Yet Another Favorite Decade Thread

[slowfox]

For me it's the 80s - variety of playing styles and court surfaces, graphite racquets taking over, power tennis but still room for artistry, athletes starting to place more emphasis on fitness, and the various player personalities.

I suppose most of that could be the 90s too, but I found those days had too many big serve fests. 70s - loved the artistry and different playing styles, but big power wasn't there yet. 60s - can't say I know a whole lot, but it seemed like a lot of S&V only, amazing stuff though. 50s and before - I have no idea, so can't really comment.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by slowfox

For me it's the 80s - variety of playing styles and court surfaces, graphite racquets taking over, power tennis but still room for artistry, athletes starting to place more emphasis on fitness, and the various player personalities.

I suppose most of that could be the 90s too, but I found those days had too many big serve fests. 70s - loved the artistry and different playing styles, but big power wasn't there yet. 60s - can't say I know a whole lot, but it seemed like a lot of S&V only, amazing stuff though. 50s and before - I have no idea, so can't really comment.

I would agree with you if you look as a decade as a whole.The 80´s had seven all timers with a lot of variety and not only they played all differently but court speed was also so much different and diversified...Borg,Mac,Connors at the first half and Becker,Wilander,Edberg in the second half with Lendl as the anchorman of that magic decade ( plus Tanner,Vilas,Mayer,Clerc,Vitas,Cash,Kriek,Noah,Gom ez and youngs Agassi and Sampras at the end of the decade)

Early 70´s was just as good with Laver,Rosewall,Newcombe,Kodes,Nastase,Ashe,Smith,R oche,Okker,Gimeno as well as up and coming exciting players such as Orantes,Panatta,Connors,Tanner,Amritraj and Borg.IMO, the best ever top 10-15.

And the second half of the 50´s were also unbelievable good with Kramer still tough,Gonzales,Hoad,Trabert,Rosewall,Cooper,Segura ,Olmedo,Anderson and exciting up and coming players that would reach their peak in the early 60´s such as Pietrangeli,Gimeno,Santana,Fraser,Emerson and Rod Laver.

Second Half of the 50´s, first half of the 70´s and the whole 80´s mark the pinnacle in tennis history.

For women I´d pick firat half of the 70´s ´(Court,King,Wade,Casals and young Evert and Goolagong) and the first half of the 80´s (Martina,Chris,Hana,Tracy,Jaeger,Shriver,Hanika,Bu nge,Barker,Jausovic,Ruzici,Jordan,Stevens,Potter,M arsikova,Smith,Kohde,Durie,Sukova...) but the best era IMo were the 90´s as a whole:Graf,Old but competitive Martina,Seles,Capriati,Sabatini,Martinez,Novotna,F ernandez,Sanchez Vicario,Hingis,Kournikova,young Venus and young Serena,Clijsters,Mauresmo...the strongest colection of great players

So, first half of the 70´s and the 80´s for women along the whole decade of the 90´s.

[jean pierre]

70's. Exactly 1974-1984. Players with very different games ant a lot of charism. The group Borg-Connors-Vilas-McEnroe-Gerulaitis was fantastic.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by jean pierre

70's. Exactly 1974-1984. Players with very different games ant a lot of charism. The group Borg-Connors-Vilas-McEnroe-Gerulaitis was fantastic.

According to the historical development and pointing marks that turn things around, IMO we can divide the open era tennis in the following slots of homogeneous periods of time:

1968-1973
1974-1979
1980-1984
1985-1990
1991-1996
1997-2002
2003-2007
2008-2012

[Dan Lobb]

Originally Posted by kiki

I would agree with you if you look as a decade as a whole.The 80´s had seven all timers with a lot of variety and not only they played all differently but court speed was also so much different and diversified...Borg,Mac,Connors at the first half and Becker,Wilander,Edberg in the second half with Lendl as the anchorman of that magic decade ( plus Tanner,Vilas,Mayer,Clerc,Vitas,Cash,Kriek,Noah,Gom ez and youngs Agassi and Sampras at the end of the decade)

Early 70´s was just as good with Laver,Rosewall,Newcombe,Kodes,Nastase,Ashe,Smith,R oche,Okker,Gimeno as well as up and coming exciting players such as Orantes,Panatta,Connors,Tanner,Amritraj and Borg.IMO, the best ever top 10-15.

And the second half of the 50´s were also unbelievable good with Kramer still tough,Gonzales,Hoad,Trabert,Rosewall,Cooper,Segura ,Olmedo,Anderson and exciting up and coming players that would reach their peak in the early 60´s such as Pietrangeli,Gimeno,Santana,Fraser,Emerson and Rod Laver.

Second Half of the 50´s, first half of the 70´s and the whole 80´s mark the pinnacle in tennis history.

For women I´d pick firat half of the 70´s ´(Court,King,Wade,Casals and young Evert and Goolagong) and the first half of the 80´s (Martina,Chris,Hana,Tracy,Jaeger,Shriver,Hanika,Bu nge,Barker,Jausovic,Ruzici,Jordan,Stevens,Potter,M arsikova,Smith,Kohde,Durie,Sukova...) but the best era IMo were the 90´s as a whole:Graf,Old but competitive Martina,Seles,Capriati,Sabatini,Martinez,Novotna,F ernandez,Sanchez Vicario,Hingis,Kournikova,young Venus and young Serena,Clijsters,Mauresmo...the strongest colection of great players

So, first half of the 70´s and the 80´s for women along the whole decade of the 90´s.

I think that we should restrict our player lists to those who actually were in peak or near-peak form, and not include names of players who would eventually peak.
On this basis, the 1950's looks the best, with peak appearances from Kramer, Gonzales, Sedgman, Drobny, Patty, Savitt, Seixas, Hoad, Rosewall, Trabert, Segura, Cooper, Anderson, Fraser, Olmedo, Pietrangeli, Davidson, Rose, and others. Great strength on all surfaces from all these players, which you do not see today.

[Gizo]

I do think that grass court tennis was more enjoyable in the 70s and 80s than in the 90s or the 00s. In those days it had the right balance of rewarding aggressive play but not being too heavily serve dominated.

I think that clay court tennis was more enjoyable to watch in the 90s than the 80s though, with enhancements in racket technology allowing more aggressive play on the surface as opposed to endless moonballing contests, but still rewarding patient point construction.