
I had to play 2 qualifying rounds to get into the main draw of the Challenge tournament. My reward was some guy who was ranked somewhere in the 200s. I was a strong 4.5 level player at the time.
I lost 6-0, 6-1 in under 30 minutes, and honestly, that 1 game was either a sympathy game, or he got bored crushing me and went on a "mental walkabout" for 30 seconds. Up to that point I was struggling just to win points.
I had to play 2 qualifying rounds to get into the main draw of the Challenge tournament. My reward was some guy who was ranked somewhere in the 200s. I was a strong 4.5 level player at the time.
I lost 6-0, 6-1 in under 30 minutes, and honestly, that 1 game was either a sympathy game, or he got bored crushing me and went on a "mental walkabout" for 30 seconds. Up to that point I was struggling just to win points.
Hitman
Bionic Poster
I did even worse than that back in college. My friend and I were just playing tennis for fun, we weren't serious or anything, but we would play at least once every week as a way to hangout. We weren't that bad compared to others that were around us, in fact we were among the better ones. One day this girl comes to us and asks us if she could play, because her playing partner didn't show. She was from Italy, so we decided to play one set each against her.
She beat us both 6-1 6-1, and then later told us she was a hitting partner for Italian Fed Cup team. Not even a proper player, just a hitting partner, and she destroyed us. LOL
Razer
G.O.A.T.
Thats because Roddick himself is sick of the disrespect the fanatics give to him, hewitt, sinner, tsistipas, zverev, med, thiem etc etc by calling them mugs.
It's become a trend now.
Pretty sure Roddick is angry at how couch potatoes talk ill of professional players just because they lose to Djokovic/Nadal/Federer.
When I started posting here, there was a moderator (I believe in his 50s), who insisted that he could beat Serena (who was in her mid 20s at the time) or any active WTA player.
There were also quite a few posters who were sure that they could beat McEnroe, who was still in his 40s at the time.
The number of delusional amateur players I’ve come across over the year has been truly astounding.
There were also quite a few posters who were sure that they could beat McEnroe, who was still in his 40s at the time.
The number of delusional amateur players I’ve come across over the year has been truly astounding.
Djokovic_is_the_best#1
Bionic Poster
It’s hilarious because they try big up roddick in the process to prop up Fed. Yet Roddick would hate that and shoot them down for it.
I liked Roddick as he told it like it was. He said he could no longer compete because the game got to physical and the players talent got to much for him lol.
travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
I liked her answer.
Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
He would take some ''Murray is not ATG'' fiends to school as well.
Mainad
Bionic Poster
Andy and Andrea tell it like it is! In fact it's even downright insulting for any non-pro to think they could beat a professional tennis player! Would anybody think they could do somebody's else's job better than they could if they were not trained up for it and not well-practised at it?
PS. Not sure why Andrea was disassociating herself from what Andy was saying at the end of that vid. What was she disagreeing with him about??
PS. Not sure why Andrea was disassociating herself from what Andy was saying at the end of that vid. What was she disagreeing with him about??
ollinger
G.O.A.T.
I tune out anyone on this board who uses that word "mug," posters of no significant accomplishment themselves demeaning others who aren't among the top five in the world.
am1899
Legend
I had a similar experience, although not in an official event or tournament. A neighbor, whom I’ve known for many years…former atp just outside the top 1000 and former hitting partner of a couple top 10 WTA players asked me if I wanted to hit sometime. At this point he was in his 40’s and I was in my late 30’s. For clarity, I am a former D1 college player, and at this later point in time 4.5C, right around the time I qualified for 9.0 mixed nationals. I thought he was just being polite, neighborly, whatever. Then he texted me and asked again. I was kinda like, “I don’t know why, but ok.”
After a short hit we played a set. He sprinted out to a 5-0 lead. Pretty sure he gave me a sympathy game and then he served it out 6-1. As someone else said, it’s akin to a 2.5 playing a 5.0. On my first serve, for example, he was standing inside the baseline, taking full swings ripping winners. And I can serve 110+. So yeah. Any recreational player who thinks they can get a legit game off a professional player, they are probably taking drugs.
Airspun
Hall of Fame
You did win a game no? Point proven
Razer
G.O.A.T.
Roddick was big in early 2000s till mid 2000s, then we went more into the baseline era his bad return and backhand began to cost him more, he finally realized the game had become very different in early 2010s, so he did not have any motivation to work hard after his injury, he saw Big 3 + Murray firmly set as top 4, he realized even if he manage to somehow win over Murray the other 3 were untouchable, so he left. He knows the game became harder and grindier in 2010s, he is not bullshaiting at all.
Well Murray is not as good as Becker, Edberg, Wilander, so anyone suggesting that Murray to close to them would not be entertained by Roddick, I am sure.
Razer
G.O.A.T.
Most of the online warriors would not even be able to return a Pro Serve, let alone win a point.
Win 1000$ if anyone can
RS
Bionic Poster
I look forward to his statements the most
initialize
Hall of Fame
How so? I just watched the clip and he didn't talk about comparing eras, they were simply talking about delusional people who think they could win a game off of a pro.
Even I know I couldn't win a game off of mugs like Fritz, Ruud, Tiafoe, etc. That doesn't change the fact that this is still the weakest era of all time LMAO
Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
What's that got to do with being an ATG?
RS
Bionic Poster
I was messing lol.
yokied
Hall of Fame
I loved the video of the dude who sends down two first serves in a row and Novak hits clean winners into the corners. After the second one the dude's just standing there and Novak yells out words along the lines of "well you wanted to play for real, right? 125 down the middle lol"
StifleYourself
New User
I think that anyone who thinks this has never been to a professional tennis tournament live. The angle they use on TV to make the game watchable makes the shots seem a lot slower than they are. Even sitting in a stadium doesn't do it justice. But if you go to a tournament and watch a match on the outer courts (any match, even one between two "mugs") where you can sit courtside, you will get an understanding that they are playing at a whole other speed. Even a guy like Diego Schwartzman who doesn't seem to have a lot of power is absolutely CRUSHING the tennis ball. Yesterday I was watching Andrey Rublev practice here in Cincinnati and the ball just explodes off his racquet. To the point where if any one of us was on the other side of the net we would be lucky to just chip it back. That level of power doesn't come across on TV.
Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
RS
Bionic Poster
RS
Bionic Poster
Poisoned Slice forced this.
In every response it's not what Fed fans like to hear and he is fairly negative on his own abilities and and very humble. Not just this one.
Winners or Errors
Legend
Yes, delusional. Frying pan... These men and women are very good. I remember, not that long ago when I was playing USTA 4.5, watching a player from Syracuse hitting against college guys on the next court, and she was beating up on some pretty solid D1 players. I don't think, barring her spraying errors all over the place or my swinging for the fences and getting lucky four times in a row, that I could have won a game, and she didn't make it to the pro ranks. I remember playing against sandbagging former D1 players in league play, and how they'd give up a game a set, just to keep from being moved up to 5.0+. Ridiculous thoughts by people who underestimate professionals.
Mediterranean Might
Professional
She was disagreeing with Andy's opinion that those ranked 800 in the world aren't professional tennis players. Andy was saying that you need a couple of years of supporting yourself financially in an a profession to be considered a pro
Rafa4LifeEver
G.O.A.T.
Would you please share the link to the video with me?
Rafa4LifeEver
G.O.A.T.
I was at Toronto open 2 days ago, and I totally agree with you about the fact that TV does not do any justice to tennis.
McLovin
Legend
I wouldn’t call it “won” so much as “gifted”. I highly doubt if there was money involved I would have won more than a dozen points.
McLovin
Legend
Was that Brad or Scott? I forgot which one was Venus’ hitting partner.
Rafa4LifeEver
G.O.A.T.
If you happen to play against any pro, don't give them pace in a neutral rall whatsoever or they'll crush winners left, right and centre. Play slices off both wings and employ a lot of dropshots
Razer
G.O.A.T.
All Time Greats are Multiple Slam winners on Multiple Surfaces, thats why they are ATGs
Murray is a multiple slam winner only on Grass.
NeutralFan
G.O.A.T.
I live in the DC area (3 miles/5 km from the tournament site) and attend it every year, though I started attending a long time after you played in the qualifying draw. I remember in 2017 I attended the first day of qualifying and saw most of the last two sets between that year's winner of the Washington Open's wild-card challenge, Damon Gooch (who IIRC got as high as the 600s in his pro career, though he was ranked lower than that at the time), and Joao Pedro Sorgi, who I believe was in the 200s at the time of the match. Gooch somehow won the 1st set before I got there, but in the 2nd and 3rd sets Sorgi dominated; he just had much, much more powerful strokes that overwhelmed Gooch even though Gooch had good movement/agility. Sorgi lost 3 games combined in the last two sets.
I also went to the first day of qualifying in 2015 where I saw a women's match between Aliaksandra Sasnovich (then ranked maybe in the 120-130 range; she later got as high as #39 in the world) against a good, young local girl, Malkia Menguene, who was just short of her 15th birthday. (As a side note, Menguene's younger sister Clewie is the current Wimbledon girls champion.) That match was similar to the one you described being in yourself; Sasnovich was much, much better than the teenager and won 6-1 6-0, with the only Menguene game being more about Sasnovich's errors than Menguene's quality of play.
Attending those kind of matches is what has given me an appreciation for how good the top level pros, including pros ranked say 200 to 500 who are "no-names" to most people, really are. Related to that, even though I'm a non-player it rubs me the wrong way when some fans call players "mugs"; pretty much EVERY player who plays in a Grand Slam or ATP/WTA tournament main draw and didn't receive a wild-card to do so is a really, really good player (and most of those players who receive wild-cards are too).
austintennis2005
Professional
She’s bad but the guy from tennis channel is really awful
RS
Bionic Poster
Was this even a thing then?
Federer and Del Potro
Bionic Poster
You've come a long way since your role in Superbad, McLovin.
WeekendTennisHack
Hall of Fame
5.0 could probably beat Petkovic, no?
NeutralFan
G.O.A.T.
CoolCoolCool
Hall of Fame
I won a point against a pro player once. Then I woke up.
Fabresque
Legend
I remember I was at my local club as a high schooler, 15 or 16 years old I think. Still a little bit green. I was probably a 4.0 back then. I’m around a 4.5 now. Thought I was on top of the world because I was the best player on my high school team.
Anyways i just got done hitting in a clinic and was waiting for my dad to pick me up, so I decided to watch a match on TV, I think it was Federer-Struff, and two older gentlemen that I saw playing in the 3.0 leagues sat near me and started commentating.
The usual praise for Federer, but then when talking about Struff their tone changed, until one of them asked “You think Brad can beat this Struff kid?”
Brad was a teaching pro. He was a 5.0. It was a ridiculous comment and I fully expected his friend to shoot him down.
Instead he replied, and I **** you not, “I think it’s 50/50 but Brad looks like a better mover than this guy, so I think he could beat him”.
Struff was literally a Top 30 pro playing Federer in the 2nd round of an ATP 500, Brad played D2 and at most was a 10 UTR.
I kept my mouth shut cuz who cares, but in my brain I was laughing hysterically. I exaggerated my own abilities back then but even I wasn’t stupid enough to think like that.
So yes, most amateurs in the US that aren’t that good probably think they have a shot at getting a game off a random top 500 pro. They don’t have a clue, they wouldn’t get points let alone a game. The actual 5.0’s probably realize they can’t win more than the random 4.0’s-4.5’s.
Anyways i just got done hitting in a clinic and was waiting for my dad to pick me up, so I decided to watch a match on TV, I think it was Federer-Struff, and two older gentlemen that I saw playing in the 3.0 leagues sat near me and started commentating.
The usual praise for Federer, but then when talking about Struff their tone changed, until one of them asked “You think Brad can beat this Struff kid?”
Brad was a teaching pro. He was a 5.0. It was a ridiculous comment and I fully expected his friend to shoot him down.
Instead he replied, and I **** you not, “I think it’s 50/50 but Brad looks like a better mover than this guy, so I think he could beat him”.
Struff was literally a Top 30 pro playing Federer in the 2nd round of an ATP 500, Brad played D2 and at most was a 10 UTR.
I kept my mouth shut cuz who cares, but in my brain I was laughing hysterically. I exaggerated my own abilities back then but even I wasn’t stupid enough to think like that.
So yes, most amateurs in the US that aren’t that good probably think they have a shot at getting a game off a random top 500 pro. They don’t have a clue, they wouldn’t get points let alone a game. The actual 5.0’s probably realize they can’t win more than the random 4.0’s-4.5’s.
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Bhagi Katbamna
Legend
I think people watch the pros on TV and it is really difficult to get an idea of how fast, how accurately, and with how much spin pros hit their regular shots. We used to have this thing called Tuesday night tennis in town where you would show up and the HS tennis coach would mix people up and you would play until someone won 3 games and you'd switch opponents. I beat this guy 3-0, he tells me let's keep going. So we keep playing and I beat him 9 games to none. At the end of that, he tells me: "I know I can beat you."
That's how delusional these amateurs are.
That's how delusional these amateurs are.
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