Great interview. Dave is a super nice guy and quite gracious. It's always good to see when the players are done with the game expressing their take on what was happening without the emotions involved. Ben seems to be really steady with his psychology during and after the game. Thank you Ian, Ira, Ben, Dave, Jules, James and of course Mark for setting this up...great job guys! M
It looks "easy" from outside until you are facing an opponent that gives you no pace, has a mean slice and is tactically great. Kudos to MEP . There 100% is a fitness component in order to being able to face not only him, but anyone. You applaud and try to learn from a competitor like MEP. For anyone that *still* thinks he is a bad player, just ask yourselves why he keeps winning, and why you are not winning at the pace you think you should be.
@@Iseekthenam Ben is much improved, his backhand (double handed) is genuinely useful, and his serve is now a threat. Kudos to him for improving so much in this time
Glad you all made this video. I really thought I could just win at singles easily as I can doubles but due to fitness it’s just a whole different animal. Appreciate Dave sharing his experience.
It's more than just fitness. They're different games, and the higher-level you get the more different they become. That's how you get Novak beating Ebden 0 and 1 at the olympics, but then Ebden can team up with a guy who hasn't played singles in a decade and win the gold in doubles.
Ben (aka Notorious MEP) and Dave are both great players and quality human beings. Big props to both for showing up and putting themselves out there. Very entertaining match to watch...also enjoyed the commentary by Ian and Ira!. Hoping for a rematch down the road!
It's also clear that Ben (MEP) is a very strong thinker of the game. It is so easy to underestimate guys like him, with disastrous results! "Victory belongs to the most tenacious" is a very apt quote for Ben's game.
Great sportsmanship all around. I appreciate David for not making excuses. I am surprised he was having more trouble w MEPs serve than the other way around. Those blown overheads though were likely mental misses rather than physical as he was in good posiition and being an near-undefeated 4.5 doubles player, I'm sure his technique is excellent. I feel I save energy going to the net. I don't always win but I always make the other guy take more steps. If you look at the previous matches vs. Ian and Scott, you'll see they attacked the net much more. Tennis fitness is weird. Anyone looking at David would say he looks lean and in great shape.
This was a fun match for me to watch. Ben has great touch with racket face and uses the court geometry so well and his lefty serve seems to be very tricky to return. Dave is a great player as well (I understand he is out of singles practice, but what a great serve and forehand he has).
I play against a guy who runs everything down and never gives up. He's not quite MEP level as he makes unforced errors, but getting winners off him is very hard.
Also love the analysis through the match and in the interview. Unfortunate MEP is a plane ride away but it be cool to see a head to head battle, where both players have a opportunity to reflect and work on their strengths and what things from the opponent they want to take advantage of in the future. I wonder what would happen.. MEP 3-0 or maybe a 1-2 split m. Would be interesting to see!
This is why, IMO, it’s important to have a well rounded all court game. You can S&V, rally from the backcourt, hit overheads, draw your opponent into the net, etc; essentially you’ve got options. But you need to be in shape to utilize these options. I don’t understand why MEP’s opponent decided to play when his fitness obviously wasn’t up to par!
So good to see Ira back in action, well....back on the channel at least. Next step is to see him back on court! Ira for the win!!! Haha, also massive congrats to Ben on another solid W. Unlucky David, get that ball maschine out more often and you'll be alright.
MEP is such a nice guy. That being said, can you please have a 4.5 player that can hit spin to his backhand who has normal volleys play him. It really is just a matter of not going for winners but focus on high balls to his backhand, drop or angle volleys, overheads and lob him if he manages to awkwardly get to net. There is zero reason to miss returns as the point just needs to start and execute that game plan. MEP is not fast, can not change direction quickly, will not hit winners or take control of points. If he hits a drop shot you need to drop shot him back every single time.
Holy moly this is insane. How are they taking themselves so seriously. My impression of this channel has always been that is complete bs. What we have here is analysis or one of the worse technical players that I have seen on UA-cam beat someone who seems technically competent by doing what we have all seen a million times. A random player with no rhythm or technique just bats the ball back and the sheer novelty and amateur nature of the hit makes every shot pot luck and unpredictable. To then try and analyse this as if there is a method to sheer lack of technique is the crime and more importantly why doesn’t someone give the guy in the black t who purely accidentally won, some basic tennis lessons for making the effort to show up. But for god sake don’t get the lessons from this complete bs channel. These are literally so many other channels to choose from all with out the pseudo hype and pseudo technical bs. Awful truly awful.
You can say whatever you want about Ben's technique, but the man is a Beast. He has beat more players than most of us for sure, so even though is not pretty, it's effective. So, there is a lot to praise to a guy who doesn't have the "tools" you expect but wins anyways.
MEP (Ben) does have technique, just not the one taught by tennis instructors. He faces forward, he slices on both sides, he hits drop shots and lobs, etc. There are no style points in tennis. The standard technique is taught because people believe it gives you the best chance to get the ball in more often (using topspin) combined with a higher upper ceiling of how far you can take it to beat better and better players, hence the pros use it. There's more to tennis and winning than technique. MEP hits very few unforced errors (good hand/eye coordination and good focus), has good anticipation, and is mentally as tough and calm as a (former) Marine. All of which his opponents could use more of.
MEP vs Winston DU let’s give the people what they want to see!!!
Great interview. Dave is a super nice guy and quite gracious. It's always good to see when the players are done with the game expressing their take on what was happening without the emotions involved. Ben seems to be really steady with his psychology during and after the game.
Thank you Ian, Ira, Ben, Dave, Jules, James and of course Mark for setting this up...great job guys!
M
Im only here for MEP. i stopped watching this channel long ago till MEP name's appeared. good job guys.
It looks "easy" from outside until you are facing an opponent that gives you no pace, has a mean slice and is tactically great. Kudos to MEP . There 100% is a fitness component in order to being able to face not only him, but anyone. You applaud and try to learn from a competitor like MEP. For anyone that *still* thinks he is a bad player, just ask yourselves why he keeps winning, and why you are not winning at the pace you think you should be.
Love the MEP content! How many more matches are we getting?
They'll empty the RT bench to beat him, if necessary.
@tennnis498 Scott Ian topher beat him last time, although I think Ben would win against all of them during an outdoor Georgia summer
@@Iseekthenam Ben is much improved, his backhand (double handed) is genuinely useful, and his serve is now a threat. Kudos to him for improving so much in this time
Glad you all made this video. I really thought I could just win at singles easily as I can doubles but due to fitness it’s just a whole different animal. Appreciate Dave sharing his experience.
It's more than just fitness. They're different games, and the higher-level you get the more different they become. That's how you get Novak beating Ebden 0 and 1 at the olympics, but then Ebden can team up with a guy who hasn't played singles in a decade and win the gold in doubles.
Ben (aka Notorious MEP) and Dave are both great players and quality human beings. Big props to both for showing up and putting themselves out there. Very entertaining match to watch...also enjoyed the commentary by Ian and Ira!. Hoping for a rematch down the road!
It's also clear that Ben (MEP) is a very strong thinker of the game. It is so easy to underestimate guys like him, with disastrous results! "Victory belongs to the most tenacious" is a very apt quote for Ben's game.
Great sportsmanship all around. I appreciate David for not making excuses. I am surprised he was having more trouble w MEPs serve than the other way around. Those blown overheads though were likely mental misses rather than physical as he was in good posiition and being an near-undefeated 4.5 doubles player, I'm sure his technique is excellent. I feel I save energy going to the net. I don't always win but I always make the other guy take more steps. If you look at the previous matches vs. Ian and Scott, you'll see they attacked the net much more. Tennis fitness is weird. Anyone looking at David would say he looks lean and in great shape.
MEP vs Adam! I’d be out of breath watching that.
This was a fun match for me to watch. Ben has great touch with racket face and uses the court geometry so well and his lefty serve seems to be very tricky to return. Dave is a great player as well (I understand he is out of singles practice, but what a great serve and forehand he has).
MEP was the favorite in this match, Dave actually did very well and got a lot of games.
I play against a guy who runs everything down and never gives up. He's not quite MEP level as he makes unforced errors, but getting winners off him is very hard.
Also love the analysis through the match and in the interview. Unfortunate MEP is a plane ride away but it be cool to see a head to head battle, where both players have a opportunity to reflect and work on their strengths and what things from the opponent they want to take advantage of in the future. I wonder what would happen.. MEP 3-0 or maybe a 1-2 split m. Would be interesting to see!
This is why, IMO, it’s important to have a well rounded all court game. You can S&V, rally from the backcourt, hit overheads, draw your opponent into the net, etc; essentially you’ve got options. But you need to be in shape to utilize these options. I don’t understand why MEP’s opponent decided to play when his fitness obviously wasn’t up to par!
Big smile from Ben, great fairplay from David
I really agree with the last comment from Ian, about facing MEP.
Oh man, Ben’s pants with the wet spot doesn’t look right haha. Great match fellas
Now that is the funniest ending!!!😅😅😅😅😅
So good to see Ira back in action, well....back on the channel at least. Next step is to see him back on court! Ira for the win!!! Haha, also massive congrats to Ben on another solid W. Unlucky David, get that ball maschine out more often and you'll be alright.
Amazing.
Hot take: professional players are back boards!
Put me in coach!!! Need like 15 weeks to recover from an injury and then to get a couple matches in before hand but would love o play on the channel!
MEP is such a nice guy. That being said, can you please have a 4.5 player that can hit spin to his backhand who has normal volleys play him. It really is just a matter of not going for winners but focus on high balls to his backhand, drop or angle volleys, overheads and lob him if he manages to awkwardly get to net. There is zero reason to miss returns as the point just needs to start and execute that game plan. MEP is not fast, can not change direction quickly, will not hit winners or take control of points. If he hits a drop shot you need to drop shot him back every single time.
Holy moly this is insane. How are they taking themselves so seriously. My impression of this channel has always been that is complete bs. What we have here is analysis or one of the worse technical players that I have seen on UA-cam beat someone who seems technically competent by doing what we have all seen a million times. A random player with no rhythm or technique just bats the ball back and the sheer novelty and amateur nature of the hit makes every shot pot luck and unpredictable. To then try and analyse this as if there is a method to sheer lack of technique is the crime and more importantly why doesn’t someone give the guy in the black t who purely accidentally won, some basic tennis lessons for making the effort to show up. But for god sake don’t get the lessons from this complete bs channel. These are literally so many other channels to choose from all with out the pseudo hype and pseudo technical bs. Awful truly awful.
😂
Speaking of taking things too seriously...
You can say whatever you want about Ben's technique, but the man is a Beast. He has beat more players than most of us for sure, so even though is not pretty, it's effective. So, there is a lot to praise to a guy who doesn't have the "tools" you expect but wins anyways.
@@MisterReZI’m sure Brad Gilbert with his “Winning Ugly” book(which I re-read once a year) would be very proud!
MEP (Ben) does have technique, just not the one taught by tennis instructors. He faces forward, he slices on both sides, he hits drop shots and lobs, etc. There are no style points in tennis.
The standard technique is taught because people believe it gives you the best chance to get the ball in more often (using topspin) combined with a higher upper ceiling of how far you can take it to beat better and better players, hence the pros use it.
There's more to tennis and winning than technique. MEP hits very few unforced errors (good hand/eye coordination and good focus), has good anticipation, and is mentally as tough and calm as a (former) Marine. All of which his opponents could use more of.