MEP vs Real Tennis (Match 1 - Part 2)

Three half years after Ben AKA Most Exhausting Player first made his appearance in the RT arena, he's back - better than ever and hungry for revenge. Who will stand in the way of the MEP?

#real #tennis #match

[SeireaTennis]

Ben may be the #1 non-local player I know of that I would be most interested to play. I know some of this is my own involuntary storytelling nature at work, but I have built a folklore-like image of him in my mind, and I feel like he would just be...An Experience to play against.

Respect all around. Tennis is so hard, and Sean had a really hard day, but I applaud him for putting himself out there on YouTube against a notoriously tough player.

Thanks for another great series, all.

[edwardduffy]

Huge respect Sean! And reading the comments you’ve done the right thing and taken some learning points. Try not to be so hard on yourself mate.

Looking forward to the other MEP matches - really hoping the editing is tighter though @REALTENNIS as your excellent commentary was ahead of the point and spoiling every winner/error. Big love, keep it coming ❤

[TheAbhi]

Realistically there is no way a 3.0-3.5 player can beat MEP who regularly beats 4.5 players. Don't want to get into the rabbit hole that is NTRP vs UTR system and regional differences in ratings, but suffices to say that difference in level is too high. Huge props to Sean for filming this and putting himself out there for criticism so that other people can watch, enjoy, and learn.

Having said that, Scott gave a masterclass in beating dinkers 3 years ago on essential tennis channel and none of those lessons were applied. 90% of tennis is serving and returning. We can get caught up in baseline points and discuss rallies all day long but you have to win 1-2 "free" points per service game in order to hold serve easily. The "free" points can be an outright ace or serve+1 combo. Sean's serve is simply not at that level. 1st serve looks the same as 2nd serve, maybe 5 mph faster. On 2nd serve, he's just praying the ball would go in box. With a righty-lefty matchup, there should at least be an attempt to bomb 1st serves to MEP's backhand. If service games are held easily and kept short, one can conserve energy. With more energy, one can try to break MEP with aggressive returns landing close to baseline, keeping him away from net.

Of course all of this is easier said than done, and the reason why MEP routinely bagels lower rated players. Tennis isn't chess. I believe what I outlined above is the "right strategy", but if I were to play MEP I would still lose, just in a different way :)

[-Munditimum-]

Wow...hmm...this must be a record of some kind for Ben...I won't spoil it for everyone else...and there is more...Love it.
Thank you RT. Legendary.
M

[joshuatran]

This is not the MEP I watched before i dont think. He is much more lethal now.

[filippesek]

Im so happy MEP is back, I would love to invite him to Czech republic and play him one day :)

[kylewind]

I think people criticizing Sean are underrating how difficult Ben is to play against. Ben's consistency and fitness are off the charts; he wasn't giving Sean easy balls; and he showed a lot from a tactical standpoint too. He's a really, really good player.

Something I might suggest to Sean is, from the baseline, he might be better off hitting as many crosscourt forehands as practical against a player like Ben. That way, you're targeting his backhand, giving yourself as much margin as possible to allow yourself to swing out with less risk of unforced errors; and most importantly based on what I saw - not hitting yourself out of position and forcing yourself to run more.

Ben was both tiring him out and forcing him to hit a lot of balls without setting his feet. That quickly took its toll as the unforced errors started piling up.

[PawnInADyingCountry]

Whenever I play someone with less than 10% body fat, I know I’m in trouble.

[andrewlee]

Kind of a mismatch. Honestly, I feel like it's a bit of lack of respect for MEP... since he is rated a 4.5 and has beaten 4.5 USTA players. He should be matched against his level. No offense to Sean. He probably would have done very well against a 4.0 player, but he was outmatched.

[andrewlee]

You gotta pick the balls up at 8:31. You are going to get an ankle injury... then you can't play.

[graymcmic]

Scott and Ian got a shift at the hospital after this?

[cutch]

Playing in ATL, I can see MEP winning at 4.0/ 4.5, but It’s really hard to accept Sean playing at a 4.0 level. Sean’s pancake-style serve and ground strokes with very little pace and consistency all point towards a 3.0/ 3.5 level IMO. Don’t want to bash the guy or anything, just curious if my take is too narrow and I just don’t have enough experience playing with people at a 4.0 level

[lostpianist]

Love these matches and commentary and how you all work together on things. You should all come to North Wales for a week and play with us!

[donnienguyen]

i thought someone was snoring during the video. Took me a couple of serves from Sean to realize LOL

[Shaunsweeney-Kubach]

Ben is playing some really good tennis and his tactics are very impressive. I find it’s easier to play a slice back with a slice, I have also noticed playing my friend Herdon which runs in marathons and is in amazing shape, he gets every single ball back and he plays with a lot of slice, so I noticed when I started hitting huge moon balls to his one handed backhand it’s a little bit difficult for him to hit the ball back deep back to me, and I am able to get into the net and get a few easier volleys, but if I don’t hit a good volley I get a lob and I have to run it down and start the point all over, I am seeing Ben playing much better than before and is really putting some massive spin on his shots, and Sean hasn’t really adjusted his game and is trying to make shots off a massive slice, which is causing him to hit the ball into the net. I really appreciate you fellas featuring Ben, he is a prime example of how to play tennis and is a complete gentleman on the Court, and even gives his opponent serves that are 3 feet out! It’s funny to me that some players are spending thousands of dollars on tennis lessons to hit perfect shots and someone like Ben will just eat them up! If I was coaching again I would have my players watch Ben and I would have them write down strategies that would try to use to win points off him. Because I seen a few people on YT telling their students that hacking isn’t proper tennis and is bad for their game, and I replied to them let’s see you play tennis against Ben and let’s see how you would adjust to his style! When I was out of tennis for 24 years and I started playing again last year I never realized how much I loved tennis and the sport, and I love playing against all types of players, and I really enjoy just being out on the courts and I laugh and joke around and play hard and I noticed that people like playing tennis with me and especially doubles because I am very competitive and but I never criticize my opponents or partner when they make a mistake and I never get stressed out over the score, I just play the game and I try to have as much fun as I can, and I try to create a fun environment for everyone. Ben is a pleasant person to watch play and I love the way he carries himself, Ian and Scott are very similar to Ben on the tennis court because Ian jokes around and never criticizes his opponents or his partner, and Scott is a extremely polite person towards his opponents and he always puts his partner in a mood that makes his partner relaxed and he is able to make his partners better by his attitude, and I really like the way Scott and Ian play the game of tennis, I like Marc also but he eats too much Taco Bell before his match. Hahe you guys are awesome and when I visit my friends in Wisconsin, I want to meet you fellas and play a little ball and have a beer with you fellas, I don’t drink because of the diabetes, but I will make a exception for you fellas. Plus I still have to play Trey which is playing some really good tennis and I think it will be awesome to have a generation match and bring people together to play the game of tennis. Thank you for posting this video my dudes, and thank you for everything you fellas are doing to bring people out to play the game of tennis. Big Ben is giving me the motivation to get my knee back into shape, and I am doing the stretch’s Marc suggested to me, and it’s helping me out. Much appreciated! Thanks again fellas!

[Toomanypaulkims]

can't wait to see the rest of the matches uploaded; caught live stream, it was so exhilaratingly fun! be prepared for Ira in the commentary booth and his knowledge base about racetrack horses' bowel movement patterns :) :)

[Espritss]

Fair enough. So you are a self rated 4.0. That explains it. Regardless, props to you for putting yourself out there for this match.

[rsh]

Hang in there Sean. Everyone gets a double bagelled once in their life but it's tough when it's on youtube for all to see. And playing up vs a 4.5 player, most 4.0s are going to lose pretty big margins.

[alwaysprepared]

Sean is simply overmatched. He might be able win a game here and there, but not consistently.
MEP has the definite advantage from the baseline hitting corners whenever he wants and is able to force Sean to hit his weaker backhand repeatedly. With that situation, the natural thing to do is come to the net when there is an opportunity and finish the point, but Sean just pops volleys up too much which gives MEP the freedom to play his lob game or hit passing shots, if he wants.
I have trouble playing pushers who expose my inconsistencies and my attitude gets sour pretty quickly, so I sympathize with Sean, for sure! But, MEP has, like Ian said, upped his game so it is like playing a pusher who also has actual good strokes and strategy, even if the strokes seem a bit wonky! MEP's game is quite effective!
Sean has some good bursts of speed at times, but all it seems to do is wear him out more because MEP is going to keep those balls coming back with placement!
I don't even have a clue what to tell Sean to do as a strategy... Let's hope that Sean gets some good luck in the third set...
After thinking about it, maybe the only strategy that might help is to literally try to get every ball back in the court, whatever it takes, rather than trying to hit any sort of heroic shots and try to let MEP makes the mistakes. Yes, it is kind of MEP's game, but he is playing a slightly higher risk game than he used to. It can't get worse, right?? Consistency is the bedrock of good players...

[yoshikay]

When you guys were getting a player named Sean, I thought it was the guy from Illinois that played MEP 3 years ago.