Lendl fan for life, here. He was my absolute hero in the 80's, starting when I was too young to know anything about tennis, and I simply choose him because I liked his name. Every time he lost a final, every time the crowd jeered him, every time the TV guys bashed him I rooted for him harder and harder. I lost almost every interest in tennis when he retired (and the big tournaments went on PayTv in Italy)
Lendl ruled the roost for so long. An incredible machine like player who always went deep in every tournament. You could always rely on Lendl being in semifinals of major tournaments AND regular tour events!
Exactly my sentiments...i think he was very stylish.. especially his mannerisms on the court....his first serve motion,where he would shake his shoulders before delivering his service,his powerful FH , his versatile one handed BH...he could slice and also play drives... criminally underated
It was a sport that could be enjoyed by everyone before on public channels. What you mentioned just made it available to a certain sector of society. Not everyone was watching anymore
Now I liked Lendl. I did not before, but in this match I was for him. Also in matches against Sampras I was for Lendl. Against Agassi I was for Agassi. There is no real logic to this. It is all based on emotions.
Becker at his absolute peak. Best player in the world at that point. Hard to believe at that point that he would not win a single grand slam the year after, and would only win one slam in the next 5 years.
Definately Becker at his best but throughout the whole 1989 year Lendl was by some way the world's best. 10 titles and I think 5 further finals. Becker edged him thanks to a rain break and honestly only because of that rain break at Wimbledon but I was there and man he was on the ropes and mentally gone before mother nature saved him.
@DannySuls Agassi, Courier and Sampras all peaked during the early to mid 90s and Boom-Boom couldn’t beat them through power like he did Lendl and McEnroe
Well that's blatantly not true... He lost to him at the 1985, 86 and 87 end of year Masters which clearly mattered and the US Open in 1992 when, incidentally, Lendl was near the end of his career. Furthermore Becker's fifth set tie break win in the 88 Masters final is one of the most famous fluke shots of all time where he caught the net and the ball dropped dead. I'm also pretty sure Becker didn't want to lose the hefty prize money up for grabs in Tokyo or the Queens final on grass which of course was his favoured surface. This win at the 89 US Open came by a whisker and what I can say with absolute certainty is that the Wimbledon win against Lendl that Summer came only because Becker had a chance to regroup in the rain delay and fair play to him, he didn't send the rain. Nevertheless that match was Lendl's until that point and in fact has to go down in history as one of the most significant weather interferences of any professional tennis match. You certainly can see if you watch the match but being there made it even more tangible. So Becker of course a great player but Lendl ultimately had the winning head to head, and considering of their 21 meets only 1 was on clay which of course Lendl won that just compounds his overall superiority. He had twice as many titles as Becker on the main tour, 3 times as many if you include those he won on the parallel pro tour. I mean, a detailed reply to your comment I know but it's all true.
That would be nice but with all the changes in the balls courts, they've made the game boring and slow for the fans to watch more bloody rallies. This is technique and serve and volley which no one can do these days.
Players keep getting better and better and the competition keeps getting tougher and tougher ......what are the "golden days" of tennis.......I'd say the Federer, Nadal, Djokovic era is as golden as it gets and now you have Alcaraz, Sinner, etc. coming ......
I think it's all a matter of perspective which era you think of as 'golden'. Some would say it about the 70s with McEnroe and Borg, some the 90s with Sampras and Agassi, some the Nadal-Djokovic-Federer era ... whether it's 'golden' or 'better' to have an era with a big rivalry between dominant players, or to have more parity where lots more players have a realistic shot at the big titles, is really a matter of personal taste. Particularly with the changes in technology involved, there's no objective way to compare players of different eras.
In 88 Lendl was bested by wilander, in 89 he took N1 position again. But the real N1 in 89 was Becker Who won Wimbledon and New York. This match was a defeat that Marks a Turning point in Lendl's career: he cant be no 1 for long time
We won't see someone reach 8 consecutive US Open finals again. That's just so impressive of Lendl, considering how the hard courts beat players up. Lendl invited a young Sampras (before Sampras made a name for himself) to his home in Greenwich, CT. They would practice and then go cycling later. Sampras said he was so sore that he couldn't walk afterwards. Lendl was a beast in fitness. Kudos to Becker as well. 1989 was his best year. Becker will also always remember that let cord winner against Rostagno when he was down match point. The tennis gods smiling on him.
I love the way Ivan was intimidated by Boris. Boris didn't specially do anything. Just a) looked like he owned the place b) ignored Ivan like he wasn't worth bothering with.
Even if Lendl is slightly leading in H2H, Boris has won the much more important matches: ´86 Final Wimbledon, ´88 Final Masters, ´89 SF Wimbledon, ´89 Final US Open, ´91 Final AO
This is correct, but you have to consider that very rarely Becker met Lendl on clay, where he would have been easily destroyed. The same applies to Edberg... In other words, Edberg and Becker faced Lendl almost exclusively on their favorite surfaces, but they were too weak to face Lendl in the advanced stages of clay court tournaments.
Damn it Ivan!!!! You were soo close to winning more GS titles! You lost quite a few and it made me sick. 😊 IL my favorite though. Thought Lendl was gonna pull this one out, I was watching live
Lendl was never given his due respect. Except becker and edberg he had a one sided Winning head to head records against all his opponents. Agassi, courier, McEnroe and connors had a pitiful record against him. Impressive grand slam tally for his era
@@pascalprevot1050 That's crazy. Becker made it to the sf of the French that year (Lendl only to the 1/8), won Wimbledon and then the US Open. Yet Lendl remained #1? Absolutely absurd.
I think part of his problem wasn’t that he wasn’t playing great. Mentally, he would let these line calls just get to him. Even later he claimed he been treated unfairly and its just not true. Becker was much better at dealing with these things.
He was No1 because he lifted 10 titles that year. The fact the rain and Becker edged him in 2 grand slams doesn't make Becker No1. Those 2 days he was fractionally better. Over 52weeks he was a distant No2. Check the ranking points and other results. As for Lendl losing at the French in 5 to the eventual champion no disgrace there. He was in a totally different league to Becker on clay and Boris's run at the French was in part due to an easy draw.
Maybe best year for Boris but strangely with no number 1 ranking. Lendl fighting spirit and comitment through years is superhuman... he did not played with at his best level the last tie breaks....beautiful athletes, beautiful to watch these champs'
I was also a big fan of Ivan Lendl although I am German and all my friends I have been playing tennis with called me Ivan (as my nickname). But also Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras were great players and I loved to see them playing. Concerning German player I liked Michael Stich more than Boris Becker. His way to play tennis was so great and it was so sensational how he defeated Boris Becker in the Wimbledon final in 1991.
Stich had a smooth beautiful flowing game and his serve was superb. His movement was definitely better than Becker on clay, but overall Becker was a better player than him on hard court and carpet. Though stich was better on clay and they were evenly matched on grass
Being a German and liking Stichs game more than Becker, wow 😂😂. I dont even remember Stichs playing style and I have watched every Wimbledon since 1970.
Well less than Ivan found a way past him as their head to head is in Lendl's favour even without them meeting on clay where Lendl would clearly have whipped Boris every time. No question on that at all. I grant Becker had a better record in slam head to head but Lendl did beat him at the US in 92.
Loved Becker/Lendl matches. Shame Boris turned into a nightmare after all his success. Too bad he didn't use his skills off the court instead of the courtroom. So sad.
I wonder if the BBC will employ him once out of a Open prison where he will end up as a hardened criminal! I doubt it unless he changes his skin colour..
Wimbledon both made him and destroyed him in a way. I wish he played in this era. he would have matured later, maybe won Wimbledon at 20 but would have had a better career and his game would have developed fully
I rode in an elevator with Ivan and Tony Roche. We were at the WTC in Dallas, TX. We snickered a little and Ivan turned and looked at us like we were crazy, ha. At the same event, we were walking in the tunnel that leads to a hotel and Boris was walking the opposite way towards us. He had on practice shorts and I couldn’t believe how big Boris’s legs were. He was like this big athletic dude walking with a purpose.
A lot of guys from that era won 6,7,8 slams. The game was so deep then. Guys like Edberg, Wilander, Becker, Agassi, Kafelnikov, etc all had legit shots to win in all the majors.
impressive to see how much slower the game was back then .... doesnt take away anything from the greatness of both these players, but the speed of baseline strokes seems to have doubled in the past 20 yrs
Yes - but you have no data. You're guessing - and no doubt badly. Have you timed a long rally from yesteryear vs a similar from today - and processed the numbers? I though not....Of course play was slower in those days - string, racquet, footware, conditioning, nutrition etc have all got way better. But I'd be surprised if it's more than 10-15% (ignoring the facet of points being more searching and strategic back then with players of contrasting styles). One things for sure: the fastest moving players nowadays are no faster than the fastest back then.
One thing that i notice that was different about tactics in these days: ATP servers in Ad-court seemed much more regularly to hit flat laser serves up the “T” than guys now (2010s-) do. There seemed to be good success getting free pts from that serve too. Now guys almost always serve wide +1, kick wide & volley, or serve into opponents’ body.
Look at Federer's two MPS on at Wimbledon 2019..Typically a player looking for a winner on MP on the tour these days loves the out swinger serve and that is where Roger failed to produce a serve of that nature...he went T on the second point which was extremely tactically disappointing..
@ Gerry Manrique. Ivan Lendl didn't come very close to winning the Grand Slam in 1989 because although he won the Australian Open final over Miloslav Mecir, he lost to Chang in the 4th round at the French Open that year and lost to Becker in the semifinals at Wimbledon. Even if Lendl had not experienced the bad luck of the rain delay during his semifinal match against Becker and had defeated Becker in the semifinals, it would have been a very tall order for him to defeat Edberg in the finals who was a much better grass court player. Lendl stated at the 2019 roundtable discussion of tennis with McEnroe, Becker and Wilander during the 2019 U.S. Open that he always hated playing against Edberg because of Edberg's excellent kick serve to Lendl's one-handed backhand (and also undoubtedly because of Edberg's relentless serve-and-volley pressure). Lendl's best chance to win the Grand Slam was actually in 1986 when he won the French Open over Pernfors, the U.S. Open over Mecir and got to the finals of Wimbledon losing to Becker in straight sets - but unfortunately for Lendl (that is besides the loss to Becker in that year's Wimbledon final) there was no Australian Open held in December 1986 because Australian tennis officials decided to move that major to January so they understandably didn't want to schedule back-to-back Australian Opens in December 1986 and January 1987.
You mean the bad luck of losing in 3 of the 4 GS's? Most years one of the players gets 2 of the 4 GS's - and none of them come *_even close_* to being a calendar grand slam. Your logic of Lendl winning 1 out of 4 being 'very close' is just absurd.....
I disagree that Lendl would not have win Wimbledon in 89 against Edberg had their not been the rain delay and he'd got past Becker for the very solid reason that he beat Edberg at Wimbledon in the semi the previous time they met and Edberg in 89 was not playing at his best as Becker demonstrated against him in the final. Becker probably still not knowing how the rain got him past Lendl absolutely dismantled Edberg and if you concede at very least that there was nothing between Boris (and the blinking rain) and Ivan in their match it is reasonable to say I think that it would have been third time lucky for Ivan in the final as he was a far better grass court player by then, better than 87 when he beat Edberg in 4 sets before.
Lendl was No 1 ranked by a country mile in 1989 and that was even without the Dallas Masters World Championship title that was basically stolen from him with one of the most disgraceful bad calls in the history of the sport. No wonder the guy was pissed off to the point of refusing to play. His results through the year were head and shoulders above Becker. Why don't people actually look at the other Master series results? The No1 is the most consistent but in Lendl's case by far the player with the most titles that season.
great match! what i was wondering was, who are these additional people cluttering up the sidelines (see at 46: 25)? they seem to be intrusive, in the way of the players.
Lendl lost so many grand slam finals to Boris. If he could have pulled this one out, it would surely have helped. How he royally screwed this one (when Boris was struggling with his left thy after the first set and never had success at US Open before or after this), I don’t know!
@ Hyman Sahak. To answer you question, the key point that may have cost Lendl this 1989 U.S.Open final against Becker was the chummed forehand from the baseline by Lendl at 3-1 up in the 4th set tiebreaker when Lendl took his eye off the ball as he knew Becker was coming into the net. There's no guarantee that Lendl would have gone on to win that match if he had gone up 4-1 in that 4th set tiebreaker, but he would have been "in the driver's seat" so to speak to close out that set and send the match into a 5th and deciding set. And who knows how that would have turned out?!
Tony Trabert was dead on at the beginning of this match when he said Bob Brett stressed physical fitness for Boris. Id never call Becker fat, but he looked as fit as ive ever seen him in this match. Easily 5-10 pounds lighter than he was for a lot of his career, and for a serve and volleyer, every ounce counts in getting as tight as you can to the net.
Funny thing, Becker won Wimbledon and the Open, and the Davis Cup which he virtually won single handedly for Germany, but didn't finish no 1 in the world, even though he was clearly the best player that year
Thanks for reminding me of his Davis Cup wins. He won it back to back for his country facing much stronger opposition. He even played doubles. How he didn't finish number 1 is beyond me. Lendl didn't even do well at the French that year. Becker almost made it to the final there too.
@@luperamos7307 Lendl did win 10 titles that year, including the Australian, and was runner up at the Open and semis at Wimbledon, so I suppose he was the most consistent. But Becker won when it really mattered.
Lendl was by far the better player throughout the whole 89 season with a crazy success rate. The rain break saved Becker at Wimbledon and not 1 audience member would have disagreed. History was rewritten by Mother Nature because watching it there there was no way Lendl was going to lose until that friggin delay.
I saw Becker and Lendl play at the Indianapolis Tennis Center on both Clay and hard courts. I remember Becker getting annoyed waiting for Lendl’s torturously long pre-service ball-bouncing ritual. At one point Boris sat on his propped up racket like a stool and started looking at his watch 😂
Great Tennis-years with Lendl, Becker Edberg and so on. Really loved it, but today none of them would make it into the top 10. The game has changed so much.
@@doubts I agree. The technology changes the playing style. And you had to adapt to different courts back then. Nowadays they are not that different anymore.
Tony Trabert gives a wealth of knowledge. Sometimes he has to hype it a little but nothing like some of the new guys who act like they never saw such shots in their lives.😂
You could see how much the crowd was against Lendl, while the man worked so hard. So obvious how American's feel about those communist countries, like those countries chose for that system themselves. 85, 86, 87 were Lendl's best years, then age became a factor. He had his chances in this match too, with a bit of luck he could have edged Becker.
Media brainwashing is a powerful tool. You just need to keep pushing a particular message long enough and the normies will believe it - whatever it is. It's depressing to realise that about your fellow man, but there ya go.
Poor Boris. Bankrupt…sent to prison and subjected to humiliating cavity searches. Lendl was a great champion. The first player who hit truly heavy ground strokes from both the forehand and backhand; a bridge to players of the modern era.
Is this the year Michael Chang was rolling through it? I was on vacation in Denver, Colorado staying at at family friends house. I went to the Denver museum and a park there . We went to Casa Bonita and I remember watching tennis while my grandparents were playing cards in the other room. I remember Michael Chang was rolling through witch ever tournament it was. I remember buying the topps coins and getting Ken Griffey Jr. Which I took home and buried for 2 or 3 yrs and then dug it up.
These guys were Gods when I was a kid; Lendl’s terrifying forehand and Becker’s gargantuan serve. But it doesn’t look so impressive these days in 2022. Racquet technology or something…
Had no idea Lendl had 8 consecutive US Open finals. He wasn't easy to watch. These strong facial bone lines put people off him. He wasn't a natural player just sort of robotic & moved like one. He's so much more relaxed now & we've got to know him when he coached Andy Murray. Shame we didn't see that side of him in his playing days. One of the first eastern European players.
@@Rowlph8888 Nasty Nastase bucked the trend in the 70s & should have won more but became tiresome with his rants long before McEnroe threw his tantrums.
@@Rowlph8888 Id say Novak is far more of a natural talent than Lendl. If you watch him in his younger days he is extremely fluid and nice to watch, however this wasnt winning him grand slams so he changed it up and became a far better match player but the style became robotic and clinical
Too bad Lendl never figured out the tongue-twitch that Becker always did on his serves. Agassi knew about it and knew where Becker would aim the serve. BB thought AA was reading his mind, but it was where BB positioned his tongue that tipped AA off. BTW: Thanks for the video.
Crazy they don't have a speed gun to see how fast they serve. But they have a clock to tell how long match is going on ( which nobody gives a shit about).
funny enough, the very same hours this fan put up his "Puerto Rico loves Becker" sign (wonder how he got that in.,,) Hurricane Hugo formed...would hit PR days later...Cat 5.
Lendl does not get the credit he deserves; he revolutionized tennis, before him, we were taught to keep the ball in play, and you can never hit winners from the baseline
I am also Lendl Fan I had been playing tennis for the last 32 years I like his seriousness and commitment to game
Miss so much BB, his beautiful style in every shots, starting from that incredible serve movement. Greetings from Rome Italy
1989 was by far Becker's best year on the tour winning both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
Lendl fan for life, here. He was my absolute hero in the 80's, starting when I was too young to know anything about tennis, and I simply choose him because I liked his name. Every time he lost a final, every time the crowd jeered him, every time the TV guys bashed him I rooted for him harder and harder. I lost almost every interest in tennis when he retired (and the big tournaments went on PayTv in Italy)
Lendl ruled the roost for so long. An incredible machine like player who always went deep in every tournament. You could always rely on Lendl being in semifinals of major tournaments AND regular tour events!
Exactly my sentiments...i think he was very stylish.. especially his mannerisms on the court....his first serve motion,where he would shake his shoulders before delivering his service,his powerful FH , his versatile one handed BH...he could slice and also play drives... criminally underated
It was a sport that could be enjoyed by everyone before on public channels. What you mentioned just made it available to a certain sector of society. Not everyone was watching anymore
Same for me regarding Stefan Edberg :-)
Now I liked Lendl. I did not before, but in this match I was for him. Also in matches against Sampras I was for Lendl. Against Agassi I was for Agassi.
There is no real logic to this. It is all based on emotions.
Hell of an entertaining thing to watch Becker play. Better than today for sure.
Becker, McEnroe, Sampras. S & V is a lost art.🎾
Becker at his absolute peak. Best player in the world at that point.
Hard to believe at that point that he would not win a single grand slam the year after, and would only win one slam in the next 5 years.
Definately Becker at his best but throughout the whole 1989 year Lendl was by some way the world's best. 10 titles and I think 5 further finals. Becker edged him thanks to a rain break and honestly only because of that rain break at Wimbledon but I was there and man he was on the ropes and mentally gone before mother nature saved him.
Agreed, thats why the ATP named him player of that year. Only other time I remember them doing that against the ranked No 1 was in 1982 for Connors.
@DannySuls Agassi, Courier and Sampras all peaked during the early to mid 90s and Boom-Boom couldn’t beat them through power like he did Lendl and McEnroe
@@jonmortimer5831 Becker beat Lendl always when it mattered most.
Well that's blatantly not true... He lost to him at the 1985, 86 and 87 end of year Masters which clearly mattered and the US Open in 1992 when, incidentally, Lendl was near the end of his career. Furthermore Becker's fifth set tie break win in the 88 Masters final is one of the most famous fluke shots of all time where he caught the net and the ball dropped dead. I'm also pretty sure Becker didn't want to lose the hefty prize money up for grabs in Tokyo or the Queens final on grass which of course was his favoured surface. This win at the 89 US Open came by a whisker and what I can say with absolute certainty is that the Wimbledon win against Lendl that Summer came only because Becker had a chance to regroup in the rain delay and fair play to him, he didn't send the rain. Nevertheless that match was Lendl's until that point and in fact has to go down in history as one of the most significant weather interferences of any professional tennis match. You certainly can see if you watch the match but being there made it even more tangible. So Becker of course a great player but Lendl ultimately had the winning head to head, and considering of their 21 meets only 1 was on clay which of course Lendl won that just compounds his overall superiority. He had twice as many titles as Becker on the main tour, 3 times as many if you include those he won on the parallel pro tour. I mean, a detailed reply to your comment I know but it's all true.
Two great players with a wonderful technique, both are idols for the current generation. I would wish more young players would aim that style
That would be nice but with all the changes in the balls courts, they've made the game boring and slow for the fans to watch more bloody rallies. This is technique and serve and volley which no one can do these days.
It was really wonderful to watch Golden years of tennis.
I used to start playing tennis in last 80's Boris my favorite 😍
What years are considered the golden age of tennis?
Players keep getting better and better and the competition keeps getting tougher and tougher ......what are the "golden days" of tennis.......I'd say the Federer, Nadal, Djokovic era is as golden as it gets and now you have Alcaraz, Sinner, etc. coming ......
I think it's all a matter of perspective which era you think of as 'golden'. Some would say it about the 70s with McEnroe and Borg, some the 90s with Sampras and Agassi, some the Nadal-Djokovic-Federer era ... whether it's 'golden' or 'better' to have an era with a big rivalry between dominant players, or to have more parity where lots more players have a realistic shot at the big titles, is really a matter of personal taste. Particularly with the changes in technology involved, there's no objective way to compare players of different eras.
It's like music. Golden years are those when you were young...
The Golden years were earlier than this.
What a champion Boris Becker was! 😊
Becker était vraiment un excellent serveur et il avait un revers magnifique. Dommage qu'il n'ait jamais gagné Rolland Garros.
Lendl was no nonsense, non flamboyant but extremely hard-working and effective tennis player. I admire him.
He's very cuddly now & smiles, see you at Wimbledon Ivan only for a couple of rounds, hopefully 5 setters again.
Did you have a crystal ball?!?
In 88 Lendl was bested by wilander, in 89 he took N1 position again.
But the real N1 in 89 was Becker Who won Wimbledon and New York.
This match was a defeat that Marks a Turning point in Lendl's career: he cant be no 1 for long time
Lendl, my hero for so long.
We won't see someone reach 8 consecutive US Open finals again. That's just so impressive of Lendl, considering how the hard courts beat players up. Lendl invited a young Sampras (before Sampras made a name for himself) to his home in Greenwich, CT. They would practice and then go cycling later. Sampras said he was so sore that he couldn't walk afterwards. Lendl was a beast in fitness. Kudos to Becker as well. 1989 was his best year. Becker will also always remember that let cord winner against Rostagno when he was down match point. The tennis gods smiling on him.
In which round did Becker face Rostagno back then?
@@lauftammo Second round. I was fortunate enough to be in the stadium when it happened.
Yes, Lendl and Borg were incredible in terms of physical fitness.
Sorry, but every single feat of the Big 3 is way more impressive than Lendl.
@@purplefishies ... and - even MORE so - tha
n lousy criminal (reminds me - in his stupid crimes - of Trump) Boris "The Bumm Bumm" Bäcker !
Becker was only 21 here. Already a veteran. It seems these days that players mature much later and retire later.
Becker was an anomaly: he won W @ 17
Becker absolutely fantastic with net tatic . Fabulous player . Like Stefan Edberg and Jim Courier
Two legends of tennis ❤❤
I love the way Ivan was intimidated by Boris. Boris didn't specially do anything. Just a) looked like he owned the place b) ignored Ivan like he wasn't worth bothering with.
Are you watching a match in your imagination? I can't see any intimidation signs here to be honest.
Ivan intimidated by Boris ? 🤔😆
Thank you for your upload ! I 'm glad to watch lendl's super shot 1:32:00
Boris at his absolute peak! 😊❤
Ima Lendl fan (a fan of the era), but that Becker ace at 3:50:30 to set up match point. OMG.
Thanks for pointing that out. I agree.
Yes - what a super-calm monster of a shot in that situation.
Great, fantastic Boris Becker!!! Respect!!! 👍
Even if Lendl is slightly leading in H2H, Boris has won the much more important matches: ´86 Final Wimbledon, ´88 Final Masters, ´89 SF Wimbledon, ´89 Final US Open, ´91 Final AO
True but Lendl won more GS.
@@frankdevries5739 and lost 19
88 Semi Final Wimbledon.
This is correct, but you have to consider that very rarely Becker met Lendl on clay, where he would have been easily destroyed. The same applies to Edberg... In other words, Edberg and Becker faced Lendl almost exclusively on their favorite surfaces, but they were too weak to face Lendl in the advanced stages of clay court tournaments.
Becker is 5.1 in slam matches, 3-0 in Slam finals, he really was Lendls nemesis
Pat Summerall had a wonderful commanding voice in football and tennis. He uses his sports knowledge to match whatever sport.
How tennis has changed. Today tennis is played at a much faster pace.
Faster than the general public plays.
@@MichaelJamesLorinReviews-wg8brlol yeah😂
Due giocatori all'avanguardia per il tempo: strutturati fisicamente, potenti, capaci di volare sul campo con tecnica e disciplina.
👏That beautiful style technic , start playing tennis in last 80's Ivan Lendl my favorite .
Damn it Ivan!!!! You were soo close to winning more GS titles! You lost quite a few and it made me sick. 😊 IL my favorite though. Thought Lendl was gonna pull this one out, I was watching live
Que grandes jugadores.
A wonderful match and the best player all time!!🫠🤭🤭🫠
AS A YOUNG TEEN I HAD A HUGE CRUSH ON GORGEOUS GERMAN BECKER. GORGEOUS LEGS ETC. BEAUTIFUL MAN.
Lendl was never given his due respect. Except becker and edberg he had a one sided Winning head to head records against all his opponents. Agassi, courier, McEnroe and connors had a pitiful record against him. Impressive grand slam tally for his era
It should has been Ivan's year. So close to win Wimbledon. Regrets éternels
@@pascalprevot1050 That's crazy. Becker made it to the sf of the French that year (Lendl only to the 1/8), won Wimbledon and then the US Open. Yet Lendl remained #1? Absolutely absurd.
I think part of his problem wasn’t that he wasn’t playing great. Mentally, he would let these line calls just get to him. Even later he claimed he been treated unfairly and its just not true. Becker was much better at dealing with these things.
He was No1 because he lifted 10 titles that year. The fact the rain and Becker edged him in 2 grand slams doesn't make Becker No1. Those 2 days he was fractionally better. Over 52weeks he was a distant No2. Check the ranking points and other results. As for Lendl losing at the French in 5 to the eventual champion no disgrace there. He was in a totally different league to Becker on clay and Boris's run at the French was in part due to an easy draw.
Great match and win by becker, he was at his peak here
Becker was so darn cute bk then:)
Old times when the ball boys used to look older than the players 😄
Maybe best year for Boris but strangely with no number 1 ranking. Lendl fighting spirit and comitment through years is superhuman... he did not played with at his best level the last tie breaks....beautiful athletes, beautiful to watch these champs'
Wonderful match, thanks!
I wish they would show the lower, behind-the-player angle more thoroughout points, as they did in this era. I greatly prefer it to the overhead shot.
I was also a big fan of Ivan Lendl although I am German and all my friends I have been playing tennis with called me Ivan (as my nickname). But also Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras were great players and I loved to see them playing. Concerning German player I liked Michael Stich more than Boris Becker. His way to play tennis was so great and it was so sensational how he defeated Boris Becker in the Wimbledon final in 1991.
Stich had a smooth beautiful flowing game and his serve was superb. His movement was definitely better than Becker on clay, but overall Becker was a better player than him on hard court and carpet. Though stich was better on clay and they were evenly matched on grass
Being a German and liking Stichs game more than Becker, wow 😂😂. I dont even remember Stichs playing style and I have watched every Wimbledon since 1970.
Ivane děkuji za celoživotní, sportovní i lidský vzor mého mládí i stáří.
68. Díky za 🇨🇿 jsi Náš druhý, první Gott...
Děkuji
Ivan byl můj veliký vzor.
becker only 21 here ...astonishing
che grandi campioni
Damn Becker always found a way through Ivan. Nightmare matchup.
Well less than Ivan found a way past him as their head to head is in Lendl's favour even without them meeting on clay where Lendl would clearly have whipped Boris every time. No question on that at all. I grant Becker had a better record in slam head to head but Lendl did beat him at the US in 92.
He was Lendls nemesis and worst nightmare
Loved Becker/Lendl matches. Shame Boris turned into a nightmare after all his success. Too bad he didn't use his skills off the court instead of the courtroom. So sad.
I wonder if the BBC will employ him once out of a Open prison where he will end up as a hardened criminal! I doubt it unless he changes his skin colour..
Wimbledon both made him and destroyed him in a way. I wish he played in this era. he would have matured later, maybe won Wimbledon at 20 but would have had a better career and his game would have developed fully
Boom Boom Becker what a beast he was that year, some lucky fan got Beckers winning racket at the end
I rode in an elevator with Ivan and Tony Roche. We were at the WTC in Dallas, TX. We snickered a little and Ivan turned and looked at us like we were crazy, ha. At the same event, we were walking in the tunnel that leads to a hotel and Boris was walking the opposite way towards us. He had on practice shorts and I couldn’t believe how big Boris’s legs were. He was like this big athletic dude walking with a purpose.
Boris was just such a superior athlete at that time. Hard to figure how he only won 6 Slams.
... it's not SO hard to figure : he was (and is) a FOOL (if law was just - he would still be sitting in jail - for almost another two years) !
A lot of guys from that era won 6,7,8 slams. The game was so deep then. Guys like Edberg, Wilander, Becker, Agassi, Kafelnikov, etc all had legit shots to win in all the majors.
@@timflaherty2731 Minus Kafelnikov. A beast on hardcourt and clay but not on lawn.
@@timflaherty2731 the surfaces were highly specialised as well..
Becker lost a couple he should have won...notably Stich @ W
impressive to see how much slower the game was back then .... doesnt take away anything from the greatness of both these players, but the speed of baseline strokes seems to have doubled in the past 20 yrs
Yes - but you have no data. You're guessing - and no doubt badly. Have you timed a long rally from yesteryear vs a similar from today - and processed the numbers? I though not....Of course play was slower in those days - string, racquet, footware, conditioning, nutrition etc have all got way better. But I'd be surprised if it's more than 10-15% (ignoring the facet of points being more searching and strategic back then with players of contrasting styles). One things for sure: the fastest moving players nowadays are no faster than the fastest back then.
@@danguee1 you don't need data to see that it was way slower then compared to now.
at this point becker had won wimbledon three times and the us open once - at the age of 21. incredible!!!
One thing that i notice that was different about tactics in these days: ATP servers in Ad-court seemed much more regularly to hit flat laser serves up the “T” than guys now (2010s-) do. There seemed to be good success getting free pts from that serve too. Now guys almost always serve wide +1, kick wide & volley, or serve into opponents’ body.
Look at Federer's two MPS on at Wimbledon 2019..Typically a player looking for a winner on MP on the tour these days loves the out swinger serve and that is where Roger failed to produce a serve of that nature...he went T on the second point which was extremely tactically disappointing..
2 fenomeni!
$300,000 for the winner, $150,000 for the runner-up - today’s quarterfinalists earn more than that
Got to love inflation
80s and 90s - when people were normal
Today you make nothing with 300 000$😅
300000 in 1989 is 8.7 mil today so you are so wrong!
Lendl actually came very close to winning the calendar grand slam this year if not for a little bit of luck.
@ Gerry Manrique. Ivan Lendl didn't come very close to winning the Grand Slam in 1989 because although he won the Australian Open final over Miloslav Mecir, he lost to Chang in the 4th round at the French Open that year and lost to Becker in the semifinals at Wimbledon. Even if Lendl had not experienced the bad luck of the rain delay during his semifinal match against Becker and had defeated Becker in the semifinals, it would have been a very tall order for him to defeat Edberg in the finals who was a much better grass court player. Lendl stated at the 2019 roundtable discussion of tennis with McEnroe, Becker and Wilander during the 2019 U.S. Open that he always hated playing against Edberg because of Edberg's excellent kick serve to Lendl's one-handed backhand (and also undoubtedly because of Edberg's relentless serve-and-volley pressure). Lendl's best chance to win the Grand Slam was actually in 1986 when he won the French Open over Pernfors, the U.S. Open over Mecir and got to the finals of Wimbledon losing to Becker in straight sets - but unfortunately for Lendl (that is besides the loss to Becker in that year's Wimbledon final) there was no Australian Open held in December 1986 because Australian tennis officials decided to move that major to January so they understandably didn't want to schedule back-to-back Australian Opens in December 1986 and January 1987.
You mean the bad luck of losing in 3 of the 4 GS's? Most years one of the players gets 2 of the 4 GS's - and none of them come *_even close_* to being a calendar grand slam. Your logic of Lendl winning 1 out of 4 being 'very close' is just absurd.....
not at all, not in 1989. Actually Becker was the better player in that year which is why the ATP voted him PLayer of the year
I disagree that Lendl would not have win Wimbledon in 89 against Edberg had their not been the rain delay and he'd got past Becker for the very solid reason that he beat Edberg at Wimbledon in the semi the previous time they met and Edberg in 89 was not playing at his best as Becker demonstrated against him in the final. Becker probably still not knowing how the rain got him past Lendl absolutely dismantled Edberg and if you concede at very least that there was nothing between Boris (and the blinking rain) and Ivan in their match it is reasonable to say I think that it would have been third time lucky for Ivan in the final as he was a far better grass court player by then, better than 87 when he beat Edberg in 4 sets before.
Lendl was No 1 ranked by a country mile in 1989 and that was even without the Dallas Masters World Championship title that was basically stolen from him with one of the most disgraceful bad calls in the history of the sport. No wonder the guy was pissed off to the point of refusing to play. His results through the year were head and shoulders above Becker. Why don't people actually look at the other Master series results? The No1 is the most consistent but in Lendl's case by far the player with the most titles that season.
great match! what i was wondering was, who are these additional people cluttering up the sidelines (see at 46: 25)? they seem to be intrusive, in the way of the players.
Lendl lost so many grand slam finals to Boris. If he could have pulled this one out, it would surely have helped. How he royally screwed this one (when Boris was struggling with his left thy after the first set and never had success at US Open before or after this), I don’t know!
@ Hyman Sahak. To answer you question, the key point that may have cost Lendl this 1989 U.S.Open final against Becker was the chummed forehand from the baseline by Lendl at 3-1 up in the 4th set tiebreaker when Lendl took his eye off the ball as he knew Becker was coming into the net. There's no guarantee that Lendl would have gone on to win that match if he had gone up 4-1 in that 4th set tiebreaker, but he would have been "in the driver's seat" so to speak to close out that set and send the match into a 5th and deciding set. And who knows how that would have turned out?!
Tony Trabert was dead on at the beginning of this match when he said Bob Brett stressed physical fitness for Boris. Id never call Becker fat, but he looked as fit as ive ever seen him in this match. Easily 5-10 pounds lighter than he was for a lot of his career, and for a serve and volleyer, every ounce counts in getting as tight as you can to the net.
Funny thing, Becker won Wimbledon and the Open, and the Davis Cup which he virtually won single handedly for Germany, but didn't finish no 1 in the world, even though he was clearly the best player that year
Thanks for reminding me of his Davis Cup wins. He won it back to back for his country facing much stronger opposition. He even played doubles. How he didn't finish number 1 is beyond me. Lendl didn't even do well at the French that year. Becker almost made it to the final there too.
@@luperamos7307 Lendl did win 10 titles that year, including the Australian, and was runner up at the Open and semis at Wimbledon, so I suppose he was the most consistent. But Becker won when it really mattered.
Lendl was by far the better player throughout the whole 89 season with a crazy success rate. The rain break saved Becker at Wimbledon and not 1 audience member would have disagreed. History was rewritten by Mother Nature because watching it there there was no way Lendl was going to lose until that friggin delay.
Raw feed, very nice
I saw Becker and Lendl play at the Indianapolis Tennis Center on both Clay and hard courts. I remember Becker getting annoyed waiting for Lendl’s torturously long pre-service ball-bouncing ritual. At one point Boris sat on his propped up racket like a stool and started looking at his watch 😂
Great Tennis-years with Lendl, Becker Edberg and so on. Really loved it, but today none of them would make it into the top 10. The game has changed so much.
@@doubts I agree. The technology changes the playing style. And you had to adapt to different courts back then. Nowadays they are not that different anymore.
I completely agree too.
Two different worlds.
1:32:00 Great point with the Becker dive!
What happened to the commentary in the 4th set?
Tony Trabert gives a wealth of knowledge. Sometimes he has to hype it a little but nothing like some of the new guys who act like they never saw such shots in their lives.😂
You could see how much the crowd was against Lendl, while the man worked so hard. So obvious how American's feel about those communist countries, like those countries chose for that system themselves. 85, 86, 87 were Lendl's best years, then age became a factor. He had his chances in this match too, with a bit of luck he could have edged Becker.
Media brainwashing is a powerful tool. You just need to keep pushing a particular message long enough and the normies will believe it - whatever it is. It's depressing to realise that about your fellow man, but there ya go.
Agassi was right, Becker does signal the direction of serve with his tongue
Lol
Poor Boris. Bankrupt…sent to prison and subjected to humiliating cavity searches.
Lendl was a great champion. The first player who hit truly heavy ground strokes from both the forehand and backhand; a bridge to players of the modern era.
Poor Boris? He made his choices.
If the Beatles were the British invasion; then Becker/Graf was the German blitzkrieg. Simply dominant.🎾👍
Is this the year Michael Chang was rolling through it? I was on vacation in Denver, Colorado staying at at family friends house. I went to the Denver museum and a park there . We went to Casa Bonita and I remember watching tennis while my grandparents were playing cards in the other room. I remember Michael Chang was rolling through witch ever tournament it was. I remember buying the topps coins and getting Ken Griffey Jr. Which I took home and buried for 2 or 3 yrs and then dug it up.
Lol, you could see people smoking in the stands. What a different era. I miss it so much.
Hi I'm from German and Becker is my favorite. But you have play so god
two of my favorite czechs going at it...becker`s mother was czech, so being an expat CZ i take it... ;)
The rest of their slams all came down under.
These guys were Gods when I was a kid; Lendl’s terrifying forehand and Becker’s gargantuan serve. But it doesn’t look so impressive these days in 2022. Racquet technology or something…
Those shorts were so short!
1:33:27 What a beautiful backhand
Had no idea Lendl had 8 consecutive US Open finals. He wasn't easy to watch. These strong facial bone lines put people off him. He wasn't a natural player just sort of robotic & moved like one. He's so much more relaxed now & we've got to know him when he coached Andy Murray. Shame we didn't see that side of him in his playing days. One of the first eastern European players.
You could say the same about Novak. Very robotic to watch. But the way you look is not synonymous with talent, obviously
@@Rowlph8888 Nasty Nastase bucked the trend in the 70s & should have won more but became tiresome with his rants long before McEnroe threw his tantrums.
@@Rowlph8888 Id say Novak is far more of a natural talent than Lendl. If you watch him in his younger days he is extremely fluid and nice to watch, however this wasnt winning him grand slams so he changed it up and became a far better match player but the style became robotic and clinical
@@Rowlph8888 Djokovic robotic? Have you ever seen him play?
@@Rowlph8888 robotic how? Novack is a beast on the courts … I’m sure only a die hard Rafa or Roger fan would call Novack robotic…
Too bad Lendl never figured out the tongue-twitch that Becker always did on his serves. Agassi knew about it and knew where Becker would aim the serve. BB thought AA was reading his mind, but it was where BB positioned his tongue that tipped AA off.
BTW: Thanks for the video.
Becker always gave Lendl trouble.
Lendl holds an 11-10 edge against Becker. However, Becker bested Lendl five times (5-1) in Grand Slams and owned him at Wimbledon (3-0).
that was last Becker's USO final also he he
U were very special
That's one helluva weird service motion.
Becker always had the edge against Lendl in big matches. Lendl had the style of play, where he should have been won.
Crazy they don't have a speed gun to see how fast they serve. But they have a clock to tell how long match is going on ( which nobody gives a shit about).
someone smoking at the stadium
I remember when I was 17 being quite irritated because no TV channel showed this in the uk would you believe?
Lendl running out of energy and imagination towards the end... Huge respect to both.
Lendl might be top 5 all time
When i was to see tennis ivan landle was no 1 in ranking
Becker had service advantage
Could You imagine any of these guys spitting towards their teams? Back then it used to be a real gentleman’s sport
You're joking? Do you remember McEnroe? Connors?
@@uncletony6210and Nastase
funny enough, the very same hours this fan put up his "Puerto Rico loves Becker" sign (wonder how he got that in.,,) Hurricane Hugo formed...would hit PR days later...Cat 5.
Πάντως εδώ που ξαναβλέπω αυτά τα 2 θηρία του τένις μου αρέσει το τένις πράγματι μα έπαιζα και ήμουν όχι μόνο καλός αλλά φαινόμενο!
Qui please
That Anthony Quinn next to Tiriac?? 3:29:13
BB:=Queen EL:=King
1,88 1,90 considérés comme grands a l'heure epoque.Auj,plus petit,1,85 m
Lendl does not get the credit he deserves; he revolutionized tennis, before him, we were taught to keep the ball in play, and you can never hit winners from the baseline
Becker had Lendl’s number.
Ivan Lendl so charismatic payer👍😉
Becker is much more charismatic IMO...