HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Subject: Re: Why I am called Friendless
Reply-To: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles C. Lin)
Organization: College of Engineering, Maryversity of Uniland, College Park
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 08:06:04 GMT

In article <farrell.714379604@coral.cs.jcu.edu.au>, farrell@coral.cs.jcu.edu.au (John Farrell) writes:
> I know it's terrible vain posting this here, but I'm trying to annoy Charles
> Lin in revenge for all of those annoying trivia posts last year.
> 
>   When I started honours (1987), I had just moved into a flat with a friend of
> mine. He was working in the same building, and rather than go to lunch with
> the other honours students (slimy slobbering pack that they were), I would go
> have lunch with him. A certain itinerant Ph.D. student who spent a lot of time
> in the honours lab fondling a certain third year decided that I must be
> sneaking off to have lunch by myself. Little did he know of my flatmate's huge
> number of gorgeous co-workers. Now this particular student had earlier earned
> the wrath of the lady from the Maths Library with his persistent whistling,
> singing, shouting stomping and clapping. She confided in me: "That boy! He's
> the noisiest person on campus!" She was right. Anyway, one day after lunch, he
> proclaimed "WHY DO YOU HAVE LUNCH BY YOURSELF? YOU MUST HAVE NO FRIENDS! YOU
> MUST BE FRIENDLESS! I THINK I SHALL CALL YOU FRIENDLESS FARRELL!"
>   Of course, little did he know that such a nickname was particularly
> appropriate. For example, it applies perfectly to someone who posts trivial
> stories to worldwide newsgroups, and doesn't even mention tennis.
> 

   I can't believe you really did this.  I can't believe you
really posted this.  You must be friendless. :).

   One of these we'll have to let the other folks in on
how I managed to pester this out of you.

   Anyway, let's see, how can I throw any tennis content into
this post.   Ummm, John has been at JCU for only a few months
and he needs a tennis partner.   Only gorgeous people may apply.

   I still can't believe you did this.

   Or why I am wasting bandwidth replying to this.  I must
be friendless.   

    And, the saga continues......

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu

Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
From: page@ficus.cs.ucla.edu (Thomas Page)
Subject: Any opinions on the Dunlop Quake?
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 92 21:27:27 GMT

What kind of player is it for?  What is it good at and what is it not?
Tom
From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
Subject: Volvo International, results?
Date: 21 Aug 92 04:25:43 GMT
Reply-To: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles C. Lin)
Organization: College of Engineering, Maryversity of Uniland, College Park


   Anyone keeping track of the Volvo International?  Hope to
see results posted on it.

   Anyway, on Wednesday, I turned on ESPN to watch afternoon
play being called in the middle of bright sunshine.  Needless
to say I was puzzled for quite a while.   It turns out that
the site had had rain just last weekend and the first day
or two of the tournament.   The main stadium (at Yale Univ.
in New Haven, Connecticut) holds more people than all
other outside courts combined.  I think it holds something
like 10,000 people and the rest combined hold 5,000.

   So, they sold tickets numbering around 10,000.   The
problem was that the stadium court was getting water seeping
in from the bottom and this was somehow causing bubbles to
form on the surface (DecoTurf, I assume), and this was
deemed unplayable by players and officials.  So, they
attempted to resurface the place, but couldn't get it
to dry by Wednesday afternoon.

   So, rather than cram everyone in on the outside courts,
which didn't have this damage, they decided to call play
for the afternoon.   Needless to say, the fans were very
unhappy.  Some had travelled a long distance to attend
for a single day, and were paying high hotel costs and
couldn't afford to have a different day.   One man yelled
that this problem never happened in Stratton (previous
site of the Volvo International).

   They interviewed Brad Gilbert who said that he could
understand the fan's frustration (since he was caught in
some match delayed by the problems on the court --
at least I think he was), and wished that the officials
had tried to explain the situation, which they didn't
appear to do (it might sound a little strange that a
bubbles on the court should be any cause to call a match).
Stefan Edberg was asked whether they should have called
play off, and he sort of hedged his answers by saying that
the officials made a decision which the players had to
stick by.  I think he was avoiding saying that while
the fans had a right to be angry, the players' safety
and the fair conditions of the court dictated that play
should have been called, though I'm sure some players
would have played anyway.

   Then, they repeated a match between Lendl and McEnroe
from 1985 in which (if I recall) McEnroe won pretty
handily, which Lendl having problems (the altitude was
supposedly causing the balls to fly).

   Anne, Gess, somebody post results!  Thanks.

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu
From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
Subject: Re: Measuring String tension
Date: 12 Aug 92 21:55:28 GMT
Reply-To: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles C. Lin)
Distribution: usa
Organization: College of Engineering, Maryversity of Uniland, College Park

In article <1992Aug12.183111.71277@uvmark.uucp>, palmer@uvmark.uucp (Filaman) writes:
> 
> It makes perfect sense. The machine stops pulling when it senses a certain
> tension in the string. Some machines stop pulling and lock at that point,
> others keep pulling at that tension. The tension that the machine senses 
> is correct (if the machine is calibrated) and matches the setting you
> requested. However, because of certain variables, the tension will change
> almost immediately. The frames gives a little, the string stretches a little.
> This is the way it's always been, and believe me you cannot tell what tension
> is in a racquet. You can only make a guess based on what you seen before
> and based upon this information the results will be the same. 
> 
> For example: You've been having your racquet strung at 60 pounds for the
> last three years. Maybe the actual tension is 55 pounds. For some reason,
> the machine starts dropping tension, maybe it hasn't been calibrated in a
> while, and your next string job is 5 pounds less. Being the experienced
> player that you are, you notice the difference. But you notice that tension
> is 5 pounds less than you expected, not that it's 50 pounds.
> 
> Suppose you found out that all stringing machine manufacturers made a crucial
> design flaw and all machines were off by 33 percent. Who would care? That's
> why it's called a *reference* tension. Of course, this doesn't apply to
> my machine, all my racquets are strung at the *actual* tension :).

   So, if I go to one stringer and say I want 60 pounds, and their
stringing machine is off by 33% and I go another, and that tension
is off by 10%, then I will get two different stringing tensions
for what I think is the same amount.  I may have to get it
restrung a second time just to get the tension to somewhere
that I like it because the first time seems to be just
a guess.   Now if EVERYONE's machine is off by the same amount,
then, you're right, it makes no difference.  But if everyone
is off by a different amount, then I will, potentially, need
to get it strung again, and then stick to the same stringer
(presuming they only have one machine or that all machines
can be calibrated the same).

   So, my question is not so much on relative tension, (though
knowing the actual tension seems to be more intuitively satisfying)
but on how different various stringing machines are.  

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
From: lfd@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (Lee Derbenwick)
Subject: Re: Trying out the Donnay Pro One Limited Midsize
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 22:13:09 GMT
Summary: Hitting areas, U.S. vs. metric.

In article <1992Aug14.221108.16768@src.umd.edu>, clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin) writes:
[in his discussion of the "flashy Agassi racquet"]
> 
>    I tested the oversized once, and felt that it was just a bit
> big, so I took the risk of getting the super midsize (95 square inches
> or about 680 sq. cm) instead.

Since 1 inch = 2.54 cm, 1 square inch is about 6.45 cm^2
(square centimeters), so 95 square inches is about 613 cm^2,
not 680.

Head uses square centimeters in their racquet names:  The
<whatever> 600 is around 600 cm^2 (93 in^2), the 660 is around
660 cm^2 (102 in^2), and the 720 is around 720 cm^2 (112 in^2).

(I don't know if Head is any more accurate than manufacturers who
use square inches in their racquet names: _Tennis_ magazine's
measurements tend to range from about 92 to 98 in^2 for a
<something> 95, and maybe 105 to 115 for a <something> 110.)

 -- Speaking strictly for myself,
 --   Lee Derbenwick, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Warren, NJ
 --   lfd@cbnewsm.ATT.COM  or  <wherever>!att!cbnewsm!lfd
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
From: GE.TEG@forsythe.stanford.edu (Tito E. Gervacio)
Subject: Between-The-Legs Shot
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 16:21:38 GMT


From AS.TLK@forsythe.stanford.edu (Timothy Kaufman):

>This is not a high percentage shot (you don't really see people
>hitting long 'tweener rallies), but an easy choice--
>
>Best between-the-legs shot:       Gabriela Sabitweeni
>
>I've seen her hit it facing forwards and backwards (chasing down a
>lob)--gee, I can't even hit it over my shoulder.
>
>
>-Timmer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd like to mention that on the men's side, Ilie Nastase
pioneered this shot.  And almost every player, kids, hackers,
pros, will try this shot for a winner, at least once in
their playing life.  What a spice in the game.

                                      -TEG
From: clc5q@hemlock.cs.Virginia.EDU (Clark L. Coleman)
Subject: Re: A little trivia question
Organization: University of Virginia Computer Science Department
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 19:48:57 GMT


Let's try another one: Which players have scored a 6-0 set against Lendl?

I can only find 3 in major events. I found at least a dozen 6-0 sets for
Lendl in my searching --- of course.
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It is seldom that any liberty is lost all at once." David Hume
|||  clc5q@virginia.edu (Clark L. Coleman)
From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
Subject: Opinions on tension
Date: 21 Aug 92 16:07:04 GMT
Reply-To: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles C. Lin)
Organization: College of Engineering, Maryversity of Uniland, College Park


    Since I have been playing around with the tension on my
racquet, I thought I might ask the group at large what
they think about tension.  I think conventional wisdom
is that with lower tension comes more power (and possibly
better feel) and a larger sweetspot.  With higher tension,
you get more control, and a smaller sweetspot.

    Now, I have read things to the contrary before.  For example,
one person had mentioned hitting with Borg's racquets many
years ago (he used to string conventional racquets at
80 pounds.  Other people used to string it in the 50's).
He couldn't understand how Borg could play with those racquets.
They felt like boards, and the balls supposedly flew when
he hit it.   Borg claimed that he was able to get better
spin with the higher tensions.   I am wondering whether the
higher the tension gets the more it really does act like
a board, and hence it's akin to hitting with a wooden
paddle.  I guess Filaman ought to know since he strung
his racquets that way.   Also, Warren Bosworth, stringer
for Lendl and Connors among others, believes that there
are low tensions (very low) where you can get a balance
between control and power.  So, McEnroe strings his racquets
in the low 40 pounds for a midsize (I think) and Zina
Garrison strings it in the high 40's.

    Do most people just string it in the normal range or
have some people strung it at higher tensions or lower
tensions than normal?   Any opinions on how people
like the tensions?   I used to favor high tensions, but
I am currently favoring low ones to get a better feel.

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu
From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
Subject: Re: Best shots in tennis
Date: 12 Aug 92 17:53:25 GMT
Reply-To: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles C. Lin)
Organization: College of Engineering, Maryversity of Uniland, College Park

In article <m14430.713633497@mwunix>, m14430@mwunix.mitre.org (Lawrence Larson) writes:
> clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin) writes:
> 
> >Let's try to keep it to current tennis.
> 
> Charles, just how is Chris Evert "current tennis"?

   You got me there.  I just couldn't think of any touch players
in a power game like today.  Graf, Seles, Capriati, and Sabatini
seem more the power hitters.   Possibly Sabatini.  Nobody jumps out
though.  All the famous touch players seem to be out of the past.
.... I think.

> 
> >Among the men ---
> 
> >   Best backhand  Ivan Lendl  (maybe Sampras, haven't seen him lately)
> 
> > Backhand was a tough choice.  It's hard to
> >name the great backhands of today.   Edberg might seem
> >like a good choice, but he's really more of a volleyer,
> 
> The most recent Tennis Magazine stroke analysis chose Edberg's
> backhand as the clear winner. "More of a volleyer"? Huh? What
> does a preference for serve-and-volley have to do with stroke
> analysis?

   My feeling is that Edberg's backhand is best used as an
approach shot to set his approaches.  I think people tend
to choose Edberg because most players have stronger forehands
than backhands.  The main exceptions are Edberg and Connors.
Most people aren't selecting Connors these days because they
feel his best days are past.  Hence, Edberg usually gets the
nod.   For some reason,  I believe that while Edberg can
hold his own in the backcourt,  he can't push people with his
backhand unless he approaches.  I chose not to make the decision
on that basis.  Otherwise, I might put McEnroe's backhand up
there, too.  While he misses a bit if he goes for power,
Mac can open up great angles when he powers the backhand.

> 
> >   With lobbing, well, not too many people lob.  Chang's
> >15 or so lobs against McEnroe in last year's Open 
> >convinced me he's the best.
> 
> Actually, I'm always amazed at how well and how consistently
> the pros lob, especially defensively. Chang and Mac are excellent,
> but Connors offensive lobs, particularly off the backhand, are
> the best I've seen.

   I'm surprised at how well players hit their overheads.  This
shot seems to give the casual player quite a lot of trouble and
yet even the most ardent baseliners, esp. among the men, almost
never miss an overhead.   I think my preference is still with
Chang.  The reason is that Connors rarely lobs, and uses it
as a surprise shot (which is the way most people are with the
lob).  In that US Open match,  Chang kept lobbing McEnroe and
Mac had to know it was coming after the fourth or fifth time,
and still Chang was able to get over McEnroe's head.  Too bad
I haven't seen it in his game lately.  But then I haven't seen
Chang play lately, at least against serve and volleyers.

--
Charles Lin
clin@eng.umd.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
From: cscomp@rabbit.inesc.pt (Area do CSC)
Subject: Racket thrasher needs help!
Organization: INESC - Inst. Eng. Sistemas e Computadores, LISBOA. PORTUGAL.
Distribution: rec.sport.tennis
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 19:40:56 GMT


Hi guys!  this is my first post to this newsgroup..so here goes !


  I started playing tennis about 10 years ago, and for the first
  6 or 7 years I played quite regularly once or twice a YEAR !!!! :-)

  for the last 2 ,3 years I've been playing more often, and my
  temper is taking its financial toll, I just killed my third
  racket ( a 6 month old racket :-( ), and really need help 
  controlling my temper !! (I can outo any of Mcenroe's tantrums :-) )

  I have very decent strokes (besides a huge array of unforced errors
  to choose from to finish off my rallies).

  So my main question is:

     What can I do to control my temper and stay focused on the game 
        after a BAD BAD error ?

  
     furthermore are there any books on: tennis strategy
                                         concentration
                                         mental game     ??

     
     I would really appreciate any help you can give !
     Many thanks in advance. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Shafik Mahomad                  | Well, I gess i'm shopping
INESC, Portugal                 | for a racket... any suggestions ??
From: graham@maths.su.oz.au (Graham Matthews)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
Subject: Re: BOOM BOOM booms again!!!
Date: 21 Aug 92 11:55:13 GMT
Organization: School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sydney

(Mandar Mukund Mirashi) writes:
> I posted that article to celebrate Boom Boom's Olympic doubles victory!

Gee, and I thought it was Becker AND Stich who won. Perhaps you were
seeing double.

graham
--
Graham Matthews                 And it's true we are immune
Pure Math, Uni.Sydney, Oz       When fact is fiction and T.V. is reality
graham@maths.su.oz.au
From: palmer@uvmark.uucp (Filaman)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
Subject: Re: How many touring pros are using wide body racquets?
Date: 19 Aug 92 15:35:35 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Vmark Software, Inc.

In article <1992Aug18.014126.13434@cbnewsh.cb.att.com> shun@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (shun.cheung) writes:
>On the men's side, those who enter the top-16 or so in the past year
>or two include Courier, Sampras, Ivanisevic, Stich, Ferreira, Krajicek,
>and Forget. Again, they are power players with a huge serve. There
>are a few exceptions such as Korda. But they are far outnumbered
>by the "power" players.

Yes, but how many of these power players are using high tech racquets.
Granted their not playing with old wood racquets, but Courier, Sampras
and Krajicek are all using the older Wilson Pro Staff. This is not a 
power racquet by any means.
>
>The influence of power racquets is clearly there. Touch players
>such as Martina and Mac may be a thing of the past. Whether this
>new trend is "good" for tennis or not is another issue.

The power is coming from the athletes themselves.
-- 
 _____   _   _       __    _    _    __    _    _     Palmer Chappelle
| ____) | | | |     /  \  |  \/  |  /  \  |  \ | |    VMark Software, Inc.
| __)   | | | |__  | || | | |\/| | | || | | |\\| |    uvmark%palmer@merk.com
|_|     |_| |____) |_||_| |_|  |_| |_||_| |_| \ _|    USRSA Certified Stringer
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Subject: Re: Opinions on tension
Reply-To: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles C. Lin)
Organization: College of Engineering, Maryversity of Uniland, College Park
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 02:44:13 GMT

In article <1992Aug21.201521.28684@med.umich.edu>, ajchien@med.umich.edu (Alexander J. Chien) writes:
> 
> |> higher the tension gets the more it really does act like
> |> a board, and hence it's akin to hitting with a wooden
>                                                   ^^^^^^^^
> |> paddle. 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> Funny you mention the 'wooden paddle' idea with Borg. For just
> a bit of trivia Borg and his father were both table tennis 
> (wooden paddles) players before Borg picked up tennis. In fact,
> the story is that Borg's father won Borg's first tennis racket
> in a table tennis tournament!
> 

    Yeah, I heard that Borg's father had won the tournament and one 
of the prizes was a tennis racquet, which he knew his son wanted.
So he started going for the fishing pole as a joke, and when Bjorn 
started looking upset, he chose the racquet.

--
Charles Lin 
clin@eng.umd.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
Subject: Re: Best shots in tennis
From: pmbarlow@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Dan Fielding)
Date: 13 Aug 92 13:33:25 -0500
Distribution: usa
Organization: Miami University Academic Computer Service"

In article <1992Aug13.154346.26441@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu>, adusumel@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu (Nagendra Adusumelli) writes:
> In article <1992Aug12.232427.5202@morrow.stanford.edu> AS.TLK@forsythe.stanford.edu (Timothy Kaufman) writes:
>>mmmirash@bearcat.ecn.uoknor.edu (Mandar Mukund Mirashi) writes:
>>>
>>>   Serve:  Most dangerous -- Boris Becker
>>>           Most versatile -- Boris Becker
>>>   Best volleys  : Boris Becker
>>>   Best forehand : Boris Becker
>>>   Best backhand : Boris Becker
>>>   Best lobber   : Boris Becker
>>>   Best overhead : Boris Becker
>>>   Best drop shot: Boris Becker
>>>   Best drop volley: Boris Becker
>>>   Fastest mover : Boris Becker
>>>   Best return of serve : Boris Becker
>>
>>
>>Okay...now, who do you think is best all-around?
>>
>>;-) ;-) ;-)
> 
> Boris Becker of course!

I think I'll be vomiting now.

Why do we have to continually read this "let's put Becker on a pedestal" type
of posting?  Nobody deserves that kind of worship, especially not Boris becker,
IMHO.  And I'd rather not waste my precious time sifting through this garbage. 

Listen, we all know that you and Mirashi are big huge Becker fans, but we
certainly don't need it rubbed in our faces every other day.

I'm just thanking my lucky stars that we didn't get a "BLACK DAY IN OLYMPICS
HISTORY" posting from Mirashi when Becker lost in the third round.

In short, please stop.


Trying to figure out why there are so many holes between the strings on my
racquet...

Dan Fielding.

Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
From: ac1@cec2.wustl.edu (Anuj Chandra)
Subject: Re:TENNIS VIDEOS
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis Mo.
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 18:49:42 GMT

Tennis magazine is offering a free instructional tennis
video if you subscribe the magazine for a year. The
subscription rate is $13.97 for one year. Call the 
magazine headquarters to find out. I forget the 800 number

Anuj
------------------------------
From: adolce@bbn.com (Anne Dolce)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
Subject: Re: GETTING READY FOR U.S OPEN ***
Date: 21 Aug 92 01:11:24 GMT
Organization: Bolt, Beranek & Newman, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: spcsun24.bbn.com

In article <1992Aug20.114114.13836@umiami.ir.miami.edu>, lemopr@umiami.ir.miami.edu writes:
|> my daughter is one of the top players participating in the challenge cup at
|> polo club in boca raton fla.( aug, 17-24.) everyday i watched stephie graf
|> drills with this german guy from 9-11a then 2-4pm. she looks ready for the
|> us open. i guess most of the pros are doing a lot of training for the next
|> big event.
|> 
|>  
  I thought Steffi Graf pulled out of the Canadian Open
  this week because of a shoulder injury.  What gives??

  Was she actually entered into that tournament in the
  first place?  If not, then this potentially aggravated
  soul bought tickets based on false advertising and wants
  her $$$$ back!!!

Anne
----
From: shihtsun@eg.ecn.purdue.edu (Shih-tsun Alex Chou)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.tennis
Subject: Re: Why I am called Friendless
Date: 22 Aug 92 02:51:22 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network

In article <farrell.714379604@coral.cs.jcu.edu.au> farrell@coral.cs.jcu.edu.au (John Farrell) writes:
>I know it's terrible vain posting this here, but I'm trying to annoy Charles
>Lin in revenge for all of those annoying trivia posts last year.
>
>  When I started honours (1987), I had just moved into a flat with a friend of
>mine. He was working in the same building, and rather than go to lunch with
> ....

wasting bandwidth ....


Alex Chou
grad student
EE, Purdue Univ.