A hard post to word.
- Thread starter BTURNER
- Start date
i see your pointthanks
Yeah, i was really crazy about tennis then. Once i cut off almost all colour pictures of tennis players from sports magazines that were available to me then and stick it to the wall that was opposite to my bed. So i woke up and went to sleep looking to my favourite sport athletes.
treblings
Hall of Fame
that is pretty weird
i usually put my favourite racquet beside my bed before going to sleep
Gary Duane
G.O.A.T.
I can't rattle of ages with women as I can with men. I had to look her up.
She was 31 by the summer of '73. Coincidentally she was born in the summer of '42.
At that time that was quite old for a player.
Looking at her stats, at a glance, it appears to me that '73 was kind of an "Indian Summer" for her. I would guess that Evert was a new puzzle for her, and it took her some time to figure out a game plan.
The racqets were hanging over the pictures.that is pretty weird
The pictures are gone, it's a pity but the racquets are still there but all wall and all other walls 'cause I got now about 200 of them.
What is interesting is that it did not take Wade, or King or Richey or Goolagong four matches to win a single set. Presumably they had the same problem. I am trying to think of an occasion where the best player in the world lost to someone that green in three consecutive straight set matches. Its never happened that way before.I can't rattle of ages with women as I can with men. I had to look her up.
She was 31 by the summer of '73. Coincidentally she was born in the summer of '42.
At that time that was quite old for a player.
Looking at her stats, at a glance, it appears to me that '73 was kind of an "Indian Summer" for her. I would guess that Evert was a new puzzle for her, and it took her some time to figure out a game plan.
Gary Duane
G.O.A.T.
davidjaan1982
New User
Just saw this post. I think Evert was just a terrible match up for Court. Court had never played anyone so confident and who could handle her serve as well as Evert did. She was also not used to being passed and lobbed so much at the net nor being kept constantly on the run. Best explained by "bad match up"!
Exactly, Court was a 31 year old mother, and Chris approaching her peak. I found the points very interesting and entertaining. Evert beat Court at Wimbledon, but lost to her at FH that year. No other player would have beat Evert in that FO final that year. Grass was Court's best surface, though she was also very good on clay. Chris was also a very good or great grass court player as well. Too bad they did not both peak at the same time.
Even in 73, Evert was nearly unbeatable on clay. Chris grew up on clay from a very early age, her father being a tennis coach. She was a very mature and smart 17 year old player, much more so than most of the other players of that time.
Except that was the faster green stuff. I cannot find a single instance in which she hit a tennis ball on slow crushed brick terre battue, before that tournament started, except probably practice. Even the Italian Open that she lost the final in to Goolagong, was held AFTER RG that year. She was completely untested when that tournament started The slide may be the same, but the court speed was definitely not.
Evert lost to two different players in less than a month on that European dirt before she went home.
Except the woman who did the same thing two weeks later at the Italian on the same surface. Googagong was her last loss on clay before her string, not Court. That is because it was held later through 1973. After that, she had a year to prepare and grow more mature before meeting Morozova in 1974.
Fact is, Chris had NO trouble beating any other woman in that FO, at least in the quarters and semi's. Again, neither woman was at their very peak in that tournament, but still better clay court players than any other on the tour.
No, because in those days not all top women even played RG. Evert was a definite contender that year seeded number 2, but you cannot argue that she 'nearly unbeatable' on a surface where she was in fact beaten in consecutive finals, by two different women, less than a month apart. You are assigning her a reputation, she did not yet have. Margaret was the top seed at that tournament, had won it four times previously and was the clearly the best player in the world who went on to win three of the four majors that year. That does not describe on over- the- hill player hoping for past glories. She was the odds on favorite on European clay, not Chris, who had only won a series of smaller green clay events in Florida and Cincinnati at that time, never reached even the final of a major and never played on the continent before.
You sound like a M Court hater. Fact IS, Court beat Goolagong who beat Evert in Rome later, in the semis. If you recall, Goolagong won the FO in 71 and lost in the final in 72. Chris beat Franciose Durr in the semis, who also was a FO champion and Helga Masthoff, a very good clay court specialist in the quarters. Another Fact you should know is that all the top women played the FO except in 76,77 and 78 because Chris and others decided to play WTT instead.
davidjaan1982
New User
What makes the Court-Evert comparisons difficult is that they never played each other when both were at their peaks. Evert was on the rise 1970-1973, but not at her peak and Court was at or near her peak, but probably on the decline and taking numerous breaks. There are also disputes around who was "closer to their peak" when they played between 1970 and 1973. All these are valid, but nevertheless Court was still Number 1 in 1970 as well as 1973 ( when she won all slams except Wimbledon where she lost to Chris Evert!). Also, Court was easily beating all the other top women and only having difficulty against Evert. Even in 1975, Court was doing quite well on the circuit except of course against Evert. Which is why, in my view, it is difficult to argue that Evert was not a bad match up for Court.
A what? I have nothing but total respect for Aussie's game. My point is very narrow. Court was clearly the greatest clay courter of the late 60's and early 70's until Evert really took that title 1974. Court may have been the best serve/volleyer to every play on clay. Maria Bueno in the 1960's ( a top knotch clay player) preferred entering Rome over of Paris and she had those periodic health issues. As long as three of the four majors were being played on grass, players were going to built their games towards that surface including most American and British players like Billie Jean King, Rosie Casals, Virginia Wade etc. Many of them avoided European clay . Goolagong was very inconsistent in her attendance at RG as well. Real depth on clay would come in the mid eighties after both Evert and Court had past their primes, after a generation was raised for slow hard courts like the US Open and clay courts like RG.
In 1973, Court and Goolagong ( Aussies had plenty of clay courts down under) and Evert were the only great clay courters who had any real chance in 1973 with a possible upset by Richey. Durr, Mastoff and Morazova were the second tier. Court won the French, Goolagong won the Italian and Evert swept the American circuit. Nothing particularly shocking in any of those results.
why on earth are you so insistent that the number one player in the world, and number one seed in the tournament, and four time champion and winner of three of four majors in 1973, provided someupset over the second seeded player, number 3 ranked player, who had never been in a major final before or played on red clay in Europe before? why are you so invested in the myth? Court was still in her prime. Evert had not yet reached hers.
the only interesting question is how many majors would a healthy Court have won in 1974 if Margaret had played that year. I think it possible she might have won two or three more with Evert still not fully mature and King compromised. She still had to be the odds on favorite in Australia, with solid shots at the other three.
Last edited:
I don't doubt that Evert would always have been a tough match up for Court, just like she was for every other player. I thought of Court of being a combination of Evert and King. She had a very strong and consistent ground game, but probably not quite as good as Evert's. Court also had a great S&V game like BJK. Probably Evert would always have had a slight advantage on clay, with Court having the slight advantage on grass or fast hard courts. Unfortunately, 73 was Court's last great year as I think she became pregnant again in 74 and was less good when she came back after that second pregnancy.
