James is fun to watch and play.  I was watching him in the Nationals with a 2100+ player in his pool.  The 2100 player said that James was just goofing off.  I responded that he always plays that way.  The 2100 player said that if James played him that way he would destroy James.  James didn't have a problem. 

I'm a little surprised at the immaturity of James's 2100 level opponent. Does the 2100 player live in NYC, by chance? Anyway, I played James a couple of years ago at Laguna. It was nothing but mutual respect fom the start. I've been well aware of his unique style for years. For me, it wasn't so much the lobbing but the spin deception on his non lobbing shots that many don't realize until they face him. Receiving lobs through the chandeliers was a new one, though.

I dropped the first 2 games and then found a working plan. I won the 3rd game and was leading 10-6 in the 4th. I let up ever so slightly mentally and physically. Not by plan - it just happens to us all. Big mistake! He caught me at 10-10 and I lost the game after multiple deuces. He told me that I would beat him almost every time if I played him regularly. I found him very classy.

He caught me at 10-10 and I lost the game after multiple deuces. He told me that I would beat him almost every time if I played him regularly. I found him very classy.

One of the jokes in our club is that every match James plays is deuce in the 5th.  Doesn't matter if his opponent is 1500 or 2500, it's deuce in the 5th.  I play him every week, and it's almost always deuce in the 5th.  When he turns it on, I don't really have a chance.

Probably the most memorable point I saw him play was a particular combination I've seen him do 4 or 5 times... it looks like desparate luck but it's really a setup.  He starts by hook-lobbing to move the opponent way off to the side, so that his opponent is having to smash sideways.  In the San Francisco tournament a few years ago, he literally ended up on the other side of the next table... and when Chi-Sun's supposed-to-be-point-ending smash sailed past the neighboring court's table on Chi-Sun's side, James ripped a Seemiller backhand counter out of Chi-Sun's reach for a winner.  By the end of the point, James had run completely around the neighboring court.