mntlblok
Hall of Fame
Enjoyed that very much.
Seniors lounge (over 50) come on in.
- Thread starter Vanhalen
- Start date
mntlblok
Hall of Fame
The guy in the blue shirt can't decide whether he's righty or lefty. Not fair.
Good stuff.
Jake Speeed
Professional
Well thank you.
Fintft
G.O.A.T.
Nice, but, but, not even one single hard hit from either side (at least not at the begining of the video)? That ball needs to be slapped
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
First 4.0 Flex League match and went decent. Lost 3/6 3/6, but T was one of the top guys in the last season, so knew it would be a challenge. He is a younger player with a big serve and good movement for a taller guy, so my plan to keep balls low actually caused more issues with me netting than making him cough up balls for me. Was nice to get pace, but also had me late on a lot of balls, so plenty of errors. Felt great moving on court though and tried to close the net as often as possible. Here are a few points from the match if interested.
@PhxRacket T mentioned playing you last season.
Cheers all.
@PhxRacket T mentioned playing you last season.
Cheers all.
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Jake Speeed
Professional
First 4.0 Flex League match and went decent. Lost 3/6 3/6, but T was one of the top guys in the last season, so knew it would be a challenge. He is a younger player with a big serve and good movement for a taller guy, so my plan to keep balls low actually caused more issues with me netting than making him cough up balls for me. Was nice to get pace, but also had me late on a lot of balls, so plenty of errors. Felt great moving on court though and tried to close the net as often as possible. Here are a few points from the match if interested.
@PhxRacket T mentioned playing you last season.
Cheers all.
Are you the guy in black?
atatu
Legend
Nice approach shots off the BH slice !First 4.0 Flex League match and went decent. Lost 3/6 3/6, but T was one of the top guys in the last season, so knew it would be a challenge. He is a younger player with a big serve and good movement for a taller guy, so my plan to keep balls low actually caused more issues with me netting than making him cough up balls for me. Was nice to get pace, but also had me late on a lot of balls, so plenty of errors. Felt great moving on court though and tried to close the net as often as possible. Here are a few points from the match if interested.
@PhxRacket T mentioned playing you last season.
Cheers all.
PhxRacket
Hall of Fame
Tough guy to play. We had a fun match.First 4.0 Flex League match and went decent. Lost 3/6 3/6, but T was one of the top guys in the last season, so knew it would be a challenge. He is a younger player with a big serve and good movement for a taller guy, so my plan to keep balls low actually caused more issues with me netting than making him cough up balls for me. Was nice to get pace, but also had me late on a lot of balls, so plenty of errors. Felt great moving on court though and tried to close the net as often as possible. Here are a few points from the match if interested.
@PhxRacket T mentioned playing you last season.
Cheers all.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
He kept mentioning your big wide serve and kick second. I remember those.
I had a hard time with his serve so only about 50% returned, and then only about 50% first serves on mine. Tough day. Had plenty of opportunities, just couldn't convert. Really had a good time meeting and playing though. Hope to play him again.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
PhxRacket
Hall of Fame
You looked to be moving well. Serve looked good. Good luck the rest of the way in Flex. Keep us posted.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Thank you. One of my favorite patterns for either serve and volley or pushing to the backhand corner and closing.
Jake Speeed
Professional
Yes sir. The older dude
You have to take a year off to just train and STOP playing matches. You need to develop angled shots and drop shots. You don't have a serve because you don't pronate. You don't hit hard and have minimal topspin. I see no pace in that match. What is "pace?"
Oh, and about training, this has to be done correctly.
BTW. The guy in yellow cheats. He foot faults on every serve. I would have packed up my gear and walked off the court.
D
Deleted member 765152
Guest
Better yet, take 10 years off to just train and then open up a new thread "Super Seniors Lounge (over 60)".
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Thanks Jake. Let me know when you are in AZ and we can play. Like to see all this in action.
atatu
Legend
Or not...the hard truth is that we all have a finite amount of time to play tennis at this age. I was reminded of this yesterday when a long time friend and co worker of mine who recently retired died yesterday in a paramotor accident. Enjoy your time on the court and don't worry too much about being perfect.
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
Really impressive you can look that light on your feet in the seniors lounge.
My 2 cents ... from obvious limited match viewing minutes ... finish overheads and he should be hitting even more BHs ... and you win. If overheads are a "in the lights thing" ... say no more ... I lived that. With your great movement ... ttw demands you hit point ending overheads from net to service line.
Jake Speeed
Professional
Gotta remember, I'm an instructor. He should have learned better strokes early on but they all fall victim to playing way to early.
He has plenty of time to improve. What's wrong with being your best?
Jake Speeed
Professional
AZ, So you have 365 days a year to improve your game. I know you won't do it.
When your a strong 5.5 then we can play.
Would you rather have this...
"Wow! Great movement and outstanding service motion. Plenty of drive placement and pace."
There's nothing to gain from the above. Besides, it's Fake News.
He never asked for help?
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atatu
Legend
Nothing wrong with trying to improve and taking lessons, etc. But taking a year off ? Nope, not at this age.
atatu
Legend
Are you saying you're over 50 and a "strong" 5.5 ? Then you're probably a world ranked age group player.
Jake Speeed
Professional
I've never played much competition. It never really interest me. I was more interested in technique and style of play. This is why I became an instructor.
I played D-1 tennis with the guys I worked out with. I'm 75 and you wouldn't believe the quality ball I can still hit.
I'm trying to get a video up, I have nothing to hide or show off. It's winter now, so it'll be sometime. I do have that high rolled backhand photo. I know, small photo.
D
Deleted member 765152
Guest
I'm 90 and a strong 6.5.
I haven't played any matches yet, as I am nearing the end of 60 years of training in the Himalayas with 12 sherpas feeding me balls all day.
When I play my first match, I will put up Polaroid pics of my jumping 1HBH shot, taken just before the jump.
Happi
Hall of Fame
atatu
Legend
Ok, I guess you're just trolling us and I fell for it, the best 75 year olds in the country are 4.0 or 4.5 max.
RiverRat
Professional
I'm trying to make sense of this statement. If you played D-I tennis then those guys were teammates. If you just worked out with guys that played D-1 tennis, then they're D-I tennis players.
Most of us, at this stage in our tennis careers, are not going to re-construct our strokes. Many of us are inclined to tinker and little-by-little we can make change. But if one were inclined to re-construct a stroke, he could do it while continuing to play. I made a drastic change to my topspin backhand when I was 19. I continued to compete with an erratic topspin backhand for most of the summer, running around to hit more forehands and slicing more backhands during the transition.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
lol. Exactly. While the lights in Surprise are excellent and I hate playing other places, you look up and it is glaring, at least for me. So you will see me be very deliberate, or even let it drop down to a lower stroke, like here at 2:08 where it was up in the back add-side lights. During the day I would normally give it a good pop.
And thanks for the comments.
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
Jake Speeed
Professional
The level of tennis I played was D-1. A tad better because I won most of the matches I played with these college guys.
I won a match against Princeton's No. 1 tennis player when I was 29. Absolutely the truth.
Bill Tilden took a year away from pro tennis just to develop a topspin backhand. How much money did he give up?
In fact, Tilden built a building just for this with a single tennis court.
I've never been on the side of the USTA. Seems like they have lowered their playing standards.
Where I come from, that doubles match 4.5 would be 3.5 and 4.5 would be a stretch.
J
RiverRat
Professional
Winning practice matches is entirely different from winning matches in competition. Lots of guys can look great in practice. Declare yourself whatever level you want. I think it's unfair of you to critique someone playing a competitive match, suggesting they take a year off. I don't know Big Bill's reasons for not playing for a year, maybe it was lack of competition, considering he didn't lose a match for six years. He certainly wasn't making much money at tennis in that Pro-Am era. Nevertheless, he's certainly an exception.
atatu
Legend
Which doubles match are you referencing ?
Jake Speeed
Professional
Why is it difficult for many in this Forum to understand I may know a thing or two about this game?
mntlblok
Hall of Fame
Just thumbed through the UTR ratings of the top names in the 75's. Nothing higher than a 7 - which would be an NTRP 4.5.
Which reminds me, one of them is Jimmy Parker, who is president of the relatively new NSMTA - National Senior Men’s Tennis Association. Got a call the other night encouraging me to help promote the group, so here goes. https://nsmta.net/become-a-member
Which reminds me, one of them is Jimmy Parker, who is president of the relatively new NSMTA - National Senior Men’s Tennis Association. Got a call the other night encouraging me to help promote the group, so here goes. https://nsmta.net/become-a-member
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ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Just thumbed through the UTR ratings of the top names in the 75's. Nothing higher than a 7 - which would be an NTRP 4.5.
Which reminds me, one of them is Jimmy Parker, who is president of the relatively new NSMTA - National Senior Men’s Tennis Association. Got a call the other night encouraging me to help promote the group, so here goes. https://nsmta.net/become-a-member
Reminds me of a discussion we had years back about differentiation of level aligned with age, similar to that between level and gender.- and really what UTR should do to unify and completely level the sport overall. That is to remove the age and gender specific ratings and allow competition across the boards for at level play. None of this "I am a 5.0 70 year old" or "they are a 11 UTR junior" and "she is a 4.0 female, which is really a 3.5" kind of nebulous remarks. Personally I don't care who is on the other side of the net if I can have a competitive match. I've won and lost against 12 year old juniors and a 65 year old alike in some really good matches.
In AZ we host many of the USTA events, and I have loved watching the senior and super senior events for years. There is nothing to take away from the skill level of the players at that age, but watching most play with two knee braces, elbow brace, and limited movement with the constant smell of Aspercreme wafting in the air and claim those 4.5 super-seniors are able to compete across the board with the D3 4.5 level college kids I know...it just isn't truly level.
But I digress.
norcal
Legend
You sound a lot like an older version of 'Over 50's Champ'.
That's not a compliment.
RiverRat
Professional
I'm not questioning whether you know a thing or two about tennis. I AM questioning your approach to others, and your competitive history, which you equate to practice matches.
ChaelAZ
G.O.A.T.
Jake Speeed
Professional
I never used a practice machine in my life. Not that there's anything wrong with people using them. They have changed considerably over the year$.
Gotta love it when people describe your life or put words in your mouth, who know absolutely nothing about you. Then when you answer questions with honesty, it doesn't sink in.
I probably played more matches than most of the people in the Forum. I'm old remember and I go back a long way.
FYI. I played doubles once a week for years in a club league. Ladder. This would be 4.5-5.0.
I played singles once a week, another league, ladder again, at the Club I taught at with various individuals, always 4.5, 5.0 or 5.5.
Then occasionally you would get a call because someone didn't show up, a fill in. You would have to hurry, and you would never know who was at the court and who you were playing till you got there? A fun thing.
Sometimes I would play down if I couldn't get the guys on the list. 3.5-4.5 regularly. I would play a match with my students critiquing their match play as we went along. I was not a tennis snob. Many snobs today. I strongly believe the internet has made them this way.
Plus, I was always at the local park courts, 6 clay and 6 hard courts. Doubles and singles with whoever was around. Back then, most of us showed up without a partner. That doesn't happen today. We would pair up and play. The Princeton guy I played showed up to play someone who didn't show up. We played the match on clay.
By the middle of the second set, no one was playing tennis. They were watching the match.
I'd fill in for doubles often at the Ballenisles Club in FL, never letting anyone know I was an instructor. Social doubles, never playing above the level of the best player. Keep the ball in play and make it interesting and enjoyable for the other three. After all, they knew each other but didn't know me.
I had absolutely no interest in playing organized tennis run by the USTA. That's what I refer to when I say I never played competitive tennis. Only one tournament. talked into it by a friend, I joined at the door.
I'm guessing everyone has had a great tennis life like I had. And tennis wasn't my primary interest, tennis was just my sport.
J
atatu
Legend
Honestly, you lost all credibility when you told ChaelAZ that you wouldn't hit with him until he's a "strong 5.5" and even more credibility when you stated that the posted doubles match was 3.5 level (particularly because one of those players is a well established 5.0). At this point you're just rehashing old memories from decades ago, which is fine but don't criticize others if you can't back it up.
norcal
Legend
This guy posts his resume of hitting with all levels of players from clubs to the parks yet he would walk off the court if someone was double faulting...sounds legit.
Anyway maybe Jake does know a ton about tennis but it's hard to believe he's a good instructor judging by the way he interacts with tennis players here.
Anyway maybe Jake does know a ton about tennis but it's hard to believe he's a good instructor judging by the way he interacts with tennis players here.
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
This guy posts his resume of hitting with all levels of players from clubs to the parks yet he would walk off the court if someone was double faulting...sounds legit.
Anyway maybe Jake does know a ton about tennis but it's hard to believe he's a good instructor judging by the way he interacts with tennis players here.
There is an art to bad bedside manner and yet still be loved. One loveable ttw pirate comes to mind.
All new male members should post hot babe pics for a month ... then all will be forgiven.
Jake Speeed
Professional
What I said was, what you now call 4.0 or 4.5 based on the USTA, was 3.5 back in my day. Looks like the ranking has changed but you cannot change ability. Call it 6.0 if you want.
I can back up all my criticism, but no one cares and people want an easy fix. I can't help this.
J
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
I don't see how that is possible to measure ... and even if you could, it would be a very temporary measure with the senior player (getting slower daily). Example: At 55 ... got back down to fighting weight and was playing great 55 year old singles. I beat my 62 year old ex-5.0 friend in singles several time 6-1,6-1ish. If we played each other 5 years earlier, his legs would have been good enough to own me from the baseline. That year (55) when I was owning my 50-62 year old friends in singles (all ex-tournament players) , I played a short skinny high school player ... probably sophmore, probably middle of the lineup ... no power, just never missed and ran me. I was running the old guys ... and then became the old guy running. I wasn't even getting tired in July-August matches with my friends ... and was gasping mid-2nd set with the kid. (kid did go on to be a solid open $ singles player ... but not even close to that when he thumped me).
That's what I mean by "fast for 55" ... everyone starts slowing down and losing legs ... say by 50. Sometimes you don't really notice it as much if you are just playing your age group. A good test if you are a jogger is just try and sprint 100 yards in your top gear ... yeah ... that was a bad day.
Doubles is forgiving, but with rec singles ... legs are everything.A more realistic tennis singles measurement imo would be at least two groups. Say group one is up to the point a player still had 90%+ original speed. Guessing from posters here ... you, @travlerajm, @nyta2, @navigator ... have not lost enough speed and movement where it's a major determining factor in your singles ranking. Once a player reaches a certain "slow as ***" threshold ... why measure it?
It's all hypothetical anyway ... not much tournament competition between the still fast and slow as ****.
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but isn't that the point of ratings, to find a competitive match...
i've definitely made the "a 4.5 female is really a like 4.0 male" comment before, because i've never met a 4.5 female that has been competitive (eg. typical bagels and breadstick scores). (but i have been beaten by 5.0 and 5.5 females... but at least the matches were competitive ranging from 3-6 to 5-7)
ditto
gotta remember than even in a single NTRP group, there's a huge range
the top 4.5's i'm playing are high 8's (say utr8.75... so a utr7 75y-old can very well be a 4.5, but no way is he going to compete well at first singles)
this is all ignoring that NTRP also includes dubs results...
that said these days i'll play anyone, win or lose 6-0/0-6 and move on... as long as they can get the ball back, we can play sets... but if you're immobile or don't anticipate well, just don't whine if i hit UH serves and drop shots (and if you do it to me, and you get me i'll give you a thumbs up and a smile, "got me!")
Jake Speeed
Professional
This guy posts his resume of hitting with all levels of players from clubs to the parks yet he would walk off the court if someone was double faulting...sounds legit.
Anyway maybe Jake does know a ton about tennis but it's hard to believe he's a good instructor judging by the way he interacts with tennis players here.
You have it backwards. It's the way players here interact with Jake Speeed. Some choose to not digest what I say or offer.
As far as walking off the court if someone foot faults constantly. Do you care about rules? What if the guy has a decent serve and comes to net. That, rule braking foot fault is an advantage. What if he does it deliberately just to be annoying?
My students learn not to foot fault. I make sure they have a great looking serve.
Sure, I've played many mixed doubles at lower levels, as I said, it's not an important match, so you pay no attention to foot faults.
Here's something. You hit a serve to your opponent who hits an out ball. And continues to do this.
You attempt to stop this, poor sportsmanship behavior, but he says, "I don't have time to not hit it."
Clearly he has time, so why does he continue to do this?
Who has the answer?
No. I don't think it'll be on the internet.
