some great grass courters of the 80´s

kiki · Jan 18, 2014

and now talking about grass.Borg,Connors,Mac,Becker,Kriek,Wilander,Edberg and Cash are the big names that dominated on grass.The Wimbledon or the Aussie grass.

But here are a few names that have also left great emories, even short ones.

of course Kev Curren, the fastest server of the decade and one of the best ever.Extremely quick at the net where his crushing volleys were able to demolish the likes of Connors,Mac and Edberg at Wimbledon...how could he lose to Chris Lewis in the 1983 tournament? He lost to Becker at the 85 Wimbly final and to Mats Wilander at the 84 AO final.

Steve Denton, his doubles mate, reached two AO finals.His serve was almost as fast and lethal as Kevin´s.

The same can be said about the giant Yugoslav Bobo Zivojinovic, who trashed Mac at Melbourne and almost beat Lendl at London.One semi at each two grass majors.He had big returns and was extremely muscled.

Tim Mayotte, never lost before the fourth round at Wimbledon FOR A WHOLE DECADE.Reached the QF in 1981 and in 1989 and was a semifinalist in 1982.In Australia, he also made it to the last four in 1983.Solid and technically perfect S&V tennis, but slow afoot and a sweet personality.Gentleman Tim they called him.

There maybe a few more names but I think those 4 dudes were classic grass courters of the 80´s.

Azzurri · Jan 19, 2014

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...est-grass-court-player-never-to-win-wimbledon

You didn't mention Lendl other than a blurb, yet talked about others as if they mattered much. Curren had some success, but Lend should have been mentioned.

kiki · Jan 19, 2014

Azzurri said:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...est-grass-court-player-never-to-win-wimbledon

You didn't mention Lendl other than a blurb, yet talked about others as if they mattered much. Curren had some success, but Lend should have been mentioned.

Yes indeed.I just wanted to portray other players that had their biggest success on grass.Lendl´s career was built on the other 3 surfaces.That does not mean that Lendl didn´t become a great grass court player, just that he has many other opportunities to be talked about in the other threads about clay, hard and carpet,while those guys I mentioned would be true grass court specialists who were representative on this kind of turf mainly ( even if they had also great results on indoor carpet).

Azzurri · Jan 19, 2014

I see. Thanks. I did like Mayotte. Loved his serve and was really good on grass and your information confirmed my notion of him. I have talked about him in that past basically from memory. Didn't realize his Wimbledon record was that good.

kiki · Jan 20, 2014

Tim may have been the GOAT of the non top ten players as far as GS consistency concerns.

PMChambers · Jan 20, 2014

Some good names in there,

Lendl - He definite had developed into a great grass court player by mid 80's thanks to his coach and desire to win all 4 GS. His 2nd serve was a slight issue.

Kev Curren - Awesome natural fast player, saw him live in the mid 80's, he was fit and strong. I think he suffered from being Sth African in the 80's. In Aust at this time we had the redel tours, defections of top athletes playing in Sth Africa during ban on apatite. He had demonstrations against allowing Sth African professional players to tour, hence they where kept out the media. There was that "black" ball episode at AO one year where people threw lots of black balls onto center court to disrupt play, I think that was against Wayne Ferrierria.

Kriek - not many people really know Kreik. He also seems to be forgotten as well.

Bobo Zivojinovic - Maybe a slight embarrassment to tennis. When we was in the mood, very funny. But he had a zero baseline game, he chipped and charged everything, more so than Cash. He also aced Mac with under arm serve at AO unless my memory is breaking up. He's definitely not a poster boy, he was over weight by the mid 80's. My memory could be wrong but he always seemed to have gorgeous woman around, and looked like he wined and dined then a lot hence his gut. His GS record is not good even Wim & AO.

Mayotte - One of my favorite players at the time, don't know why. With the exception of the multiple racquet breaking Wimbledon episode, he always seemed cool and calm. He suffered from being anther sound US player but not top 5. US fans don't really back their countrymen unless they're in the top tier, though could be worse UK *******ise theirs if they can't win Wimbledon. Probably underrated by fans, not by players.

kiki · Jan 21, 2014

Kriek is a bigger name than Curren.

Kirijax · Jan 21, 2014

I remember both Kriek and Curren but Curren more probably because of his '85 Wimbledon runner-up finish. Remember Kriek too. Seem to remember him and Denton(?) always around in the doubles draws.

Always enjoy your posts kiki!

kiki · Jan 21, 2014

Thanks Kkrijax¡

Denton´s mate was Curren.

Johan did not play too much doubles although, for a few years, he used to team up with Fritz Buehning, another member at the Rossignol Club

Kirijax · Jan 21, 2014

kiki said:
Thanks Kkrijax¡

Denton´s mate was Curren.

Johan did not play too much doubles although, for a few years, he used to team up with Fritz Buehning, another member at the Rossignol Club

Ah! Got my guys mixed I see! Maybe I'm getting it confused. Wasn't it Denton that Kriek beat in the Australian Open final. Both times maybe? Need to google...

kiki · Jan 21, 2014

Kirijax said:
Ah! Got my guys mixed I see! Maybe I'm getting it confused. Wasn't it Denton that Kriek beat in the Australian Open final. Both times maybe? Need to google...

Don´t google.You are right.Kriek beat Denton in 1981 and 1982.The first final was a relatively close 4 setter but the second one was a blast.

It seems to me that Kriek returned very well off the huge Steve´s serve.

When Kriek was playing well and for the whole match - which almost never happened, like Mandlikova- there were few players more enjoyable to watch in the first half of the decade.

Kirijax · Jan 21, 2014

kiki said:
Don´t google.You are right.Kriek beat Denton in 1981 and 1982.The first final was a relatively close 4 setter but the second one was a blast.

It seems to me that Kriek returned very well off the huge Steve´s serve.

When Kriek was playing well and for the whole match - which almost never happened, like Mandlikova- there were few players more enjoyable to watch in the first half of the decade.

Didn't Kriek make a Wimby or U.S. Open semis once as well? Really overworking my memory banks now. Starting to hurt...

kiki · Jan 21, 2014

Kirijax said:
Didn't Kriek make a Wimby or U.S. Open semis once as well? Really overworking my memory banks now. Starting to hurt...

Kriek reached two USO quarters at the late 70´s as well as two Wimbledon quarters in 81 and 82, in those US Open qf, Gerulaitis beat him and at the All England it was always Mc Enroe.He played a great 1980 US Open but lost to Borg in the semis, squandering a two sets lead¡¡¡ he just fumbled away from set nº 3.
He topped that with his two Australian titles, a WCT Final and a WCT semi ( always handling down to Mc Enroe) and, quite surprisingly, a RG semi when nobody took him seriously anymore, in 1986.He had a good field but still had to beat there a former champion, Guillermo Vilas.Of course, he was no match for peak Ivan Lendl.

So, Kriek has one of the best records of the 80´s.In my book, he and Cash just come behind the big 7 of the decade.One of the most underrated great players of a great decade.

jrepac · Jan 21, 2014

kiki said:
Kriek reached two USO quarters at the late 70´s as well as two Wimbledon quarters in 81 and 82, in those US Open qf, Gerulaitis beat him and at the All England it was always Mc Enroe.He played a great 1980 US Open but lost to Borg in the semis, squandering a two sets lead¡¡¡ he just fumbled away from set nº 3.
He topped that with his two Australian titles, a WCT Final and a WCT semi ( always handling down to Mc Enroe) and, quite surprisingly, a RG semi when nobody took him seriously anymore, in 1986.He had a good field but still had to beat there a former champion, Guillermo Vilas.Of course, he was no match for peak Ivan Lendl.

So, Kriek has one of the best records of the 80´s.In my book, he and Cash just come behind the big 7 of the decade.One of the most underrated great players of a great decade.

Kriek was an excellent player; a lot of fun to watch when he was "on". Mandlikova is a good cross gender comparison! He accomplished a bit more than Curren, tho' Curren was quite the scalp hunter w/wins over Mac and Connors at the Big W.

helterskelter · Jan 21, 2014

I was at Mayotte's quarter-final in 1989, when he lost 6-7 6-7 3-6 against Edberg. The first set tiebreak was a blow-out, but the second set one was very close indeed. Mayotte had a good chance and got very annoyed that a crucial call went against him. He argued it vociferously and at length, but was still reasonably "gentlemanly" about it.

That was the first professional tennis match I ever attended.

Rosewall · Jan 22, 2014

Because I grew up in the Bay Area, Tim Mayotte was one of my favorites of the 80s. He was at the tail end of the Dick Gould serve-and-volley machine at Stanford (Mac, Mayers, Grabb, Tanner).

I'm going to throw out two other long-forgotten names. These guys were not "great" grass-courters, but were two serve-and-volley favorites of mine:

Brian Gottfried -- he is known for winning the French, but he most certainly was a serve-and-volleyer. He looked like a power lifter (tree-trunk legs, ridiculous forearms) but didn't hit with power (I still don't understand this). He was an all court finesse player that followed an averagish kick serve in to set up an exceptional volley.

Hank Pfister -- I think he was a San Jose St product. Typical west coast serve-and-volleyer. If you don't remember him, think Tim Mayotte... About 6'4 or 6'5 with a sizzling serve. I remember him playing doubles with Kevin Curren and that was fun stuff to watch.

jean pierre · Jan 22, 2014

Rosewall said:
Because I grew up in the Bay Area, Tim Mayotte was one of my favorites of the 80s. He was at the tail end of the Dick Gould serve-and-volley machine at Stanford (Mac, Mayers, Grabb, Tanner).

I'm going to throw out two other long-forgotten names. These guys were not "great" grass-courters, but were two serve-and-volley favorites of mine:

Brian Gottfried -- he is known for winning the French, but he most certainly was a serve-and-volleyer. He looked like a power lifter (tree-trunk legs, ridiculous forearms) but didn't hit with power (I still don't understand this). He was an all court finesse player that followed an averagish kick serve in to set up an exceptional volley.

Hank Pfister -- I think he was a San Jose St product. Typical west coast serve-and-volleyer. If you don't remember him, think Tim Mayotte... About 6'4 or 6'5 with a sizzling serve. I remember him playing doubles with Kevin Curren and that was fun stuff to watch.

Yes, Pfister was a good grass player, with a great serve. I think he was in the top 30 or even the top 20. And I think 2 SF in Australian Open.

jean pierre · Jan 22, 2014

Hank Pfister teacher :

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

Rosewall · Jan 22, 2014

Nice find.

kiki · Jan 22, 2014

Rosewall said:
Because I grew up in the Bay Area, Tim Mayotte was one of my favorites of the 80s. He was at the tail end of the Dick Gould serve-and-volley machine at Stanford (Mac, Mayers, Grabb, Tanner).

I'm going to throw out two other long-forgotten names. These guys were not "great" grass-courters, but were two serve-and-volley favorites of mine:

Brian Gottfried -- he is known for winning the French, but he most certainly was a serve-and-volleyer. He looked like a power lifter (tree-trunk legs, ridiculous forearms) but didn't hit with power (I still don't understand this). He was an all court finesse player that followed an averagish kick serve in to set up an exceptional volley.

Hank Pfister -- I think he was a San Jose St product. Typical west coast serve-and-volleyer. If you don't remember him, think Tim Mayotte... About 6'4 or 6'5 with a sizzling serve. I remember him playing doubles with Kevin Curren and that was fun stuff to watch.

Gottfried never won Paris.he was wipped out by Vilas in 77.I agree he was a fine and graceful volleyer.Never seemed such an athlete to me¡¡¡

Hank-No, he and Amaya lost to CURREN and Denton the 82 USO F.But they had won RG in 1980.

BobbyOne · Jan 22, 2014

Rosewall said:
Because I grew up in the Bay Area, Tim Mayotte was one of my favorites of the 80s. He was at the tail end of the Dick Gould serve-and-volley machine at Stanford (Mac, Mayers, Grabb, Tanner).

I'm going to throw out two other long-forgotten names. These guys were not "great" grass-courters, but were two serve-and-volley favorites of mine:

Brian Gottfried -- he is known for winning the French, but he most certainly was a serve-and-volleyer. He looked like a power lifter (tree-trunk legs, ridiculous forearms) but didn't hit with power (I still don't understand this). He was an all court finesse player that followed an averagish kick serve in to set up an exceptional volley.

Hank Pfister -- I think he was a San Jose St product. Typical west coast serve-and-volleyer. If you don't remember him, think Tim Mayotte... About 6'4 or 6'5 with a sizzling serve. I remember him playing doubles with Kevin Curren and that was fun stuff to watch.

Rosewall, Gottfried only reached the final of the French Open against Vilas.

Edit: I see that our teacher for the old tennis, kiki, has already corrected you.

kiki · Jan 23, 2014

BobbyOne said:
Rosewall, Gottfried only reached the final of the French Open against Vilas.

Edit: I see that our teacher for the old tennis, kiki, has already corrected you.

you will embarras me...

BobbyOne · Jan 23, 2014

kiki said:
you will embarras me...

kiki, As a 97 years old you should not be embarrassed by anything anymore ;-)

Fedinkum · Jan 23, 2014

Anyone remember David Wheaton? Never a top tier, but he had a decent serve and volley game, and had a great run in the early 90s.

borg number one · Jan 23, 2014

After the five set 1980 US Open semifinal loss against Borg, Johan Kriek said that Borg was just so fit. Kriek had great wheels too and was very quick/explosive around the court. He could also produce a lot of easy power and could hit very big off both wings. He had great looking strokes too.

borg number one · Jan 23, 2014

Fedinkum said:
Anyone remember David Wheaton? Never a top tier, but he had a decent serve and volley game, and had a great run in the early 90s.

Yes Fedinkum. David Wheaton was an excellent player. I first saw him play as a great junior player during the 1980's on rubico playing against guys like Al Parker and company back then. He did have very solid volleys, plus he had very good strokes off both sides and an extremely effective serve too.

jaggy · Jan 23, 2014

Wheaton was a Christian radio talk show host for a while after retiring, may still be. I think he did some college coaching at Minnesota too.

borg number one · Jan 23, 2014

jaggy said:
Wheaton was a Christian radio talk show host for a while after retiring, may still be. I think he did some college coaching at Minnesota too.

That's right, he was from MN jaggy. That's interesting. Here he is serving at Wimbledon versus Agassi.

kiki · Jan 24, 2014

borg number one said:
After the five set 1980 US Open semifinal loss against Borg, Johan Kriek said that Borg was just so fit. Kriek had great wheels too and was very quick/explosive around the court. He could also produce a lot of easy power and could hit very big off both wings. He had great looking strokes too.

Yes, it often gets overlooked because of the great Connors-Mac semi and next the unforgetable Borg-Mac final.But, in the first two sets, Borg must have had one of the biggest scarces of his life¡¡¡

Rosewall · Jan 24, 2014

kiki: Gottfried never won Paris.he was wipped out by Vilas in 77.I agree he was a fine and graceful volleyer.Never seemed such an athlete to me¡¡¡

You are correct. Gottfried was a bit stiff and somewhat of a plodder. He was the tennis version of a gym rat -- fanatical about fitness and extreme practice sessions. Definitely a self-made player that took great pride in his craft. If you just looked at him back then, his physique looked more like a modern tennis player. Huge forearm, huge legs, huge back. He made it to the Wimbledon quarters in 78 and semis two years later with his slick volleying.

borg number one · Jan 24, 2014

kiki said:
Yes, it often gets overlooked because of the great Connors-Mac semi and next the unforgetable Borg-Mac final.But, in the first two sets, Borg must have had one of the biggest scarces of his life¡¡¡

Borg: "what is going on today??? Ok I better take care of this now and get this guy really running around starting early in the third"....ha ha..I'm kidding. I do remember that it was was a shock lead, but Borg got down to business. I had the television on an I see a two set lead for Kriek and thought what in the world? It's telling that someone as fit as Kriek mentioned how fit Borg was after really going all out in the way Kriek could. He was apparently talking pretty big before that match by the way, so I'm sure he was at least pretending to be very confident of a win. Some of his matches with McEnroe in the 1980's were great as well. He was a very streaky player as you know.

borg number one · Jan 24, 2014

Rosewall said:
kiki: Gottfried never won Paris.he was wipped out by Vilas in 77.I agree he was a fine and graceful volleyer.Never seemed such an athlete to me¡¡¡

You are correct. Gottfried was a bit stiff and somewhat of a plodder. He was the tennis version of a gym rat -- fanatical about fitness and extreme practice sessions. Definitely a self-made player that took great pride in his craft. If you just looked at him back then, his physique looked more like a modern tennis player. Huge forearm, huge legs, huge back. He made it to the Wimbledon quarters in 78 and semis two years later with his slick volleying.

That is a good description of Gottfried! I used to think his strokes were really unique. He reminded me of Eliot Teltscher in many ways. I got to see both play live. See Brian Gottfried playing just a couple of years ago here on this video demonstrating the "sneak attack"..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbEAS6pK0ms

jean pierre · Jan 25, 2014

borg number one said:
That is a good description of Gottfried! I used to think his strokes were really unique. He reminded me of Eliot Teltscher in many ways. I got to see both play live. See Brian Gottfried playing just a couple of years ago here on this video demonstrating the "sneak attack"..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbEAS6pK0ms

Nice backhand and volley.

kiki · Jan 25, 2014

Rosewall said:
kiki: Gottfried never won Paris.he was wipped out by Vilas in 77.I agree he was a fine and graceful volleyer.Never seemed such an athlete to me¡¡¡

You are correct. Gottfried was a bit stiff and somewhat of a plodder. He was the tennis version of a gym rat -- fanatical about fitness and extreme practice sessions. Definitely a self-made player that took great pride in his craft. If you just looked at him back then, his physique looked more like a modern tennis player. Huge forearm, huge legs, huge back. He made it to the Wimbledon quarters in 78 and semis two years later with his slick volleying.

Really? I don´thave a vivid memory and he may have been an athelte.I know he was the hardest working player on tour, along Vilas, but he never seemed a big body to me.He was more of a finesse player in any case.

kiki · Jan 25, 2014

borg number one said:
Borg: "what is going on today??? Ok I better take care of this now and get this guys really running around starting early in the third"....ha ha..I'm kidding. I do remember that it was was a shock lead, but Borg got down to business. I had the television on an I see a two set lead for Kriek and thought what in the world? It's telling that someone as fit as Kriek mentioned how fit Borg was after really going all out in the way Kriek could. He was apparently talking pretty big before that match by the way, so I'm sure he was at least pretending to be very confident of a win. Some of his matches with McEnroe in the 1980's were great as well. He was a very streaky player as you know.

Yes, Kriek was streaky as they come, no doubt my friend.He , of all the top players, had the best record against Mc Enroe; his fast ROS helped him return the wide serve of Mc Enroe, and he was a quick mover as well.

kiki · Jan 25, 2014

Do you remember the great Gottfried-Ramirez team?
One of my favourites doubles teams.Nimble, quick, complementary, solid backcourt game and, when both at the net, sometimes it looked like a ballet.Great watching and two nice, quit guys, too.

Azzurri · Feb 7, 2014

Rosewall said:
Because I grew up in the Bay Area, Tim Mayotte was one of my favorites of the 80s. He was at the tail end of the Dick Gould serve-and-volley machine at Stanford (Mac, Mayers, Grabb, Tanner).

I'm going to throw out two other long-forgotten names. These guys were not "great" grass-courters, but were two serve-and-volley favorites of mine:

Brian Gottfried -- he is known for winning the French, but he most certainly was a serve-and-volleyer. He looked like a power lifter (tree-trunk legs, ridiculous forearms) but didn't hit with power (I still don't understand this). He was an all court finesse player that followed an averagish kick serve in to set up an exceptional volley.

Hank Pfister -- I think he was a San Jose St product. Typical west coast serve-and-volleyer. If you don't remember him, think Tim Mayotte... About 6'4 or 6'5 with a sizzling serve. I remember him playing doubles with Kevin Curren and that was fun stuff to watch.

Gottfried won the FO? Doubles???

jaggy · Feb 11, 2014

Not sure if I missed him in the thread but Scott Davis had a great grass game

10smonkey · Feb 11, 2014

Scott Davis also played some pretty good doubles with David Pate

kiki · Feb 11, 2014

Azzurri said:
Gottfried won the FO? Doubles???

Gottfried and Ramirez were most likely the best doubles team on clay courts during the 70´s.

treblings · Feb 12, 2014

the 80´s where a time when i could watch tennis all day long and never get bored

anyone remember Derrick Rostagno?

jaggy · Feb 12, 2014

treblings said:
the 80´s where a time when i could watch tennis all day long and never get bored anyone remember Derrick Rostagno?

Was he the one who drove to tourneys in America in a van?

jaggy · Feb 12, 2014

Azzurri said:
Gottfried won the FO? Doubles???

75 and 77 and runner up in 76

BobbyOne · Feb 12, 2014

treblings said:
the 80´s where a time when i could watch tennis all day long and never get bored anyone remember Derrick Rostagno?

treblings, Fine to find you as poster again!

treblings · Feb 12, 2014

jaggy said:
Was he the one who drove to tourneys in America in a van?

the way i remember it, he had two vans. one for the east coast, and another one for the west coast

he also has wins against McEnroe, Connors, Lendl, Sampras, Wilander and Courier

didn´t he play with Rossignol rackets?

treblings · Feb 12, 2014

BobbyOne said:
treblings, Fine to find you as poster again!

thanks Bobby, for the kind words

i´ve been following the lively debates of course, but was a bit to busy playing tennis, teaching tennis and collecting fine vintage austrian tennis racquets

Edburger · Feb 14, 2014

Anders Jarryd was very underrated singles player. Played very nice SF at Wimbledon in 1985 against Becker, and QF against Edberg in 1987.

BobbyOne · Feb 14, 2014

treblings said:
thanks Bobby, for the kind words
i´ve been following the lively debates of course, but was a bit to busy playing tennis, teaching tennis and collecting fine vintage austrian tennis racquets

treblings, Guess you also are glad that Austria has now a very talented young player who could surpass Jürgen Melzer relatively soon since Melzer seems to decline...

treblings · Feb 15, 2014

BobbyOne said:
treblings, Guess you also are glad that Austria has now a very talented young player who could surpass Jürgen Melzer relatively soon since Melzer seems to decline...

of course i am.let´s just hope that Dominik Thiem is able to achieve what we hope he will.so we don´t have to wait for Lukas Miedler to be the next Austrian world class player

kiki · Feb 24, 2014

Edburger said:
Anders Jarryd was very underrated singles player. Played very nice SF at Wimbledon in 1985 against Becker, and QF against Edberg in 1987.

plus a big WCT title against Boris Becker and a Masters semifinal as well.he seemed to be linked to Becker.Great returns, good stounch volleyer and very good groundies.Very fast and quick reflexes.
In the 1983 Canadian Open he beat Mc Enroe in straight sets at the semis but got plummered by Lendl in the final.

some great grass courters of the 80´s

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