I like how they used to have the champions corner and you can see the older guys there watching. Don Budge, Pancho Segura and Jack Kramer were there. Wish they still had that.
First of his 8 straight US Open Finals out of which he was victorious in 3 in 85,86 & 87. True Legend. But never appreciated as much as his peers like Edberg, Becker
Perhaps less appreciated in America than a lot of other countries. Partly because he was up against McEnroe and Connors a lot of the time, partly because of the cold war. In a number of other countries he was more popular. He had a Popular following at Wimbledon for example because he was usually the underdog there.
He was probably the best serve & volleyer ever. The best hands and touch that I have ever seen. However, 2 things prevent Mac from being higher on the GOAT list. He never won The French or The Australian.
There is no such thing as a GOAT. It's impossible to compare different generations, since you can only beat who is in front of you. Since the overall level on the tour was much higher when McEnroe played, we simply don't know how today's guys would have fared.
Man, I will never moan about Nadal taking 25-30 seconds between serves. Waiting for Mac to serve is like the pain of being self isolated in jail. He takes so much time between serves you go from freshly shaven to a full grown beard.
@ David Coles. What tennis fans tend to forget is that in 1984 when McEnroe was at the absolute peak of his tennis greatness and dominance of the men's pro tennis tour, when he missed a first serve he wouldn't dawdle at all and would quickly return to the baseline to serve his second serve after just bouncing the tennis ball a couple times in his pre- serve ritual. It was only from about 1986 onwards as his game began to decline that he would take forever to toss the ball on first and second serves.
Remember watching this as a kid. Mcenroe had that tiebreak at 5-2, he picked lendls dink cross court and had the open court but went back to lendl and looses the point. Plays horrible after that. Great era of tennis.
Lendl was to make the final. He lost that, and the two after that. Then he won 3 in a row, and then lost two in a row. Towards the end of his US open career, he lost a few 5 setters, including some on a tiebreaker. After 1984, he was very hard to beat.
Right, lost to Connors in 82 and 83. Lost to McEnroe in 84. Beat McEnroe in 85. Beat Mecir in 86 and Wilander in 87. Lost to Wilander in 88 in 5 sets, Becker in 89 in 4 sets. In 90 Pete overpowered him. He was pretty much done after that. Lendl and Pete trained together before The Open in 90. He claims that them training together had nothing to do with Pete beating him a few weeks later. But Sampras seemed very relaxed against the great champion Lendl. I think that them spending time together allowed Pete to get to know Lendl's game and his patterns.
@@josephballance6100 As good as he was, the limitations of his game were always exposed at Wimbledon. The same would have happened to Djokovic if he'd played in Lendl's time of serve-and-volleyers on fast courts.
I would add that actually in both 1991 and 1992 he was absolutely still a contender to win... The 92 tournament in particular when he lost the really tight 5 setter to eventual champion Edberg having defeated Becker in the 4th round before that. Absolutely showed he was very close to winning another title and I actually think he believed very much that he could win in both 91 and 2 and hoped to sign off with that.
Mac should have been using his Dunlop Max 200G here. It was available but for some reason he chose not to use it until 83/84 when he beat Lendl consistently. Mac even said he could feel the extra zip the 200G gave him.
Great questions after the match regarding McEnroe's stalling tactics. When Mac's losing, he uses gamesmanship tactics to throw off his opponents momentum.
Absolutely right. Here's my post to part 1 of this video: As a great appreciator of Mac the commentator and all things post-playing career, watching this again reminds me of unfair this sort of crap was. The lines persons were almost always right, including in this match, and the delaying tactics and complaining was such BS. At one point you can see Don Budge watching Mac whining over something, and you had to wonder what Budge was thinking. I had the pleasure of being a ball-boy for a couple Mac matches in the early 80s, and I've still never seen more of a genius on the court. But Lendl (and others) deserved better.
Great work with the editing my Friend. Lendl ended McEnroe's winning record of 18 straight matches with this decisive win in September '82. Mac had been the US Open winner for three straight years -1979-1981.
Agree! The modern strings have hurt the game. Every point is the same , with little variety in style of play. It is an endurance test, rather than a skill test.
Mcenroe loses this match but he plays very well with the wooden racket, if he had kept this harder approach also with his dunlop graphite I think he would have been able to defend his number 1 position longer. Nice match to see :)
It's not fair contest at all. Look at the difference in racket composition. Lendl clearly has an unfair advantage in the rackets. No one really was aware of this at the time, apart from Ivan!
Connors beat Lendl and his graphite racquet in the 82 and 83 finals with an old Wilson T 2000 racquet. I think the problem for the generation of players that had to go from wood to graphite in their 20's was the fact that it's an extremely difficult transition to make in a short period of time, plus for touch players like McEnroe the power game just wasn't his style of play, he's also not a muscled guy that's going to over power his opponents, his game was all finesse and he had the greatest hands for his serve and volley game at the net, which is a style of play that has become extinct in the modern game.
Glenn Balboa Spot on! Also, Connors had the crowd on his side at the two US Open finals. I think Ivan may have been rattled by that. If the administrators made wooden rackets compulsory, McEnroe may have dominated longer. Once the game went to graphite, McEnroe lost his advantage with his touch play.
Alan Chong Mac had his graphite in 1983. He dominated that year and 1984. He was well able to handle it. He declined to distractions outside tennis. He could also have done with a coach and mentor. He was a young guy.
Glenn Balboa amen brother. Preach it brother. The game was so much more skilled during the time of Borg Connors and Mac. Love em. They were like rock stars at the time.
However greatly talented and gifted John McEnroe may be,as a player his questioning the line calls,destracting the opponents concentration,commenting very badly especially against his arch rival Ivan Lendl did not go well all over the globe except in America.In contrast Ivan Lendl,Borg, Wilander and Edberg were very decent and sportive in their behavior both on the court and of the court.John McEnroe however praised Ivan Lendl for his capabilities and determination and hard work once he quit the game, perhaps more matured afterwards. 1980-1990 decade was legends decade with respect to quality of Tennis.But with all the modernization and infrastructure nobody can question calls,umpires and line umpires.People can concentrate more on the game.Of course present day generations have idolized Roger Federer with respect to his game and behavior both on the court and of the court and became the most popular Tennis player, perhaps in the history of Tennis.
Each time I watch these great old matches...I become more convinced that Mac's outbursts were almost exclusively orchestrated to throw off his opponents concentration.....simply an ass
My guess is that Becker would have done just fine with a wooden racket, but that his progress would have been much slower. He became a complete player around 1989, and from then on he would have done well, I think. Connors switched to graphite rather late (around 1987), and Curren played a wooden frame for quite some time. And lost every single match that he played against McEnroe, incidentally ;) I don´t see today´s players doing well with the old equipment, though. Apart from Federer I wouldn´t describe anyone as a complete player. However, regarding Lendl I wouldn´t say the same, because he developed a solid overall understanding of the game over the years. For example, I saw him play some nice doubles. Not brilliant, but good.
There was a lot of collegeboys how played like Mcenroe, so how could it be that Sadri, Teltcher, Teacher,Gulliksson,2 Gulliksson,Masters, Mayer, 2 Mayer, Solomon, Gottfried, Gerulaitis, did not succeed at all there Mcenroe - (Tanner) almost easy succeeded against Borg
McEnroe perd le match à 5/2 pour lui dans ce tie break du troisième set..s'il ne croise pas trop sa volée de coup droit ,Lendl est battu, et Mac mène 6 points à 2....avec une bonne chance de remporter ce 3ème set et de faire douter le tchécoslovaque..
I like how they used to have the champions corner and you can see the older guys there watching. Don Budge, Pancho Segura and Jack Kramer were there. Wish they still had that.
First of his 8 straight US Open Finals out of which he was victorious in 3 in 85,86 & 87. True Legend. But never appreciated as much as his peers like Edberg, Becker
Lendl never struck me as having much natural talent. He accomplished everything through sheer hard work and grit. I admire that.
Perhaps less appreciated in America than a lot of other countries. Partly because he was up against McEnroe and Connors a lot of the time, partly because of the cold war. In a number of other countries he was more popular. He had a Popular following at Wimbledon for example because he was usually the underdog there.
Why in the world did John go right back to Lendl at 5-2. Down the line was completely open and easy and would have been the end. Unreal!
I have come to appreciate how beautiful McEnroe's game was ( he lost this match). I think he is higher on GOAT than most people place him.
He was probably the best serve & volleyer ever. The best hands and touch that I have ever seen. However, 2 things prevent Mac from being higher on the GOAT list. He never won The French or The Australian.
There is no such thing as a GOAT. It's impossible to compare different generations, since you can only beat who is in front of you.
Since the overall level on the tour was much higher when McEnroe played, we simply don't know how today's guys would have fared.
Johnny Mac is an insanely great player!
But Lendl was insanely great as well. The amount of finals this guy played in, amazing consistency
Man, I will never moan about Nadal taking 25-30 seconds between serves. Waiting for Mac to serve is like the pain of being self isolated in jail. He takes so much time between serves you go from freshly shaven to a full grown beard.
LOL.What about Becker? :)
people complain about Nadal and Djokovic on serve, but Mac and Connors and some of these guys would wonder around forever before serving at times
@ David Coles. What tennis fans tend to forget is that in 1984 when McEnroe was at the absolute peak of his tennis greatness and dominance of the men's pro tennis tour, when he missed a first serve he wouldn't dawdle at all and would quickly return to the baseline to serve his second serve after just bouncing the tennis ball a couple times in his pre- serve ritual. It was only from about 1986 onwards as his game began to decline that he would take forever to toss the ball on first and second serves.
I watched this match when I was 14 and here I'm again at 55
Remember watching this as a kid. Mcenroe had that tiebreak at 5-2, he picked lendls dink cross court and had the open court but went back to lendl and looses the point. Plays horrible after that. Great era of tennis.
Si McEnroe decroise sa volée de coup droit à 5 pts à 2,lendl est battu, et john mène 6 pts à 2,avec 4 balles de sets pour lui...
Lendl was to make the final. He lost that, and the two after that. Then he won 3 in a row, and then lost two in a row. Towards the end of his US open career, he lost a few 5 setters, including some on a tiebreaker. After 1984, he was very hard to beat.
Right, lost to Connors in 82 and 83. Lost to McEnroe in 84. Beat McEnroe in 85. Beat Mecir in 86 and Wilander in 87. Lost to Wilander in 88 in 5 sets, Becker in 89 in 4 sets. In 90 Pete overpowered him. He was pretty much done after that. Lendl and Pete trained together before The Open in 90. He claims that them training together had nothing to do with Pete beating him a few weeks later. But Sampras seemed very relaxed against the great champion Lendl. I think that them spending time together allowed Pete to get to know Lendl's game and his patterns.
Man Lendl was good! I feel like he's an underrated player though.
@@josephballance6100 As good as he was, the limitations of his game were always exposed at Wimbledon. The same would have happened to Djokovic if he'd played in Lendl's time of serve-and-volleyers on fast courts.
@@martydav9475 looool
I would add that actually in both 1991 and 1992 he was absolutely still a contender to win... The 92 tournament in particular when he lost the really tight 5 setter to eventual champion Edberg having defeated Becker in the 4th round before that. Absolutely showed he was very close to winning another title and I actually think he believed very much that he could win in both 91 and 2 and hoped to sign off with that.
Mac should have been using his Dunlop Max 200G here. It was available but for some reason he chose not to use it until 83/84 when he beat Lendl consistently. Mac even said he could feel the extra zip the 200G gave him.
Boy do I remember these battles at the old Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Golden age
Great questions after the match regarding McEnroe's stalling tactics. When Mac's losing, he uses gamesmanship tactics to throw off his opponents momentum.
Absolutely right. Here's my post to part 1 of this video: As a great appreciator of Mac the commentator and all things post-playing career, watching this again reminds me of unfair this sort of crap was. The lines persons were almost always right, including in this match, and the delaying tactics and complaining was such BS. At one point you can see Don Budge watching Mac whining over something, and you had to wonder what Budge was thinking. I had the pleasure of being a ball-boy for a couple Mac matches in the early 80s, and I've still never seen more of a genius on the court. But Lendl (and others) deserved better.
Great work with the editing my Friend. Lendl ended McEnroe's winning record of 18 straight matches with this decisive win in September '82. Mac had been the US Open winner for three straight years -1979-1981.
en 1980, Mc enroe avait gagné avec la WILSON PRO STAFF (en bois), Lendl
jouait avec une Kneisl en graphite.
I like the American commentator:
"No one has gone home."
and
"No comments needed at this point."
Bring back Wooden Racquets or the most, up to 100% graphite. Then we will see tennis again
Yup.
Why is that ?
Agree! The modern strings have hurt the game. Every point is the same , with little variety in style of play. It is an endurance test, rather than a skill test.
Mac had a very strong and accurate serve with that cheesy wood racquet.
Mac est le plus grand joueur de tout les temps
Lendl was the best of the best for me
Mcenroe loses this match but he plays very well with the wooden racket, if he had kept this harder approach also with his dunlop graphite I think he would have been able to defend his number 1 position longer. Nice match to see :)
It's not fair contest at all. Look at the difference in racket composition. Lendl clearly has an unfair advantage in the rackets. No one really was aware of this at the time, apart from Ivan!
Connors beat Lendl and his graphite racquet in the 82 and 83 finals with an old Wilson T 2000 racquet. I think the problem for the generation of players that had to go from wood to graphite in their 20's was the fact that it's an extremely difficult transition to make in a short period of time, plus for touch players like McEnroe the power game just wasn't his style of play, he's also not a muscled guy that's going to over power his opponents, his game was all finesse and he had the greatest hands for his serve and volley game at the net, which is a style of play that has become extinct in the modern game.
Glenn Balboa
Spot on! Also, Connors had the crowd on his side at the two US Open finals. I think Ivan may have been rattled by that. If the administrators made wooden rackets compulsory, McEnroe may have dominated longer. Once the game went to graphite, McEnroe lost his advantage with his touch play.
Alan Chong Mac had his graphite in 1983. He dominated that year and 1984. He was well able to handle it. He declined to distractions outside tennis. He could also have done with a coach and mentor. He was a young guy.
Glenn Balboa amen brother. Preach it brother. The game was so much more skilled during the time of Borg Connors and Mac. Love em. They were like rock stars at the time.
6:52 Hawk-Eye challenge !!!!
No challenge in 1982 Marcel
1:18 As much as a tennis genius McEnroe was at this time, I can sure identify with this miss.
However greatly talented and gifted John McEnroe may be,as a player his questioning the line calls,destracting the opponents concentration,commenting very badly especially against his arch rival Ivan Lendl did not go well all over the globe except in America.In contrast Ivan Lendl,Borg, Wilander and Edberg were very decent and sportive in their behavior both on the court and of the court.John McEnroe however praised Ivan Lendl for his capabilities and determination and hard work once he quit the game, perhaps more matured afterwards. 1980-1990 decade was legends decade with respect to quality of Tennis.But with all the modernization and infrastructure nobody can question calls,umpires and line umpires.People can concentrate more on the game.Of course present day generations have idolized Roger Federer with respect to his game and behavior both on the court and of the court and became the most popular Tennis player, perhaps in the history of Tennis.
Each time I watch these great old matches...I become more convinced that Mac's outbursts were almost exclusively orchestrated to throw off his opponents concentration.....simply an ass
Old time glass Gatorade bottle 👍
John blew a 5 to 1 tiebreak lead?
Interesting stat...up until late 84 Connors was 13-2 against Lendl, the next 17 matches until 89 Connors never won another match.
❤❤
How would Becker, Lendl , Curren and Connors go with a Wooden racket? Graphite changed the game dramatically from wood!
My guess is that Becker would have done just fine with a wooden racket, but that his progress would have been much slower. He became a complete player around 1989, and from then on he would have done well, I think. Connors switched to graphite rather late (around 1987), and Curren played a wooden frame for quite some time. And lost every single match that he played against McEnroe, incidentally ;)
I don´t see today´s players doing well with the old equipment, though. Apart from Federer I wouldn´t describe anyone as a complete player.
However, regarding Lendl I wouldn´t say the same, because he developed a solid overall understanding of the game over the years. For example, I saw him play some nice doubles. Not brilliant, but good.
+fundhund62 Complete players: Federer, Sampras, Becker, Edberg, Laver, Rosewall, Connors, Lendl.
Alan Chong .. McEnroe, Mecir, Leconte, Nastase, Smith, Newcombe, Taylor, ..
Curren beat McEnroe 6-2 6-2 6-4 in the Wimbledon Qtr Final 1985.
***** We already knew that.
Extrem short answers from Lendl in the interview.
The interviewer was clearly trying to goad him into saying something negative.
What happened at 10:46?
John being John
It is always (was) a pleasure to see McEnroe lose. Talented but unbearable.
There was a lot of collegeboys how played like Mcenroe, so how could it be that Sadri, Teltcher, Teacher,Gulliksson,2 Gulliksson,Masters, Mayer, 2 Mayer, Solomon, Gottfried, Gerulaitis, did not succeed at all there Mcenroe - (Tanner) almost easy succeeded against Borg
McEnroe perd le match à 5/2 pour lui dans ce tie break du troisième set..s'il ne croise pas trop sa volée de coup droit ,Lendl est battu, et Mac mène 6 points à 2....avec une bonne chance de remporter ce 3ème set et de faire douter le tchécoslovaque..
25 matches in a row not 18 I guess
26
5-3 and double fault Mac Enroe loooool