What the hell happened to Ivan Lendl in 1984

[McEnroeisanartist]

In 1982, he won 15 titles, in 1983, he won 7 titles.

In 1984, he only won 3 titles. Amazingly, it was the only year from 1980-1990, that he did not even win over 80% of his matches in a year.

[ollinger]

1) ummm, don't most athletes have some better years and some worse years???
2) ummm, perhaps finally winning a slam in Paris made him a bit more complacent the rest of the year?

[hoodjem]

McEnroe won almost everything else.

[Gizo]

He lost in 5 finals that year to an unstoppable McEnroe, plus the Rotterdam final against Connors which he was leading 6-0 1-0 was cancelled due to a bomb scare (it was Lendl who requested that the final be cancelled and not Connors incidentally).

Still I'm sure he would have taken winning significantly less titles but finally winning a major and one of the 'big three' titles.

[hoodjem]

Originally Posted by hoodjem

McEnroe won almost everything else.

P. S. Does anyone know what happened to Mac at the Australian?

I just checked the seedings, and he was not even listed.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by hoodjem

P. S. Does anyone know what happened to Mac at the Australian?

I just checked the seedings, and he was not even listed.

Didn´t play there.He had reached the semis in 83, losing to Wilander and would play in 85, when bobo osued him after a contoversial match.

The relatively big surprise of the 84 AO was Lendl being ousted by Curren in the fourth round ( I wonder how Curren was seeded so low so to meet Lendl very early).Of course, losing to Curren on grass, even if you are Lendl, is not such of a big surprise, as we all know.

[Gizo]

McEnroe has talked about receiving appearance money to play at the Australian Open, but didn't specify the year. Certainly the tournament organisers there were desperately to get such a global superstar to play at their event.

It wouldn't surprise me if he only showed up there in 1983 due to that appearance money. USA not reaching the Davis Cup final in 1983 would also have been a likely factor.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by Gizo

McEnroe has talked about receiving appearance money to play at the Australian Open, but didn't specify the year. Certainly the tournament organisers there were desperately to get such a global superstar to play at their event.

It wouldn't surprise me if he only showed up there in 1983 due to that appearance money. USA not reaching the Davis Cup final in 1983 would also have been a likely factor.

This could have happened but I don´t think in 84.mac had won everything on sight and the only big events he did not win, the French and DC finals, he went into the last match...IMO, he would have played the Australian so to round up his best ever year.Maybe he was burnt out, yet he won the Masters in Jan 85, so...

(BTW, does anybody remember the Jan 85 Masters final? I don´t think anybody can play better indoor tennis than him during that final)

[pc1]

John McEnroe in 1984 won 13 of 15 tournaments with an still Open Era record percentage of 82-3. He won 65.32% of his games for the entire years. The Games Won percentage is staggeringly great. If you have a one percentage higher Games Won percentage that is a big deal over the course of a year. To put it in perspective in Federer's best year for GW percentage he was in the 61% range.

McEnroe won two of three majors entered and was in the final of the other. Arguably the best year of the Open Era with a few other players.

[hoodjem]

^^^I wonder why he did not enter the AO?

[pc1]

Originally Posted by hoodjem

^^^I wonder why he did not enter the AO?

I think it was the times. The Australian wasn't as important and McEnroe had no chance to win the Grand Slam.

[Moose Malloy]

the Davis Cup final was held soon after the Australian Open in 1984, it was probably more important to Mac to be physically ready for that. Officially he withdrew from the AO due to a wrist injury.

this excerpt says a lot about the standing of the tournament in those days(so those who just use 'quality of fields' in order to determine the 'prestige' of a tournamet are a bit misguided)

Published: November 25, 1984

John McEnroe's abrupt withdrawal from the Australian Open because of a wrist injury has touched off an intense recruiting effort by tournament officials that could cost McEnroe a $200,000 prize he thought he had already won. The officials have been trying to persuade Jimmy Connors to take McEnroe's place in the tournament, which begins tomorrow, and if Connors accepts and wins the tournament, he would displace McEnroe as the top point-getter on the 1984 Grand Prix circuit and earn the first-place bonus of $600,000.

A victory by Connors would drop McEnroe to second place and limit him to a $400,000 bonus. Because Connors had supposedly completed his Grand Prix play for the year, McEnroe had seemed assured of a first-place finish. Colin Stubbs, the tournament director, said he had established a line of contact with Connors, but admitted there was only a 20-percent chance he would be able to induce him to come to Australia. Connors's wife, Patti, is due to give birth to their second child early next month.

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/25/sp...mcenroe&st=nyt

can you imagine the Australian Open TD today pleading with a top player today to enter the event? are we really going to pretend the '83 & '84 events had the same prestige as majors today just cause they had good fields? it took a long time for the AO to get where it was today, even in the 90s some top players skipped it(not just Agassi), it was not a given they would always be there like they are today.

[Mustard]

I think 1983 was the best Australian Open since 1971 in terms of prestige. The Australian Open certainly started to improve in prestige from 1983 onwards with the new slot of late November-early December settling in, and then the move to the present January slot in 1987. In 1988, we had the increase to 128 players in the draw, and the move to Flinders Park, which improved prestige most of all.

[jrepac]

Originally Posted by McEnroeisanartist

In 1982, he won 15 titles, in 1983, he won 7 titles.

In 1984, he only won 3 titles. Amazingly, it was the only year from 1980-1990, that he did not even win over 80% of his matches in a year.

Mac won nearly everything he entered; lendl and connors, respectively, were left w/scraps or 2nd place finishes. Connors won only 5 titles in '84 as well...losing many critical matches to Mac.

[DolgoSantoro]

God Mode McEnroe slaughtered everyone that year

[NLBwell]

Originally Posted by hoodjem

^^^I wonder why he did not enter the AO?

I heard him say on TV that if he had won the French and had a chance to win the Grand Slam that year he would have gone to Australia. Since that wasn't such an important tournament and he couldn't win the GS, he decided to stay home for Christmas [a break around the holidays, I guess].
Edited because of subsequent posts - thanks guys.

[Mustard]

Originally Posted by NLBwell

I heard him say on TV that if he had won the French and had a chance to win the Grand Slam that year he would have gone to Australia. Since that wasn't such an important tournament and he couldn't win the GS, he decided to stay home for Christmas.

The 1984 Australian Open was held from the 26th November to the 9th December, on the grass-courts of Kooyong, Melbourne, Victoria. The tournament hadn't been played around Christmas time since 1981. However, the 1984 Davis Cup final between Sweden and USA was played on the 16th-18th December on clay-courts in Gothenberg, and beating Sweden there would be a tough task, so that's probably a reason as to why McEnroe stayed away from Melbourne.

[hoodjem]

^^^Thanks much guys.

Because of your responses, all is clearly revealed.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by NLBwell

I heard him say on TV that if he had won the French and had a chance to win the Grand Slam that year he would have gone to Australia. Since that wasn't such an important tournament and he couldn't win the GS, he decided to stay home for Christmas.

Masters and WCT were far more important and he took both slaughtering Lendl at New York and Connors at Dallas

[gavna]

Originally Posted by hoodjem

^^^I wonder why he did not enter the AO?

The courts and facility were horrible at Kooyong and the writing was on the wall that it was well past the time to leave the facility. Along with the schedule changes and lack of prestige as stated before was a huge reason many didn't make the trip down.