I have to say: Mats Wilander might be the best "tennis conversation moderators" in the world. He is completely without ego, and yet he asks questions and speaks from the experience of a world champion...and all this in a second language!
This guy was my favorite with Agassi. In modern times with how the game has changed, assuming he uses modern technology, Lendl would have won Wimbledon.
He was and remains my all-time favorite. He wasn't a natural like McEnroe and some others, but that's one of the things that I felt made him so great - that he was able (and so obsessively committed) to MAKE himself into a champion. And yes Patrick Kelly, that grass court win just prior to the All England Club tournament was his best chance ever to finally win it, and indeed he came so excruciatingly close. I always felt he was so laser focused on his "job" that his attention couldn't be distracted by bad calls or on-court shenanigans and such (though he WAS visibly quite annoyed at Michael Chang's underhand serve.) In the end I suspect that the notion of losing Wimbledon may have become a self-fulfilling prophecy that made a win there psychologically impossible.
Lendl is my favorite player of all time. He taught me how to play. I became a 5.0+ level player without ever taking a lesson because I copied his style and watched all his marches...and played/practiced a LOT! Now I teach tennis. I have some of Ivans rackets too. I have been to pro tournaments and have seen some of the greats, but one of my biggest regrets is to have never met Ivan and seen him play live. I was young and just couldn’t get to the tournaments he played. There is still one racket of Ivan’s I don’t have and I hope to find it someday...if I can afford it. Would be cool to meet Ivan but I’m also afraid id be disappointed because he was so important to my life when I was young and I’m afraid he’ll look at me like just another fan. 😀 Which I am...but I think I’m a little more than that. So close to winning Wimbledon and he lost a lot of Finals so he could have easily had 10+ GS titles but 8 will do just fine. Great career.
Your story is an interesting fan of tennis player story ! I remember learning his one backhand movement watching him on tv too. Because i started at 6 and i couldnt do it with wood racket without two hands at the debut ...
I can stay hours to listen Ivan Lendl. Hours. He is the biggest tennis player that I have never seen. And he is so cool, he knows so deeply the tennis....wow Compliments Champion And compliments for this podcast
Ivan no doubt is an outlier in the 80s in terms of sheer achievements. I love him more these days for he has great sense of humor and he is what he is. During 80s I preferred mats over lendl and 87 cried when he lost FO, USO and masters to lendl..
How i regret that i never liked Lendl at the 80s, too influenced by the media! The guy is a legend, sense of humour, class act and intelligence above the average...
In the 80s, I was not a Lendl fan. I am older now and hopefully wiser. I watch his matches all the time now and max respect for one of the greats of all-time.
Ivan Lendl, the best player of all times. He didn' t win as many Grand Slam titles as Federer or Nadal, but the compitition was much harder back then. Just remember the players, who competed with him during his career: Mc Enroe, Wilander, Agassi, Courier, Edberg, Connors, Becker and he still won 8 Grand Slam titles, reached 21 Finals, won 5 Masters titles. 8 US Open Finals in a row, 8 Masters finals in a row! Unbelievable Numbers!
He lost too many Grand Slam finals to be classed as the greatest ever, including his first four. He got lucky Borg retired, as he wouldn't have been winning two or three of those slams! Also, I feel it's silly people compare different eras, as Borg, Lendl and Connors would have been great in any era imho.
The best Matches to see of Ivan are in the Masters , that s where he was really playing very high level for me , it s funny that Mats said quite exactly the same in this interview . In second position in the US open . Strangely Ivan didn t feel very well on this carpet indoor court !!
To me Ivan is a tactician of the tennis game : like always reflect on the game like a chess player . It make sense , when he was playing , he was always looking to reflect too ! Not a sensitive player . But very effective .
Lendl was training with young Sampras to better prepare for Becker's serve. Or so I've heard something like that, might have been in Pete's autobiography
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I have to say: Mats Wilander might be the best "tennis conversation moderators" in the world. He is completely without ego, and yet he asks questions and speaks from the experience of a world champion...and all this in a second language!
Ivan lendl the greatest tennis player of all time. I used to pray for him for big Wimbledon title those days but it never happened.
He was so close! He won Queens Club tourney right before Wimbledon, and he did reach the Finals.
Great player but he wasn’t a natural grass court player on the skiddy grass of those days . On the modern Wimbledon courts he’d be fine
This guy was my favorite with Agassi. In modern times with how the game has changed, assuming he uses modern technology, Lendl would have won Wimbledon.
He was and remains my all-time favorite. He wasn't a natural like McEnroe and some others, but that's one of the things that I felt made him so great - that he was able (and so obsessively committed) to MAKE himself into a champion. And yes Patrick Kelly, that grass court win just prior to the All England Club tournament was his best chance ever to finally win it, and indeed he came so excruciatingly close.
I always felt he was so laser focused on his "job" that his attention couldn't be distracted by bad calls or on-court shenanigans and such (though he WAS visibly quite annoyed at Michael Chang's underhand serve.) In the end I suspect that the notion of losing Wimbledon may have become a self-fulfilling prophecy that made a win there psychologically impossible.
Lendl was my childhood hero’s...so gutted he never won Wimbledon.. the rain stopped match when he was beating Becker 😟😟😟
Oh yes, 1989, Ivan was the better player, final against Edberg would have been so nice and deserved to watch
He was never gonna beat Boris, plus got lucky Borg retired - the great Swede was set for a few more French Opens imho.
This is awesome .... Mats and Ivan were my heroes growing up .... Alex is genius too
Ivan, The Father of Modern Tennis! His dedication, attrition & fitness level were unmatched in those days
Sacre Bleu! Think that was Bjorn Borg! Nobody's had more influence on the game than the great Swede!
Lendl is my favorite player of all time. He taught me how to play. I became a 5.0+ level player without ever taking a lesson because I copied his style and watched all his marches...and played/practiced a LOT! Now I teach tennis. I have some of Ivans rackets too. I have been to pro tournaments and have seen some of the greats, but one of my biggest regrets is to have never met Ivan and seen him play live. I was young and just couldn’t get to the tournaments he played. There is still one racket of Ivan’s I don’t have and I hope to find it someday...if I can afford it. Would be cool to meet Ivan but I’m also afraid id be disappointed because he was so important to my life when I was young and I’m afraid he’ll look at me like just another fan. 😀 Which I am...but I think I’m a little more than that. So close to winning Wimbledon and he lost a lot of Finals so he could have easily had 10+ GS titles but 8 will do just fine. Great career.
Your story is an interesting fan of tennis player story ! I remember learning his one backhand movement watching him on tv too. Because i started at 6 and i couldnt do it with wood racket without two hands at the debut ...
Mats Wilander. Wow.
I can stay hours to listen Ivan Lendl. Hours. He is the biggest tennis player that I have never seen. And he is so cool, he knows so deeply the tennis....wow
Compliments Champion
And compliments for this podcast
Ivan no doubt is an outlier in the 80s in terms of sheer achievements. I love him more these days for he has great sense of humor and he is what he is. During 80s I preferred mats over lendl and 87 cried when he lost FO, USO and masters to lendl..
How i regret that i never liked Lendl at the 80s, too influenced by the media!
The guy is a legend, sense of humour, class act and intelligence above the average...
Sports Illustrated dubbed him: "The champion that nobody cares about!"
In the 80s, I was not a Lendl fan. I am older now and hopefully wiser. I watch his matches all the time now and max respect for one of the greats of all-time.
Iván Lendl, the best player of his time!
You been on the sauce! Not even the best during his playing days🤫
I love this podcast with the old legends
Me too! So good
Ivan Lendl, the best player of all times. He didn' t win as many Grand Slam titles as Federer or Nadal, but the compitition was much harder back then. Just remember the players, who competed with him during his career: Mc Enroe, Wilander, Agassi, Courier, Edberg, Connors, Becker and he still won 8 Grand Slam titles, reached 21 Finals, won 5 Masters titles. 8 US Open Finals in a row, 8 Masters finals in a row! Unbelievable Numbers!
I would argue borg.
Retired at 26 years old and won 11 grandslams during that time against mcenroe,connors,lendl
He lost too many Grand Slam finals to be classed as the greatest ever, including his first four. He got lucky Borg retired, as he wouldn't have been winning two or three of those slams! Also, I feel it's silly people compare different eras, as Borg, Lendl and Connors would have been great in any era imho.
Amazing content
Alex was one of those players for whom we feel sad for not winning a slam along with Enqvist and Rios from that generation.
Náš Ivan Lendl = skvělý borec!!! Škoda ale že nejsou titulky:)
Regarding serving: Lendl had a clean powerful serve. Wilander also had a simple but nice looking serve. I cannot comment Corretja much.
The best Matches to see of Ivan are in the Masters , that s where he was really playing very high level for me , it s funny that Mats said quite exactly the same in this interview . In second position in the US open . Strangely Ivan didn t feel very well on this carpet indoor court !!
Love it!Must hear the Lexicon Mr. Lendl:)
To me Ivan is a tactician of the tennis game : like always reflect on the game like a chess player . It make sense , when he was playing , he was always looking to reflect too ! Not a sensitive player . But very effective .
Lendl was training with young Sampras to better prepare for Becker's serve. Or so I've heard something like that, might have been in Pete's autobiography
Mats, working extra hard to display linguistic proficiency n pronouncing Alex's name- rolling the "R"
Ivan the terrible