Tennis today bites. Uninspiring automatons. Here’s Conners in 1991 at age 39, against Kriekstein, 24, in the US Open Semi-finals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TLnhJRt2HE&feature=related
That was a match for the ages.
This is why I would like to see a return to perhaps a "reference" tennis racket made of one material, a standardized-size head, and standardized material for the string. That way, everyone has to play with the same racket type, and it will force players to stop emphasizing the power game so much and emphasize more the strategy-based game.
Thanks for the link. I remember that match. I sat glued to the TV for the entire game. Wow! And then Connors went on to beat Paul Haarhuis, an up and coming young player at that time in the quarters to reach the semis at age 39. Just fantastic!
‘Tennis today bites.’
No, it dosent. In men’s tennis, we are entering another golden age: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray....all brilliant players. And superb players like Tsonga and Del Potro are right behind them. And Roddick is still a great player on his day.
The Wimbledon finals of 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 were superb finals and 08 and 09 (Fed vs Nadal, Fed vs Roddick) were epics and two of the greatest Wimbledon and Grand Slam finals ever.
And this year’s final was a superb match, some of Djokovic’s shots were incredible.
‘Uninspiring automatons’
Nadal a robot?. Or Djokovic?. Or Murray?. Tsonga?. Roddick?.
All the above show huge passion during games and are FAR from robots. If anything the 90’s had much less passion and more robots.
I love the old tennis, players and matches, but as a tennis fan, I also recognise great players and games that stand up to any that are from the past.