What Does a Top 30 Pro Think About MEP & Maëlstrom?

MEP (Most Exhausting Player - green shirt) is 13-3 in singles competition in the USTA 4.5 league for 2020-2021. Maëlstrom (blue shirt) has a current national ranking of 93 in Men's Open singles.

Thank you to Meike for sharing her thoughts on the match!

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[charlesdang]

Meike is a great instructor. I've picked up quite a bit from her channel. I'm shamelessly promoting here, but really it's because her content is awesome and really relatable. I have no ties whatsoever, just someone who has benefitted. Thanks!

[benoit]

The analysis of Meike Babel adds a lot to this match as we can now clearly understand the strategy to beat a MEP type of player. But you have to run... a lot!!! hahaha. Thanks everyone, great content!

[andrewlee]

Great match. MEP is the MSP "most studied player"... everyone is so prepped to play him.

[charlesdang]

Huge respect to MEP. Love how he takes a few games to study his opponent and then proceeds to deconstruct him. Maelstrom is one of your top guys in the TT lineup, but he came so close to succumbing. Good match guys!

[knotwilg]

Having taken a break from making stats for Troll's channel, I thought I'd make a short comeback to compare Meike's valuable analysis to the data. Reason is that Meike, like Ian from Essential Tennis, recommends keeping the point short because longer points tend to go to MEP's advantage, while the historical data suggests otherwise. That is, longer points end relatively more often in the opponent's favor. My take at this paradox is that a high risk / high reward strategy at the 4.5 level fails on the average player's technique. In other words the tally of errors goes up faster than the tally of winners. Admittedly, an error-winner comparison on shot number is skewed, due to the "postponed reward" effect of a higher risk shot on 3rd ball - which is the most common attacking shot. All of this was written before I compiled the ...

... raw stats:

MEP

W 5 | 11 - v11 d7 fp7 fp4 f3 | v7 bp7 d7 d5 bp5 bp3 f7 fp5 fp10 L7 f3
E 14 | 11 - f2 b5 f3 L5 L4 b7 df L3 fp7 f5 L4 f3 b2 b4 | f7 b5 L4 b2 b2 b3 b3 b4 d8 d8 f5

Maelstrom

W 20 | 34 - f3 f5 O5 f2 v3 v5 s v6 b2 f3 a s O7 v4 bp9 v3 b3 O10 s f3 | f3 v3 s a v3 O8 b6 f14 s f3 O7 bp4 v6 bp8 a s a s s v3 v3 O5 f4 f8 b3 s b9 v9 v11 b3 f5 f6 fp4 f3
E 19 | 32 - v3 f3 f2 v3 f2 fp4 v5 f2 v8 b2 b6 f3 f3 f9 df f3 v4 d4 v12 | b2 b2 b4 O10 f6 v3 v4 d2 b2 O3 f3 b3 b7 df O5 L4 fp12 f4 b3 f3 b13 b2 bp14 b8 b2 f4 b2 f3 b5 d7 b2 O2

Interpretation:

Maelstrom made 12 points more than MEP. Where do they come from?

First of all, from the serve. Maelstrom made 13 direct serve points against none for MEP while the double fault tally is only 2-1. MEP's serve however is deceptively difficult to attack: Maelstrom makes 13 return errors against MEP's 4 while the winner tally is only 2-0.

The favorable offset on 3rd ball (15-3 winners 13-5 errors) confirms Meike's recommendation to go aggressive on 3rd ball, further strengthened by positive 5th ball tally (5-3 winners 3-5 errors). On 4th ball the offset is zero.

Interestingly, the total offset is just -1 on longer points (>5 shots), which means MEP gets comparatively better on those indeed but still they are 50-50, which is less of a grim picture than what's commonly drawn.

Overall I would color Meike's recommendation on how to play MEP, to indeed dictate the point and not get into a pushing rally where MEP is more comfortable, while not necessarily keeping the point short. In fact the data suggests that for Maelstrom the rallies don't matter all that much, as long as he makes his first serve and focuses on getting the return in.

[kjtennis]

Thanks for the commentary, Meike Babel, and kudos to both players — tough match.

[davidfox]

Thank you so much for bringing a smile and a chuckle to my morning - enjoyed greatly

[ProjectsandReviewsZone]

Pretty cool to have Meike Babel break it down.

[patmcc]

When you have a good FH drive, use it, not least on return of serve. Every club should have an MEP to bring on players of all ages and abilities.

[dayostical]

This was definitely worth the wait...MEP's retrieval skills continue to amaze me. And I'm sure that tennis ball will set some kind of record when bidding ends.

[danield.]

Well played Maelstrom! Started with strong confidence, dictating the game. Then had a little confidence drop in the middle section of the match letting MEP get into the match and finally found confidence again against a MEP who himself has become stronger. Well played and great technique. Lots of beautiful winners. Big serve, btw.

[alvaromena]

Great match !
Excellent strategy and resources from the side of Maelstrom
Now he is showing why he is winning every Tennistroll Channel tournament

[Sweeney-Kubach]

Jimmy Connors called Ivan Lendel a name on national television for playing like a pusher! I have been playing pusher for a little over 30 years now, and the best approach is to keep the ball low and go to the net more often than normal. I don’t try to blast my serves, I use placement and slice, because pushers will just block everything back, I just played a 4.5 pusher last night, and I won 6.0, 6-0, a lot of ads, and when the break point came, I slowed my mind down, and just used placement with a flattened stroke, and won the points at the net. I love playing pushers, because it’s like practicing off a ball machine. I have learned to control the ball and I use the corners on my serves, and my approach shots, those weak lobs, are very easy put aways if you take your time and hit the shot with confidence. Pushers have no put away shots, and they use endurance and fitness to win points and matches. If they play a person who is patient and has good ground strokes, they get beat very badly, I just seen this guy lose 24 games straight against two different players. If Ben use a slice serve to the ad backhand he would a ton of points, also if Ben flattened his forehand and drive the ball sometimes he would win more points. I give Ben credit because he is a fighter and never quits, and that’s why I like the guy. His style of play will be useless when he gets older and slows down, I would also say that Ben would be an awesome doubles partner because his style of play is set up for doubles. Great match my guy and keep playing. GOD bless you and yours my friend.

[tennisdiary.]

MEP is back! this is most waited match for me in the 2021 Tennis troll Championship. :D

[josephbarbarie]

When Maelstrom goes to net its all over for MEP -- I don't think Maelstrom lost a point when he came in. BTW -- love the serve and volley (especially on 2nd serve)

[ronalddelrosario]

Love watching MEP's matches. He exemplifies playing smart, strategic tennis. He knows his strengths and weaknesses, knows what patterns work best for his game, and never gives up. Kudos! Also, thanks so much to TennisTroll for posting these matches!

[mcorsa]

Nice match and enjoyed Meike’s commentary

[WikiPeoples]

I don't understand MEP. Nothing but respect, but, I don't understand him. Does he not desire to play like the pros? Is he OK with his style, that surely will have its limits? Has it done well enough for him, far better than some other more orthodox styles actually, that he just doesn't care to adopt a "modern" tennis stroke and instead plays as a pusher? I'm not being facetious, I really do try to understand this. He hits with very little power, very little attack, all defense. This is ... not how I would want to play.. but I guess he's enjoying it and that is all that matters!

[roddickfan]

Really enjoyed the match and the format of the video with Meike's analysis inserted at key moments. It would've been really interesting to see if Maelstrom could've survived a third set!

[rsmith]

MEP started out looking pretty off his game with service faults, but was as tenacious as always if given a chance. The advice MEP gave about big serving not being effective against him wasn't true at all- with good speed and placement he loses control of the point and is very vulnerable. Maelstrom had wonderful forehands and overheads. I'd like to see him work more on his transition game getting to net and picking up low balls on the way in as he had a lot of misses there. Great match by both.