The most decisive shot in tennis right now

Much water has flowed under the bridge since my grandpa carved his first racquet out of his neighbour's oak. It was a jewel of beauty and precision and I deeply regret when I smashed it on the court in a moment of fury.

Nowadays, it seems, the technology has totally taken over the human side of the game.
There are oddly egg-shaped machines to bring you in a virtual Alps experience, strings are made of sub-atomic particles that convey an explosive charge on the ball, and food consists in synthetic protein bars that look like the astronaut meal.

Technique and style have also moved on since the good old days.

Today, true champions need to master the art of the in between the leg shoots, the double hander forehand and what is most important: the MTO.
Just have a quick look at recent tennis history: you won't find any big win that wasn't in some way helped by a well played MTO, called with incredible timing and skill, and it is no surprise that the two men at the top of the game right now are the two unrivalled masters of the MTO technique.

So, what's the secret to be top MTOs performers?

Obviously, we can only guess. I, for once, have recently started to use the MTOs in my club, and since I begun, I can already appreciate some of its benefits:

- If you act skilfully your opponent will think that you are really injured and inevitably relax. To enhance this side-effect it is essential to manifest your distress in the most theatrical way, possibly faking tears and shouting loudly.

- When the trainer comes, position yourself in a very visible place so that everybody could see: for example laying down on the ground is preferable that just stay put on your chair.

- When you come back to play pretend your still very injured: for example visibly hobbling, walking very slow and swearing.

- As soon as the game restart “kill your prey": you have had 5 extra minutes of break and now your ready to deliver the final blow to your opponent before he's able to find it all out!

Indeed.. Great post... The Nadull would be ranked outside the top 100 where it not for his skillful employment of the MTO, don't you agree?

And he has been given the dose of his own medicine too

emancipator wrote:Indeed.. Great post... The Nadull would be ranked outside the top 100 where it not for his skillful employment of the MTO, don't you agree?

Totally and utterly agree my friend! As for me, I would like to get back to the wooden racquet.

wow wrote:And he has been given the dose of his own medicine too

Too true! He certainly didn't feel like complaining about it......

Brilliant and astute observation from the polished one, but I feel you missed something.

First, the MTO: I thought Djokovic played some good stuff yesterday, but that MTO was superb. Even so, it still needed to be prepared for (by copious limping and grimacing) and following the MTO itself the frequent stretching was crucial.

However I think you've overlooked the value of the time delay. Nadal has, of course, dominated the tennis world with his unique "hair, bum, eyes and pockets" routine and he gave it his best shot again yesterday, but Nole crancked up the ball bouncing, at one time reaching a consistent 15 per serve, stretched out even further when he was pressured.
I can only sit in admiration for the ability of this guy to bounce the ball so many times without ever losing concentration or patience.

I can't see what Nadal can do to counter this, apart maybe from introducing an extra segment, perhaps to pull his socks up, or even untie and retie his laces during the service motion, but I feel he's left it too late in his career to make this change. The game has moved on, and I think next year Djokovic could easily become the first man to routiney break the one minute barrier between points.

We can only marvel at where these two are taking the game. And get a cup of coffee between points.

bogbrush wrote:Brilliant and astute observation from the polished one, but I feel you missed something.

First, the MTO: I thought Djokovic played some good stuff yesterday, but that MTO was superb. Even so, it still needed to be prepared for (by copious limping and grimacing) and following the MTO itself the frequent stretching was crucial.

However I think you've overlooked the value of the time delay. Nadal has, of course, dominated the tennis world with his unique "hair, bum, eyes and pockets" routine and he gave it his best shot again yesterday, but Nole crancked up the ball bouncing, at one time reaching a consistent 15 per serve, stretched out even further when he was pressured.
I can only sit in admiration for the ability of this guy to bounce the ball so many times without ever losing concentration or patience.

I can't see what Nadal can do to counter this, apart maybe from introducing an extra segment, perhaps to pull his socks up, or even untie and retie his laces during the service motion, but I feel he's left it too late in his career to make this change. The game has moved on, and I think next year Djokovic could easily become the first man to routiney break the one minute barrier between points.

We can only marvel at where these two are taking the game. And get a cup of coffee between points.

polished_man wrote:I would like to get back to the wooden racquet.

I'm afraid that's not quite Luddite enough for my taste. Nothing less than real tennis will suffice.

Great post btw.

good work guys - nice little bit of satire