Mats Wilander - where does he rank?

[Azzurri]

I think the major US networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC) carried more tennis back then than they do now. ESPN was fledgling, and TTC did not exist. Heck, I think I remember even PBS had some tennis on occasionally.

Tennis was more mainstream in the US, less on a niche market.

yes, more mainstream. shame ttc is not on more cable networks.

 

[bluetrain4]

Watching some Wilander clips on youtube reveals that he served and volleyed more than I thought. By no means a "lot", but he knew what he was doing and he did it (for good reason) more often on grass at the AO and Wimbledon and also threw it in on hardcourts as a change-up tactic.

He's fun to watch, especially against a big hitter or S&V player.

 

[Moose Malloy]

Watching some Wilander clips on youtube reveals that he served and volleyed more than I thought

Here are some interesting stats:

Wilander came in 131 times in the '88 USO Final vs Lendl (5 sets, 327 total points)

Federer came in 75 times in last year's W Final(5 sets, 413 points total points)

Stepanek came in 122 times vs Djokovic in a 5 setter at the '07 USO(356 total points)

 

[pmerk34]

you stated all of a sudden, so it just seemed that way. agassi was a different player yes, but not a game changer. becker is a better example.

That may be, there is no way Becker wins Wimbledon at age 17 without his graphite frame. McEnroe describes in his autobiography how Becker's serve was in another league in 1985. Roscoe Tanner and Kevin Curran couldn't approach the heaviness and spin on Becker serve to say nothing of it's velocity.

 

[droliver]

I think you selling Kevin Curran short, as his serve was also brilliant. He was kind of like a right handed Goran for a few years with a kind of abbreviated motion and toss that looks like it would have been hard to read. Like Goran, he would go sets looking like he had the other player on a string on his serve.

The contrast with Boris' serve during that 1985 Wimbledon is striking. Becker had soooo much action on that serve, kind of like 125mph sliders. Gotta love the short shorts though!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltkllTcGFPg

 

[ferb55]

One of the most memorable matches I ever saw involved Mats and I haven't seen it mentioned here. It was a Davis cup match and I beleive it was in St. Louis. I was a bit of a McEnroe freak back then (still am) and I remember watching the first set or so and having to go to dinner. Having never heard of Wilander at that time, I didnt think I was missing much. Well, we came home from dinner a couple of hours later and they were still playing! Shame I didn't get to see more of it, but as I remember that was the way the world and certainly the US was introduced to Wilander.

 

[ferb55]

yep. Here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aebw3sxjksM

 

[Azzurri]

That may be, there is no way Becker wins Wimbledon at age 17 without his graphite frame. McEnroe describes in his autobiography how Becker's serve was in another league in 1985. Roscoe Tanner and Kevin Curran couldn't approach the heaviness and spin on Becker serve to say nothing of it's velocity.

I agree. the serve was the biggest advantage for the player using the graphite racquet in the early days. But Becker had the game to back it up.

to be fair to Becker he made quite a few finals and did win 3 times while everyone he played had a graphite racquet themselves.

 

[hoodjem]

I saw Becker play at Wimby that year. He had unbelievably powerful groundies, as well.

 

[hoodjem]

It seems that Wilander always had a hard time with The Cat--Mecir.

 

[BTURNER]

Another nick name Mecir had was, "the swede eater" cuz he had such luck with Sundstrom, Wilander and...that other blond steady swede - oops the name is gone! !

 

[Tshooter]

"I would put Wilander in the group of Edberg, Becker and Agassi"

Not in their class. And he is a country mile behind Lendl.