Watching old tennis matches thread.

[Hank Kingsley]

Agree. I don't like using apps. There's not as much control when navigating in time.

Also, when I hit the pause button on an app, there's still a part of the time navigation bar which covers the screen. That usually gets in the way.

Whereas when I'm using cable and my DVR, and I hit the pause button, I can clear everything off the screen, so I can see what I'm looking for. If watching tennis, I'd pause it to see where the ball is, especially on lower quality resolution matches.

Ed Zachary.

I'm a PVR guy when it comes to sports anyway. I almost always record. Even on an NFL Sunday AM when I have 6 games from Sunday Ticket I'm interested in. Or that Sunday when US Open finals are occurring in the afternoon alongside NFL.

Thankfully I have a 12 barrelled PVR so I can hog 10 or 11 tuners and leave one for the missus for the BBC or TCM upstairs upstairs...

 

[Hs0022]

One of my most favorite matches was the 2001 Stuttgart final between Haas and Hewitt. Hewitt with the pesky double handed backhand and in your face (his antics resembled a terrier Barking at a Lion) vs the beautiful one handed of Haas. Haas was able to calm down and play within himself for the revenge win in that match.

 

[nuraman00]

1994 Sampras vs. Courier French Open:

I don't think Sampras played that poorly. Courier played well and was getting good returns. Courier also served well. Sampras also would play better in 1996 at the French Open, specifically against Courier too. This was a decent match between two greats.

2013 Djokovic vs. Nadal French Open SF:

Djokovic fought off being down in the 4th, to win the set, and was up a break in the 5th, before losing.

Almost the opposite of the 2012 Australian Open.

2005 Nadal vs. Federer French Open SF:

The first point of the match might have been the best point of the match, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It was just a great point.

Nadal wasn't yet able to blast winners like he would a few years later. He showed signs of his good net play.

Federer didn't seem to have trouble with the backhand, and didn't run around it too much. He just had a bad serving game in the 4th.

Federer was up a break in the 4th too.

He showed signs of how bad he was at break points against Nadal.

Brad Gilbert was the only one that gave Nadal a chance in this match, as the others seemed to expect Federer to win.

1981 Lendl vs. Borg French Open Finals:

There were a few things that made it hard to watch.

1) I wish they would have flashed the score more often. Not only did they not do it in between points, but sometimes they didn't even do it in between games. It made it much harder to follow the match.

I hard a hard time figuring out what the score was in between points, since they didn't flash it on the screen very much. If they only verbally announced it, it wasn't in English, so I couldn't understand it. When they didn't even show the score in between games, it was hard to remember how many games into the set the match was.

So I wish the broadcasting had been more modern, with scores updated on screen in between every point. Or found an English version so I could understand the score.

2) The first few games had a lot of 40-60 shot rallies, but the players didn't appear under duress. They were just hitting balls crosscourt to each other. I would have liked to see players needing to scramble more, during those early games. With that said, a few things stood out. Borg rarely seemed like he was rushed.

His speed and anticipation was great. Lendl did a good job of staying mentally strong, and never looking discouraged. He kept fighting. As the match progressed, Lendl started showing more variety. So did Borg show that. Both Borg and Lendl suddenly lost serves late in the match, and struggled to make them in.

The speed of the ball was a lot slower than I've seen. I've seen French Open matches from the mid 80s, and even those were hit faster.

For example, Lendl vs. McEnroe in 1984 seemed to have a ball speed that's closer to what I'm used to.

This was a good match that showed the versatility of both players, especially later in the match.

1995 Muster vs. Courier ATP Masters Cup Round Robin:

For some reason, the YouTube uploader skipped the first couple of games of set 2, which is the only time Muster got a break! So that was disappointing, I didn't see how he won that game and broke.

Other than that, Muster stood out not only because he was a lefty, but also used a one handed backhanded (like McEnroe). Muster played very well. Just based on how he played in this match, it feels like he should have won more. I should have seen him in more major SFs and Finals of majors, IMO.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

1994 Sampras vs. Courier French Open:

I don't think Sampras played that poorly. Courier played well and was getting good returns. Courier also served well. Sampras also would play better in 1996 at the French Open, specifically against Courier too. This was a decent match between two greats.

2013 Djokovic vs. Nadal French Open SF:

Djokovic fought off being down in the 4th, to win the set, and was up a break in the 5th, before losing.

Almost the opposite of the 2012 Australian Open.

2005 Nadal vs. Federer French Open SF:

The first point of the match might have been the best point of the match, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It was just a great point.

Nadal wasn't yet able to blast winners like he would a few years later. He showed signs of his good net play.

Federer didn't seem to have trouble with the backhand, and didn't run around it too much. He just had a bad serving game in the 4th.

Federer was up a break in the 4th too.

He showed signs of how bad he was at break points against Nadal.

Brad Gilbert was the only one that gave Nadal a chance in this match, as the others seemed to expect Federer to win.

1981 Lendl vs. Borg French Open Finals:

There were a few things that made it hard to watch.

1) I wish they would have flashed the score more often. Not only did they not do it in between points, but sometimes they didn't even do it in between games. It made it much harder to follow the match.

I hard a hard time figuring out what the score was in between points, since they didn't flash it on the screen very much. If they only verbally announced it, it wasn't in English, so I couldn't understand it. When they didn't even show the score in between games, it was hard to remember how many games into the set the match was.

So I wish the broadcasting had been more modern, with scores updated on screen in between every point. Or found an English version so I could understand the score.

2) The first few games had a lot of 40-60 shot rallies, but the players didn't appear under duress. They were just hitting balls crosscourt to each other. I would have liked to see players needing to scramble more, during those early games. With that said, a few things stood out. Borg rarely seemed like he was rushed.

His speed and anticipation was great. Lendl did a good job of staying mentally strong, and never looking discouraged. He kept fighting. As the match progressed, Lendl started showing more variety. So did Borg show that. Both Borg and Lendl suddenly lost serves late in the match, and struggled to make them in.

The speed of the ball was a lot slower than I've seen. I've seen French Open matches from the mid 80s, and even those were hit faster.

For example, Lendl vs. McEnroe in 1984 seemed to have a ball speed that's closer to what I'm used to.

This was a good match that showed the versatility of both players, especially later in the match.

1995 Muster vs. Courier ATP Masters Cup Round Robin:

For some reason, the YouTube uploader skipped the first couple of games of set 2, which is the only time Muster got a break! So that was disappointing, I didn't see how he won that game and broke.

Other than that, Muster stood out not only because he was a lefty, but also used a one handed backhanded (like McEnroe). Muster played very well. Just based on how he played in this match, it feels like he should have won more. I should have seen him in more major SFs and Finals of majors, IMO.

Quite the selection.

I'd like to see that Lendl/Borg match, even if it was boring.

 

[nuraman00]

Quite the selection.

I'd like to see that Lendl/Borg match, even if it was boring.

Here it is.

It wasn't all boring. Just the first 3-4 games had a lot of 40 shot rallies, but with little running. And only hitting mid 60 mph shots, it's a little hard to watch compared to the speed of today. Even later in the mid 80s, guys hit the ball harder.

After that, it was good.

Then as I said, the major problem was the lack of updates on screen as to what the score was, not only in between points, but in between games sometimes. If the broadcasters were saying what the score was in a foreign language, I couldn't understand it.

So I had a hard time keeping track of where they were within a game, and how close they were to winning a game, due to the lack of scoreboard update.

It's much better nowdays, when they have the constant score on the screen for reference.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Here it is.

It wasn't all boring. Just the first 3-4 games had a lot of 40 shot rallies, but with little running. And only hitting mid 60 mph shots, it's a little hard to watch compared to the speed of today. Even later in the mid 80s, guys hit the ball harder.

After that, it was good.

Then as I said, the major problem was the lack of updates on screen as to what the score was, not only in between points, but in between games sometimes. If the broadcasters were saying what the score was in a foreign language, I couldn't understand it.

So I had a hard time keeping track of where they were within a game, and how close they were to winning a game, due to the lack of scoreboard update.

It's much better nowdays, when they have the constant score on the screen for reference.

Thanks!

 

[nuraman00]

1980 Connors vs. McEnroe US Open SF:


Great match, this had a lot of twists in it. What's funny is that at the beginning of the 3rd set, McEnroe went over to Connors' side of the court to dispute a call. Not much is made of that moment. But in 1999, when Hingis did it against Graf, the crowd turned on Hingis even more (they were already rooting for Graf). Hingis is remembered more for that, than McEnroe is for doing the same thing.

I believe McEnroe refers to this day as the greatest day in US Open history. He said there was one day where both Mens SFs went to 5th set tiebreakers, and the Womens Finals went to a 3rd set tiebreaker. I believe that's what he said. I think this might be that day. But, I don't want to look it up and see the scores, in case I ever watch the other Mens SF, or the Womens Final. Maybe it's a different year that McEnroe was talking about, I don't remember anymore.

I'll watch the Mens Finals next from 1980.

It is funny to see Connors with a beard.

I also don't think either player really had a bad serving game. Sometimes, a player just can't make a first serve in a game. But I felt these guys did a good job of getting first serves in, throughout the match.

If I contrast that with the 1984 French Open Finals, McEnroe had a horrible serving match. He was so exasperated at one point, that he shouted "1 for 50!", as he felt like that's what his first serve % was.

Also, that US Open logo was very different. It had an eagle on it.

 

[ElTexan]

* Clijsters vs. Capriati, 2001 French Open Finals.

Someone once said this was the best claycourt match he's ever seen.

After watching it, I have to agree.

Great rallies.

* Federer vs. Djokovic, 2011 French Open SF.

This match was spoiled for me before I got home, the day it happened, so I didn't really watch it. I just fast forwarded through most of the match. Since there's 2 SFs, and I already unfortunately knew the result of this one, I spent more time on the other one.

How was I to know FED would struggle beating Djokovic so much at majors after this?

From watching this match now, my biggest takeaway was how good FED's backhand was. He was hitting a ton of winners with it. And it was cool to see him do well in a match with hardly any aces. He just used his smarts.

Djokovic hadn't lost a single match in 2011, coming into this one.

Also, this match was much closer than the scoreline indicated.

* Graf vs. Hingis, 1999 French Open Finals.

This was another good match, especially in terms of strategy and style.

Hingis started to get erratic with her serve in the 3rd set.

Edberg/Chang

 

[nuraman00]

Edberg/Chang

Yep, I also watched that:

1989 Chang vs. Edberg French Open Finals:

It's rare to see two players play at a high level for almost the entire match. Sometimes one player is playing poorly in a set.

Chang was hitting more winners in this match, then I'd seen him before.

Both players showed a lot of positional variety on the court.