The all time greats...Who and How?

[moderntennis]

Sampras would look the same as Pancho if he played with a wood racquet and had to keep one foot on the ground while serving - I've recently seen Alex Olmedo play competititive sets against Vince Spadea, ranked 76 in the world and Olmedo is 69 years old. Pancho would not have been destroyed by anyone including Federer - it would have been close had they played at their best.

[lukman41985]

Could you post some details and observations about that match between Olmedo and Spadea? How did the 69-year-old combat the youth, speed, power, and spin of Spadea.

[moderntennis]

Originally Posted by lukman41985

Could you post some details and observations about that match between Olmedo and Spadea? How did the 69-year-old combat the youth, speed, power, and spin of Spadea.

There is some relevant detail in the McEnroe link in the interview Spadea gave Tennis Week when he discusses playing McEnroe and the 21 game Vince played John. At the top it mentions Spadea working with Olmedo for the coming season. Olmedo does the same thing that McEnroe did against Spadea in the excerpt- change of pace from the baseline, short angle shots and drop shots from the baseline and net, approaching very short as well as deep to force hitting up and not getting rattled by the opponent's numerous groundstroke winners. He was trying to convince Spadea to maximize his strengths (consistency and foot speed) rather than try to "out-do" his younger more powerful opponents.

[mntlblok]

Just read and enjoyed Allen Fox's article on Emmo. We had the pleasure of having "Blue" here at our club last year for a "Legends" weekend. He was absolutely one of the most fun individuals I've ever been around. If you ever get a chance to enjoy him, jump on it. He even teased me about having eyebrows like Rosewall. :-)

Kevin

[moderntennis]

Originally Posted by tproxfd

I grew up watching the latter part of the golden age greats but certainly don't accept the criticism of Sampras. Pete's serve stands up against any in history. First of all there are many videos of his toss showing it is well into the court, although somewhat more to the left than the older guys and for 2 reasons, 1) with the newer technology rackets the ball is hit much harder and more topspin is needed to keep it in the court; and 2) for more disguise.
Why did he often have to volley from further back? Speed of serve getting there much sooner than a serve of similar ability with a wooden racket, and much faster returns (if it came back) for the same reason. I don't really think the comparisons are valid because the conditions and the athletes themselves are so different - one only needs to look at videos of the older players to see the vastly increased pace in todays game. Based on that alone, Sampras would have destoyed the older players. However, I don't think you need the comparisons to learn some of the lessons of the past when tennis may have truly been more pure and exciting.

Just another reason, taken from the baseball analyst Bill James, at how claims that the old days were far inferior can be disproven. If tennis in 2002 were vastly superior than 1962, did it happen in a single year? No, the top 10 was never completely replaced by new players the following year. If it happened at a rate of 2.5% per year that would mean top players at the age of 20-25 in a given year would not be able to compete 10 years later. Laver was still a top 10 player in 72 as in 62, Connors was top 10 in 82 like 72,
McEnroe was in the semis at Wimby in 92, Agasssi in 2002 from 92. In the NBA circa 1960 you do see a revolution in the game - new rules (goaltending, 3 seconds in the key) to deal with Wilt and Russell, former star players marginalized. In tennis, the rule changes regarding serving and the new equipment created a faster paced game, but JMac for example although no where near the player he was in 1980 can still nearly beat top 20 player Ancic(match available from Tennis Nexus, no connection to me but a great site for tennis DVDs).