lendl's groundstrokes.

[obsessedtennisfandisorder]

hi...i always liked Ivan Lendl when I was a kid....disliked becker funnily enough
and of course edberg's back-arch serve was famous...but to get to the point..I was watching some vids and I realised just how good lendl's technique must have been considering the racquet he's using>

what is the sq in total?
what is the frame made of (hard to tell)?
what strings is he using?
How tight did he like the strings?

Would really appreciate any answers to these questions.

There was a recently a thread about best backhands..the usual suspects came up..agassi/safin/kuerten/connors etc...didn't see lendl much.

what's more..lendl has this awesome looking running backhand where he often hits the ball up the line..I remember watching this as a kid.

PS: scary how mcuh lendl's strokes reming me of fed..or is it vice versa?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MFsPbYBLDE

[kiki]

His secret on fh was a perfect timing and execution helped by a long arm
Backhand improved and was great on the passing but not as good and reliable as his fh

[shamaho]

Loved Lendl too. My tennis coach still corrects my FH prep which is modeled after Lendl - says too demanding on my pec and shoulder blade muscles.

His racket was an Adidas made of either carbon or graphite. I think its 85 sq inch. And he used natural gut

[gavna]

The GTX and GTX pro he used from adidas was graphite/fiberglass......and it was not a midsize....like 70sqin. He started using a midsize frame at the end of his career and at Wimby when he was desperate to win a title.

I'm sure some of the GTX adidas experts here will chime in with exact specs. I first remember seeing him at the orange bowl in the late 70s when he was using if I remember right a Maxply Fort....still had a HUGE forehand! Solid serve and his backhand got better and really strong after 1982.....had a wicked slice as well.

[Mike Bulgakov]

I enjoy hitting a topspin backhand with a high racquet take-back, using a non-extreme backhand grip. I also find the Lendl topspin backhand more aesthetically pleasing than Federer's topspin backhand, with the low take-back.



TW should consider selling Lendl's stylish hat.

[Mike Bulgakov]

Originally Posted by gavna

The GTX and GTX pro he used from adidas was graphite/fiberglass......and it was not a midsize....like 70sqin. He started using a midsize frame at the end of his career and at Wimby when he was desperate to win a title.

I'm sure some of the GTX adidas experts here will chime in with exact specs. I first remember seeing him at the orange bowl in the late 70s when he was using if I remember right a Maxply Fort....still had a HUGE forehand! Solid serve and his backhand got better and really strong after 1982.....had a wicked slice as well.

Ivan Lendl racquets

By 1980, the young Ivan Lendl had established himself firmly in the top ten. He played a Kneissl White Star Pro at that time, the very first model of the famous White Star line. In December 1980, Kneissl introduced the White Star Ivan Lendl which was similar to the White Star Pro, but additionally featured the component kevlar. However, the name of the new White Star racquet actually was an anachronism, as the Kneissl/Lendl era should very soon come to an end: Beginning from 1 January 1981, Lendl was contracted with adidas, from then on playing the Adidas GTX Pro Graphite which was identical with the White Star Pro, a true paint job. Shortly before his contract with Adidas began, on occasion of the Davis Cup final CSSR vs Italy (4:1) in December 1980, Lendl had already played a Kneissl White Star Pro revarnished into Adidas design. But Lendl`s shift to Adidas actually was a name game only, as Kneissl produced the GTX Pro Graphite for Adidas in Austria. Later on, the Adidas GTX Pro Graphite Ivan Lendl was made in a separate factory in France on behalf of Adidas, but evidently Kneissl still sold Adidas the respective molds. Lendl used to play the GTX Pro and soon thereafter the personalized and slightly modified version, the GTX Pro Graphite Ivan Lendl (again, a paint job, as this racquet was identical with the Kneissl White Star Lendl) until 1985, then switching to the GTX Pro-T, a slightly modified GTX Pro Graphite Ivan Lendl with a new design. However, at Wimbledon 1985, by way of exception Lendl used the black Adidas GTX Mid-T frame and lost to Henri Leconte in the fourth round.

In the course of the 80ies, Adidas produced quite a large variety of other rackets carrying Lendl`s name (e.g. the CF series), almost exclusively midsize rackets, but not all of these proved to be really good tennis rackets. In 1985, Adidas wanted Lendl to switch to the Adidas Ivan Lendl CF 25-G, but Lendl didn`t come to grips with the 25% larger head size, sticking to his GTX Pro Graphite Ivan Lendl. As a consequence, Adidas launched the GTX Pro-T in the aftermath.

Lendl terminated his Adidas contract as of 31 Decemver 1989, moving to Japan company Mizuno. He entered a multi-year 15 million USD (plus bonus) deal with Mizuno for both racquets and clothes that should last from 1990 until 1995 (Lendl resigned in 1994). Nevertheless Lendl still played his GTX Pro-T for a bit, until Mizuno made him his old Kneissl/Adidas racquet with a Mizuno paint. They even sold an exact version of this model in Japan only. The rest of the world got the frame Lendl used to play solely on grass at Queens and Wimbledon, the 90si version which had a considerably larger head size than the GTX Pro-T paint job. With the Mizuno Lendl 90si, Lendl at least won Queens in 1990.

Mizuno Ivan Lendl racquets are highly expensive, much sought-after collector racquets.
http://www.80s-tennis.com/pages/ivan-lendl.html

[Paul Murphy]

Loved his running BH pass - thing of beauty.

[jaggy]

Originally Posted by Paul Murphy

Loved his running BH pass - thing of beauty.

When I think of indoor tennis in the 80s this is the visual I get, Lendl hitting a bh passing shot up the line

[NLBwell]

80's Indoor Tennis -
I think of Lendl hitting a forehand into McEnroe's gut.

[boramiNYC]

Originally Posted by Mike Bulgakov

I enjoy hitting a topspin backhand with a high racquet take-back, using a non-extreme backhand grip. I also find the Lendl topspin backhand more aesthetically pleasing than Federer's topspin backhand, with the low take-back.

I advocate high take back as well. In fact higher than Lendl. a la Gasquet or Almagro.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by jaggy

When I think of indoor tennis in the 80s this is the visual I get, Lendl hitting a bh passing shot up the line

...and Mac coming up with a no swing BH approach off his opponent´s second ball.

[F. Perry]

I learned tennis in the 80s and it's funny to see the backhand of players like Lendl--what I learned in tennis camp as the ideal bh seems so different from what even the one-handers hit now. To me, one of the main differences seems to be the way players like Borg, Lendl or Mac bend their knees and step into it; Almagro, Gasquet and Fed are usually completely upright. I take it one of the reasons for this is the game is faster now and the players don't have the time they once did, so even a one handed bh seems to engage the core more rather than the legs. it's interesting how these things have evolved over time.

Check out the difference in Lendl's follow-through, back in the day vs. 2011. The latter looks much more to me like Almagro, Fed, Gasquet, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFjgkbN4xnc

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

[robow7]

I think maybe the best forehand the game has seen. I can't imagine how good it might have been with today's racquets and poly strings. And before the *******s jump in here, yes Fed has an excellent fh but I think Lendl's was more consistant day in and day out.

[PBODY99]

Originally Posted by Mike Bulgakov

TW should consider selling Lendl's stylish hat.

Wilson had the Solar Eclipse hat a few years ago. Columbia has one in their line up.

[gavna]

Originally Posted by PBODY99

Wilson had the Solar Eclipse hat a few years ago. Columbia has one in their line up.

Those "legionnaire" style caps very common down in OZ (that's where Lendl first saw them and started wearing' em). But now Prince, Wilson....others have brought them over, you can find them online or in some of the larger online tennis shops.

[raging]

Originally Posted by gavna

Those "legionnaire" style caps very common down in OZ (that's where Lendl first saw them and started wearing' em). But now Prince, Wilson....others have brought them over, you can find them online or in some of the larger online tennis shops.

Yes, they are all over oz, standard issue to the kids in schools & really the best to keep the sun off the back off your neck for 3-4hours!
Always felt like a zombie wearing them though...
once Rochie started coaching him they became in fashion.

[shamaho]

Originally Posted by jaggy

When I think of indoor tennis in the 80s this is the visual I get, Lendl hitting a bh passing shot up the line

My such visual is a Lendl forehand winner so powerfull that I could hardly follow the balls path. Heck many of those times I could not see the ball at all after being struck by Lendl

[hoodjem]

Originally Posted by gavna

The GTX and GTX pro he used from adidas was graphite/fiberglass......and it was not a midsize....like 70sqin. He started using a midsize frame at the end of his career and at Wimby when he was desperate to win a title.

I'm sure some of the GTX adidas experts here will chime in with exact specs. I first remember seeing him at the orange bowl in the late 70s when he was using if I remember right a Maxply Fort....still had a HUGE forehand! Solid serve and his backhand got better and really strong after 1982.....had a wicked slice as well.

My hitting partner has one of these Lendl raquets. He pulls it out when he wants to punish himself for hitting lazily.

It has a small head, weighs 14 ounces or so, and is stiffer than a board. It is a brutal beast.

[slowfox]

Originally Posted by hoodjem

It has a small head, weighs 14 ounces or so, and is stiffer than a board. It is a brutal beast.

I vaguely recall that Lendl strung his adidas around 72 lbs. Not sure if accurate...