Ferreira boast

[Datacipher]

"Ferreira is the only player who can boast of beating all-time greats Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Ivan Llendl, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras, not to mention modern-day world No.1s Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer"
Cool.

""I believe I've accomplished a lot," said the 32-year-old.

"I've played pretty much everybody. I can say that I've played, I guess, two generations of tennis players.

"I've beaten everybody except Agassi and Chang." Indeed, he actually lowered Sampras's colours no less than six times, the game's most prolific Grand Slam winner shaking his head every time the two crossed paths in the change rooms"

Says something about how tough Agassi and Chang can be.

But he never beat Agassi.

"I never once ever played him and walked off the court and felt like I played decent," said Ferreira. "I always felt like I played terrible.

"When I'd walk on the court, I felt like I was playing great tennis. I'd walk off and I'd be like 'geeze, I really suck'."

He didn't really. Few players can keep pace with Agassi and, with Todd Martin retiring earlier in the week and Ferreira to put away his racquet after one last Davis Cup tie later this month, the incomparable American will be the last of a past generation still on the scene.

Ferreira was happy to be the second-last man standing and, typical of his modesty, the South African didn't ask to be remembered for too much, despite being assured of a unique place in tennis history.

"I think I'd like to be remembered as a competitor who gave a lot, who tried really hard," he said.

"I used to get upset and tear my racquet, but I don't believe I ever gave in.

"I wanted to win every single match."




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[strife726]

Thanks for posting that

[Deuce]

I'm glad someone put up a post about Ferreira retiring.

He was rarely spectacular, and not often very noticed - but he hung in there and, I believe, played honestly throughout. 56 consecutive Majors - he's played EVERY Major for 13 consecutive years. How many of us have even Watched every Major on TV for the past 13 consecutive years?

Yeah, he can boast about more than a few accomplishments. But he's not the type to boast.

[pound cat]

I had the pleasure of watchng him and Roger from 10 feet away in a very small court in Toronto, and they were having a great time...of course they would be. They were playing Safin & Kafelnikov, none of whom were taking the match at all seriously. LOL

[JohnThomas1]

Great post Data as usual.

[baseliner]

Great post. Another of the true gentlemen of the game retiring. Never can recall anything negative I ever saw or read about him. May he enjoy his post playing career.

[alfa164164]

He came close to beating Agassi at the '96 Olympics semis.
He served for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd set.
He played great up to that point.
Ironically, in the other semi, Malivai Washington also served for the match in the 3rd set only to lose to Brugera.

[joe sch]

Ferreira is a class act ! What a career and an example. Will be soo sorry to see him and Todd Martin retiring, both are just such great players & people.

[Kevin Patrick]

Data,
I think its pretty funny that the writer chose to include Borg as one of Ferreira's "wins." It was at '92 Monte Carlo, when Borg was attempting his ill advised comeback.
Also, I find it interesting that Ferreira is retiring with 56 majors played. Connors has the record with 57 total played, surprised Ferreira isn't interested in getting that record considering that he was so intent on breaking Edberg's consecutive slam record, that he played '03 Wimbledon even though he normally wouldn't have under normal circumstances because he had an injury at the French a few weeks earlier that caused him to leave the court on a wheelchair.

[Datacipher]

You are most welcome all.

Kevin, yes Borg's name immediately jumped out at me to and I assumed it was during the "comeback" so maybe an asterix should be beside that one but it does make the list unique...plus the writer left out Mcenroe. Ferreira really came into the public eye when he beat John at the Aussie. I didn't realize he was so close to Connor's record. I'm at a loss to think of why he wouldn't want to surpass it, maybe you need to tell him about it! lol

When I think of him I remember:

1.His wild, huge backswing forehand. Not the most consistent or versatile, but when he had the time to set up the way he liked he walloped it as hard as anyone ever has.

2.Relatively versatile, he could come in and play the net agressively
at times or stay back exclusively...1st serve was not scary but a pretty consistent weapon for him...was decent on all surfaces.

3.A good athlete, a pretty good mover, could lunge and dive and improvise, backhand was kind of stiff but worked fine.

[Kevin Patrick]

Data,
just checked the ap article about Ferreira. Apparently both he & Connors have the record with 57 total majors played, so if Wayne shows up in Australia the record is his.
Incidently there is a great (about 10 page) article in the current issue(might be leaving newstands today) of SI about Connors and his 1974 campaign. As you know Connors was banned from the French that year because of playing WTT. He sued unsucessfully(he was even in Paris during the tourney for his court case).
In the article Connors said the only regret of his career was that he skipped the French for 4 more years after that because he was so upset they banned him in '74. Considering that he only played the Australian twice & played the US & Wimbledon 20 times, he should have had more than 70 slam appearances.

Anyway, my thoughts on Ferreira:
I think of him as kind of an underachiever. He made quite a splash(as you mentioned) in '92 with that win over an in form McEnroe. He also made the quarters of the US that year losing a 5 setter to Chang. After that year I thought he would be a consistent second week player at the Slams. It of course didn't happen, but he was always around the top 10 in the rankings for a few years. I think he didn't do better in the slams due to his insane schedule, the guy played almost every week & I don't think he thought about 'peaking' for the slams when making his schedule. Kafelnikov was the same way, & Moya & Safin seem headed in that direction. Its a shame players aren't smarter with their schedules like Sampras & Agassi are/were. But money seems more important to players nowadays, than the chance to achieve something truly special in the sport.

[Datacipher]

Kevin, I can see what you mean. I think his ranking was reflective of his ability for the most part. But except for sporadic runs he was an underacheiver in the slams. I remember also the summers of 94 and 96 he was playing really well, one of the hottest players on the circuit only to go out early at the USO. In 94, it was excusable as even though he beat a very young Rios, he lost to Agassi in the 3rd round. In 96, he won Toronto then went to New York and inexplicably lost to David Nainkin (#215...had to look that up lol) in the 1st round. I guess part is due to his big shotmaking game...and perhaps he was a bit more prone to nerves than anybody would like to admit.

LIke you pointed out, overscheduling is always a problem for some...it's funny because you'd think the top guys...say top 40...and especially top 10-20 would be a bit more immune to monetary concerns. After all, if you are a serious contender for a slam title, you usually are making plenty. Plus good slams results will mean more money in the long run anyway...

Thanks for the heads up on the SI, I might take a look and see if I can pick that up locally.