rod laver hitting a reverse forehand

[serveitup911]

Wow, terrible sportsmanship by Vilas against Connors. He gets the linesman to change his call on match point, then doesn't shake Connors' hand.

Great tennis though.

[The Gorilla]

connors was no angel himself.

[Solat]

pfft that backhand pass pwned

[Andres]

Originally Posted by serveitup911

Wow, terrible sportsmanship by Vilas against Connors. He gets the linesman to change his call on match point, then doesn't shake Connors' hand.

Great tennis though.

That wasn't how it happened.
Vilas was interviewed in a TV show in TyC Sports (I think there are 5 clips of that on youtube), and Vilas said something like: "after the match, I spoke with the linesman, to see what happened with that last call (which was clearly out), why did you wait that long to call it out? and he said "for 5 seconds, I wanted to be the most important thing in the world. Everyone's eyes was on me! For 5 seconds, I felt like God"

Didn't catch the no-handshake though. Gotta check it again, but I remember the crowd went wild, and lifted him in their shoulders... he doesn't shake his hand at all?

[Andres]

Nope, the video doesn't show it, but it's also cropped, too.
Maybe he shook his hands later, don't know. But it would've been quite rude if he doesn't shake his opponent's hand after a GS win...

[grizzly4life]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

just curious, when did you start playing tennis? your profile says your age & I'm guessing you were in your 20s when Vilas was on tour?

if vilas was 1977, i would have been 8 or 9...... does my profile have an age in it? i don't remember putting one in and then it would be wrong..... so i wasn't even born during prime laver, although i didn't know he played events (exhibitions??) for so long afterwards.

[urban]

Moose is right about the Connors-Rosewall match at Wimbledon. OK, Rosewall was beaten fair and square, but going by my memory, it was closer than the score indicates. Rosewall had his chances on the connors' serve, even had 2 breaks, but had problems with his own serve (and the Connors' return). Even late in the game, it looked possible, that Rosewall could rose from the dead (what he did in the semi vs. Smith). Rosewall had always more problems with good returners (like Hoad and Laver in their prime), than serve-and- volleyers. Another guy, who gave him trouble at Wimbledon (1971) was Cliff Richey, a short, stocky, muscular fighter (called "the Bull"), who played a Connors-like game before Connors' time.

[Moose Malloy]

Connors left the court immediately(didn't come back for the awards ceremony either) so Vilas didn't get a chance to shake his hand. Vilas has joked about it a few years ago in interviews, "I'm still waiting to shake Jimmy's hand!"

moose, could you upload some clips of ille nastase pls?

I'm not that computer literate. I don't even know how to duplicate my dvds.

if vilas was 1977, i would have been 8 or 9...... does my profile have an age in it?

Your profile says your 48

BTW, if i buy either or both of these video's, will they look alot better than these youtubes?

I have both matches, quality is a lot better than youtube. I've noticed that sound makes a big difference in how one perceives the pace of the game on video. Many of the older matches had very poor sound, which I think is a factor in why so many current fans mock the game of the past as being slow. A Santoro slice backhand sounds harder hit than a Borg forehand on some of the dvds I have! I have 2 versions of the Borg-Mac '80 wimbledon final, one from NBC, one from BBC, & the NBC version sounds like they are hitting much harder.

[The Gorilla]

well if you

(1)go to http://www.youtube.com

(2)register http://www.youtube.com/signup

(3)select the upload button on the top right hand corner below the search bar

(4)browse and select the video file you want to upload

(5)Add key words in the box that allows you to do so, these are words which register with the search engine, for example in the vilas- connors us open final video I posted a link to, the key words are : guillermo, vilas, connors, usopen, tennis.

When people type these words into the search bar the uploaded file with the closest match to the search words will come up, followed by the file that has the second most key words in common with the search words.


It's actually very easy and user friendly on youtube.

[The Gorilla]

. .

[stormholloway]

Vilas clearly went to the net to shake hands. Then he was hoisted up on the shoulders of his fans.

Nothing unsportsmanlike there. Vilas was unbelievable in that match. Seems like the US Open on clay would have been Borg's year though.

[Moose Malloy]

Nothing unsportsmanlike there. Vilas was unbelievable in that match. Seems like the US Open on clay would have been Borg's year though.

Borg was seeded to play Vilas in the semis that year, but had to retire with an injured shoulder in his 4th round match. Lucky Vilas

[Moose Malloy]

Gorilla, I took a look at your links. All I have are dvds & vhs copies of my matches, how do I convert them to the file formats? I really don't understand how this stuff works.

If you want, you can purchase nastase matches from that site grizzly mentioned, they are very cheap. I recommend his match with Ashe in the '72 US Open final.

[The Gorilla]

Oh, sorry m8, I thought you had them as files on your computer.I'm sure Laurie would be more than happy to help you out though.

[Andres]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

Connors left the court immediately(didn't come back for the awards ceremony either) so Vilas didn't get a chance to shake his hand. Vilas has joked about it a few years ago in interviews, "I'm still waiting to shake Jimmy's hand!"

Then, it was Jimmy's fault, not Willy's