2001 US Open Men's Pro Final - Swain vs Ellis: end of Game 3

[@johnellis3528]

Hey all, as the guy who was diving around and ended up on the floor for this play, I can honestly say that I HATE this rally!! Not because of almost taking Clifford's racquet to my head or body, but because of the fact that it led to my loss in this game and match. Losing this match hurts worse than any other loss in my career.... Cliff is one of my best friends in RB, then and now. I knew he would take the shot, that's just him. Off the court he is hilarious and a great person. It's true...

[@arautus]

You were both playing awesome. Tough loss, great match !

[@choubala]

Was always great to see you play man.

[@RacquetballIsnotacrime]

that rally was just insane! Ellis almost got his head taken off. Swain was so intense that he didn't even hold up on the final swing. crazy!

[@fishingwcp]

Whole match anywhere?

[@racquetballtim]

Steve I think you're referring to a different rally, the one where Elli was lying on the ground and Cliff nearly took his head off. That should have been an avoidable (penalty hinder) as well. I was referring to 1:35, when Cliff's serve comes right to Elli. Cliff doesn't clear out of the way and an avoidable should have been called. It doesn't matter if the player holds up or not, the ref can stop the rally and call an avoidable. It's the players job to play, and the ref's job to ref.

[@brentgearhart2633]

I have been in rallies like this....a friend I play with often....we are both ultra competitive ( no I am not a pro ) we just like leaving it all on the court and hate stopping for hinder calls....after the match we can socialize.

[@tuberide3248]

Cliff Swain is the best ever.

[@SovietOnion]

Kane could beat Swain EZPZ

[@racquetballtim]

I agree that reffing racquetball is incredibly difficult. Linesman are badlly needed on a consistent basis. I don't blame a ref one bit for missing skips that are 40 feet away from his position. I was being slightly facetious about the IRT refs not calling anything, and was referring to penalty hinders in particular. They have very little training and even less courage to make those calls. Elli's head could have been crushed, as well as Cliff's leg.

[@Jakepod34]

@MrDCskater Yeah me and my friends play it quite a bit. Its like playing tennis on a small court, with no, and a back wall. The rules are almost the same except for the out of bounds

[@ClickThisUser]

@Fernandez218 yeah, arrogance wasn't quite the word I was looking for, you're definitely right in saying his intensity makes him seem very unfriendly on the court. I do respect his will to win though, and as long as he's a nice guy off-court, it's easier to accept his attitude when he plays.

[@behmer11]

I am so scared of Cliff Swain right now, no smile, no help after the shot, probably would have been fine with hitting Ellis

[@FourthOsprey]

"How many people wanna...Hell. HOW 'BOUT SOME COOKIES?!"

[@RballerTrey]

racquetballtim was refering to a shot where cliff blocked john's shot. i agree with rballtim actually. it should have been an avoidable. but ellis took the shot anyways so there's no avoidable there

[@racquetballtim]

LOL. Cliff was a competitor that's for sure, and definitely rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. I bet your post rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, too. LOL.

[@Nick-tb8ee]

1) Cliff is an all time great at the sport. This shot wasn't very. Cliff contacted the ball quite high above Ellis and he hit a simple pass to win the rally. You better believe if he skipped that ball it would not have been a penalty hinder as he took his full shot. 2) This shot isn't that difficult especially at the pro level. They could hit an apple off your forehead. Watch Ben Croft hitting down the lines testing his "MPH" in racquetball warehouse vids. His camerman is within inches of being hit every time.

[@rbaddict2947]

Should be penalty hinder on Cliff's serve at 1:33 as he's clearly blocking the cross court and prob the straight-in shot. Doesn't even attempt to jump or get out the way. Ellis was too nice of a guy.

[@Bryanctree]

+MasterBlaster yeah I agree. I would've taken the shot.. lol

[@The_Nemeses]

John Ellis: "Uh Oh, UH OH!"

[@saiyankenny]

wow...hate to be there haha

[@racquetballtim]

Wow, no avoidable call at 1:35. Elli is lined up and Cliff barely lifts a leg blocking his straight in shot. Oh wait a minute. They're IRT refs...they don't call anything properly. My bad.

[@racquetballtim]

I guess we'll agree to disagree. 8-D And yeah, there's just no perfect solution for properly officiating a sport where ball speeds exceed 150 mph's. Maybe robots? LOL.

[@Tweeter5004]

HOW ABOUT SOME COOKIES!?

[@splatman123]

Great players, great clip, but Swain...unnecessarily and recklessly competitive. Could have seriously injured John. It's nice to see Kane just dominate him!

[@fishingwcp]

splatman rollout cliff beat Kane the 1st 7 times they played and he was in his late 30s

[@ClickThisUser]

@Fernandez218 Yeah, the arrogance coming off of him is ridiculous. I'd like to see Kane play Cliff in his prime, he'd destroy him. Cliff would be lucky to get 7 points in total, but he'd get a nice tour of the court.

[@fishingwcp]

ClickThisUser cliff beat Kane the fist 7 times they played, and cliff was in his late 30s