New balls please… the rally that lasted 14 hours
Originally published on: 26/02/10 14:57
The incredible (theres no other word for it) achievements of Angelo and Ettore Rossetti were brought to our attention earlier this year when they broke the world record for the longest ever rally.
The American twins enjoyed (wrong choice of word perhaps) a rally of 25,944 consecutive strokes on August 10, beating the existing record by 1,248. But it was this amazing photograph of the ball they used during that rally that inspired us to write about them again.
“We started the point with one serve, hit one backhand and 25,942 forehands”
The Rossettis record-breaking effort, which was completed in North Haven, Connecticut, took over 14-and-a-half hours and will help raise money for four charities. The organisations that will benefit are the The Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation.
The brothers hope they can raise a dollar for each stroke their target is $25,944. You can help by visiting their website.
Breaking the record took more than just a solid technique, though. Angelo Rossetti recently met tennis coaching guru Nick Bollettieri and talked him through their preparations for their big day and the mental and physical hurdles they encountered along the way.
After reading their list of motivational tips on Bollettieris website, it occurred to us that a lot of them can be applied to regular hitting and matchplay.
Here are some of their secrets to a record-breaking rally
- We emphasised two words, Angelo says, focus and footwork.”
- For about 5,000 strokes, from 15,000-20,000, I repeated quietly out loud and in my mind
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