Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 48 total)
  • Why do tennis players…
  • sc-xc
    Full Member

    Put that second ball in their pocket when they serve? Surely, they are acknowledging on some subconscious level that they are gonna mess the first serve up. And it’s got to be a bit less comfortable.

    speckledbob
    Free Member

    Yeah. And why when there is someone only feet away who will give you a ball would you run around with one in your pocket anyway?

    hexhamstu
    Free Member

    Always thought the same, it’d be like a world cup downhill racer carrying a backpack with some tools in it.

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    spacemonkey
    Full Member

    I never ever ever pocketed a second ball – it felt unnatural and ‘made me’ unbalanced. Used to be a coach a few years back.

    lister
    Full Member

    you think he’d have learnt from the STW gurus by now 🙂

    nealglover
    Free Member

    I’m sure they know what they are doing.

    sc-xc
    Full Member

    Well, that’s twice the spare ball has fell out of Murray’s pocket, distracting him to sufficiently to lose the point… So perhaps they just do it because everyone else does.

    DT78
    Free Member

    Well he just lost a point because of it…

    Whathaveisaidnow
    Free Member

    ….because a mars bar would melt….

    lister11
    Free Member

    So to keep them focussed between 1st and 2nd if required. Far better, generally, than stopping and requesting another.

    sc-xc
    Full Member

    Aaaahhh, that makes sense lister. Never thought of it like that. Cheers.

    rickmeister
    Full Member

    Is that Lendl in the blue? As coach, he looks like a tired old man and hardly raving at Andys successes… barely slapping his hand on the rail… and who are the other two guys next to him?

    nealglover
    Free Member

    Well he just lost a point because of it…

    Which spurred him on to break serve and win the set.

    Told you they know what they are doing 😉

    jon1973
    Free Member

    I’m sure they know what they are doing.

    Indeed, but it would be interesting to know why they think it’s necessary.

    It doesn’t look comfortable apart from anything else.

    daveh
    Free Member

    I’d bet it’s just habit, think of all the years of training they do before they get to the stage of somebody being there to throw them a ball. They probably feel uncomfortable without it!

    tree-magnet
    Free Member

    lister11 – Member
    So to keep them focussed between 1st and 2nd if required. Far better, generally, than stopping and requesting another.

    Ah, but normally they go to the ball boy/girl for another ball before the second serve anyway…

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    I stuff them down my shorts. Where there is barely enough room of course.

    hels
    Free Member

    I always thought it was like cricket players, who always polish the ball before they bowl in their upper trouser area. Tennis players put a ball in their pocket so they have an excuse to rake about in there when they are nervous, must soothe them in some way.

    Do the ladies do it ??

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    they seem to have wee pocket things inside their slips.

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    so they have an excuse to rake about in there when they are nervous, must soothe them in some way.

    “rake about in there”: A lovely turn of phrase, thank you Hels! a good 45 seconds of chucking from that!

    mogrim
    Full Member

    While we’re at it: why do tennis players insist on total silence? Given the amount they earn, why can’t they put up with a bit of cheering and jeering like every other sport?

    TurnerGuy
    Free Member

    every other sport?

    maybe it depends on the amount of concentration needed – golfers for example don’t like noise.

    CountZero
    Full Member

    While we’re at it: why do tennis players insist on total silence? Given the amount they earn, why can’t they put up with a bit of cheering and jeering like every other sport?

    Most of the time I’m fine with music playing, but sometimes, if I really need to concentrate on getting something done properly, I find it a distraction, and turn it off. Same thing for them, at a guess.

    druidh
    Free Member

    It was the shorts apparently.

    And note this..

    he asked permission to serve without an extra ball in his pocket, because of the difficulties he was having keeping it in place.

    ..that leads me to the conclusion that it’s one of the rules, perhaps aimed at speeding up play?

    TurnerGuy
    Free Member

    silk pockets, eh? No wonder the ball came out.

    kayak23
    Full Member

    …and why are they not a bit nicer to the towel girl? I mean, at least a nod or a smile of acknowledgement as she takes away your manky, sweat-riddled wipe rag…

    molgrips
    Free Member

    That would wear a bit thin by the third set I reckon.

    ohnohesback
    Free Member

    Why do tennis players, especially the bints, grunt and shriek as if it was the first night of their honeymoon?

    bikebouy
    Free Member

    A mix of a Physiological need for centering body/mind and habit and years of training on courts with no ball boys/girls around and being bored of constantly bending down to pick the darn pesky rolling things up..
    I suspect….

    TurnerGuy
    Free Member

    grunting is a means of ensuring that your breathing is correctly timed.

    It is also something to focus on to stop you thinking too much – as in the “inner game of tennis” book where you try to keep the ‘doubting’ thoughts out of your head by employing a ritual that doesn’t give enough time to let the critical side of your brain suggest that you might screw up the next shot…

    psling
    Free Member

    and why are they not a bit nicer to the towel girl? I mean, at least a nod or a smile of acknowledgement…

    Bacause they’re closet roadies? 8)

    Why do tennis players, especially the bints, grunt and shriek as if it was the first night of their honeymoon?

    Don’t you ever scream blue murder in that effort to get over the top of a b’stard hill, amazing how it gets you that bit further 😳

    kudos100
    Free Member

    grunting is a means of ensuring that your breathing is correctly timed.

    What a load of bollocks. Grunting is something seles popularised and annoyingly has caught on in the womens game.

    Making a bit of noise at the end of a long rally, because you are exhausted is something different. You never hear a peep out of Federer and the majority of the all time greats do not grunt.

    I look forward to the day they ban loud grunting.

    joao3v16
    Free Member

    why do tennis players insist on total silence?

    probably also something to do with the umpire being able to hear the line judges

    the amount they earn, why can’t they put up with a bit of cheering

    Interesting concept : noise levels on a sliding scale related to how much the players have earnt that tax year

    Although perhaps england’s footballists would perform better if the racists fans were asked to sit down and be quiet in between stoppages.

    MrWoppit
    Free Member

    What a load of bollocks. Grunting is something seles popularised and annoyingly has caught on in the womens game.

    I assume that you’ve never had any contact with Karate. Vocalising at the end of (in this case) a racket stroke, is a valuable technique.

    kudos100
    Free Member

    I assume that you’ve never had any contact with Karate. Vocalising at the end of (in this case) a racket stroke, is a valuable technique.

    I’ve trained in martial arts and have played tennis for 25 years. Grunting like you are being attacked is not required for performance in either.

    nealglover
    Free Member

    have played tennis for 25 years. Grunting like you are being attacked is not required for performance

    How many Majors did you win in your 25 years using the “grunt free” technique ?

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    TurnerGuy is correct, that is where it started but has increasingly become an affectation/weapon/annoyance. No surprise that Sharapova’s and V William’s volume goes up when they are in trouble. And then there was Schiavone with her F88k Me shreik last week?!!?

    I heard this week, that it will be banned for new players. Sharapova was commenting on this.

    I don’t understand why players get penalised for crying our in pain at French Open and yet the absurd screeching is overlooked.

    kudos100
    Free Member

    How many Majors did you win in your 25 years using the “grunt free” technique ?

    Federer won 16. Didn’t do him any harm.

    teamhurtmore
    Free Member

    Schiavone is using “FM” to full effect today (now on BBC2)!! Cracks me up!

    kudos100
    Free Member

    Just watched a bit of Schiavone. Every serve its Faaaaccckkk ooooff!!

    Taking grunting to new heights.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 48 total)

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