Video Tennis: Difference between revisions

==The Intitial "Freewheeling" Era (2007-2008)==

At first, there was hardly any tennis community in a well defined sense to speak of; tennis was at the very beginning considered to be a straightforward extension of the main community for YTP itself, and  would be considered an intricately connected part of YTP during the years in which the use of that branding for video remixes was at its strongest and most dedicated. Much of the tennis matches that were played following the first one was thus done so in a way that would be seen by modern standards as very disorganized; it was engaged with in the same relative loose, anarchic and "shitposty" spirit as YTP at large, being considered among the body of "contests" that included early collaborations as designated on conradslater's "Vanilla" YouChew forums. That being said, there were a handful of notable early names that became early fixtures in the world of tennis: BMATF played the second ever tennis match with Markie, and UncleChuckTH played the third ever tennis match with conradslater (the latter's second match), and both UncleChuckTH and BMATF would continue to exist in the world of tennis until the early 2010s. TangerineImpz vs. SeductiveBaz was played entirely start to finish on August 21, 2007, the day that the final round of the first tennis match was uploaded, and this was for a very long time the fastest tennis match ever played; SeductiveBaz would also be an early fixture and continued to tennis in some capacity until a full 12 years later. Second only to conradslater's early activity in tennis was that of {{MrDrunkenFox}}, who played multiple early games including with Tentor, plex14, PapaGonzales and Furnessly. This latter player, along with other such players such as InsinerateHymn, JazzDanceForChildren, TyrannosaurusReich, MelvanaInChains, dvariano, Luioigi, {{strong414bad}}, ADHDYoshi, GameCubeHero, Intenseowl, MVJ5197, 3inchhorse, ELPSteel, SushieBoy, Vorhias, sonicnerd23, and SesakaGenX would also serve to play their own individual roles in defining the nature of tennis at its earliest onsets. Tennis is considered to have reached one of its first peaks in its intersection with "Robotnik YTP" at the time - videos that focused entirely on remixing episodes of ''[[The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog]]'' and its main antagonist -  in particular the matches of [[Wikiwow vs. UncleChuckTH]](2007), the first ever match to reach ten rounds, UncleChuckTH vs. BMATF(2007), [[Stegblob vs. TyrannosaurusReich]](2007), and especially [[BMATF vs. UncleChuckTH vs. Wikiwow](2007). All of these would build a foundation for a strand of tennis that would eventually continue long separate from the main tennis community, which, although small, would localize and organize itself largely on the YouChew forums.

Aside from all of these other players however, one of the most important to come out of these first months was {{RabbitSnore}}, who played his first tennis match with real-life friend Thereisnospoon303, or TINS, in October 2007. Rabbit immediately came to develop a passionate and vested interest in tennis - the places that it could go and the ways in which it could develop - from the very offset of his entrance into it, and he sought to give the medium the attention and the analysis that it deserved through his initial position on the "Vanilla" YouChew forums as chief editor of the forum's "newsroom" - from October/November 2007 onward, Rabbit began his regular "Tennis Review" series of articles, with [[InsinerateHymn vs. PukingCyberman]] (2007), GameCubeHero vs. Intenseowl(2007) and [[Furnessly vs. MrDrunkenFox]] (2007) the first three matches he covered in this matter. He would contribute a "retrospective review" of conradslater vs. Misselaineous10 shortly thereafter, and it is from this point onward, largely through his insistence, that the importance and the nature of the first ever tennis match began to become recognized in the way it now is today.  

His prominence in this activity and the quality of his articles for the time gained him the trust and admiration of Conrad himself, and he was able to use this sway to convince him to allow the tennis section to begin hosting its first [[tennis tournament]]s, with Gallers being the initial organizer of the first few to take place. After Rabbit had accumulated a respectable roster of completed matches including with YamiMario, SushieBoy, Miss10, and PapaGonzales, Rabbit took on Conrad himself in the now legendary match of [[RabbitSnore vs. conradslater]](2007). At a time when tennis usually came in the language of either "comedic" or of the extreme varieties conceived in the first match, this match was seen as a completely different third approach - of tennis as very much an art and of a thoughtful exchange in and of itself, even if this exchange was liable to get wild in other ways.

In January 2008, Rabbit had gained enough of an influence over tennis - having played further matches with MrDrunkenFox, pimpsahoy, strong414bad, and UncleChuckTH, that he was able to create some of the earliest foundational texts on how tennis was meant to be played and approached: the Observational and Recreational Guides to tennis. On January 28, Rabbit also created the first of the "Tennis Café" threads, a general chat for the tennis section that allowed for the community to begin to consolidate together and organize themselves properly for the first time. Around this time, newer members began to enter into the community or gain a greater degree of visibility in the section, including {{Crash2991}}, {{strong414bad}}, {{GameBop}}, and {{Nuthead}}. For much of the original Cafe thread's incarnation, only Rabbit and Crash would be doing the majority of the regular posting, and between them talked about tennis matches often, with RabbitSnore vs. conradslater, conradslater vs. Miss10 and [[MilkR0und vs. Y2Zero]](2007) receiving repeated reference and discussion as part of an early canon of foundational matches for the community. Somewhere in this period due to his enthusiasm and prolific activity, RabbitSnore even began being regarded by a few as "The King of Tennis" - a title he never was comfortable with.

In terms of competitive tennis, all members of the staff would join the rest of the community in taking part in what would be subsequently seen as the first true major event for tennis, and the community's inaugural event under the tenure of Rabbit and TINS - The [[Tennis Cup]].

While the previous Tennis Leagues had been "competition" in a much looser sense, the Tennis Cup was the first elimination-based tournament in tennis, though it was clearly not approached with any grand stakes or ambition, and Ishkibibl even expressed great disappointment when he eventually was revealed to be the events winner following [[Ishkibibl vs. NS2|the final match between him and NS2.]] Despite this, the event was nonetheless the source of multiple matches in all manner of statuses, from complete to incomplete to their present-day fragmentation, that served to be major influences on many sectors of tennis going forward. While only one half of MTB710 vs. Domorato(2008) remains preserved, for example, the frenetic energy of the MTB710's surviving side plus the surviving titles of the other side - including one "MR. CLEAN NUKES THE UNITED STATES"(2008) - have served to amaze subsequent viewers due the intensity contained within the rounds and the speculation upon what the missing rounds must have contained. [[ophios vs. RAKninja]](2008) ended up pioneering almost an entire subgenre of slower, more ambient and mysterious tennis styles that would be later explored in greater depth by GameBop, Luioigi, and RAKninja himself. GameBop themselves only played in one full match in this tournament, their Set 2 match with GreatBritishTurd - fondly remembered for reaching rare heights in both cleverness and the at-the-time rare complexity of the visual effects - but even their unfinished match with strong414bad would later be a cited influence on one player in particular who was just about to enter the tennis community.  

In June 2008, GameBop would start a match with a player who was as of yet a complete unknown to tennis. They had just existed out of their original account MicroProcessor314, and had just established a more YTP-centric account under the name of {{MycroProcessor}}. [[MycroProcessor vs. GameBop|MycroProcessor vs. GameBop (2008-2009)]] was played at a pace that was fairly long for its era, but it served to represent the beginning of multiple new elements in tennis at the same time: the debut of one of the medium's most defining, radical and most influential new voices, as Mycro would quickly establish themselves as verbose, articulate and intelligent when it came to all matters of tennis and video remixes and would soon develop a reputation of writing intricate feedback on every tennis match played in the tennis forums; the beginning of a very different school of thought around tennis that focused for the first time on maximizing the potential of editing and stylistic development and the aesethetic sensibilities that were to come with it; the beginning of a long creative friendship between GameBop and MycroProcessor that firmly established a different and contrasting social constituency away from much of the rest of the tennis community. Mycro's fast-paced, densely-edited, high-stimulation tennis style apparent even in their earliest tennis output would serve to have a galvanizing effect upon tennis and its community, and immediately he found himself swamped with match requests from all manner of eager player looking to either see their work get tackled by him in this cutting edge style or to try and see if they could either outdo or subvert this style in their own ways. RAKninja and Mycro, in many ways complete opposites in each other as people, nonetheless established something of a foil dynamic; while both players came from different constituencies, they shared a passion for intricate tennis discussion, as RAKninja had recently opened the first thread in the tennis subforum dedicated entirely to "Tennis Theory", and the two of them would wage discussion and compare contrasting viewpoints in tennis for years to come. A match between them was always teased, as RAK believed there were ways he could tackle Mycro's style that no one else was thinking of, but a match between them would never end up taking place.  

<small>"Several players have made it become competitive and made several others think that it was supposed to be the uptight thing, rather than just playing around with each other's videos and showing them to each other."</small>

Even before this point, a general sentiment had begun to develop, namely between older players such as strong414bad and Rabbit, of weariness around "heavy/intense/destructive" editing, something that began to presage an influx of matches started by or participated in by this constituency that deliberately intended to invoke "classic" tennis stylings. Exchanges within these matches would generally pair down on the use of effects and put a larger focus on the sources used within, allowing their easily exploitable qualities to shine brighter with minimal subversion and have the match more steered by what material was added and the comedic potential across the source mix. [[RabbitSnore vs. Crash2991]](2008) was the first to be intentionally billed as a "classic style" match, but would be followed by similar matches such as [[Emperor Ing vs. theHappyFungus]](2008) and NS2 vs. WowComics(2008). RAKninja in particular would play many matches of this type and score hit after hit of memorable moments from nearly all that he played in this era. Futures Passed vs. RAKninja(2008) saw him bring the "ROBOT BUNNIE BOOBIES" meme to life, [[RAKninja vs. RetroTheRaccoon]](2008) saw him immediately follow up with "Love is Here.", and even in his own Doubles Cup, [[Moogle + RAKninja vs. McMANGOS + WowComics]](2008) saw him create "Guys in Nature." These in-jokes would sweep across the YouChew forums and the entire tennis section, cementing the power of his influence upon the inner community. On the outskirts, ChrisGendo vs. NS2(2008) was taking place, in which NS2 would find for themselves a new kindred spirit in the community, and soon to be another significant voice in tennis.

Going into 2009, the new school of more intricate, technically creative complex editing now indirectly faced the old school of simpler, humor based, aesthetically creative classic editing in a schizm that seemed to compete for attention influence in tennis, with both having ironclad constituency and sway by this point. While many names would stick to one lane, those who were more open minded and embracing of all styles would find themselves treated to what some would consider the peak of tennis' "golden age", but it also showed signs that the ways of the early "Freewheeling" era, in which competition was engaged more playfully and without well defined metas, was  becoming superseded.