My first memory of tennis is watching a dowdy, unattractive Czech play against a fiery young Blonde on the pristine grass of Wimbledon. It needed no deep knowledge of tennis to guess that the Czech wanted to win, BADLY (Im not sure if Lendl's famous grass-is-for-cows had been declared just before this battle). But even my 10 yr old untrained brain could somehow figure out that the dashing blonde would prevail. It was the summer of 86 - the year that Boris Becker became the youngest male title holder at Wimbledon. A strange presentiment told me that Lendl would never win at Wimbledon. And I think he knew it too.
I've been hooked to tennis since then. Through the years, I have frowned upon plodders like Lendl & Courier, saving my adulation instead for the breathtaking brilliance of an Edberg, an Agassi or a Federer. Now, I have much more respect for Lendl's tenacity and ambition.
I guess I'm growing up.
6 comments:
There are more than a few great talents who could've benefited from Lendl's determination. Rios, Philippoussis, Nalbandian ... I could go on.
Marat Safin should definitely be on ure list! such breathtaking talent, but too little of Lendl's determination!
Well yes, that's what I meant by the "I could go on" part.
;)
10 year old Hina predicted that?
Quit your job TODAY and start betting - you'll make millions !!!!
Needs to be unbiased though - stick to predicting results in women's tennis :)
~ Bret
Ivan Lendl what I liked about him was that he was able to beat and dominate the annoying players like a Mayer brothers, Wotjek Fiback Eliot Teltscher, Harold Solomon, Jose Higueras, and Jose Luis Clerq who would just retrieve the ball. Brian Gottfried was a bit more athletic and powerful as well as Guillermo Vilas but both were patient retrievers.
However, if you remember the scene in the first Indiana Jones where the guy was swinging those swords all over the place and Indiana just took his gun and shot him. That was Ivan Lendl who could grind but had his gun in handy and didn't miss.
I remember him punking those retrievers a few times after long rallies with aces and winners in key situations. Harold Solomon defended his game by putting down Ivan and Boris Becker of them just serving aces and hitting winners. Sour grapes.
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