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I'm not so sure. Lendl was really a master of the indoor circuit and played artificial surfaces very well with predictable bounce and sure footing. My memory is that he didn't contest Wimbledon early in his career and really only started playing Wimbledon later on when he wanted to win all four majors. He played in that memorable final against Pat Cash. Cash at his best was very good, but he was not a match for McEnroe at his peak.Quote:
Originally Posted by road runner
Wiki has the record. He contested Wimbledon every year bar one from 79-93, finalist twice, semi-finalist 5 times. He made the semis in 2 years where McEnroe won it, so a little surprising they did not meet more.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rincewind
Perhaps the reason is Lendl was highly seeded but did not perform to seeding very often and hence was eliminated by lower ranked players before reaching semis/finals.Quote:
Originally Posted by road runner
My memory about him only contesting later on might have been created by Lendl trying much harder to win it later on and therefore doing better later. We definitely really wanted a Wimbledon later on in the 80s. In the 70s and early 80s he used to shrug it off saying grass is only good for cows.
You're right, he definitely wanted a Wimbledon to complete the 4 majors. There's a very interesting article on him called: Obsession - Ivan Lendl's Lonely Quest For Perfection. It tells about his life and how he turned himself into a machine.
No Brits celebrating Andy Murray's win?
an Englishman still has not won wimbledon for 75 yearsQuote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Byrom
I'm not a Brit but I did make a passing comment on the feat in the shout box the following morning.
I was a little disappointed with Djokovic's form in the final but I guess the semifinal lead up took too great a toll on his reserves and even from the first set his game was hampered by an uncharacteristically high number of unforced errors and a subdued first serve statistic. Still Murray played well and is a worthy champion.
Since Perry was from Stockport and Murray is from Glasgow, who was the last Southerner to win Wimbledon? :D
Virgina Wade (from Bournemouth)!Quote:
Originally Posted by Rincewind
I thought that the girls were only there as tokenism and to fill gaps between the male rounds. When the mini skirts came in men actually began watching themQuote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Byrom
An item on Marg Smith the other day on TV never mentioned her playing name once, was all Marg Court, when she only used late in career. The tallyboards all showed M Smith but you would not have known was now M Court
Pat Rafter coming out of retirement to play doubles at the Australian Open.
In totally unrelated news, Lethal Weapon is showing on channel 9 right now with the catchphrase, "I'm getting too old for this shit."
He's only 41.
Doubles is a walk-in-the-park compared to singles. He could do allright.
This is right. For example, Martina Navratalova played competitive mixed doubles until age 50 and was US Open mixed doubles champion at retirement. Rafter might have another 20 years in him yet.
Probably belongs in the oxymoron thread. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Rincewind
Not sure why that's funny but mixed doubles is as competitive as any other format but doesn't get the coverage it deserves with the exception of the Hopman cup.Quote:
Originally Posted by road runner
Yeah, sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rincewind