Great stories from the Golden Era 1974-1984

kiki

Banned
Rolling Stones
The Faces - Small/Faces - Humble Pie
The Beatles
Led Zeppelin
Aerosmith
The Who
Neil Young
The Jam
The Police
The Clash
..........to name 10.

Led Zep, Who,Credence,Cream,Queen,Deep Purple,Sabath,Pink Floyd,Stones,Aerosmith,Motorhead,ACDC,Beatles,Hendrick Experience,Clash and Ramones are the sixteen seededs but there are other potential surprises such as Metalica, ELP,Sex Pistols and Gun's & Roses
 

JAY1

Semi-Pro
Led Zep, Who,Credence,Cream,Queen,Deep Purple,Sabath,Pink Floyd,Stones,Aerosmith,Motorhead,ACDC,Beatles,Hendrick Experience,Clash and Ramones are the sixteen seededs but there are other potential surprises such as Metalica, ELP,Sex Pistols and Gun's & Roses
Yes agree with most of yours. Also i am a big T-Rex fan.
So i've ordered the Bud Collins & Richard Evans book's.
I also read Peter Bodo's 1978 Life on Tour, very interesting especially in Rome, the fans are something else, are they calmer these days?
 

kiki

Banned
Yes agree with most of yours. Also i am a big T-Rex fan.
So i've ordered the Bud Collins & Richard Evans book's.
I also read Peter Bodo's 1978 Life on Tour, very interesting especially in Rome, the fans are something else, are they calmer these days?

Never read that book.I read Mmenshaw Shortcircuit and Evans book written around 1991 or so.I cannot recall it.
And Les Cannibales du Tennis, by Couvercelle is a great one but it covers 1968 till 1979 or early 1980 (Mac is not one of the 10 champions portrayed)
 

JAY1

Semi-Pro
Never read that book.I read Mmenshaw Shortcircuit and Evans book written around 1991 or so.I cannot recall it.
And Les Cannibales du Tennis, by Couvercelle is a great one but it covers 1968 till 1979 or early 1980 (Mac is not one of the 10 champions portrayed)
I'm not bothered about Mac to be honest, more Connors, Borg & Vilas. Do you know if it was printed in English Kiki?
 

kiki

Banned
I'm not bothered about Mac to be honest, more Connors, Borg & Vilas. Do you know if it was printed in English Kiki?

I don´t think so.It was a very enjoyable book line a small set of biographies plenty of personal anecdotes.If you speak or read French or Spanish you can get it, but I bet there is no single copy anymore.

" is Lendl on this plane? I try to make sure lendl and me never get in the same plane?" ( who else than mac?)

" Mc Enroe is never my partner" (who else than Ivan?)

those are some of the many comments of the book written around 1991 or 1992 covering the first ATP tour, in 1990.I just cannot remember who did the job, but it had a lot of pages and anecdotes.I´d bet it was Evans though.I don´t even recall the title, I recall reading it and laughing some times.
 

kiki

Banned
Rolling Stones
The Faces - Small/Faces - Humble Pie
The Beatles
Led Zeppelin
Aerosmith
The Who
Neil Young
The Jam
The Police
The Clash
..........to name 10.

A nice mixture of different Rock families.I agree on many of those but IMO Police are overrated ( due to Sting´s undeniable charisma ).They were good but not top ten stuff IMO...a R&R thread, tough, would be much more bloody that the already bloody tennis ones.Imagine, those old guys like me who defend Laver ,Hoad,Rosewall and others against the teengaer fans, how would defend Led Zep or Who against the million Lady gaga,Bieber millions of teen fans around those boards¡¡¡¡ I am sure I´d get banned on every post.:)
 

JAY1

Semi-Pro
A nice mixture of different Rock families.I agree on many of those but IMO Police are overrated ( due to Sting´s undeniable charisma ).They were good but not top ten stuff IMO...a R&R thread, tough, would be much more bloody that the already bloody tennis ones.Imagine, those old guys like me who defend Laver ,Hoad,Rosewall and others against the teengaer fans, how would defend Led Zep or Who against the million Lady gaga,Bieber millions of teen fans around those boards¡¡¡¡ I am sure I´d get banned on every post.:)
Regarding music and teen fans etc - the following statement rings true... "In years gone by, if you were special you became famous, these days if your famous your considered special"!
I would'nt consider myself old (44) but I think Hoad, Laver, Rosewall, Connors, Borg, McEnroe etc would be just as good as Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, Sampras, Agassi, Becker etc if they had today's equipment & balls!
I remember watching Connors aged 34 (nearly 35) in 1987 beat Cash (that year's Wimbledon champion) in the semi-final in straight sets and then next day play Becker in The Queens Club final, I sat in the front row behind the court both times, Connors was a set & break up against the defending Wimbledon champion. He was taking Becker & his game apart only to get a few tough line calls and ended up losing in three very close sets.
IN THEIR PRIME HEAD TO HEADS:
Hoad v Djokovic 6 - 4
Laver v Becker 7 - 3
Rosewall v Nadal 3 - 7
Connors v Sampras 5 - 5
Mcenroe v Agassi 5 - 5
Borg v Federer 4 -6
Looking forward to Kiki's and everyone elses 'Prime head to head's........
 

kiki

Banned
Jay,

i´m sure you covered all the bases researching for your book project, but have you tried to contact some of the long-term tournament directors. i´m sure they would be glad to share anecdotes with you:)
Horst Klosterkemper comes to mind, the director for the world team cup in Düsseldorf. he is just one example of many

Klosterk. was a superb organizer, this could be a great thread who is GOAT organizer
Feinburger couple at Phily were terrific
 

kiki

Banned
Regarding music and teen fans etc - the following statement rings true... "In years gone by, if you were special you became famous, these days if your famous your considered special"!
I would'nt consider myself old (44) but I think Hoad, Laver, Rosewall, Connors, Borg, McEnroe etc would be just as good as Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, Sampras, Agassi, Becker etc if they had today's equipment & balls!
I remember watching Connors aged 34 (nearly 35) in 1987 beat Cash (that year's Wimbledon champion) in the semi-final in straight sets and then next day play Becker in The Queens Club final, I sat in the front row behind the court both times, Connors was a set & break up against the defending Wimbledon champion. He was taking Becker & his game apart only to get a few tough line calls and ended up losing in three very close sets.
IN THEIR PRIME HEAD TO HEADS:
Hoad v Djokovic 6 - 4
Laver v Becker 7 - 3
Rosewall v Nadal 3 - 7
Connors v Sampras 5 - 5
Mcenroe v Agassi 5 - 5
Borg v Federer 4 -6
Looking forward to Kiki's and everyone elses 'Prime head to head's........

I agree with that motto.Very true.

As for H2H, it is almost impossible to tell.Court conditions are completely different so, even with same equipment,balls,strings ( and I´d pick mid 80´s rackets that would be the most neutral), still court conditions change.only CC are reasonably comparable, hard court was rare then and very popular now, just the opposite to indoor fast carpet.Of course, the only common thing between former grass and current grass is the colour remains green - and that may change as well...How do you make, in any case, the split of the ten matches per surface?

if we talk about current clay, maybe Nadal vs Rosewall is 7-3 but, of course, that would be the other way round on old carpet/wood and former grass.
 

kiki

Banned
LG Huemer is another example. long time tournament director in Vienna.

Bernard Noat at Montecarlo and the Gardini family at Milan Indoor.Few of them were still independnet in the era of the IMG, Donald Dell, J Kramer and so forth
 

comeback

Hall of Fame
In 1975 my brother and I saw Conners play a local pro Iderjit Singh on the Forest Hills grandstand court..i had only been playing tennis for a couple of years and i was in awe of how Conners completely destroyed Singh
6-0,6-1,6-0
Since that match, whenever we describe a double bagel or a complete crush we say "It was Singe City"
 

comeback

Hall of Fame
At the same 1975 US OPEN on har tru..Vitas Geruilitus was following a recently retired Pancho Gonzalez around like a puppy dog pestering him to play..Gonzalez relented and beat him in a practice set
 

Dean

Rookie
After 16 consecutive defeats at the hands of Jimmy Connors Vitas Gerulaitis finally took a victory against Connors.

After the match he was asked what he thought.

VG: "let that be a lesson to you all...Nobody... I mean nobody beat Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row."
 

Tshooter

G.O.A.T.
In 1975 my brother and I saw Conners play a local pro Iderjit Singh on the Forest Hills grandstand court..i had only been playing tennis for a couple of years and i was in awe of how Conners completely destroyed Singh
6-0,6-1,6-0
Since that match, whenever we describe a double bagel or a complete crush we say "It was Singe City"

You are mixing up the score, the court and the year. As well as the players first name. I was at the match.

Bonus points if you remember what other star player played on a field court at the same time. Victory lap if you recall what match was placed in the stadium at the same time.
 
Great ones in this thread. Indeed, the golden era of tennis....with all its idiosyncrasies and conflicts of interest (not that things are any more professional nowadays, haha).

If I may add... a few scattered thoughts/memories growing up as a tennis player during the 'tennis boom' in NY:

85 open, first rd, Mac over Shlomo Glickstein, 7-6 in the 3rd. I've never screamed so loud in my life. I realize this was a year after the OP's definition of the golden era, but these things have gray areas.

So on the early side of the golden era....the 72 Forest Hills final. Wow. Nasty over Ashe in 5 sets. What a match. Lead changes, drama, high quality tennis from all parts of the court. Contrasting styles, and that's just from the guy in the blue shirt. The Bucharest Backfire (history's hippest lob retrieval, later sampled/digitally remastered/covered by Dr. Dre in a might match vs Corretja in the 95 US Open).

Bobby Riggs vs Margaret Court. Riggs vs BJKing. Cheesy but effective way to kick off the golden era.

I saw some World Team Tennis matches in Madison Square Garden. The GARDEN. Weird-color-blocked court. NY Apples vs Boston Lobsters. Bud Collins on channel 13 (PBS affil)

My uncle (a tennis coach) told me about a teenage boy at Port Washington who was routinely winning practice sets off international circuit players.

Mac vs Nastase at the 79 US Open. Frank Hammond in the chair. Chaos. Default. Reinstatement. Vulgarity. Some intense, some sweet tennis. Hammond is relieved of his duties. Mac ends up prevailing.

Must read Rage for Perfection, the Richard Evans book on Mac.

Vitas was a story in and of himself -- just an incredible guy. Hours after ridiculous partying, he leads a kid's clinic the next morning. I was there, once as a kid, once as a feeder a few years later.

Orantes somehow beating Vilas in the 75 Forest Hills semi after being dead to rights, like 5-0 in the 4th. Having enough left in the tank to rout Connors in the final.

Ashe over Connors, 75 Wimbledon final. Rope a dope. Basically the Ali-Foreman fight in Kinshasa, only on grass at a nice club in suburban London.

I saw Rod Laver hit a one-handed topspin backhand swingvolley from no man's land. Tennis changed forever (for me). Not a sissy sport AT ALL.

Vilas over Connors, 77 Forest Hills Final. Mayhem.

Borg getting death threats in NY.

Connors going onto Barrazzutti's side of the court to wipe a mark that was his (out, but the linesman called it good, Connors wanted to keep it that way).

Nastase with an umbrella on the court.

Nastase vs Hans Jorgen Pohmann. Forest Hills. Look it up. Never again in sports will you see this kind of behavior.

Evonne Goolagong has a baby. Then wins Wimbledon. I think that was 1980.

Breakfast at Wimbledon.

Pat Cash went to an Iron Maiden concert during a tournament and smelled pretty bad the next day. Won his match and hit the hot tub at the hotel with random hotel guests.

Yannick Noah, smoking right before a match. Among other things in the locker room.

Noah, basically starting the whole 'find your dad in the stands' thing after winning a slam. 83 Roland. Served and volleyed on clay and won it. Against the defending champion, widely regarded as the greatest passing shot machine of his time. This was pure emotion. Love this game.

Mac playing dubs with Arthur Ashe. So cool. Such opposites.

An aging and undersized Ken Rosewall beats the crap out of most of the tour in 1974.

Newk. Legendary with the ladies.

Billie Jean King. Legendary for the ladies.

Borg. Never been a cooler tennis shirt than the pinstriped FILA.

The Wilson t2000. The single sh!ttiest piece of tennis equipment ever made. (paraphrased from an article by David Foster Wallace)

Vilas with the backwards tweener, later perfected by Sabatini and Noah. And now anyone and everyone.

Laver over Rosewall in 5, WCT finals in Texas. The finest men playing the finest tennis the world had ever seen.

Borg vs Mac. The battle of 18-16. The finest tennis with wood.

Lendl winning the biggest jr tournament in the world at Port Washington. Slazenger Challenge No. 1. Slice Bh for the most part.

Lendl wearing kangaroo leather shoes and switching from wood to a graphite Kneissl white star twin. Winning a million bucks in a year, long before he ever won a slam title. Money ball.

'You Cannot Be Serious! That ball was ON the LoINE. Chalk flew up!'

'You guys are the absolute pits of the world.'

'Answer the question. THE QUESTION, jerk!'

Lendl reads Eat To Win and follows The Haas diet. Mac retorts with a name for his own regimen - 'The Haagen Dazs diet'.

Navratilova getting super fit. The mother of the modern game gives birth to the end of the golden era.
 
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comeback

Hall of Fame
You are mixing up the score, the court and the year. As well as the players first name. I was at the match.

Bonus points if you remember what other star player played on a field court at the same time. Victory lap if you recall what match was placed in the stadium at the same time.

Yes Tshooter, i went everyday for the 3 years it was on Har Tru so i got the years mixed up but the score is pretty close..i could have sworn it was on the grandstand though..What are the other answers??:)
 

comeback

Hall of Fame
I saw some World Team Tennis matches in Madison Square Garden. The GARDEN. Weird-color-blocked court. NY Apples vs Boston Lobsters. Bud Collins on channel 13 (PBS affil)

i went to a lot of the WTT NY Apples..I saw Australian lefty Ray Ruffles beat Borg in a set 6-4 and i would often see Ruffles many years later coaching at US OPEN Qualies and remind him..HE LOVED HEARING IT
 

comeback

Hall of Fame
An aging and undersized Ken Rosewall beats the crap out of most of the tour in 1974.

At the US OPEN Forest Hills on Har Tru grandstand court i saw Rosewall make Phil Dent look silly with a smooth as silk variety in a straight set win
 

comeback

Hall of Fame
The Wilson t2000. The single sh!ttiest piece of tennis equipment ever made. (paraphrased from an article by David Foster Wallace)

How great was Conners that he could play so well with it :)
 

JAY1

Semi-Pro
Great ones in this thread. Indeed, the golden era of tennis....with all its idiosyncrasies and conflicts of interest (not that things are any more professional nowadays, haha).

If I may add... a few scattered thoughts/memories growing up as a tennis player during the 'tennis boom' in NY:

85 open, first rd, Mac over Shlomo Glickstein, 7-6 in the 3rd. I've never screamed so loud in my life. I realize this was a year after the OP's definition of the golden era, but these things have gray areas.

So on the early side of the golden era....the 72 Forest Hills final. Wow. Nasty over Ashe in 5 sets. What a match. Lead changes, drama, high quality tennis from all parts of the court. Contrasting styles, and that's just from the guy in the blue shirt. The Bucharest Backfire (history's hippest lob retrieval, later sampled/digitally remastered/covered by Dr. Dre in a might match vs Corretja in the 95 US Open).

Bobby Riggs vs Margaret Court. Riggs vs BJKing. Cheesy but effective way to kick off the golden era.

I saw some World Team Tennis matches in Madison Square Garden. The GARDEN. Weird-color-blocked court. NY Apples vs Boston Lobsters. Bud Collins on channel 13 (PBS affil)

My uncle (a tennis coach) told me about a teenage boy at Port Washington who was routinely winning practice sets off international circuit players.

Mac vs Nastase at the 79 US Open. Frank Hammond in the chair. Chaos. Default. Reinstatement. Vulgarity. Some intense, some sweet tennis. Hammond is relieved of his duties. Mac ends up prevailing.

Must read Rage for Perfection, the Richard Evans book on Mac.

Vitas was a story in and of himself -- just an incredible guy. Hours after ridiculous partying, he leads a kid's clinic the next morning. I was there, once as a kid, once as a feeder a few years later.

Orantes somehow beating Vilas in the 75 Forest Hills semi after being dead to rights, like 5-0 in the 4th. Having enough left in the tank to rout Connors in the final.

Ashe over Connors, 75 Wimbledon final. Rope a dope. Basically the Ali-Foreman fight in Kinshasa, only on grass at a nice club in suburban London.

I saw Rod Laver hit a one-handed topspin backhand swingvolley from no man's land. Tennis changed forever (for me). Not a sissy sport AT ALL.

Vilas over Connors, 77 Forest Hills Final. Mayhem.

Borg getting death threats in NY.

Connors going onto Barrazzutti's side of the court to wipe a mark that was his (out, but the linesman called it good, Connors wanted to keep it that way).

Nastase with an umbrella on the court.

Nastase vs Hans Jorgen Pohmann. Forest Hills. Look it up. Never again in sports will you see this kind of behavior.

Evonne Goolagong has a baby. Then wins Wimbledon. I think that was 1980.

Breakfast at Wimbledon.

Pat Cash went to an Iron Maiden concert during a tournament and smelled pretty bad the next day. Won his match and hit the hot tub at the hotel with random hotel guests.

Yannick Noah, smoking right before a match. Among other things in the locker room.

Noah, basically starting the whole 'find your dad in the stands' thing after winning a slam. 83 Roland. Served and volleyed on clay and won it. Against the defending champion, widely regarded as the greatest passing shot machine of his time. This was pure emotion. Love this game.

Mac playing dubs with Arthur Ashe. So cool. Such opposites.

An aging and undersized Ken Rosewall beats the crap out of most of the tour in 1974.

Newk. Legendary with the ladies.

Billie Jean King. Legendary for the ladies.

Borg. Never been a cooler tennis shirt than the pinstriped FILA.

The Wilson t2000. The single sh!ttiest piece of tennis equipment ever made. (paraphrased from an article by David Foster Wallace)

Vilas with the backwards tweener, later perfected by Sabatini and Noah. And now anyone and everyone.

Laver over Rosewall in 5, WCT finals in Texas. The finest men playing the finest tennis the world had ever seen.

Borg vs Mac. The battle of 18-16. The finest tennis with wood.

Lendl winning the biggest jr tournament in the world at Port Washington. Slazenger Challenge No. 1. Slice Bh for the most part.

Lendl wearing kangaroo leather shoes and switching from wood to a graphite Kneissl white star twin. Winning a million bucks in a year, long before he ever won a slam title. Money ball.

'You Cannot Be Serious! That ball was ON the LoINE. Chalk flew up!'

'You guys are the absolute pits of the world.'

'Answer the question. THE QUESTION, jerk!'

Lendl reads Eat To Win and follows The Haas diet. Mac retorts with a name for his own regimen - 'The Haagen Dazs diet'.

Navratilova getting super fit. The mother of the modern game gives birth to the end of the golden era.
Thank you! You deserve some kind of award for all of this....
 

treblings

Hall of Fame
The Wilson t2000. The single sh!ttiest piece of tennis equipment ever made. (paraphrased from an article by David Foster Wallace)

How great was Conners that he could play so well with it :)

Connors was pretty great, but he probably didn´t share slice´s opinion of the t2000. he played with it long after it was outdated:)
 

jrepac

Hall of Fame
Great ones in this thread. Indeed, the golden era of tennis....with all its idiosyncrasies and conflicts of interest (not that things are any more professional nowadays, haha).

If I may add... a few scattered thoughts/memories growing up as a tennis player during the 'tennis boom' in NY:

85 open, first rd, Mac over Shlomo Glickstein, 7-6 in the 3rd. I've never screamed so loud in my life. I realize this was a year after the OP's definition of the golden era, but these things have gray areas.

So.

LOL---I was at the first round match too, it was incredibly loud and insane! I was hoarse for days afterwards! the crowd really got behind Glickstein, it was something else.
 

Tshooter

G.O.A.T.
Yes Tshooter, i went everyday for the 3 years it was on Har Tru so i got the years mixed up but the score is pretty close..i could have sworn it was on the grandstand though..What are the other answers??:)

1. Borg

2. This one you should be able to come up with. Have they ever had the #1 and #2 men both play their first round matches off center court on the same day (or any day ?). A Thursday by the way (it must have made a huge impression on me as a child). How could that be ? Because the tournament was only 12 days. It started on Wednesday. Does any of this ring a bell ? So what was so big in 1977 that it could push two superstars off the center court ?

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/sfl-tribeca-42aa-201102620110426133300,0,5749506.photo
 

kiki

Banned
No decade matches 70 s for diversity and richness of play a top
Baseline flat strokes like Connors,Rosewall,Gerulaitis,Kodes
Artists like Rosewall,Nasty,Santana,Orantes,Panatta and we can fit in here Mayer and Amriteaj
All round genious like Laver,Nastase,Mc Enroe and other secondary guys like Ramirez or Gerulaitis as well as Okker and Lutz
Top spin machines such as Borg,Vilas and other guys like Dibbs,Solomon,Hugueras and Barazutti
High quality serve and volley with Smith,Ashe,Roche,Newcombe
Tanner,Gottfried,Stockton,Pecci, Panatta
And a great supporting cast with Fibak,Cox,Alexander,Dent,Franuliovic,Pilic,Taylor,Lloyd,Kriek,Clerc,Gildem.,
Gimeno,Richey,Riessen,Gorman,Metrevali,Gisbert,Fleming,Teacher,Scanlo,Edmondson and Bertolucci, and I am leaving aside some names
No other decade was richer except maybe the 50' s and even that with less depth
,
 

JAY1

Semi-Pro
No decade matches 70 s for diversity and richness of play a top
Baseline flat strokes like Connors,Rosewall,Gerulaitis,Kodes
Artists like Rosewall,Nasty,Santana,Orantes,Panatta and we can fit in here Mayer and Amriteaj
All round genious like Laver,Nastase,Mc Enroe and other secondary guys like Ramirez or Gerulaitis as well as Okker and Lutz
Top spin machines such as Borg,Vilas and other guys like Dibbs,Solomon,Hugueras and Barazutti
High quality serve and volley with Smith,Ashe,Roche,Newcombe
Tanner,Gottfried,Stockton,Pecci, Panatta
And a great supporting cast with Fibak,Cox,Alexander,Dent,Franuliovic,Pilic,Taylor,Lloyd,Kriek,Clerc,Gildem.,
Gimeno,Richey,Riessen,Gorman,Metrevali,Gisbert,Fleming,Teacher,Scanlo,Edmondson and Bertolucci, and I am leaving aside some names
No other decade was richer except maybe the 50' s and even that with less depth
,
Kiki?! This is an outstanding list!!
You have listed 55 players, could you put them in order for a definitive list of The Top 50 Men of the 70's? I bet this would start a lot of discussion......
 

BTURNER

Legend
http://tennis-buzz.com/1971-us-open-chris-evert-becomes-the-it-girl/“She turned head because she was a pretty, young thing, but she captivated everyone because of her gutsy play and icy determination.
Chris Evert was not the first teen prodigy, but in an era filled with veterans like Billie Jean King and Margaret Court, along with one-handed backhands, serve and volley tactics, and uncertainty about the viability of the women’s tour, Evert revolutionized the women’s game.

On September 4, 1971, in her first Open at Forest Hills, this 16 years old perky blonde with a 12 tournaments, 44 match winning streak landed on the stadium court for her second round match against fourth seed Mary Ann Eisel.
Her wins had largely been against lesser lights or on clay, which favored her relentless baseline game. But on grass against one of the surface’s top players, she was unable to simply grind down her opponent. And so, Evert, an amateur who had taken 2 weeks off from high school in Fort Lauderdale for this tournament, seemed headed for home.

She lost a close first set 6-4 and trailed 6-5 in the second when Eisel stockpiled 3 match points. As television announcers Bud Collins and Jack Kramer gave her a warm ‘nice try kid’ sendoff, Evert suddenly showed Forest Hills and a national television audience that she had the makings of a champion.
On Eisel’s first effort, Evert set the tone, whistling a big backhand service return down the line. Then on a second serve, Evert mashed a crosscourt forehand passing shot. Evert easily captured the tiebreaker then crushed her demoralized foe 6-1 in the third set.

King who’d come over to watch the rookie, was impressed by how she handled the pressure, saying later:

A star was born in my eyes that match

"
 

kiki

Banned
Kiki?! This is an outstanding list!!
You have listed 55 players, could you put them in order for a definitive list of The Top 50 Men of the 70's? I bet this would start a lot of discussion......

I´ll do my best.Most of them are evened and I am no computer crazy Rino Tomassi, whose computerized rankings are the most accute , much richer than the ATP computer rankings.I like to consider 68 and 69 as part of an era that streches from 68 to 79.My list of best players over thsoe 11 years is:
1/Laver 2/Borg 3/Connors 4/Rosewall 5/Newcombe 6/Vilas 7/Nastase 8/Ashe 9/Smith 10/Kodes 11/Mc Enroe 12/Orantes 13/Gerulaitis 14/Panatta 15/Tanner 16/Gimeno 17/Roche 18/Okker 19/Solomon 20/Edmondson 21/Richey 22/Drysdale 23/Metrevali and Franulovic 25/Lutz 26/Pecci 27/Pilic 28/Gottfried 29/Ramirez 30/Taylor 31/Dibbs 32/Fibak 33/Gorman 34/Alexander 35/Riessen 36/Amritraj 37/Barzutti 38/Dent 39/Higueras 40/Dick Stockton 4/Gildemeister 42/Bob Hewitt 43/ Cox 44/Jauffret 45/Taroczy 46/LLoyd 47/Bertolucci 48/Teacher 49/Meiler 50/Fillol
 

BobbyOne

G.O.A.T.
I´ll do my best.Most of them are evened and I am no computer crazy Rino Tomassi, whose computerized rankings are the most accute , much richer than the ATP computer rankings.I like to consider 68 and 69 as part of an era that streches from 68 to 79.My list of best players over thsoe 11 years is:
1/Laver 2/Borg 3/Connors 4/Rosewall 5/Newcombe 6/Vilas 7/Nastase 8/Ashe 9/Smith 10/Kodes 11/Mc Enroe 12/Orantes 13/Gerulaitis 14/Panatta 15/Tanner 16/Gimeno 17/Roche 18/Okker 19/Solomon 20/Edmondson 21/Richey 22/Drysdale 23/Metrevali and Franulovic 25/Lutz 26/Pecci 27/Pilic 28/Gottfried 29/Ramirez 30/Taylor 31/Dibbs 32/Fibak 33/Gorman 34/Alexander 35/Riessen 36/Amritraj 37/Barzutti 38/Dent 39/Higueras 40/Dick Stockton 4/Gildemeister 42/Bob Hewitt 43/ Cox 44/Jauffret 45/Taroczy 46/LLoyd 47/Bertolucci 48/Teacher 49/Meiler 50/Fillol

kiki, Thanks that you made this interesting list.

A few remarks. I could imagine Rosewall ahead of Connors for that period, but I can live with Ken's fourth place.

But I would rank Tony Roche much higher than you did.Also Okker. Edmondson is much too high in your list. And Riessen is much too low ranked. Remember that Riessen often gave heavy problems to Laver (their hth is about even).
 

kiki

Banned
kiki, Thanks that you made this interesting list.

A few remarks. I could imagine Rosewall ahead of Connors for that period, but I can live with Ken's fourth place.

But I would rank Tony Roche much higher than you did.Also Okker. Edmondson is much too high in your list. And Riessen is much too low ranked. Remember that Riessen often gave heavy problems to Laver (their hth is about even).

No way Rosewall is ahead Connors for 68-79 and he and Newcombe are extremely close with John winning the big duels
Rosewall, after second thought is 5 and Newcombe is 4
 

BobbyOne

G.O.A.T.
No way Rosewall is ahead Connors for 68-79 and he and Newcombe are extremely close with John winning the big duels
Rosewall, after second thought is 5 and Newcombe is 4[/QUOTE

kiki, You are right that Connors deserves a place ahead of Rosewall.

I guess you have not realized the following: Rosewall:Newcombe is 14:9, in big events (GS and WCT) he leads 4:3. Rosewall reached a GS SF 13 times and Newcombe "only" 10 times. So I think Rosewall ahead of Newcombe was yet a good decision.

What about my other remarks?
 
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kiki

Banned
Bobby one, I ranked off my hat because I did not contrast to full strertch the recirds, best ATP positions or H2H
So you could be right as far as Roche,Eddo,Okker and Riessen are concerned
It is so close over 11 yrs slot of time that there is
room for discussion, of course
But Roche and Okker where top players although were unable to win a
major title including Masters or WCT so bear that in mind
As for Rosewall it is very close with Newcombe and your point fits well but Newcombe won their most famous martches and that is a slighr edge
 

BobbyOne

G.O.A.T.
Bobby one, I ranked off my hat because I did not contrast to full strertch the recirds, best ATP positions or H2H
So you could be right as far as Roche,Eddo,Okker and Riessen are concerned
It is so close over 11 yrs slot of time that there is
room for discussion, of course
But Roche and Okker where top players although were unable to win a
major title including Masters or WCT so bear that in mind
As for Rosewall it is very close with Newcombe and your point fits well but Newcombe won their most famous martches and that is a slighr edge

kiki, You are right that ranking 50 players is very difficult. You have done a great job, however.

Roche did not win an open major but the reason might be that in several finals he met Laver and Rosewall respectively who were awesome at that time.

Maybe you should include Ross Case and Geoff Masters.
 

kiki

Banned
kiki, You are right that ranking 50 players is very difficult. You have done a great job, however.

Roche did not win an open major but the reason might be that in several finals he met Laver and Rosewall respectively who were awesome at that time.

Maybe you should include Ross Case and Geoff Masters.

I suspect Roche was not strong enough mentaly
Case-Masters would be in top 20 doubles along
1-Newcombe-Roche
2-Hewitt-Mc Millan
3-Fleming- Mac ( fleetwood mac)
4-Lutz-Smith
5-Gottfried-Ramirez
6-Rosewall-Stolle
7-Okker-Riessen
8-Alexander- Dent
9-Case- Masters
10-Stewart-Mc Nair
11-Drisdale-Pilic
12-Connors-Nastase
13-Mayer bros
14- Edmondson-Marks
15-Ashe-Tanner
16-Fibak- Meiler
17-Gisbert-Orantes
18-Amaya-Pfister
19-Bertolucci-Panatta
20-Emerson-Laver
What is your list?
 

treblings

Hall of Fame
I suspect Roche was not strong enough mentaly
Case-Masters would be in top 20 doubles along
1-Newcombe-Roche
2-Hewitt-Mc Millan
3-Fleming- Mac ( fleetwood mac)
4-Lutz-Smith
5-Gottfried-Ramirez
6-Rosewall-Stolle
7-Okker-Riessen
8-Alexander- Dent
9-Case- Masters
10-Stewart-Mc Nair
11-Drisdale-Pilic
12-Connors-Nastase
13-Mayer bros
14- Edmondson-Marks
15-Ashe-Tanner
16-Fibak- Meiler
17-Gisbert-Orantes
18-Amaya-Pfister
19-Bertolucci-Panatta
20-Emerson-Laver
What is your list?

quite a list, kiki, thanks for posting it and making a case for doubles in this forum:)
i have no definite list, but i would vote for Gerulaitis/Sandy Mayer and Davidson/Newcombe. G/M won Wimbledon, D/N won the U.S.
don´t see Edmondson/Marks. Eddos GrandSlam success came in the 80´s and not with Marks
don´t see Ashe/Tanner either. Ashe won the French with Riessen, the australian with Roche and was a wimby runner-up with Ralston. But with Tanner?
 

JAY1

Semi-Pro
I´ll do my best.Most of them are evened and I am no computer crazy Rino Tomassi, whose computerized rankings are the most accute , much richer than the ATP computer rankings.I like to consider 68 and 69 as part of an era that streches from 68 to 79.My list of best players over thsoe 11 years is:
1/Laver 2/Borg 3/Connors 4/Rosewall 5/Newcombe 6/Vilas 7/Nastase 8/Ashe 9/Smith 10/Kodes 11/Mc Enroe 12/Orantes 13/Gerulaitis 14/Panatta 15/Tanner 16/Gimeno 17/Roche 18/Okker 19/Solomon 20/Edmondson 21/Richey 22/Drysdale 23/Metrevali and Franulovic 25/Lutz 26/Pecci 27/Pilic 28/Gottfried 29/Ramirez 30/Taylor 31/Dibbs 32/Fibak 33/Gorman 34/Alexander 35/Riessen 36/Amritraj 37/Barzutti 38/Dent 39/Higueras 40/Dick Stockton 4/Gildemeister 42/Bob Hewitt 43/ Cox 44/Jauffret 45/Taroczy 46/LLoyd 47/Bertolucci 48/Teacher 49/Meiler 50/Fillol
Kiki?!
You are wasted, you should be writing for a top tennis magazine!!
 

kiki

Banned
http://tennis-buzz.com/1971-us-open-chris-evert-becomes-the-it-girl/“She turned head because she was a pretty, young thing, but she captivated everyone because of her gutsy play and icy determination.
Chris Evert was not the first teen prodigy, but in an era filled with veterans like Billie Jean King and Margaret Court, along with one-handed backhands, serve and volley tactics, and uncertainty about the viability of the women’s tour, Evert revolutionized the women’s game.

On September 4, 1971, in her first Open at Forest Hills, this 16 years old perky blonde with a 12 tournaments, 44 match winning streak landed on the stadium court for her second round match against fourth seed Mary Ann Eisel.
Her wins had largely been against lesser lights or on clay, which favored her relentless baseline game. But on grass against one of the surface’s top players, she was unable to simply grind down her opponent. And so, Evert, an amateur who had taken 2 weeks off from high school in Fort Lauderdale for this tournament, seemed headed for home.

She lost a close first set 6-4 and trailed 6-5 in the second when Eisel stockpiled 3 match points. As television announcers Bud Collins and Jack Kramer gave her a warm ‘nice try kid’ sendoff, Evert suddenly showed Forest Hills and a national television audience that she had the makings of a champion.
On Eisel’s first effort, Evert set the tone, whistling a big backhand service return down the line. Then on a second serve, Evert mashed a crosscourt forehand passing shot. Evert easily captured the tiebreaker then crushed her demoralized foe 6-1 in the third set.

King who’d come over to watch the rookie, was impressed by how she handled the pressure, saying later:

A star was born in my eyes that match

"[/QUOTE

Before Martina became a factor and before Court retired we had a great quartet of ladies that may have been one of the all time best if not the ultimate best
Court, the mighty athlete
King, the schrewd and doggy tactician
Evert, the never missing machine
Goolagong, the fairy of tennis
 

kiki

Banned
quite a list, kiki, thanks for posting it and making a case for doubles in this forum:)
i have no definite list, but i would vote for Gerulaitis/Sandy Mayer and Davidson/Newcombe. G/M won Wimbledon, D/N won the U.S.
don´t see Edmondson/Marks. Eddos GrandSlam success came in the 80´s and not with Marks
don´t see Ashe/Tanner either. Ashe won the French with Riessen, the australian with Roche and was a wimby runner-up with Ralston. But with Tanner?

I know what you mean and I tried not to duplicate a player in two different teams which is somewhat unfair
Ashe,Okker,Newcombe,Riessen,Fibak or Stewart were great with different mates
Vitas could have been a great doubles player but played little doubs once he became a top player and that is why I deliberately left him out
On clay only the Vilas-Borg team was excellent but since they became top rivals,they stopped what could have been a two star team much like Connors and Nastase, who won two majors even if none of them were really great doubs playwrs IMO
 

kiki

Banned
Kiki?!
You are wasted, you should be writing for a top tennis magazine!!

Thanks Jay but 70 and 80 are the eras where I was more onto tennis and I have a good memory too
It is nothing special anyway
I really miss not being there in the 50's which were absolutely wonderful in tennis
I usually say that only Rock and pop music were even better than tennis in the 70 and still the 80
Ledzep were as creative and all round as Laver and Rush were as sophisticated as Nastase!!
Keep on posting and discuss a bit about these issues
Oh I worked a few times for a tennis magazine, just for fun in the first half of the 80
 

BobbyOne

G.O.A.T.
I suspect Roche was not strong enough mentaly
Case-Masters would be in top 20 doubles along
1-Newcombe-Roche
2-Hewitt-Mc Millan
3-Fleming- Mac ( fleetwood mac)
4-Lutz-Smith
5-Gottfried-Ramirez
6-Rosewall-Stolle
7-Okker-Riessen
8-Alexander- Dent
9-Case- Masters
10-Stewart-Mc Nair
11-Drisdale-Pilic
12-Connors-Nastase
13-Mayer bros
14- Edmondson-Marks
15-Ashe-Tanner
16-Fibak- Meiler
17-Gisbert-Orantes
18-Amaya-Pfister
19-Bertolucci-Panatta
20-Emerson-Laver
What is your list?

kiki, I would rank Rosewall/Stolle ahead of Lutz/Smith.

And why do rank Emerson/Laver so low??? They were one of the three best doubles in the first years of open era, together with Newcombe/Roche and Rosewall/Stolle.
 
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