Surprising how few players try to close at the net--time after time Ben would be on the run, hit a soft floater to the middle, and David would just wait for the ball to bounce and allow the point to reset. When Scott played him, he was much more active in closing on short balls, and the strategy paid off.
Many 4.0-ish players don't have reliable net games and overheads so they can't pull it off. If David had a decent drop shot that would help a ton too. I'd hit a million drop shots if I played Ben, although Ben is smart and has ways to adapt.
David did pretty well with redlining and pressing forward; it's just those two or three games where his momentum let up for a split second and suddenly he lost five points in a row. So relatable in matches against consistent, strategic, match-tough players. Another great match. Thank you all for giving this to us.
You are spot on, thanks for watching. I was “exhausted” and the lack of ventilation in the club that day was overbearing which unfortunately isn’t really known to the RT audience. I was out of shape regardless and Ben “exhausted” me. His style combined with being a lefty made it harder to adjust. Props to him! I’ll prepare way better next time! -David
@@CheesyStefano I would absolutely love to play him someday, and I get the feeling you probably had a way better showing against him than I would, even on a physically labored day for you - things could have definitely gone either way in the second set, but they tipped his way fast. Thanks a lot for putting yourself out there like this
Amazing match up. What a set. I caught myself laughing so many times for how Ben does what he does. So fun to watch, albeit at David's expense. For what it's worth, thank you David for doing this. Ben is just a cardiovascular beast. Thank you RT, Ira, Ian, Jules, James, Mark and everyone involved overall. More please!!! M
Congrats Ben. Extremely well done once again. The way he competes is incredible. Never loses his composure. His serves have gotten better. I feel a lefty would have an advantage returning Ben's serve as they would all come to the forehand side. But Ben's ball movement and ability to absorb pace and send back a nothing burger response is so deflating to us mere mortals.
One thing I noticed was David slowed his in between shot footwork and intensity to match Ben’s relaxed hitting pace, then he was often rushed when Ben gave him unexpectedly placed balls and also had to unsmoothly ramp up the tempo when trying to be aggressive
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Ben would destroy me. The amount of energy we expenditure I use on every ball versus his efficient movement and minimal swings, it would be a complete mismatch. Ben takes lots of little steps so he's often well spaced, and his swing is so minimal that there's a high tolerance for being out of position. In a addition, there's just less footwork and activity needed to set up a swing that isn't doing the whole coil, hitting out in front, and big spin stuff that I and a lot of players are trying to do.
For every shot you hit, ben gets the ball back and spent 50% less energy than you did… So then you try to dial it back to 50%....and then you lose patience. His 50% is better than your 100% and his 50% is better than your 50%.
It is amazing that people at this level think they have an unlimited amount of fast-twitch muscle energy. David was playing way too fast at the beginning and burned out in 5 games. It was waiting for the inevitable. MEP might not havethe prettiest technique, but he plays more efficiently than 99.9% of tennis players.
I agree. I don't think my 100% is worse than his 50,%, but if I'm making that 100% ball half the time, and he's making his 50% ball 90% of the time, well, I just end up gassed and down 4-0 before I can find my game.
I know this feeling all too well. Teaching full time really turns tennis into a more casual and instructive experience. That is the antithesis to competing. You can see this with David’s shanking and questionable decision making on some shots. You can hear it with his constant criticism of himself instead of focusing on winning the next point. Having taught full time for many years and returning to amateur competitive play, I see a lot of my past behaviors from when I first started competing again.
So fun to watch the polar opposite styles...both are so good at what they do. Would love to see a rematch! This time MEP lived up to his reputation as The Great Harvester of Souls. 🦈
Great match. Ben was relentless as always. I understand the feeling David had about being gassed ... that's no fun, but he did well considering. Respect for the grind! This match did bring up an interesting question to me. David clearly has some big shots and better form - when he hit his shots, Ben had little chance at the point. But a lot of average players just don't have that, either because of lack of play time or fitness or whatever. So I'd love to know from a coaches perspective how you would coach a player to play against Ben!
Agree that David should have come to the net more often behind his better shots rather than allowing MEP to reset the point. Also David won a number of points with MEP coming to the net. Perhaps he should have deliberately brought MEP to the net more often.
David said it from the beginning. He's not in shape for this match. Nothing else really matters... But, from my point of view, David has the game to beat Ben if he had been in decent shape...
@@tennnis498 I swear I didn’t know the green shirt was a thing, ha. I just got back from the Cincy open celebrating my birthday, and I thought it was fitting for the tennis match. Thanks for watching!
My applause to David. He didn't collapsed like all other RT players before him that lost to Ben. I think David suffered a bit of stress induced fatigue. Not sure why not many coaches focus on heart rate management. Your legs and your brain won't function well when your heart rate is 150+ or so.
The indoor club humidity was 159% on a warmer day after days of big rainfall. Didn’t realize the elements were going to play a such a factor. My own fault…kinda.
@MEPTennis I'm honored to receive a reply from you Ben. I'm such a huge fan of your playing style. May God lead, guide and direct you to victory over every singles and doubles opponents u face until the end of ur playing career. In the wonderful, powerful, mighty, omnipotent, omnipresent and glorious name of Jesus Christ I pray amen. God bless you Ben
The second set was more competitive but ultimately it was all about stamina and consistency. I feel like Ben didn't have to do anything special in this one. I've seen him have to deal with way longer points. David had some nice aggressive shots but he missed just too many times. He didn't seem willing to go to the net and shorten points. His fitness concerns from the get go make me feel like he didn't believe in his chances.
Part of MEP's advantage is that he is non-traditional. I wonder who would win more out of ten. Does playing Ben more often allow a "normal" player to gain an advantage over more matches as adjustments are made?
It's more difficult to play attacking tennis. Most people think that you should come in against MEP and I agree. But, you have to be able to hit good approach shots, volleys and overheads. And, guess which shots are practiced the least. Yep, approach shots, volleys and overheads. When Ian beat Ben, Ian as able to play strong at the net and won fairly easily, but it takes a lot of work to play good attacking tennis.
Ira said Ben plays 100 matches a year which I do not think is true. He has been known to play 2-3 a day. I would guess minimum he is playing 200-300 a year.
@@MEPTennis Ah that makes sense. Hope to be able to play you again on the ladder soon. I got crushed last time, so I am confident you will double bagel me as your game looks like its really elevated.
Fair play to Ben. He knows how to win. I would be reaching for the golf clubs after 2 sets. He would break me! Re: The car Ben drives. I think he leaves the court he does a Keyser Söze transformation, climbs into his Bentley and drives home, smirking as he waits for the name of his next victim.
Classis big hitter versus pusher matchup. David needs to brush up on the counterstrategies for pushers as well as work on the cardio fitness. I felt like there were so many short returns of serve from MEP that David elected to hit hard down the middle instead of focusing more on placement and building the point. Still a fun match to watch and both players did well.
It's easy to be critical from the internet, but a lot of David's approaches were cross court or right to Ben. Ben just easily passed or lobbed. Even though he's a backboard, you can't just take it for granted. You still have to make him move or remove the angles on the approach.
David played like a true 3.5 basher, 0 footwork, overhitting, million UEs, excuses everywhere, netting 6/6 easy overheads Lmao, kudos allowing others to view this david
"It's just so hard to play a guy like Ben because he gives you nothing." Ok, that's just about the silliest tennis comment ever. Ben is hard to play because he gives you EVERYTHING, but it doesn't help because you lack the skills and confidence in your game. You beat yourself. Ben's a tennis psyche genius.
I think "gives you nothing" is code for "doesn't give you the pace and topspin you're used to that allows you to hit your favorite type of topspin shots off of easily".
I noticed that everyone that Ben plays, they never adjust their game or it seems like they don’t even have a strategy. When You beat Ben, you had a strategy and you adjusted to his spins, you are also a lefty, but Scott did the same thing when he beat Ben, he adjusted to the ball fairly quickly and naturalized Ben’s entire game plan. Ben is an excellent player and very smart player, so far in this series Ben’s been playing 3.5 / 4.0 players that have decent strokes, but really aren’t very good at adapting or having any type of strategy. Thank you for posting this video, and I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Great Job Ben and Dave. You fellas played some good tennis and I really enjoyed watching you guys play.
Serve & Volley is Ian's natural playstyle, while Scott is capable of generating his own pace and is in excellent shape. It's not surprising that they were able to handle Ben, but for players who don't have that ability "strategy" is out the window. Ben doesn't play patterns and hits everything with an open stance so it's hard to predict. All you can really do is be the aggressor, and we saw here that David was able to do that at times... but didn't have the stamina to do it on every point.
I don't think 4.0 and below players can really implement strategy effectively. We can make small adjustments, but nothing like suddenly doing serve-volley style. We will get exhausted very quickly playing out off our comfort zone. That's the basic of Ben's winning. He forces his opponents to hit harder and play longer point. I'm pretty sure David can run against a typical player for hours, but he was totally out of gas here.
David, you are super talented player but you let MEP off the hook by not being more aggressive going towards the net. This is especially true because you were winded early. Aggressive net play would have ended points early instead of getting into a grind fest with a player who is not going to give you anything when it comes to errors. I wish I had your talent but I don't think you utilized all of your options in that match.
What the hell reminds me of the "Muppet Show"? 😂 Strategy against MEP: Either you have solid 1 or 1-2 or 1-2-3 patterns to finish off Bens game or you feel some discomfort on the court. In other words - blast him off the court or have a traumatic event. In your mind play against a ball machine and play your best strokes even if the machine does not play back any ball. Since Ben adjusts his game to his opponent so well it is a receipt for desater trying to lower unforced error and to hold back since a less"risky shot" is enough to score the point. Don't level down your own game as it seems to be "too much". Ben exploids that quickly and then it is so hard to level up again - you get exhausted, feel the pressure and get washed out of your comfort zone. To win against any MEP like player accapt "stupid errors". But stay in your own game. Just concentrate on your own performance and don't think about the other side or you are lost in space.
Mentally when you have the "uglier" game, i think you have a psychological edge in that no one expects you to beat a player who has more conventional strokes. So you have nothing to lose. The person with the better strokes is putting their ego on the line in a match like this and it can really get mentally tough quickly.
Stamina, one of the most important aspects of singles tennis. Oh, my goodness how many points did MEP get that weren't totally unforced errors. This is not a jab at MEP, I am seriously wondering how the game would have went if David had simply stopped hitting hard on ever shot when there was no chance for a winner. My point is not that MEP can't hit winners he clearly hit some beautiful shots. Just wondering how the match would have gone. Curious. People hate pushers... not me. I think pushers is just someone that doesn't have the super hard shots so they have to use placement. Nobody wants to not have a strong sizzling ground stroke.
The lack of respect and open rooting against MEP from the commentators is childish. After getting smoked in the opening of the match, Ben maintained his composure and made a ton of great (and unrecognized) saves. He ended up dominating despite multiple bad calls. Personally, I love watching him play.
Maybe you don't know the full history, but they FULLY respect and like Ben. They just saw the path of torture David was headed down after the first few games, and were hoping for a competitive match. And they didn't want David's first experience on RT to be a really bad one. They also know it's completely harmless to 'root against' Ben. He doesn't care and almost thrives on it.
I didn’t hear it as ‘rooting against’, but Ian was already talking about David bagging double bagels in the first game! That was definitely silly and disrespectful. Once, a guy was totally blowing me off the court, great forehand, so I decided to test his backhand.. whoops, nothing there.. so I gave him much more of that and got the set. 😈
Ian chastised himself 10 minutes in for even thinking about it. Of course they do this to turn MEP into the underdog and make the audience sympathize with him. And to aggrandize the climax of MEP doing it again. It's good story telling.
The indoor facility ventilation was terrible, I’m not just saying that! I didn’t want it to be the main focus but I’m telling you… it was terrible to breath from first walking on the court. Did you see the amount of sweat I had after 1st games? Anyway, I definitely needed some conditioning but not as much as the audience sees. Ben obviously was more conditioned in the unfavorable conditions so kudos to him prepared for the worst. However some dialogue/clips were cut out that Ben and I were talking about the club’s air quality and how the fans weren’t running above us after a hot/rainy day(s). That’s all! Thanks for watching! - David
David is a great player, would beat me easily. The lack of fitness I can understand - not everybody has the time to prioritize fitness when life is in the way - but his inability to return Ben's serve is baffling. I'd love to see the final stats - I would guess at least 20 unreturned serves? Made Ben's holds way too easy.
You ain’t wrong! I unintentionally came unprepared and paid the price in a terribly ventilated indoor facility. Was just doing this for fun. Ben’s a fun player, I want a rematch! Ive recently since switched rackets after 15+ years too!! Head Prestige
Yeah. He was wondering why he was having so much trouble but he never split stepped for the serve. Pretty good example is at 5:32. All his weight is on his right leg as Ben's serve comes over the net. He ends up having to move left but is too slow and gets choked up.
I think it’s mental. Ben is getting every ball back and is making him frustrated, so he feels like he has to do something special, which leads to more errors. It’s ironically easier to return better serves.
Here in Wales we have a player of similar standard ( my friend and, at times, teammate) who would beat MEP comfortably because he's been MEP before and now has good technique and tremendous fitness(at 55 years old). He also has an unbeatable mindset and that makes the difference. I would love to set up a match( he does go to the states)
Guys, can you find a really good player to take on MEP? Maybe a RUclipsr like Karue or Felix? It would be very interesting to see how a skilled player deals with Ben's tactics. Come on, you know you want to organise this.
While I can see your point, they would have to start with an underarm serve because Ben would have no chance against an ATP player's first serve. Imo, Ben's the gatekeeper for 4.5 tennis as no player above that rating should lose against him. I know some do, but that just goes to show the lack of reliability and validity of the rating system in certain areas.
what are you guys talking about. mark beat him 61 61 if i remember correctly, and mark is a decent 4.5.. mark probably wouldn’t get more than 10 points in total against karu and you want to watch karu vs ben? he will not win a single point. the only players that struggle against ben are those that can’t generate their own power.
@@Jg32234 I totally agree. The way I interpreted his point, was it would be interesting to see how (and not if) a solid player would solve the MEP puzzle. But as you point out, as I did, a solid 4.5 player (and not an inflated 4.5) should have no issue doing this. A match against Karue, who's played matches against lower ranked 4.0-4.5s iirc, would have little interest if the didn't have a handicap on his serve - and perhaps some other constraints as well, which he's done in the past.
Predictable loss. Other guy was gassed and just rushed shots. Poor footwork and no split step on the returns? If he had good fitness he wins easily. Was someone humming” the horror”at the end? Lol😂
I love RT; I've watched every you've posted since 2020. But I just can't stand watching Ben play. Is he good at tennis? If you think the point of tennis is to win, then sure. That's a totally defensible position. However, it's not interesting to me to watch him play. Ben's a smart player and his strategy is clearly a winning one at his level; but his game is just so damn boring. There's a reason he's successful and it's largely because everyone else wants to hit more interesting, aggressive shots and Ben just outlasts them with well-placed shots with minimal pace. I'd rather watch two players hit 90% errors while trying for more than watch Ben's boring game.
playing MEP with no fitness endurance is a death wish
Surprising how few players try to close at the net--time after time Ben would be on the run, hit a soft floater to the middle, and David would just wait for the ball to bounce and allow the point to reset. When Scott played him, he was much more active in closing on short balls, and the strategy paid off.
I agree that the way to beat players that hit slow is at the net.
Problem is he missed every overhead, so he was leery of the net.
I came to say the same thing - take the ball out of the air!!!!!
Many 4.0-ish players don't have reliable net games and overheads so they can't pull it off. If David had a decent drop shot that would help a ton too. I'd hit a million drop shots if I played Ben, although Ben is smart and has ways to adapt.
I was laughing so hard when you guys started singing the Jaws theme towards the end of the set. Great commentary. So entertaining!
Ben is a nightmare. The final boss of unconventional backboard players… and I mean that with the utmost respect.
I saw a dude playing 5 he is a version of ben with a big serve better forehand backhand but the same type of player the ultimate evolution
I'm really impressed on how efficient and relaxed MEP is in his pushing game style!
David did pretty well with redlining and pressing forward; it's just those two or three games where his momentum let up for a split second and suddenly he lost five points in a row. So relatable in matches against consistent, strategic, match-tough players.
Another great match. Thank you all for giving this to us.
You are spot on, thanks for watching. I was “exhausted” and the lack of ventilation in the club that day was overbearing which unfortunately isn’t really known to the RT audience. I was out of shape regardless and Ben “exhausted” me. His style combined with being a lefty made it harder to adjust. Props to him! I’ll prepare way better next time! -David
@@CheesyStefano I would absolutely love to play him someday, and I get the feeling you probably had a way better showing against him than I would, even on a physically labored day for you - things could have definitely gone either way in the second set, but they tipped his way fast. Thanks a lot for putting yourself out there like this
I imagine Ben between matches lurking somewhere in the bushes around tennis courts, waiting for his next victim to suck the tennis soul out of.
Amazing match up. What a set. I caught myself laughing so many times for how Ben does what he does. So fun to watch, albeit at David's expense.
For what it's worth, thank you David for doing this. Ben is just a cardiovascular beast.
Thank you RT, Ira, Ian, Jules, James, Mark and everyone involved overall.
More please!!!
M
Congrats Ben. Extremely well done once again. The way he competes is incredible. Never loses his composure. His serves have gotten better. I feel a lefty would have an advantage returning Ben's serve as they would all come to the forehand side. But Ben's ball movement and ability to absorb pace and send back a nothing burger response is so deflating to us mere mortals.
“I’m going to go eat a banana.” Classic.
Love seeing Ira back on RT
My new mantra during single match play is: "MEP...MEP...MEP." It helps give me the fortitude to keep "pushing."
That’s brutal that could happen to any of us so educational thank you so much
One thing I noticed was David slowed his in between shot footwork and intensity to match Ben’s relaxed hitting pace, then he was often rushed when Ben gave him unexpectedly placed balls and also had to unsmoothly ramp up the tempo when trying to be aggressive
2nd set stats:
Ben: Ace 1, Winners 6, Forced Errors 4, Unforced errors 6, double faults 0
David: Ace 0, Winners 16, Forced Errors 0, Unforced errors 30, double faults 0
Great job by David in battling and not throwing in the towel especially with his fitness. Ben is so tough and really fun to watch!
"I think ill go eat a banana." Unintentionally hilarious.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Ben would destroy me. The amount of energy we expenditure I use on every ball versus his efficient movement and minimal swings, it would be a complete mismatch. Ben takes lots of little steps so he's often well spaced, and his swing is so minimal that there's a high tolerance for being out of position. In a addition, there's just less footwork and activity needed to set up a swing that isn't doing the whole coil, hitting out in front, and big spin stuff that I and a lot of players are trying to do.
For every shot you hit, ben gets the ball back and spent 50% less energy than you did…
So then you try to dial it back to 50%....and then you lose patience. His 50% is better than your 100% and his 50% is better than your 50%.
That some crazy rocket science math you are spitting out there 😵💫
It is amazing that people at this level think they have an unlimited amount of fast-twitch muscle energy. David was playing way too fast at the beginning and burned out in 5 games. It was waiting for the inevitable. MEP might not havethe prettiest technique, but he plays more efficiently than 99.9% of tennis players.
@@guslazarte9403 MEP has surprisingly good efficiency. His court positioning is also very solid- he’s always where the ball will be
I agree. I don't think my 100% is worse than his 50,%, but if I'm making that 100% ball half the time, and he's making his 50% ball 90% of the time, well, I just end up gassed and down 4-0 before I can find my game.
Somewhere there is a mount Rushmore of no effort strokes with. McEnroe, Arazi, Rios, Mecir, and MEP
I know this feeling all too well. Teaching full time really turns tennis into a more casual and instructive experience. That is the antithesis to competing. You can see this with David’s shanking and questionable decision making on some shots. You can hear it with his constant criticism of himself instead of focusing on winning the next point. Having taught full time for many years and returning to amateur competitive play, I see a lot of my past behaviors from when I first started competing again.
What an interesting match. Loved how what we call a “good player” got destroyed by Ben
David needed to do more serve and volley and keep the pressure on MEP.
He missed too many volleys.
@@mmcdonn1 and overheads.
Not even serve and volley, just roll the ball cross and heavy and come in, he was missing that urgency to come in off his ground strokes...
So fun to watch the polar opposite styles...both are so good at what they do. Would love to see a rematch! This time MEP lived up to his reputation as The Great Harvester of Souls. 🦈
David, question, are you out of breath? Couldn't tell.
Not to mention he doesn't like playing human backboards- don't forget about that!
David appears to have an Eastern grip while hitting that overhead at 17:19. Is he definitely a teaching pro?
Probably the most compelling match on the channel! After some cardio training and a overhead clinic David should be able to beat Ben.
Because Ben is so unorthadox as how he hits the ball everything is disguised. Thanks guys!
Does MEP offer autgraphed posters? Asking for a friend.
Great match. Ben was relentless as always. I understand the feeling David had about being gassed ... that's no fun, but he did well considering. Respect for the grind! This match did bring up an interesting question to me. David clearly has some big shots and better form - when he hit his shots, Ben had little chance at the point. But a lot of average players just don't have that, either because of lack of play time or fitness or whatever. So I'd love to know from a coaches perspective how you would coach a player to play against Ben!
Ben never blinks.
Agree that David should have come to the net more often behind his better shots rather than allowing MEP to reset the point. Also David won a number of points with MEP coming to the net. Perhaps he should have deliberately brought MEP to the net more often.
David said it from the beginning. He's not in shape for this match. Nothing else really matters...
But, from my point of view, David has the game to beat Ben if he had been in decent shape...
He wore the green shirt though.
@@tennnis498 I swear I didn’t know the green shirt was a thing, ha. I just got back from the Cincy open celebrating my birthday, and I thought it was fitting for the tennis match. Thanks for watching!
I’m just a bit surprised David had no idea who he was playing against. He probably wouldn’t have picked a green shirt 😅
My applause to David. He didn't collapsed like all other RT players before him that lost to Ben. I think David suffered a bit of stress induced fatigue. Not sure why not many coaches focus on heart rate management. Your legs and your brain won't function well when your heart rate is 150+ or so.
The indoor club humidity was 159% on a warmer day after days of big rainfall. Didn’t realize the elements were going to play a such a factor. My own fault…kinda.
@@CheesyStefanoYou still showed fighting spirit so kudos to you. Ben is a horrible nightmare but we love him for it😅
Let’s have Ian and Ben play again! That was a masreclass on how to beat a player like Ben again.
Ian, what kind of racket is ben using?
Prince ATS Textreme Tour 100 310
@MEPTennis I'm honored to receive a reply from you Ben. I'm such a huge fan of your playing style. May God lead, guide and direct you to victory over every singles and doubles opponents u face until the end of ur playing career. In the wonderful, powerful, mighty, omnipotent, omnipresent and glorious name of Jesus Christ I pray amen. God bless you Ben
Ben is the terminator. Shows no emotions and keeps his focus on the target, winning.
Ben is every players worst night mare. Guy just makes shots.
The second set was more competitive but ultimately it was all about stamina and consistency. I feel like Ben didn't have to do anything special in this one. I've seen him have to deal with way longer points. David had some nice aggressive shots but he missed just too many times. He didn't seem willing to go to the net and shorten points. His fitness concerns from the get go make me feel like he didn't believe in his chances.
Part of MEP's advantage is that he is non-traditional. I wonder who would win more out of ten. Does playing Ben more often allow a "normal" player to gain an advantage over more matches as adjustments are made?
Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning. Main difference between lower and higher level players. Specially at intermediate and advanced levels.
It's more difficult to play attacking tennis. Most people think that you should come in against MEP and I agree. But, you have to be able to hit good approach shots, volleys and overheads. And, guess which shots are practiced the least. Yep, approach shots, volleys and overheads. When Ian beat Ben, Ian as able to play strong at the net and won fairly easily, but it takes a lot of work to play good attacking tennis.
Ira said Ben plays 100 matches a year which I do not think is true. He has been known to play 2-3 a day. I would guess minimum he is playing 200-300 a year.
Ira was paraphrasing what I had told him. The 100 match number was an estimate of how many I had played up to that point in the year (mid August).
@@MEPTennis Ah that makes sense. Hope to be able to play you again on the ladder soon. I got crushed last time, so I am confident you will double bagel me as your game looks like its really elevated.
@@GuardBuffalo Nah, you'd have a better idea of what to expect next time we play, and I imagine you are probably continuing to improve as well.
Does MEP have 1 more match to play?
I hope so, and I hope it's a more match-ready and savvy player.
Fair play to Ben. He knows how to win. I would be reaching for the golf clubs after 2 sets. He would break me! Re: The car Ben drives. I think he leaves the court he does a Keyser Söze transformation, climbs into his Bentley and drives home, smirking as he waits for the name of his next victim.
Surely the coach should be coming to the net and drawing Ben in - would have thought a coach would know that.
Classis big hitter versus pusher matchup. David needs to brush up on the counterstrategies for pushers as well as work on the cardio fitness. I felt like there were so many short returns of serve from MEP that David elected to hit hard down the middle instead of focusing more on placement and building the point. Still a fun match to watch and both players did well.
"Banana power!" Lol
David kept going for small margins on the sidelines, even missing some which Ben called in.
It's easy to be critical from the internet, but a lot of David's approaches were cross court or right to Ben. Ben just easily passed or lobbed. Even though he's a backboard, you can't just take it for granted. You still have to make him move or remove the angles on the approach.
David played like a true 3.5 basher, 0 footwork, overhitting, million UEs, excuses everywhere, netting 6/6 easy overheads
Lmao, kudos allowing others to view this david
"It's just so hard to play a guy like Ben because he gives you nothing." Ok, that's just about the silliest tennis comment ever. Ben is hard to play because he gives you EVERYTHING, but it doesn't help because you lack the skills and confidence in your game. You beat yourself. Ben's a tennis psyche genius.
I think "gives you nothing" is code for "doesn't give you the pace and topspin you're used to that allows you to hit your favorite type of topspin shots off of easily".
I noticed that everyone that Ben plays, they never adjust their game or it seems like they don’t even have a strategy. When You beat Ben, you had a strategy and you adjusted to his spins, you are also a lefty, but Scott did the same thing when he beat Ben, he adjusted to the ball fairly quickly and naturalized Ben’s entire game plan. Ben is an excellent player and very smart player, so far in this series Ben’s been playing 3.5 / 4.0 players that have decent strokes, but really aren’t very good at adapting or having any type of strategy. Thank you for posting this video, and I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Great Job Ben and Dave. You fellas played some good tennis and I really enjoyed watching you guys play.
Serve & Volley is Ian's natural playstyle, while Scott is capable of generating his own pace and is in excellent shape. It's not surprising that they were able to handle Ben, but for players who don't have that ability "strategy" is out the window. Ben doesn't play patterns and hits everything with an open stance so it's hard to predict. All you can really do is be the aggressor, and we saw here that David was able to do that at times... but didn't have the stamina to do it on every point.
Ira, at the end, may have been over-confident in Ian to beat MEP again, despite all the obvious advantages - home court, rest, indoor, etc.
I don't think 4.0 and below players can really implement strategy effectively. We can make small adjustments, but nothing like suddenly doing serve-volley style. We will get exhausted very quickly playing out off our comfort zone. That's the basic of Ben's winning. He forces his opponents to hit harder and play longer point. I'm pretty sure David can run against a typical player for hours, but he was totally out of gas here.
Ford Bronco?
I've owned a Contour SVT and a Fusion Hybrid, but never a Bronco.
You need either fitness or an approach game. If you can’t hit approach forehands or overheads, you need to be able to grind.
David, you are super talented player but you let MEP off the hook by not being more aggressive going towards the net. This is especially true because you were winded early. Aggressive net play would have ended points early instead of getting into a grind fest with a player who is not going to give you anything when it comes to errors. I wish I had your talent but I don't think you utilized all of your options in that match.
What the hell reminds me of the "Muppet Show"? 😂
Strategy against MEP: Either you have solid 1 or 1-2 or 1-2-3 patterns to finish off Bens game or you feel some discomfort on the court. In other words - blast him off the court or have a traumatic event. In your mind play against a ball machine and play your best strokes even if the machine does not play back any ball. Since Ben adjusts his game to his opponent so well it is a receipt for desater trying to lower unforced error and to hold back since a less"risky shot" is enough to score the point. Don't level down your own game as it seems to be "too much". Ben exploids that quickly and then it is so hard to level up again - you get exhausted, feel the pressure and get washed out of your comfort zone.
To win against any MEP like player accapt "stupid errors". But stay in your own game. Just concentrate on your own performance and don't think about the other side or you are lost in space.
The reason Ian will always beat Ben is because he gets to net asap and point is over. David didn't look to come in at all...
And Ian's best shot is probably his overhead.
Mentally when you have the "uglier" game, i think you have a psychological edge in that no one expects you to beat a player who has more conventional strokes. So you have nothing to lose. The person with the better strokes is putting their ego on the line in a match like this and it can really get mentally tough quickly.
Therapeutic watching someone else struggle against the pusher style player!
When did Ian get so ripped?
Stamina, one of the most important aspects of singles tennis. Oh, my goodness how many points did MEP get that weren't totally unforced errors. This is not a jab at MEP, I am seriously wondering how the game would have went if David had simply stopped hitting hard on ever shot when there was no chance for a winner. My point is not that MEP can't hit winners he clearly hit some beautiful shots. Just wondering how the match would have gone. Curious.
People hate pushers... not me. I think pushers is just someone that doesn't have the super hard shots so they have to use placement. Nobody wants to not have a strong sizzling ground stroke.
Did Real Tennis play MEP ever ?
Do you mean Ian? Or who? Ian played him last time and won.
Not saying it is easy to beat the MEP. Just a good example of trying "TOO" hard (go for the winner or lines) and getting beaten by yourself.
The lack of respect and open rooting against MEP from the commentators is childish. After getting smoked in the opening of the match, Ben maintained his composure and made a ton of great (and unrecognized) saves. He ended up dominating despite multiple bad calls. Personally, I love watching him play.
Maybe you don't know the full history, but they FULLY respect and like Ben. They just saw the path of torture David was headed down after the first few games, and were hoping for a competitive match. And they didn't want David's first experience on RT to be a really bad one. They also know it's completely harmless to 'root against' Ben. He doesn't care and almost thrives on it.
I didn’t hear it as ‘rooting against’, but Ian was already talking about David bagging double bagels in the first game! That was definitely silly and disrespectful.
Once, a guy was totally blowing me off the court, great forehand, so I decided to test his backhand.. whoops, nothing there.. so I gave him much more of that and got the set. 😈
@@grimson Exactly. Well said.
Ian chastised himself 10 minutes in for even thinking about it. Of course they do this to turn MEP into the underdog and make the audience sympathize with him. And to aggrandize the climax of MEP doing it again. It's good story telling.
How did David get roped into this only playing once a week lol
Doubles once a week, he said. Not a super great fitness regime when facing the likes of MEP.
how out of breath can dave be, not healthy...this is a sign you need some exercise wow
The indoor facility ventilation was terrible, I’m not just saying that! I didn’t want it to be the main focus but I’m telling you… it was terrible to breath from first walking on the court. Did you see the amount of sweat I had after 1st games? Anyway, I definitely needed some conditioning but not as much as the audience sees. Ben obviously was more conditioned in the unfavorable conditions so kudos to him prepared for the worst. However some dialogue/clips were cut out that Ben and I were talking about the club’s air quality and how the fans weren’t running above us after a hot/rainy day(s). That’s all! Thanks for watching! - David
COME IN
Banana Power. 😂😂😂
David is a great player, would beat me easily. The lack of fitness I can understand - not everybody has the time to prioritize fitness when life is in the way - but his inability to return Ben's serve is baffling. I'd love to see the final stats - I would guess at least 20 unreturned serves? Made Ben's holds way too easy.
You ain’t wrong! I unintentionally came unprepared and paid the price in a terribly ventilated indoor facility. Was just doing this for fun. Ben’s a fun player, I want a rematch! Ive recently since switched rackets after 15+ years too!! Head Prestige
I'd like to see him play against a player that gives you the "traditional" pace, spin, and patterns of that level.
Yeah. He was wondering why he was having so much trouble but he never split stepped for the serve. Pretty good example is at 5:32. All his weight is on his right leg as Ben's serve comes over the net. He ends up having to move left but is too slow and gets choked up.
I think it’s mental. Ben is getting every ball back and is making him frustrated, so he feels like he has to do something special, which leads to more errors. It’s ironically easier to return better serves.
He wore a green shirt.
Consistency wins. I have a dunlop 300 4d tour and that racquet gives no power.
Here in Wales we have a player of similar standard ( my friend and, at times, teammate) who would beat MEP comfortably because he's been MEP before and now has good technique and tremendous fitness(at 55 years old). He also has an unbeatable mindset and that makes the difference. I would love to set up a match( he does go to the states)
Guys, can you find a really good player to take on MEP? Maybe a RUclipsr like Karue or Felix? It would be very interesting to see how a skilled player deals with Ben's tactics. Come on, you know you want to organise this.
While I can see your point, they would have to start with an underarm serve because Ben would have no chance against an ATP player's first serve. Imo, Ben's the gatekeeper for 4.5 tennis as no player above that rating should lose against him. I know some do, but that just goes to show the lack of reliability and validity of the rating system in certain areas.
what are you guys talking about. mark beat him 61 61 if i remember correctly, and mark is a decent 4.5.. mark probably wouldn’t get more than 10 points in total against karu and you want to watch karu vs ben? he will not win a single point. the only players that struggle against ben are those that can’t generate their own power.
those guys are too good and MEP wouldnt be able to challenge guys of that skill level
@@Jg32234 I totally agree. The way I interpreted his point, was it would be interesting to see how (and not if) a solid player would solve the MEP puzzle. But as you point out, as I did, a solid 4.5 player (and not an inflated 4.5) should have no issue doing this. A match against Karue, who's played matches against lower ranked 4.0-4.5s iirc, would have little interest if the didn't have a handicap on his serve - and perhaps some other constraints as well, which he's done in the past.
@@jeanb.3493 if karu plays left handed in flip flops maybe ben would win 1 game.
Predictable loss. Other guy was gassed and just rushed shots. Poor footwork and no split step on the returns? If he had good fitness he wins easily. Was someone humming” the horror”at the end? Lol😂
Yes, from "Apocalypse Now". Very appropriate!
I love RT; I've watched every you've posted since 2020. But I just can't stand watching Ben play.
Is he good at tennis? If you think the point of tennis is to win, then sure. That's a totally defensible position.
However, it's not interesting to me to watch him play. Ben's a smart player and his strategy is clearly a winning one at his level; but his game is just so damn boring. There's a reason he's successful and it's largely because everyone else wants to hit more interesting, aggressive shots and Ben just outlasts them with well-placed shots with minimal pace. I'd rather watch two players hit 90% errors while trying for more than watch Ben's boring game.