vilas vs. nastase

[chiru]

""I did not lose to a player but against a racket," he said, referring to the double-strung racket the Romanian was using at the time." what is vilas talking about. i know there was something controversial going on at that time, but what?

[sureshs]

That was the infamous spaghetti string racquet that was used till it was banned.

[malakas]

Spaghetti string?Why it was banned?

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by malakas

Spaghetti string?Why it was banned?

It produced a weird spin which no one could return.

[sureshs]

Wait a minute. I take back what I said. The spaghetti string was used by a no-name guy to beat someone. This must be something else.

[Moose Malloy]

Wait a minute. I take back what I said. The spaghetti string was used by a no-name guy to beat someone. This must be something else.

No, you were right the 1st time.

""I did not lose to a player but against a racket," he said, referring to the double-strung racket the Romanian was using at the time." what is vilas talking about. i know there was something controversial going on at that time, but what?

Google it, you will find many articles. Or search my posts, I wrote about this several times. Vilas won 20 or so more clay matches after this "loss"(he was defaulted, walked off the court in disgust) to Nastase. So no one really beat Vilas on clay for 70 some straight matches.

[malakas]

sureshs,I am a beginner and I don't know so much about tennis.(Yet). I am just watching tennis as a fan most of the times.Though, I find it very hard to believe that they banned a string because it created a weird spin?!Even if it was not that spaghetti-macaroni string..

[slice bh compliment]

Originally Posted by sureshs

... The spaghetti string was used by a no-name guy to beat someone. ...

Christophe Roger-Vasselin
Pete Fischback/Fishback/Fishbach (sp?)

[slice bh compliment]

Originally Posted by chiru

""I did not lose to a player but against a racket," he said, referring to the double-strung racket the Romanian was using at the time." what is vilas talking about. i know there was something controversial going on at that time, but what?

Willy versus Ilie.
The spins musta been silly.
That is one match I would love to see
on vhs or dvd.
The end of a streak.
that Rafa just tweaked.
Can he keep it going two weeks?

[Moose Malloy]

sureshs,I am a beginner and I don't know so much about tennis.(Yet). I am just watching tennis as a fan most of the times.Though, I find it very hard to believe that they banned a string because it created a weird spin?!Even if it was not that spaghetti-macaroni string..

Wood racquets are very different from racquets today. It was almost impossible to generate heavy spin. With this "spaghetti style strung" racquet the speed was ridiculous compared to normal wood racquets. So it was banned.

There are equipment regulations in many sports.
Here what Vilas said:

"These two records I held came to an end when I lost to Ilie Nastase, who was using the 'spaghetti racquet' (which was double strung to put more spin in the ball and was very soon banned). So you could say that it wasn't a fair result when my series of wins finally came to an end. And afterwards, I went on to win six or seven tournaments in a row. Having said that, Nadal is a really nice young lad and I'm very happy for him."

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/ne...908346629.html

[malakas]

Thanx very much Moose Malloy for the valuable information.I had no idea that villas lost in such an unfair way.. Yeap, that Nadal boy is very lucky indeed ........Though I still don't find it right to ban equipment just because it was way better than the other styles..Maybe it is just of things that make tennis so unique and special.

[chiru]

i don't get the technology though. like does anyone have a picture of how such a racket is strung? I mean, what does it look like? what does it mean by double strung?

[Moose Malloy]

here's a pic(scroll down)

http://www.itftennis.com/technical/e...ngs/stringing/

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by slice bh compliment

Christophe Roger-Vasselin
Pete Fischback/Fishback/Fishbach (sp?)

So Moose Malloy, was I right or wrong the first time?

[slice bh compliment]

Well, Nastase used it too.

[NoBadMojo]

It was Michael Fischbach that first got things going with the spagheti stringing. He was a real journeyman player never beating the top players and not even ranked in the top 100 until he appeared with a sahetti strung racquet while made opponents like Stan Smith and Ilis Nastase and Bill Scanlon look like fools because it was like playing with one of those crazy bounce balls which bounced totally unpredictably. Even Fischbach didnt dare try and hit anything close to the line at all because there really was no control w. this racquet....just swing for the middle of the court and it would hopefully go in and then bounce totally crazily and unpredictably. It really didnt resemble tenns and should have never been allowed and it made the opponent look really foolish and become embarrassed. Unfortunately it wasnt illegal when the streak of Vilas ended so vilas doesnt have a case I dont think, but how stupid was the ITF for even allowing it. who knows how long Vlas could have gone without a loss. Nastase started using it after getting embarrassed by Fischbach I believe

[slice bh compliment]

That's it. I was thinking of another Fishbach, Pete. His brother?

Yeah, If I recall, Nasty lost to Mike Fishbach twice in the same month or two. 1977 or 1978 was it?

[malakas]

NoBadMojo,first when they told me in this forum that spaghetti stringing was banned I thought that it was pretty unfair because I regarded it like some sort or new development or technik in tennis that should not banned but even accepted from all the players and be used.But after your very imformative post I realize how this stringing just destroyed tennis as we know and love it.I quess that is to show how bad ignorance is... .So,Thanx very much for your post.

[NoBadMojo]

Originally Posted by malakas

NoBadMojo,first when they told me in this forum that spaghetti stringing was banned I thought that it was pretty unfair because I regarded it like some sort or new development or technik in tennis that should not banned but even accepted from all the players and be used.But after your very imformative post I realize how this stringing just destroyed tennis as we know and love it.I quess that is to show how bad ignorance is... .So,Thanx very much for your post.

hey man..no problemo. it really did take the skill element mostly out of the game..you would have to see how the ball reacted to believe it..opponents could do often nothing but lunge at balls and they would even do the occassional whiff....it was a dark moment in tennis history ;O
i think someone posted pics of the spaghetti stringing, so i wont try and explain....nowadays they would have spaghetti strngjobs, vermicelli stringjobs, linguini stringjobs, etc

ya sliced bh...i swallowed the whole bottle of ginkgo biloba thus inducing a memory attack and was able to recall Mike Fischbach

[slice bh compliment]

Originally Posted by NoBadMojo

....i swallowed the whole bottle of ginkgo biloba thus inducing a memory attack and was able to recall Mike Fischbach

Hahhah, good call, man. But stay off them smart drinks, especially when they glow in the dark at a party.