HC Monday Musings

Thoughts, rants, and other non-essential information on a Monday morning

.....OK, so I did have the opportunity to view some of the Shanghai Masters. (Federer, Murray, Djokovic) I am more convinced than ever of how one becomes a top of the world player these days.

     1--identify an athletic kid or 100 of them.
     2--teach them all beautiful shots
     3--put them in competitive play
     4--they are all trained in purely defensive tactics
     5--hope a few of them grow big and strong(so their defensive shots are now offensive)
     6--train them physically until they are amazingly fit(being a world class athlete helps) 
     7--assume one of the 100(or 1000, or 10,000) will emerge

     Seriously, the top 4 ATP Players have these heights/weights listed:

     1  Roger Federer      6'1"  187lbs
     2  Novak Djokovic  6'2"  176lbs
     3  Andy Murray       6'3"  185lbs
     4  Rafa Nadal          6/1"  188lbs

Numbers two, three and four all play inherently defensive tactics. #1 plays defensive on his left side, because he hits a one-hand BH (and BTW is limited as to his defensive quality because of one-hand)

TV Announcers said Murray trains by doing 400 meter repeats......at 55 seconds(Confession: I ran a 57" once, at age 21, and thought my heart had jumped out of my body taking all oxygen with it. Have done repeat 400's also....at 80". Cannot imagine doing repeat 400's at 55")

Federer disappears into the Middle Eastern deserts every December and emerges fit and injury free and has been without injury his entire career.

Djokovic doesn't eat anything and appears to have taken stretching to a new level. His body is pliable to say the least.

Nadal is the most human. At least his body shows wear and tear. But any of you who believe Rafa's weight is 188lbs.....well, contact me: I have some Iowa mountainside property to sell you.
 

.....Fall House Cleaning continues: who knew what had been, and could be, stowed under the home office futon? I made my contribution to the Recycling Dumpster.

.....Fall Break at Coe is an opportunity for the HC to make progress on a rather large TO-DO list.

.....Two days of significant rain, combined with a 25 year old roof equals a non-conventional workout of moving water in many diverse ways.(see pic in previous post)

.....October Goal for HC: do not play tennis this month(attempting to revive aching knees that have been protesting). I have made it 12 days......this is and will be a difficult goal to achieve. Think it last happened(non-surgical intervention) in December of 1977