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Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the GoTennis! Podcast

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With that said, let's get started with 10 minutes of tennis.

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Today is our 10 minutes of tennis

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with World Renowned Tennis Coach Australian in Puerto Rico,

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Justin Yeo and Justin thinks he thinks people.

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He thinks that he is gonna blow my mind

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because he thinks his generation can beat up my generation.

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It's like the old adage that my dad can beat up your dad, right?

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Well, in this case, he thinks 'cause he's a Roger fan,

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he thinks Roger can beat Sinner.

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Now, Roger and his prime, right Justin?

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So, Roger and his prime, you think beats Sinner right now.

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Now, I'm using these two as an example.

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We can zoom out to Roger, Rafa and the current generation.

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But I've given you the starting point.

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I've given you the pedestal.

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Blow me away.

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All right, so I'm just gonna sit the scene.

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2009, Australian Open Final.

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They were doing the Rafael Nadal tribute today

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on the weekend on tennis channel.

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And watching that match versus matches today,

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I didn't see any different.

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If anything was sore, fed or in the dial,

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approaching, coming forward, taking a ball earlier

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and hitting the ball just as hard, just as athletic

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and just as powerful as they are now.

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Now, coming forward to 2024, almost 2025.

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The players these days are a little more athletic, they say,

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but they have to be because they're so far back in the court.

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So, none of them, as far as I'm concerned,

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in their heyday, Nadal and Federer,

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in their heyday would beat Nadal and Federer.

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Even today, with sinner and Alkarez,

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I can give you some stats, okay?

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Sinners average forehand speed is 78 miles per hour.

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Federer was 76.

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So, and we got to remember--

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- Say that again.

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- Sinner, average forehand speed,

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which everyone talks about how big his strokes are,

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was his average speed is 78 miles per hour.

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Federer's average speed was 76.

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- Okay.

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- So-- - Center wins.

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- What's next?

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- You're also talking 76 on the baseline,

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instead of three or four feet back behind the baseline.

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- Okay.

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- There's a difference there.

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Federer's Nadal's was 76 as well.

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So, basically same average speed.

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If we go into the serves, the average men's serve right now

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on the tour is 115, 118 miles per hour.

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That's the average speed of the men's first serve speed

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on the tour currently.

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- Okay.

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- Federer's was 128.

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- Okay.

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- What was his average first serve speed?

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- That sounds high.

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Considering he didn't go ever above 128.

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So, I would question that statistic.

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I'd have to look that up as well.

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He never went above 128.

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There's no way that's his average.

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- We're looking at Google right now.

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- No way. - So, I disagree with Google.

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- Well, so anyway, my theory is,

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I'm trying to give you some stats and data

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that even while he 2000, so 2009 watching the final,

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Federer's like,

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Baltas was way higher than when he did before he retired.

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So, his fitness level, his agility level, his power level,

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his variety of strokes level,

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I would literally question.

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In Federer's and Nadal's heyday at their highest peak

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that I saw in 2009, between the two of them,

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they would beat Alcarez, Sinner,

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any guy on the tour right now at that day.

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So, and I'm very interested in it.

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'Cause the reason why I bring that up

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is that we talk about generations.

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But before that, I don't see San Praes or Agacy,

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while we can talk about them all day.

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Federer just literally tied away the moral of the tour.

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So, if we Federer and Nadal specifically in their heyday,

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then there was Jockevic, so I'm not gonna ignore him.

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But he turned the whole sport around around

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to athleticism, no question.

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Flexibility, range of motion,

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he changed the game, no question.

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So, I'm not taking anything away from him.

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I'm just focusing on two guys

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that we call the Kings of the Game at one stage,

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could beat Sinner, Alcarez, and any of these kids these days

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as far as I'm concerned, heyday to heyday.

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- Okay, so I like this how my computer

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gives me different information from yours.

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And this is fun to do because

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according to data from the 2009 Wimbledon Championships,

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which is that time frame,

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I think you were looking at Australian Open.

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Average first serve speed for Roger Federer is 118.

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We consider Federer as one of the great servers.

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And any of the others we look at, okay,

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let's look at the top five guys,

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or let's look at the top 10 guys.

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So, you're not generationally having this conversation.

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You're not just saying the top 10 guys

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from 10, 15 years ago were better than the top 10 guys now.

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You're just talking about two dudes, Roger and Rafa.

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So that's the extent of what you're saying.

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And we're not discussing Novak

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because he's handled both generations.

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- Right, and who's dominating the game right now?

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Sinner, Alcarez, if I can pay the two of them,

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we put in a dial and Federer in the heyday

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against all of those two.

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I'd be so different that they would,

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the young guys would beat those guys in the heyday.

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- Because the math that I've done,

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and I say the math that I've done,

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basically I've done my Google searching too,

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and I've found an average of at least 5%,

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but never more than 10%.

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So somewhere between five and 10%,

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ground strokes are bigger, serves are bigger.

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Both first and second serves.

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Now I'm just looking at top 10 now versus Roger and Rafa,

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top 10 in 2005 to 2010, that time frame.

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So now versus 15, 20 years ago.

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So we're looking at a 5 to 10% increase.

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Your argument then is that Roger and Rafa still win.

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Rafa, the guy who invented playing 20 feet behind the baseline.

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You're gonna tell me that Roger and Rafa still win

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because they were both closer to the baseline,

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even though everything right now is 5% to 10% bigger,

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and these guys are 5% to 10% faster.

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- Yeah, actually, if you look back in the days,

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I bet you if you recorded Nadal and Federer

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from the service line to singles line,

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sorry, central line to singles line, and back,

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you would find they're probably just as fast and just as quick.

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And how much Nadal and Federer, especially Federer,

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would take the ball right off the baseline

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and hit shot selections like they've never seen before.

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They just, I'm telling you, if you watched that 2009

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and analyzed it, and I'm sure Craig,

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Sean, as he could kill me and tell me which one's really

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probably, where's Craig when we need him?

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Yeah, yeah.

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If I look at the play and the shot selection

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off the baseline, things that they were hitting

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and the athleticism, they were doing the ins and outs,

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the drop shots, the ballies, I'm telling you,

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after watching 2009, I was like,

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there's not much difference than what I see 20 years,

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almost 20 years later, 15 years later,

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I don't see much difference at all.

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So if we go back another 15, 20 years,

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it's just curiosity, kind of the last question

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to give a little context to this.

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If we go before Roger and Rafa took over tennis

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and we go back 15, 20 years, maybe even before Pete Nandre,

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maybe to the end of Conor's in that area

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before the California boys took over,

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that's way way back.

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So maybe that's 20, maybe that's 30 years,

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I'm just saying 30 years before Roger and Rafa

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in that 2009 timeframe.

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So late 80s, early 90s.

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Okay.

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And in that case, if we watch those matches,

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if we watch that Pete Andre match,

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what was that quarter final, the four tie breakers

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in the US open, if we watch that,

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are we just gonna, does it look slow?

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I would say necessarily look slow,

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but I would tell you that the shot selection

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and the type of game was totally different than it is now.

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I mean, we didn't see Agassi use as much East West

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as we see now because of the rackets,

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because of the top spin, because of everything else.

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You know, Agassi was the King of East way.

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He was the King of moving guys side to side.

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He was, but it wasn't as wide.

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And he could hit North South like there was no tomorrow.

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That guy was clean off the baseline North South.

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If he wanted to put the ball away, he could do it.

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So, and then you, you,

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Sam Perez was a lot of servo, I mean,

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the guy was the absolute legend with the decision of our

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and then you can go back even further and go to Irvine Lendo.

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We really didn't play the net at all,

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but had a pretty average strong first-er speed

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and big forehand and big backhand.

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So, but the pace, you can't relate those.

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I just don't think we can talk athleticism with them

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because Irvine was as fit as a fiddle.

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So, it was Jim, Jim, Jim,

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Jim Korea.

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- Korea.

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- They were as fit as fit, you know,

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but the way these kids hit the ball now is how does they do?

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I would have started watching, like I said, I watched 2009.

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I was like, and just to clear the clarification,

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Roger Federer's average first serve at the US Open 2012

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was 128 miles an hour.

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So, it's on the Google right here.

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(laughing)

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- I'm not buying it.

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I'm not buying it.

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I don't think he ever hit a serve over 128.

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I'm not buying it.

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- I don't think so.

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- But Justin, we'll have to look that up for next week.

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We'll do a follow-up.

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I appreciate it.

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Thank you, sir.

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This has been 10 minutes of tennis with Justin Yo,

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World Round Tennis Coach Australian in Puerto Rico.

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Thank you, sir.

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We'll see you next week.

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- And everybody think it is talking about it.

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- I wanna hear it.

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We'll talk soon.

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- Thanks, mate.

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- Well, there you have it.

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