Roscoe Tanner

[Bilbo]

Why does no one respect old Psycho-T's game. He had one of the biggest serves EVER, if not the most effective serve ever. It was also the most unique serve, as he had the quickest motion of all time. He was a ****** on grass, and had hard firm groundstrokes. On top of all this... HE IS AMERICAN, and he WON A GRAND SLAM! So, why no love for Roscoe Tanner, huh? Let's use this thread to appreciate and remember Psycho-T


p.s. I know... he's not dead.

[goober]

I never really have seen any of matches until recently on TTC. Before I thought he was a one trick pony with the serve, but his ground game actually wasn't that bad it just wasn't at the level of Borg, Connors, ect. But he is a way better rounded player than someone like Karlovic. So I liked his game and watching his matches.

Roscoe Tanner the person, however is another story...

[heathcliff]

Originally Posted by goober

I never really have seen any of matches until recently on TTC. Before I thought he was a one trick pony with the serve, but his ground game actually wasn't that bad it just wasn't at the level of Borg, Connors, ect. But he is a way better rounded player than someone like Karlovic. So I liked his game and watching his matches.

Roscoe Tanner the person, however is another story...

what was about his person? could you tell me pls?
the only match i´ve seen recently was his sf-loss to gerulaitis at the 79-uso

[goober]

Originally Posted by heathcliff

what was about his person? could you tell me pls?
the only match i´ve seen recently was his sf-loss to gerulaitis at the 79-uso

His post tennis exploits are well documented. Just google them. But basically he has a long history of multiple felonies involving check fraud and theft. He also was arrested for failure of child support payments.

[gzhpcu]

I respect his game. Even saw him once playing live in Wimbledon on one of the outside courts. His serving was the most impressive I've ever seen.

[Steady Eddy]

I bought tickets to see him play Connors in an exhibition in Minneapolis, (actually Bloomington, but who's heard of Bloomington?) Tanner was a no-show, (no reason was given). The crowd was disappointed but the promoters redeemed themselves by getting Kreik to fill in. Now that I know more about Tanner's selfish personality I'm suspicious about why he was a no-show. Probably didn't care about the awful problem not going created for other people. How do you replace the hardest server in the world?

Kreik and Connors had some great points, though. Up close, I could really appreciate their court covering abilities.

[gpt]

Tanner always had a wicked serve.
And for a time, a wicked perm.

[Tennis Dunce]

Nobody raised their hand and said, "Ooooooh Mr. Kotter...pick me...I wanna play Roscoe Tanner."

[joe sch]

Just goes to show how 1 slam wonders are often forgotten, even when they had a stroke that gets talked about generations later as one of the best ever (serve). Most all love is lost when a prior slam champions personal problems blemish the reputation.

[El Diablo]

Not that much to love here. Huge deadbeat on child support payments, then bounced a big check when he tried to buy a boat.

[borg number one]

Last stages of Borg Tanner in 1979. Man that PDP was tiny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLVnr...om=PL&index=19

[Don't Let It Bounce]

A long time ago, Bud Collins published a collection of tennis essays called My Life With The Pros. One of the essays suggested that Tanner had saved Wimbledon by, if I remember correctly, taking Borg to five sets in what was supposed to be a cakewalk for BB, at a time when TV ratings had dropped because of Borg's dominance. The essay was called something like "How Roscoe Tanner Saved Breakfast At Wimbledon".

[LttlElvis]

Originally Posted by Don't Let It Bounce

A long time ago, Bud Collins published a collection of tennis essays called My Life With The Pros. One of the essays suggested that Tanner had saved Wimbledon by, if I remember correctly, taking Borg to five sets in what was supposed to be a cakewalk for BB, at a time when TV ratings had dropped because of Borg's dominance. The essay was called something like "How Roscoe Tanner Saved Breakfast At Wimbledon".

I think I remember that article. That was the first live telecast of a Wimbledon final. I believe Wimbledon used to start the Men's Final precisely on the hour, making it more difficult for television intros. Roscoe helped NBC by purposely taking a long bathroom break to delay the start, thus helping the television intro. Taking Borg to 5 on the first live telecast was exciting and started the "Breakfast at Wimbledon" tradition on NBC.

[Datacipher]

Originally Posted by LttlElvis

I think I remember that article. That was the first live telecast of a Wimbledon final. I believe Wimbledon used to start the Men's Final precisely on the hour, making it more difficult for television intros. Roscoe helped NBC by purposely taking a long bathroom break to delay the start, thus helping the television intro. Taking Borg to 5 on the first live telecast was exciting and started the "Breakfast at Wimbledon" tradition on NBC.

Quite correct. Roscoe was asked discreetly by NBC to help as Wimbledon would not budge on this. He claimed he was nervous and went to the bathroom for an extended stay! His taking Borg to 5 was icing on the cake for "Breakfast at WImbledon".

[Don't Let It Bounce]

Originally Posted by LttlElvis

I think I remember that article. That was the first live telecast of a Wimbledon final. I believe Wimbledon used to start the Men's Final precisely on the hour, making it more difficult for television intros. Roscoe helped NBC by purposely taking a long bathroom break to delay the start, thus helping the television intro. Taking Borg to 5 on the first live telecast was exciting and started the "Breakfast at Wimbledon" tradition on NBC.

Right, I was misremembering: it wasn't that TV rating were dropping due to Borg's dominance; it was that Wimbledon had not yet become a big deal on TV. And I'd totally forgotten about the bathroom delay business. He really pushed Borg in that final, though.

It's a shame to hear that he came up short in the ethics department. I really enjoyed watching him serve.

[ubermeyer]

Originally Posted by Bilbo

Why does no one respect old Psycho-T's game. He had one of the biggest serves EVER, if not the most effective serve ever. It was also the most unique serve, as he had the quickest motion of all time. He was a ****** on grass, and had hard firm groundstrokes. On top of all this... HE IS AMERICAN, and he WON A GRAND SLAM! So, why no love for Roscoe Tanner, huh? Let's use this thread to appreciate and remember Psycho-T

What's so important about Americans to non-Americans? (I'm american btw)

Karlovic has a better serve, better volleys, and Tanner's backhand is only better by a little, though his forehand and movement are miles ahead.

[Rabbit]

Originally Posted by ubermeyer

What's so important about Americans to non-Americans? (I'm american btw)

Karlovic has a better serve, better volleys, and Tanner's backhand is only better by a little, though his forehand and movement are miles ahead.

Karlovic has a better serve? Not in my book. Tanner was barely 6' and served routinely in the 130-140 range. I've heard commentators say that Karlovic's serve is fast, but it also has no work on it, it's just a flat bomb. Tanner's serve was all over the place with spin. Tanner's delivery was also better. His perfect toss and quick motion were perfect for disguising the location and type of serve.

[Datacipher]

Originally Posted by Rabbit

Karlovic has a better serve? Not in my book. Tanner was barely 6' and served routinely in the 130-140 range. I've heard commentators say that Karlovic's serve is fast, but it also has no work on it, it's just a flat bomb. Tanner's serve was all over the place with spin. Tanner's delivery was also better. His perfect toss and quick motion were perfect for disguising the location and type of serve.

I have tried to ignore this thread, but being the resident expert on Tanner, I will chime in on this serve related aspect!

Karlovic does have the better serve, but it's not an easy call. Karlovic's is simply better due to greater margin for error and thus, higher percentages. However, Tanner had MUCH MUCH better diguise, his serve was as unreadable as they come.

Also, on the subject of height, Tanner actually felt his height worked for him. Most servers of that time, and now, that achieved comparable speeds to Roscoe were 6'3 and up. Tanner purposely worked on hitting low bouncing, low angle, high speed serves, which he felt people were less used to seeing and forced them to make awkward returns.

[gpt]

Originally Posted by Datacipher

I have tried to ignore this thread, but being the resident expert on Tanner, I will chime in on this serve related aspect!

Karlovic does have the better serve, but it's not an easy call. Karlovic's is simply better due to greater margin for error and thus, higher percentages. However, Tanner had MUCH MUCH better diguise, his serve was as unreadable as they come.

Also, on the subject of height, Tanner actually felt his height worked for him. Most servers of that time, and now, that achieved comparable speeds to Roscoe were 6'3 and up. Tanner purposely worked on hitting low bouncing, low angle, high speed serves, which he felt people were less used to seeing and forced them to make awkward returns.

In the 1977 AO Final (January) it was Tanners' serve as described above that enabled him to whip Vilas something like 6-3 6-3 6-3. The match was dominated by his serve that was staying low and swinging aggressively.

[SVP]

I always admired his efficient serving motion. Low toss, not a wasted motion. Like a windup toy.

I'm always saddened upon hearing about former athletes in trouble. These days the athletes have smartened up, surrounding themselves with family and reputable advisors to take care of them. In the old days, they seemingly floundered around when their playing days were over and had to scramble to survive. Examples, Denny McLain, Art Schlichter, now Lenny Dykstra.