Old Match Review - Edberg - Agassi 1990 Indian Wells

[andreh]

No scores are reveiled so you can safely read on if you plan to see the match.

For those of of you who enjoy watching the tennis of yesterday this match is a real treat.

In 1990 Edberg and Becker basically finished their rivalry for the no.1 spot after Ivan Lendl. The 1990 wimbledon final was the the big tennis sensation that year. But Edberg had a little rivalry going with André Agassi as well. They met 4 times that year all very tight mathces. Two of these were in the ATP Championship, the RR and the final, one in the Miami Masters final (then called the Lipton championship).

The other one was the Indian Wells final. Quite a special match. Agassi plays basically the modern tennis of today, Edberg the classic serve and volley tennis of yesterday. Those of you who wonder what would happen if old meets new, here it is. The Indian Wells of 1990 is what would happen.

The conditions were hard with heavy winds making it hard to serve and hit overheads, both players have problems holding their serves. Sand seemed to be blowing around and cover the court.

There's a lot of long rallies with spectacluar put-aways from both players. Edberg stays back alot more than he normally did, partly because of Agassi's tremendous service returns, partly because of the difficulties with the wind (Edberg had a very high toss).

Stuff to look for:

Edberg: You can really see the discusting amounts of spin he got on the serve in the angels the producer provides. On TV his serve looks curiously fast, like modern pro serves, even though he normally was in the 90-110 mph range. Perhaps the excessive spin keeps ball from slowing down after the bounce?? Any theories?

Edberg: He was really sharp on the baseline. Something you don't really think of that much. One can easily understand why he was no. 1 in the world in 90-91. Add a sharp baseline game to that serve and volley and no.1 is what you get

Agassi: He basically plays the same as 10 years later. Great returns, great passing shots all the time. Incredible, quite simply. A great player already then.

Agassi: The clothes, the MULLET! The youthful aggressivness he lost later.


Hey, post your own nostalgic match reviews.

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[Amone]

I got the same feeling about serves, watching a copy of Becker - Edberg '89 Wimbledon, except it was Becker. He'd serve, and my eyes would widen a little because it was fast, and then they'd give me the speed: 120 miles per hour, where I'm used to seeing 135 mph bombs in more modern times. Yet it seemed so much faster. Ah, well.

[andreh]

Perhaps they measured it differntly? Perhaps average speed over the length of the court back when...and speed directly of the raqcuet today??? Just brainstorming

BTW, I watched that match as well recently (i.e., W89 final). Becker played a great match but what struck me was how bad Edberg played, grossly overhitting numerous easy volleys a clubplayer would make etc...particularly in the 1st set. Actually, I've never before or after seen Edberg play that badly. Although Becker's turnaround from 5-6 and 0-40 down in Edberg's serve in the second set to a win in the breaker was truely amazing. Not to mention that inside-out kinda overheadish stroke (or whatever you call it!) from the basline he hits saving an overhead from Edberg somewhere in the second set.

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[morten]

Speedguns were different then, also Edbergs seve vas heavy after the bounce. I have the same kind of serve myself, very heavy ball, seems to not slow down much opponents say :)

[armand]

Radar guns were definitely juiced, there's been a few threads on it. But yeah, Ivanisevic's fastest serve was 122mph for the entire '94 Wimbledon then a couple years later he was routinely getting into the 130s with the same serve, same racquet.

[andreh]

That would perhaps mean that Edberg's serve would land around an average of 110-120 mph today?? With that kick? Interesting.

It could also mean that the serve hasn't evolved as much as many seem to claim, and that could mean in turn that the return of service hasn't evolved as much as many seem to claim. Perhaps the game hasn't evolved as much as many seem to claim! All because someone juiced the speedgun to give the impression of increased speed in the game!