Who was Lendl's biggest rival?

[kiki]

Originally Posted by Paul Murphy

Lendl is a figure that bridged two different eras of tennis. He was competitive in the era of Borg/Connors/McEnroe and also in the era of Wilander/Edberg/Becker. By the time Sampras peaked and Agassi finally got it together, Lendl was through.

Indeed his career bridged two eras.
I would have thought his greatest rivalry was with Mc.[/quote]

Lendl may have been the most longevous player of the Golden Age

[Ramon]

I think Lendl/McEnroe could have been a great rivalry but fell just short because of McEnroe's early retirement. I actually watched a match live (I forgot where it was), which was a turning point in their rivalry. Lendl was expected to win easily because he had a string of consecutive victories over Mac. Lendl was ahead and won the first set, but in the middle of the 2nd set, Mac got angry at a line call and then just turned it up another notch, constantly attacking. He won it easily after that. After that match, it looked like Mac was getting the upper hand more often than not, but he soon retired after that.

I had an anti-Mac fan sitting in front of me. It was just so amusing to me how Mac had a way of making people feel a real bitter hatred toward him, especially when he would cry like a baby over a line call and then use his anger to win! That was priceless!

[kiki]

Originally Posted by Ramon

I think Lendl/McEnroe could have been a great rivalry but fell just short because of McEnroe's early retirement. I actually watched a match live (I forgot where it was), which was a turning point in their rivalry. Lendl was expected to win easily because he had a string of consecutive victories over Mac. Lendl was ahead and won the first set, but in the middle of the 2nd set, Mac got angry at a line call and then just turned it up another notch, constantly attacking. He won it easily after that. After that match, it looked like Mac was getting the upper hand more often than not, but he soon retired after that.

I had an anti-Mac fan sitting in front of me. It was just so amusing to me how Mac had a way of making people feel a real bitter hatred toward him, especially when he would cry like a baby over a line call and then use his anger to win! That was priceless!

I saw many matches live and even in exos you would not catch the difference

[Mustard]

Originally Posted by kiki

Lendl may have been the most longevous player of the Golden Age

No. That's Connors.

[jrepac]

Originally Posted by Ramon

Those stats are very deceiving. Connors was past his prime in most of those encounters, but even in '82-'84 when Connors was losing most of the time and clearly past his prime, he found a way to beat Lendl when it mattered the most. Despite those stats, I think Connors had Lendl's number.
.

If WIKI is correct, Jimbo was 5-8 vs. Lendl from '82-'84. His last win over Ivan was in the Fall of '84 in Tokyo. I remember that was a very good match from Connors, indoors, on fast carpet to boot...which was one of Lendl's very best surfaces.

They had some close ones in there after that, but the balance clearly shifted as Ivan ascended to #1 in '85-87.

[Mustard]

Connors won all the big matches against Lendl at Wimbledon/US Open from 1982-1984, despite Lendl taking Connors apart in previous meetings in smaller tournaments.

[10smonkey]

Originally Posted by ramos77

the saw dust

i would say the broom

[jrepac]

Originally Posted by SystemicAnomaly

J Mac won his first 2 encounters (1980) with Lendl but then lost the next 7 (81-82). However, with his wins over Lendl in 83-84, McEnroe took the h2h lead 12-9. J Mac dropped to #2 in 1985 but maintained his edge over Lendl, 14-12. J Mac took some time off in 86 (married Tatum) and never regained his dominance in singles. They met again starting in 87 but J Mac won only 1 of their last 10 encounters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lendl%E2%80%93McEnroe_rivalry
.

After Mac took the layoff, he was never the same; he started losing to Connors again in the late '80's as well.

[jrepac]

Originally Posted by kiki

Panatta and Pecci, the only men to beat officialy Borg on clay since many years had a great mixture of touch,net reach and great S&V ability being the only s&v players raised on clay until Noah developed latwr

On US faster clay only Connors defeated Borg and that is due to the extremely bold and agressive all court attack that middle 70 Connors was able to play consistently and with unmatched confidence,as well as har tru being a bit
faster than red clay

Connors was at his peak in the mid 70's....Borg had not yet found out how to consistently beat him...on har tru, Connors was quite formidable.

[jrepac]

Originally Posted by kiki

Connors took the ball early and 'used Ivan power against him.Looked like Ivan was playing against himself,that was not the case with Borg and Mc Enroe
Lendl played Connors first at 79 Indianapolis qf and a few weeks later played first time Borg (Toronto sf)
He had played Mc in the juniors but their first pro match were the qf of the Milan 1980 event which was part of the WCT tour

Well, Connors was not afraid of Lendl's power, that much is sure and he always seemed able to get a good bead on Ivan's serve, even better than Agassi did in later years, I felt. Basically, Lendl could not easily "outhit" Connors. Really, he learned how to beat Connors by taking pace off the ball...lots of slices, making Jimmy generate the pace. That combined with "father time" began to push the rivalry to Lendl's favor.

[LeeD]

Himself.
Playing well, he could beat anyone.
Playing tentative, he was vulnerable and prone to introspection.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Himself.
Playing well, he could beat anyone.
Playing tentative, he was vulnerable and prone to introspection.

Not sure about that on a grass surface. Boris Becker at his best on grass in my opinion was better than Lendl at his best although Lendl could beat him.

Anyway he had a lot of rivals in Connors, McEnroe, Wilander, Becker and Edberg. Wilander and Lendl had a lot of great finals like the 1988 US Open final. The battles with Connors and McEnroe were tough too.

[LeeD]

Lendl, more than most other great players, looked inside himself in moments of stress and importance. He didn't use outside stimuli, but instead, seemed to need to find a balance of aggression and control from within. A caged animal just trying to get out, he kept his inner madness within visible check.

[Ramon]

Originally Posted by pc1

Not sure about that on a grass surface. Boris Becker at his best on grass in my opinion was better than Lendl at his best although Lendl could beat him.

Anyway he had a lot of rivals in Connors, McEnroe, Wilander, Becker and Edberg. Wilander and Lendl had a lot of great finals like the 1988 US Open final. The battles with Connors and McEnroe were tough too.

You're right. Lendl was not the greatest grass court player. Even Pat Cash was able to beat him on grass quite handily. Any of the players you mentioned above, with the possible exception of Wilander, would dominate Lendl on grass. Still, I admire his attitude of trying his best to win Wimbledon.

[ramos77]

Originally Posted by Ramon

Even Pat Cash was able to beat him on grass quite handily.

Cash was won of the best grass court players at one point, before injuries took their toll on his body. Look at all the players he beat on grass, at Wimbledon and in the Davis Cup...

[LeeD]

No shame losing to Cash, Rafter, or Sampras on grass.
Now losing to HaroldSolomon on grass is a different animal altogether.

[Ramon]

Originally Posted by LeeD

No shame losing to Cash, Rafter, or Sampras on grass.
Now losing to HaroldSolomon on grass is a different animal altogether.

You do realize that you just made the list of players who were clearly better on grass than Lendl that much bigger. So we now have Connors, McEnroe, Becker, Edberg, Cash, Rafter, and Sampras. How many more are we going to add to this list? We might as well add Agassi because he actually won Wimbledon, and we might as well add Ivanisevic because he was far more successful. How many more can we add?

[kiki]

Originally Posted by Mustard

Connors won all the big matches against Lendl at Wimbledon/US Open from 1982-1984, despite Lendl taking Connors apart in previous meetings in smaller tournaments.

Lendl also won three in a row at MSG

[kiki]

Originally Posted by jrepac

Connors was at his peak in the mid 70's....Borg had not yet found out how to consistently beat him...on har tru, Connors was quite formidable.

From 78 on it was all Borg wherever

[kiki]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Himself.
Playing well, he could beat anyone.
Playing tentative, he was vulnerable and prone to introspection.

Lecomte and Noah beat him often
And Gerulaitis,Vilas,Clerc and Panatta early