Boris Becker's "wisdom"

[Corbon]

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... -del-potro

I know, he's borderline retarded and relentlessly sucking up to Fed but you always hear about how older players like him would fare in today's tennis. How about the other way around? Let's assume that everyone would enjoying today's racquet technology.

One anecdote from the EC '12, when asked about comparing the German 1972 team (considered to be the best one we've ver had), to today's team, one active German player said that his team would win 15 : 0. Bit hyperbole fur sure, but when you watch some games 40 years ago and compare them to modern games, the level in athleticism is in a completely different league. A super scorer like Gerd Müller (physically comparable to Maradona) wouldn't stand a chance against a modern defender. Same in tennis, you can't just touch shot your way through a match anymore like Mac did, or be successful as a 5'8 S&V player like Laver was.

[supinesmokey13]

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-11-17/top-stories/35171691_1_djokovic-boris-becker-del-potro

I know, he's borderline retarded and relentlessly sucking up to Fed but you always hear about how older players like him would fare in today's tennis. How about the other way around? Let's assume that everyone would enjoying today's racquet technology.

One anecdote from the EC '12, when asked about comparing the German 1972 team (considered to be the best one we've ver had), to today's team, one active German player said that his team would win 15 : 0. Bit hyperbole fur sure, but when you watch some games 40 years ago and compare them to modern games, the level in athleticism is in a completely different league. A super scorer like Gerd Müller (physically comparable to Maradona) wouldn't stand a chance against a modern defender. Same in tennis, you can't just touch shot your way through a match anymore like Mac did, or be successful as a 5'8 S&V player like Laver was.

well would you agree with his assesment fed's technique is that of the old school and its more traditional and you could see him play that same elegant style

given the major differences in surface nadal would still dominate clay and could still be a good grass court player but not be as successful as he is today . where as i think nole would do well on hard and clay given the fact that despite connors, or borg, winning wimbledon or lendl making two finals playing w the more traditional all court game i.e serve volleying was the way to win on grass i dont think would have done well on grass in beckers era.
i I wonder if it irks lendl that he once gave up the clay court season to develop a more natural grass court game and yet he never won wimbledon . yet nole won with out having to adapting his game besdies footwork did.

[Corbon]

Lendl even went so far in having a grass court similar to Wimbledon built for him. Well his results weren't too bad (7 semifinals within an 8 year span) but his other results show that there was a huge difference between grass and hardcourt. On the other hand, his Grand Slam finals percentage was craptastic, 8-11, compare with Federer's 17-7.

As for a strong server like Raonic, he would be hampered a bit by old technology but I could totally see him reaching several Wimbledon SF's with that serve. Before 2001 that is.

[Otlichno]

Players becoming more athletic does make a difference, but it's something that players can improve upon. Put a Nadal in an older era, sure the players would have trouble dealing with his speed and power. (though that is arguable given how big a difference a wooden racket would make in the amount of spin he could produce) But they themselves could improve their own speed and power and learn to deal with it.

The surfaces have become slowed down to the point where baseline grinding is now "the way to play" to get to the top. Players with a different style have much more difficulty getting to the Finals and/or winning Grand Slams. Federer is one of the few exceptions. On faster courts, lower bouncing courts, it would be much more difficult for them to get that far.

[Corbon]

Before Nadal was given the "title", Thomas Muster was often nicknamed the King of Clay. His overall Wimbledon record is 0-3 and he usually went to greath lengths to skip the tournament altogether but that's an extreme form of surface specialization.