Are All Tennis Champions Created Equal?
Recently I wrote an article “Why Should Tennis Players Respect All Past Champions?". Some of you have sent me emails stating how impossible it would be for past champions to be effective on the tennis court today playing against “modern tennis” players.
Well, for the sceptical ones, a past champion, John McEnroe, 49 years of age, played against some opponents 10 years younger than himself in the CHAMPIONS CUP April 30-May 4, 2008, Boston, MA.
John McEnroe was a true virtuoso and in his prime, he played tennis like some play music, no limits to his creativity that often left his opponents puzzled and shaking their heads, wondering, "how did he do that?"
Of course McEnroe was a bad boy, but so was Mozart and we still love his music. In Boston John played a typical symphony concert in three pieces, first, defeating Jim Courier (37 years old) in the quarter finals, 6-4, 6-4, second, with a superb semi-final win against Pete Sampras (36 years old) 2-6, 7-6, 10-4 and third, to cap it all he captured the trophy with a 5-7, 6-3, 10-5 over Aaron Krickstein (40 years old).
This is indeed something special considering that John McEnroe is at least 9 years older than his oldest opponent and 11 years older than his youngest. Another important fact to take note of is that Pete Sampras had just come from playing a series of exibition matches against the present ATP world Nr. 1 Roger Federer and managed to win a match against Federer!
Does this mean John McEnroe could still beat Roger Federer today? No.
One thing that John McEnroe proved though is that a world class tennis player from an earlier era can beat a champion from present times. Also he emphatically proved that new or present players do not necessarily play any better than past players.
My point is that there is still plenty to learn from an old champion, who by the way did not play with power, but rather used timing and intelligence to win. And that is another article you should read “Timing vs. Power! - "Making a case for hitting the ball early".
To add insult to injury to the present generation of tennis players, in February 2006 while playing doubles with Jonas Bjorkman in the San Jose ATP Tournament (SAP Open), McEnroe, then at 47 years of age, managed to beat all doubles teams that were not even born when McEnroe was in his prime and take home the cup!
Very few other players today capture my tennis real interest, with the exception of Joe-Wilfried Tsonga. The majority have followed a development pattern that many of today’s coaches have accepted as the 'dogma of tennis'; the topspin and the topsin only, hitting cross-court 95% of the time in long boring duels, hard forehands and running around the baseline, with total disregard for quality volleys, serve and volley and the attack.
My words are not based on mere theories, I have played more than 400 International Open prize money and ATP tournaments, also coached and gave on court instruction to players like: Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Cedric Pioline, Tim Mayotte, David Wheaton, Brad Gilbert, Mark Knowles, Bonnie Gaduzek, Julie Halard and Mary Pierce to mention a few. Also, I was fortunate enough to have seen some of the very best tennis players of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s until today.
The deterioration of the sport that I was seeing began with the wave of young players such as; Andre Agassi, Michael Chang and Jim Courier (in spite of all my efforts to try and help Jim belatedly develop, a slice backhand, decent volleys and some courage to attack, serve and volley once in a while), then the nightmare of baseline players that followed these. Fortunately, Boris Becker, Michael Stich, Pat Rafter, Greg Rudzesky, Pete Sampras were beacons of light in the middle of a very somber tennis future. Read ATTACK - The Lion Effect - For Coaches, Players and Parents!
Today all I can hope, is that through this and other articles, I will be able to reach out, motivate and inspire as many of you as possible, to come and visit my website to read and learn Why Should Tennis
Players Respect All Past Champions?, Timing vs.
Power! - Making a case for hitting the ball early and see tennis video lessons about how you can develop an all-round winning game, share your knowledge with others and enjoy your tennis even more!
Do tell a friend about this website it will take you just a second of your time. :-)
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