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#168 Blog Post - Tuesday 20 September 2022

Posted by Denny Hatch

Watch theWorld's Greatest Athlete:

"BlowingOur Minds Since Day 1!"

                                                     —YouTubeCopywriter

TheUltimate Antidote to Despair

When I wake up these days, what immediatelysets me brooding? Lemme count the ways:

COVID-19... Ukraine War and the threatof nuclear disaster—either from the power plant or a frustrated Putin... Republicanvs. Democrat hatred...  470+ massshootings so far this year...  January6th riots and convictions... our retirement nest egg seriously depleting...food prices off the charts... immigration tragedy at the borders... cabin feverfrom not daring to travel in three years... unable to sleep through the nightsans Ambien coupled with fear of addiction... where will it ever end?

This past March we happened upon theMiami Tennis Open on TV and stumbled onto the 19-year-old Spaniard, CarlosAlcaraz.

We were gobsmacked!

Neither Peggy nor I had never seenmore dazzling, high-intensity tennis. We started to slavishly follow everytournament Alcaraz entered. Even in defeat (always narrow losses) he played withunbelievable brilliance. He was (and is) mesmerizing!

Memories of Championship Tennis as aKid

Every September when I was growing up,the world's greatest tennis players from the U.S., UK and Australia descendedon New York for the National Championships. These were held at the intimate littlestadium and grass courts of the West Side Tennis club in Forest Hills, a suburbof New York City. This was the forerunner of the current US Open now held atthe glitzy new complex built on the site of the old 1939 New York World's Fair.Back then the U.S. tournament was played on grass courts as the seedy little American cousin of legendary, elegant Wimbledon.

WestSide Tennis Club Stadium, Forest Hills, NY

One problem: Forest Hills was aprivate tennis club. The annual influx tennis players and crowds of spectators wasan inconvenience (aka a big pain in the ass) to the membership. As a result, whilethe club reluctantly agreed to host the championship, the officers and memberswere damned if they'd allow their gorgeous grass courts to be out of commissionfor grueling practice sessions in preparation for the tournament.

I grew up on Polo Lane in Cedarhurst,Long Island. Our 1923 house was built by my grandfather and abutted the secondfairway of the Rockaway Hunting Club (second oldest country club in America).What made it unique were the 18 grass tennis courts on Ocean Avenue across fromthe clubhouse. While lightly used by members and guests, they were meticulouslymaintained. 

The Rockaway Hunt members were a bunchof insecure WASP celebrity hounds who were thrilled to rub elbows with theworld's greatest tennis players and dine out on the experience throughout theyear. (Oh yeah, BTW the club made pots money in the bar and dining room). Soonce a year, the greatest tennis players in the world descended on our littleneighborhood to get in shape for the tournament rigors ahead

The Plight of Amateur Athletes
Back in those days,tennis was an amateur sport—as were the American Olympics. The rich men (nowomen in those days) who ran those sports expected athletes to pay their ownway. Players who turned professional were no longer eligible to play atWimbledon and Forest Hills. Endorsements were not allowed. Even though theparticipation of these great champions boosted box office sales mightily, therewere no purses for players to win. And they were forced to pay all their own expenses.A number of them gave high priced tennis lessons. 

 Example: my mother, a tastyTexas belle (and one-time extra in Marx Brothers movies) wheedled my father intobuying her a lesson from the greatest tennis champion of the age, Bill Tilden.She dined out on that story for years.

And there was out-and-out graft. Astandard ploy to persuade a great amateur to enter a tennis tournament was for avery rich backer to bet him $5,000 he could not jump over a tiny child's chair. Holdingtheir noses, the player would jump over the chair and the benefactor would payup in cash. Ergo, the player could pay his way and have some bucks left over.And not be accused of playing for money.)

Avery Brundage, U.S. Olympic Committee President.
He Fought Savagely to Keep All Athletes Amateurs.

"As President of the AmericanOlympic Committee, Brundage fought strongly for amateurism and against thecommercialization of the Olympic Games, even as these stands increasingly cameto be seen as incongruous with the realities of modern sports. The advent ofthe state-sponsored athletes of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded theideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of theWestern countries at a disadvantage. The 1972 Olympics at Munich, West Germany, were Brundage's  final Games as president of the IOC. The eventwas marred by tragedy and controversy when eleven Israeli team memberswere murdered by Palestinian terrorists. At the memorial service,Brundage decried the politicization of sports and refused to cancel theremainder of the Olympics, declaring "the Games must go on." Althoughthose in attendance applauded Brundage's statement, his decision to continuethe Games has since been harshly criticized, and his actions in 1936 and 1972seen as evidence of antisemitism. In retirement, Brundage married hissecond wife, a German princess. He died in 1975 at age 87."
—From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

CirclingBack to "The Wunderkind" — Carlos Alvarez

• In 9 monthsJanuary-September 2022), 18-turned-19-year-old Carlos entered 15 tournaments.

• Won 6: Madrid,Rio, Miami, Barcelona, Davis Cup, US Open.

• Runner-up in 7:Cincinnati, Croatia, Wimbledon, France, Monte Carlo, Indian Wells,Australia.

• Ranking at theend of 2022: #1 in the world.

• $ Earnings in2022 (so far): $7.4 million

Takeawaysto Consider

• What has any of this have to do withMarketing? Everything!

• People buy for four reasons only:

      1) Price.
     2) Service.
     3) Exclusivity.
     4) Quality

• Discard 1-3 above.

• You will never in your lifetime seesuch quality as that of Carlos Alcaraz.

• Highest quality sells itself.

• That's why court side tickets for theU.S. finals were scalped for $6,000 a seat.

• Beyond that, I am Speechless.

The Wizardry of Carlos Alcaraz on YouTube

Go to YouTube andtype in "Carlos Alcaraz." You'll find dozens and dozens of videos,each more mind blowing than the prior one.

Two Notes About YouTube

1. It's imperative towatch Alcaraz on your full screen. Here's the quick drill. Do this immediately.

2. Yeah, there areinterruptive ads. YouTube (Google) deserves to make money on this extraordinaryservice. Sit tight and the Video will resume. (Or click on "Skip Ads")

Carlos Alcaraz - Behind the Back 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm7OqT_F3nA  

Carlos Alcaraz vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Rafael Nadal

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sSiSVZW2uI

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