lethal wrote:And the equipment is much better.

True. And apparently it's as much in the strings as in the rackets.

So why not place some limitation on what professionals can use? In pro baseball, hitters aren't allowed to use aluminum or composite bats. I'm pretty sure on the PGA tour, golfers aren't allowed to use the grooved irons that make weekend players much better.

BuddyGroom wrote:

lethal wrote:And the equipment is much better.

True. And apparently it's as much in the strings as in the rackets.

So why not place some limitation on what professionals can use? In pro baseball, hitters aren't allowed to use aluminum or composite bats. I'm pretty sure on the PGA tour, golfers aren't allowed to use the grooved irons that make weekend players much better.

Apples and oranges. New strings and rackets have made tennis much more fun to watch and much more of an athletic sport. Aluminum bats give an unfair advantage to the pitcher, not to mention the dangers it brings with balls coming back to the pitchers. I don't know anyone who wants to return to the old strings/wooden rackets.

SK790 wrote:

BuddyGroom wrote:

lethal wrote:And the equipment is much better.

True. And apparently it's as much in the strings as in the rackets.

So why not place some limitation on what professionals can use? In pro baseball, hitters aren't allowed to use aluminum or composite bats. I'm pretty sure on the PGA tour, golfers aren't allowed to use the grooved irons that make weekend players much better.

Apples and oranges. New strings and rackets have made tennis much more fun to watch and much more of an athletic sport. Aluminum bats give an unfair advantage to the pitcher, not to mention the dangers it brings with balls coming back to the pitchers. I don't know anyone who wants to return to the old strings/wooden rackets.

Not sure how far back you go, but you honestly think the tennis of today is "more fun to watch" than a McEnroe/Borg, McEnroe/Lendl, Borg/Connors or Edberg/Becker match from the '80s or '90s. (Or Evert/Navratilova or Graf/Seles match.)

I fully understand that the quality of play has improved - power and accuracy. I just miss the finesse game, which is largely gone.

I don't go back very far. I remember the Samfras/Agassi days and that's about it. Finesse games was boring, IMO. I've seen replays of those matches on Tennis Channel and ESPN Classic and they're just not as entertaining. I really like having all of these athletic players in the game now who hit amazing shots because their equipment allows them to do so. I'm very glad I don't have to watch a Wimbledon that's all made up of 3 hit rallies.

SK790 wrote:I don't go back very far. I remember the Samfras/Agassi days and that's about it. Finesse games was boring, IMO. I've seen replays of those matches on Tennis Channel and ESPN Classic and they're just not as entertaining. I really like having all of these athletic players in the game now who hit amazing shots because their equipment allows them to do so. I'm very glad I don't have to watch a Wimbledon that's all made up of 3 hit rallies.

My thoughts pretty much echo SK790's.

Having said the above, it was Roger Federer's elegant but amazingly high quality all-around game in his top prime years (2004-2007) that got me more interested in tennis.

Serena Williams knocked out in the 4th round by Ekaterina Makarova.

CHIP! wrote:

SK790 wrote:I don't go back very far. I remember the Samfras/Agassi days and that's about it. Finesse games was boring, IMO. I've seen replays of those matches on Tennis Channel and ESPN Classic and they're just not as entertaining. I really like having all of these athletic players in the game now who hit amazing shots because their equipment allows them to do so. I'm very glad I don't have to watch a Wimbledon that's all made up of 3 hit rallies.

My thoughts pretty much echo SK790's.

Having said the above, it was Roger Federer's elegant but amazingly high quality all-around game in his top prime years (2004-2007) that got me more interested in tennis.

Mine, as well. I was also getting done with my high school tennis team at the time and wanted to stay interested in the sport.

Chip and SK790 - I think if you had seen the McEnroe/Borg Wimbledon final live in 1980, you might feel differently.

It was the first match I ever watched start to finish, all four-plus hours. Tough way to start because you expect they'll all be like that.

I find tennis less interesting today because of the lack of variety.

Twenty years ago the two best women were Steffi Graph and Monica Seles. Graff had an open stance forhand and a one handed, backspin backhand. Seles had a two handed forhand and backhand, grunted when she hit the ball (she was the only one) and never stood more than two feet behind the baseline. Among the men you had old players (Connors), young players (Aggasi, Chang, Courier) players who came to net (Edberg, Samprass), players who hit aces (Sampress, Courier), players who couldn't hit an ace if their lives depended on it (Chang), fan favorites (Becker, Connors), villians (Lendl, McEnroe), a guy who dove for balls no matter what the surface (Becker) and a guy who swung so hard it looked like he was going to come out of his shoes on every shot (Agassi).

Compare that to today where every player has the same strokes and playes the same game, some of them just play it a little better than others.

ashton wrote:I find tennis less interesting today because of the lack of variety.

Twenty years ago the two best women were Steffi Graph and Monica Seles. Graff had an open stance forhand and a one handed, backspin backhand. Seles had a two handed forhand and backhand, grunted when she hit the ball (she was the only one) and never stood more than two feet behind the baseline. Among the men you had old players (Connors), young players (Aggasi, Chang, Courier) players who came to net (Edberg, Samprass), players who hit aces (Sampress, Courier), players who couldn't hit an ace if their lives depended on it (Chang), fan favorites (Becker, Connors), villians (Lendl, McEnroe), a guy who dove for balls no matter what the surface (Becker) and a guy who swung so hard it looked like he was going to come out of his shoes on every shot (Agassi).

Compare that to today where every player has the same strokes and playes the same game, some of them just play it a little better than others.

Good post. I have to believe a degree of variety will come back to the game eventually.

bump for the semis people care about.

maria up a set, but down a break. fed/nadal at 3:30 am. set your dvrs.

This has been one of the most well played women's matches I've seen in some time. Both players really playing good tennis. Kvitova is absolutely pounding the serve.

novak takes the championship in a 5 hour, 53 minute match

I woke up at 8 and started watching my DVR, fast forwarding to the big set clinching games etc. and realized my DVR cut off at 2-2 in the 3rd.

Of course the 30 minutes I spent watching...the match was still going on and by the time I was done it was over.

Crazy, crazy, crazy. Unbelievable.

If you have any interest in tennis and you missed the Djokovic/Nadal match in the 2012 Australian Open final, you missed something really special (and I personally only watched from early in the 4th set on). I didn't think there could be a match that would top the physical nature of the match between those two guys at last year's U.S. Open final, but this match topped it. Neither guy deserved to lose.

I give a standing ovation to both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal for playing one of the greatest matches of all-time. Even in the 5th set, both guys were coming up with shots I wouldn't have believed unless I saw them with my own eyes. Amazing. The word "epic", for once, is an understatement. That word doesn't do this match justice.

Does this match overshadow the Federer/Nadal 2008 Wimbledon final?

TheFrank wrote:Does this match overshadow the Federer/Nadal 2008 Wimbledon final?

It might. It definitely stands up there right with it.

Probably the best semis and finals in a major ever. The Murray/Djokovic semi was fantastic. The Fed/Nadal semi was pretty damn good, and the final was just incredible.

SK790 wrote:Probably the best semis and finals in a major ever. The Murray/Djokovic semi was fantastic. The Fed/Nadal semi was pretty damn good, and the final was just incredible.

When you throw in the strong semifinal field the women had and the two good semifinal matches they (Azarenka/Clijsters and Sharapova/Kvitova) had, it was possibly the greatest last two rounds in a Grand Slam event ever. Obviously the only disappointment was the lopsided Azarenka/Sharapova final.

That Djovokic/Murray semifinal was a great match (saw the 3rd set tiebreak to the end, and though the 4th set was lopsided, the rest of what I saw made up for it), and it's hard to believe that 1) the championship match topped it and 2) Novak Djovokic was able to win a nearly 6 hour, 5 set final after having to win a nearly 5 hour, 5 set final two days earlier.

Novak has Rafa mentally broken like Rafa has Federer in mental shambles.