Tennis | Former ATP Pro using Wooden Racket vs Amateur using Modern Racket
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- Опубліковано 23 бер 2022
- Former ATP No. 266 Alex Slabinsky takes on comedian Josh Berry in a tie break to 10, but Alex has to use a wooden racket from the 80s. Can Alex adapt his game to beat Josh?
Josh is using the Dunlop CX200 and Alex is using the Dunlop Maxply Wooden John McEnroe racket.
Dunlop CX200:
allthingstennis.co.uk/product... - Спорт
Josh is better than most club players. That serve is no joke.
Only if he could cut back on the errors, and have a second serve he would legit be much better, I think he would probably be like an 11 UTR.
Alex is a joke
@@ollie708 He was 260 ATP, he’s playing with a wooden racket cut him some slack.
I'm seeing more 5.0 club players serving huge. Racket technology just doesn't stop and young players are taking full advantage.
hes a 10.2 bro hes a top 3000 player in the world
Now we can really appreciate how good Jon macenroe was
Well Johnny Mac played against wooden racquet holders too, no one had the advantage. The only cuckoo who tried to use a wooden racquet against modern ones was Borg in his return in the 90s.
Or Jimmy Connors with that Wilson T2000
Not really. The opponents also played with wood racquets.
@@razorback9926 and John was still able to hit 115mph on his first serves
@@Jacob-rq5zb McEnroe in the 1990s could serve 120, but that was using a modern racquet. When he was #1 in 1984 he was using wood, and not serving 120.
"The guy has two first serves!!"
Just like me, both out
He had the most trouble with returns. There’s simply no margin for error. You can hit it off center with a graphite and still hit a decent shot but that doesn’t work for a wood frame with its small head size.
100%
Your comments are right on but one factor is worth considering. He is not used to playing with a racquet like this. If he used it for a few months and got the feel of it, his strokes would be far more effective than we are seeing now. The Dunlop Maxply Fort was the choice of many pros ( Johnny Mac was one ) and was a great racquet. I played with one when I was a teenager. Obviously modern racquets are far far better overall but many many Grand Slams were won with one of these.
It's also quite heavy and easy to hit late.
Funny how he goes up to the camera talking scat after every point he wins 😂
Now go watch Borg Connors 1976 US Open crush their groundstrokes with those small rackets, you will be deeply impressed with their level of play.
Connors used the impossible to control but powerful Wilson T2000 steel racket. He was the only player ever able to use that thing.
@@stevenmeyer9674 That T2000 also weighed as much as a brick. Amazing how he could play with that.
Service returns were horrible. Rod Laver at age 60 with his wood racket easily beats either of these two. In his 40s, Laver wouldn't drop a point.❤
@@folkemer what do you expect from the only one of the few players to do the surface grand slam. Go the mighty rod
I remember watching Alex Slabinsky play live in a Futures event. I think there were exactly two spectators -- me and a coach. He was a fantastic player, that's for sure (and maybe still is).
At 7:20 I think he was genuinely thinking about smashing his racquet! Man, I feel his pain, I really do!!! Lol This was fun to watch!
Really enjoyed watching this. Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it x
This is actually so fun to watch lol
I would have liked a little discussion from the former pro about what kind of impact he felt the wooden racquet had on his game. Was he more affected by the smaller head size, the weight, the material/wood itself, the strings? Or was it all just his opponent's serve?
bruh as u could clearly see he played like your grandma. He managed to get some of those big serves in with a crazy slice I have no idea how only cuz he is a pro thus super human talent
Im just saying my view I agree Id like too his point of view about those points
Not a pro but I've hit with 13 Oz old graphite rackets, lots of rackets with crap strings, wood rackets, etc. Head size is a Big factor. Scrap that, actually sweetspot size, probably most important. Rossignol 80s rackets are small but have a Generous sweetspot, I've played some of my best tennis sometimes with them, including hitting against some serious spin and some pace. With decent strings mind you. Of course back then they didn't have poly or even good nylon, they'd string up natural gut usually very tight. Sampras and Borg would have rackets Snap sometimes due to the huge pressures just from string tensions.
Anyways of course with 60 Sq. Inch wood rackets, no sweetspot (sometimes smaller than the ball, altho they used smaller balls back then) so of course Anything off center was a not good shot, unless of course rhey are at net perhaps which was Very often back then. Serving & returning were even more important in the wood/ aluminum days (the material "shift" didn't change much at all- top pro's kept using woodies until graphite completely took over (with a few exceptions- Connors briefly used Steel t2000 in 1985, Mecir/ Noah used wood in frames, etc) at the top in early 80s
Somebody else can probably explain it better. It is Absolutely Amazing what Borg, McEnroe, Pancho Gonzales (some partial topspin/ overspin on his forehand I've seen in certain clips/ matches), Hoad, etc could do. Impossible to emulate Nadal tho without graphite, big headed rackets and poly strings
I’d like to see Wimbledon played with wooden rackets, it would be fascinating to see how the modern players would get on, I reckon Mac could make a comeback and win it.
On wooden? Heck yeah he could, prob Borg too.
We also need a Wood Court tournament again.
Unlikely. All tennis court surfaces have been slowed down to make for longer boring rallies. It started in the early 2000s. Yeah, even Wimbledon was slowed down in 2001 by using a different grass mixture which holds the ball up. In 2022, some players stated that the Wimbledon courts were markedly slower than in previous years. So maybe they've changed the grass mixture yet again.
"I believe they call that "pushing"." Hilarious! :D
I was poor and used hand me down Chris Everett wood rackets for high school tennis, my game changed drastically when started using a Prince oversized.
This was fun. Both of them are good comedians.
Turn about is fair play. Now have Josh play with the wood and Alex play with his modern racket. See what the score is then.
Agreed, we need a video of the racquet reversals!
Yeah it's racquet. Definately. Thanks for uploading. I enjoyed watching it.
Glad you enjoyed it! ATT x
This was great! Have always wanted to see a modern player with a wooden racket!
Awesome, Guys! Love it.
The banter and failed mind games is so much fun! 🤣
We play an annual doubles match with NOS wooden maxplys, challengers and a Donnay Borg. It is hilarious and utterly demoralising... but fun.
Note both are Dunlop frames. Have loved all my Dunlop frames. Currently playing with a cx200 tour, my all time favorite. Easy power, great feel, and pretty stable for an 11.5 ounce frame. The "smaller" 95 head helps me hit slices reminiscent of old wood frame slices.
I haven’t played with a wooden racket for 40 years myself. I can’t even imagine trying it now, as I’m out of sorts even when I test out somebody else’s modern racket with a different setup. 😳
can remember switching from wood to a midsize graphite. Serve was so much better, and volleys were all of a sudden so easy. No margin of error with a wood stick.
Thanks for posting! would have liked to see a game without the serves to see more rallies
Strings are very important as well
And also getting used to an older racquet takes time
I remember playing with a wooden racquet as a kid. It was slightly warped which made it even harder to play with.
Probably had Klipspringer natural gut strings
About once a year we pull out the woodies and play a set of doubles. Its kind of fun but I wonder how we did it back then and not all end up with severe tennis elbow.
Great video! I wish tennis pros still had to use wood racquets.
Have them switch rackets. I want to know what the score is the other way round.
When did Hugh Grant pickup tennis? Lol
Great video!
Thanks! ATT x
So ... to the age-old argument ... if pros today played with the racquet and strings of yesteryear, how would they compete against the pros of old? It is a question always brought up when discussing the GOATs. Can we really compare players of different generations given the different equipment: yes or no?
love this
Josh’s face looks so funny that it is hard to take his games seriously......haha
7:45 -- Difficult to use a western grip with the open stance heavy top spin forehand with that racket. Best to use eastern grip and just slice.
I played back in the later 1960's and early 1970's. The highest status as 1st singles in a fairly large High School. Used Jack Kramer wood, then a T2000 Wilson, then back to wood. Gave up the game for various reasons (work and night school) about 1976. Some 30 years later, in or around 2006, had the opportunity to rally a bit with a modern racket. Well Holy Fuzzy Balls Batman, I couldn't believe how easy and forgiving the modern rackets are. Would be interesting to see a match between Novak Djokovic using an old style wood racket and Iga Swiatek using a modern composite racket. I really think Iga might have the edge with a modern era racket as there is that much difference between said rackets. Loved the days of the wood rackets as there was a lot more net pay from the majority of players.
She hits the "heaviest" ball on the WTA tour--I imagine that would be hard to handle with a flexible woody and small head. However, would they be able to string the woodies with poly? I might try that sometime for kicks....
Poly on wood is good, but you must string very low, 25-35lbs. Poly doesn't stretch like gut did, very stiff in such a dense small space. With poly in wood you can actually generate a lot of spin.
You can hit the wooden racket like a modern racket not just forehand slices.. prob is you get a lot of shanks😂🤣but somehow, it lands in most of the time😂🤣🤣go for it!
Normally, the one who thinks the racquet makes the player, when he loses, that's the player who thinks to make a racket. But is a wooden racquet grounds for substandard equipment? Still wondering whether Alex would have had a chance if he had more time to adapt to the strengths of the wooden racquet, eg slices, dead shots and so on. The mistake was trying to make power shots and not more positional ones.
Josh doing a fine impression of a pretty good player...
I noticed the former pro came to the net a lot. Is that his typical game, or was that an adjustment to the racquet? Was that a strategy, or did he not think he could stay in long baseline rallies?
Adjustment
Now we understand how modern super racket and string tech changed the game of tennis into a game of brute force.
I see a lot of modern players who just bunt a hard serve back. Looks like that's not an effective strategy with a wooden racquet. Just doesn't generate enough power.
I wonder what kind of strings the pro used? Modern, I'm guessjng. imagine if that old racquet were string with, I dunno, catgut.
What would the score have been if they both had modern racquets? Josh 10-1?
100% 🤣
I went to Wikipedia to know more about Alex and here’s what I’ve read: “Alex favourite courts were hard and clay courts, but he did just as well on grass as he produced good form at both Wimbledon Championships and Queens ATP. He has a very strong serve, and gets a large amount of aces in matches. His serve is backed up by good ground strokes and he is solid from both sides.”
I thought he would start to serve bombs after trailing Josh in the match but he served like a retired accountant. Either Wikipedia is wrong or the wooden racket weighs 30 pounds.
Completely agree. He can’t be that old. His serve especially seems very weak, even considering the racket.
@@TheRausing1 he just turned 36, LOL. Nadal is actually two months younger than him. Maybe he was really sandbagging for shits and giggles.
Serve a bomb (modern serve, flat) with that racket and the thing would implode in 30 different pieces. Bro, it's a wooden racket!!!
I think both these guys took this contest too seriously, especially Josh. He comes off as an unlikable prick.
He’s pathetic..just a friendly match. Probably his mental approach was his Demise as a pro
The comedian has a perfect service action❗
Wow. Technology!
I think that thing had the original dead as door nails strings on it lol
Now you know how good Borg was
Yep those old guys who played with wood rackets really needed more skill than today's guys
For instance I used a wood racquet for a year when I started playing. When I switched to a Dunlop graphite 200G I went from a 3.5 to a 4.5.
You had to be a much better athlete with the wood as you could not bash the ball around for winners. Try one...
Let Alex play with the Donnay Bjorn Borg allwood racket and see what happens. That racket is heavy but it hits a heavy ball.
Awesome play though, when Alex actually got into a rally he would win the point with a devious slice! Was that a Dunlop Maxply? The best next round is obvious to me: this time Alex uses a Dunlop MAX 200G, the greatest racket of all time, - 40th Anniversary this year.
Great idea! Would you like a job in our marketing department 😆
@@allthingstennis Haha, yes make sure you put a big Dunlop MAX 200G 40th Year picture on the next VLOG - then if Dunlop wake up and have an anniversary at Wimbledon this year, I'll take 2 tickets please!
I have a couple of pristine Dunlop 200Gs. Also have a Dunlop Muscleweave. It's one of the best Dunlops made. Also have a few wooden Dunlops, the earlier Maxplys like Laver used and the last version, the McEnroe Maxply with a graphite overlay. You can hit any of the shots with the wooden racquets except when you are playing against someone with a powerful graphite racquet who is big shots you simply get overpowered, have to go to a slice. On moderate pace balls you can hit topspin off both sides with the wooden Dunlops.
@@gordonipock9385 Laver could hit topspin both sides
The comedian is pretty good for an amateur
He mentioned he is a 10.2. I assume 10.2 UTR.
He doesnt look like 10 utr, but does look quite impressive. Might be low on practice.
Technology........the great equalizer
Fun
When a man with a vintage wooden racket meets a man with a modern alloy/graphite racket, the man with the wooden racket is a defeated man...😂🤣😆
never heard the girls on the other court scream once lol
Josh is very much a screamer 😄
My dosh was on you Slab - what happened?!
next time we can make federer play with a TT racket
Hi ! I like this JOSH UA-cam G O A T ! In fact is there a way I can participate ? I wanna beat him. I am an amateur player, I am 50 years old ! waiting for a response ! thank you ! keep it up Josh !
Using a small wooden racket is very different and a lot harder to play.
with old racket you need use slice
That’s no amateur serve. Guy was hitting nukes on 1st and 2nd!
Always thought it was ok to start using different materials when constructing the racket, but changing the head size to oversize should have been banned. It completely changed the game.
guy looks like david tennant
Rematch both with normal racquets
If baseball can do it, so can tennis. Serve and volley was a much more beautiful game.
better that AO 2023
Josh serves like Kafelnikov.
A 10.2 is a D1 player in US. Challenger is no slouch, unlike Judge Smails.
The only time I need a "wood" is with the tennis ladies.
And a when they see your yellow fuzzy balls and yell "out" whose fault is that?
@@Yowza78 Long ago the balls were white.
I can't believe it. He can't be serious.
British funnies are the best
I think young Alex did not really try to win any of the Points. Also probably did not grow up using a wooden racket so was not sure how to use it?
Anyway, good for a laugh guys thanks 🙏
Why do we need your comedy routine after every point?
ua-cam.com/video/Fev02vMyF8A/v-deo.html
Because we are humans.
longest rally was what, 5 shots? That was dumb
ua-cam.com/video/Fev02vMyF8A/v-deo.html
So basically, its serve, then see who doesn't fuck up first? If you haven't already fucked up the serve . . .
As a casual observer it is clear Josh makes so many errors.
After 15 secs. of action it goes to two 15 sec. commercials!! Screw this!!
We don't decide this btw
6 free points on serve.
Nice trash talking 😂
10 UTR aint no amateur
Advanced amateur
Shorten your backswing and you have to use more technique from beginner tennis. Modern players have no idea about the Classical style of the era. Wood rules. LOL!
He is not an amateur at all.
Bit of a bell end tbh
🤣
probably stick with comedy...
Change the title. The guy is not considered as an Amateur. Misleading title. A real Amateur can never beat a former ATP pro using wooden racket.
Josh in unlikable
Zero rallies. Not worth the watch
Unwatchable with commentary every point...
ua-cam.com/video/Fev02vMyF8A/v-deo.html
Man, can u stop talking between points and just play ...
My first racquet was a Dunlop Maxply, as used by John McEnroe back in the early 80's. It taught me to be more skilled than if id gone straight to an aluminum or graphite racquet
So cringy
Stop talking and play tennis.
I've been saying that there needs to be a pro tournament with wooden rackets. lol
And Josh Berry isn't a club player.
Wait which one is the comedian ?
Comedy is subjective my friend!
Stop talking and play
Lol it's all for fun 😄