NOUMEA, New Caledonia 20+ MS

[Marco_Theo_81]

Hi guys

First round: Marco Theo (Ruggerio Federizzi) - Rogael Naderer (Djoker) 1:6 3:6

Great performance did by Rogael, first set I was overruned, but the result is to high in my opinion. Had also many break chances, but wasn't able to concretize...

Second set was closer, Lost my first service; 0:3 for him and then I was able to bring my service at home to the final score 3:6. in the third game it was 15:40, had two breaks for me, could change the result to 1:2, but at the end he played his service at home, 0:3 like explained above.

I have to say, that I had much trouble with Rogers new BH, couldn't do anything with my BH. But ok, Fed's FH compense his BH. Wasn't able to make Inside out positioning. And at the net I am horrible...

Later after this loss, I played with Andy Murray, with Fake Andy Murray searching for some hosted games. And I saw Rogael hosting for a pracitce match. I joined, without saying, who I am. I lost again, 4:6 3:6, but very close again. The higher speed and better wings on both hands were the key. It was also more enjoyable for me. Rogael also told me, that I played great with Murray.

I am an average player, maybe with the new Roger I can not do very much on the virtual courts, so I excuse myself to grande Roger, and try my new way with Antonio Murrotti. Hope it's ok for you Ruggerio.... Still friends?

Ok, good luck Rogael for the next round.

P.S Maybe I should not say this here officially, but write it to you in pm. I just hope, this is not a new mode, to play extremly behind the baseline. Almost with the back close to the boards. Not that realsitic in my eyes... Really nothing against you Rogael, I just wanted to say this. But ok, you were anyway the better of us.

ciao ragazzi

[PForsberg]

You not just use a drop-shot if he stays this far behind the base line. Or would that still be "cheesy" play?

[Marco_Theo_81]

ciao Pforsberg

hmm... to answer anytime with drops is not near to reality too... And with accelerations i can not handle drop shots very well.
But also if I could return the acc with drops, would not do this. I changed from TS4 because of one thing, realism.

But again, please, nothing against you Rogael, you are just 2-3 times better than me... still....

sincerly your
Antonio Murrotti ( formerly Ruggerio Federizzi )

[PForsberg]

I dont know ... If in real tennis someone would play every ball way behind the baseline, he would win no points because his opponent would play short balls as often as possible. So the unrealism starts with that staying behind the baseline. And in that case it would be the correct thing to punish that kind of positioning. If he is a good player, he will adjust

But only my opinion...

[VMoe86]

This is tied directly to how TE is designed: Shots are deeper in TE, so vertical court positioning is further behind. There is kind of a sweetspot behind the baseline, where you can hit reasonably deep (close or on to your opponent's baseline) and with good accuracy (you are further behind, thus you have more time to charge your shot and get a small aiming zone, giving you accurate shots). As a bonus you enjoy advantages this brings to your defence. It is a low risk strategy.

If you go behind this sweetspot you will get punishments regarding your depth of shots. You can notice this very well on return: If you go one, two or a little bit more steps back from the standard position, you still can hit deep (and with better accuracy compared to standard position).

Personally, I despise this style and call it anti-tennis. If you don't want to join this style, your only chance is to play as close as possible to the baseline, take your shots early, use angles (short normal strikes and short accelerations), draw them in with short slices and occasionally hit drop shots. This way you take more risks and give up a good amount of your defence (keep in mind that your opponent can still hit deep, so if you are close to the baseline it is more difficult to defend).

[Marco_Theo_81]

Danke Moe

Will try to use your tips against such a style.

Schönes Wochenende champ

[Dakra]

This is good advice. I agree with Forsberg. For each tactic is protitaktika. He who is not to adapt, to lose. Dropshotsa a game for the baseline is the perfect example.

[C4iLL]

Most tennis theories incent people to stay close from the baseline to economize energy and to control the court and the angles.
This theory was perfectly used by Agassi, for instance, who gave the impression to sometimes play ping-pong ^^

As TE is pretty realistic, you can be succesfull in game with this tactic as VMoe results show. But that require a very good technical knowledge of the game.

Personally, I think the key is to variate : sometimes the context of a match or an exchange require to be more defensive and more far from baseline to win the point. I then think the perfect player is the one who variate between several styles : defensive style far from baseline, offensive / close to the baseline and net approaches.

For me, only defending far from baseline is not anti-tennis, it's just a tennis tactic ; some guys were successfull with that, Chang, for instance. Of course it's not as beautiful as a guy closing a point with a great volley (Federer Style). But it require great anticipation, mental and tactic skills.

[djarvik]

Chang was never really more then 2-3 feet away from the baseline, moving further back only to recover upcoming smash or a mid court put-aways.

The way some people play TE is literally - 15 feet back. With their back touching the fence/back of the court. And they stay there majority of the time. Not only for defense purposes, but because of how effective the game-play from that far back is. It is a total exploit of the TE mechanics, which cater to playing further back then in real life. Personally, it totally kills the atmosphere. Almost as bad as line dancing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6Yf1ZsWRQQ

[C4iLL]

At 0:23, he's like 20 feets behind... ^^
My memories of Chang was then right

[Rogael Naderer]

Final : Rogael Naderer (The Djoke) - Vramvrim (Murray) 6-2 6-2

I just kept the ball in play using topspin shots for the most part and waited for errors.

Good luck for the rest of the season

Edit - I just realised we played the match in elite controls , how dumb of me
We should play a rematch I think

Edit 2 - Please disregard the above score as above one was played in Elite by mistake. We played the match again in SIM controls, the way it should have been in the first place

Rogael Naderer (The Djoke) - Vramvrim (Murray) 6-4 4-6 6-2

Summary:

Very gruelling match. I started off well in the first set and he was slightly errory in the beginning. I was serving for the set at 5*-3 but he broke me but I managed to broke in his very next service game and won the first set.

He changed his strategy in second set. He became a wall with his Murray and was drawing me into long gruelling rallies, almost every rally in the second set was above 20-25 shots thereby draining my stamina (as well as his). 2nd set was a WTAesque like, there were ~7-8 breaks in total, at times it seemed breaking was easier than holding. It was impossible for either to hit thru really. Only winners were short cross ones, hardly any aces or normal winners. He held his nerve somehow and won that set. It was like 35-40 min set.

I was pretty exhausted due to long 2nd set and didn't have the energy to play a pushing game. I was sure he would be a bit tired too. I stepped up my game and was more aggressive, slightly more closer to the baseline. My DTL shots started clicking; I went 4-0 up and thought I have this now. But he hadn't given up, he showed incredible resistance, broke me and held his own. It was 4*-2 with me serving and he got breakpoint twice in that game to get back on serve but it wasn't to be. That was his chance. I finally broke him again to seal the set, match and title

Was a pleasure playing him. Good luck for the rest of the season

Stats: http://tinypic.com/r/hueuc6/6 and http://tinypic.com/r/4v4l88/6