2021 Italian Open - WTA 1000

[Dolgopolov85]

The problem with the tennis troglodytes that believe everything was better in the 90s, is that they base their opinion on bird level view of tennis matches and simple metrics (mph). If you look at today's tennis at a court level view, you'll clearly see why a player like Iga has the upper hand on a hard hitting but slow mover like Pliskova. Iga has a technique and tactics that mirror Nadal, being able to draw opponents way off court.

No player in the 90s, either male or female, was anywhere near this type of spin level, ball trajectory (and height), angles and tactics. Tennis was a different game before the polyester string and the rackets that complimented the poly qualities (PK mold, Babolat AP).

You put anyone of the top players from the 90s on any court with their own (old) equipment and syntgut/natgut strings, they could possibly win a game or two on their own service, that's it.

Sometimes I wonder if people here actually play tennis, or if they did, they stopped in the 90s.

The key though is "with the old equipment".

By the same token, someone who honed their technique playing with midsize frames strung with gut would reap a rich harvest by moving to more like a 95-100 sq inch frame with poly.

Imagine Sampras' serve with the additional spin that poly would give him.

Imagine Graf's forehand with poly. She would have benefited for a whippy racquet as she already understood RHS long before many others on the tour.

With that said, I don't think the transference to the modern era would be perfect/symmetrical. You would also have players who benefited from the conditions created by gut and who wouldn't necessarily receive a huge bump from switching to poly. BECAUSE gut placed a ceiling on just how hard you could hit, it suited a brilliant timer of the ball like Hingis. But Hingis never really was much of a power hitter no matter what Jason keeps saying about Martinka 97. You saw Hingis find it more difficult in her second stint in singles. I don't think the result would be much different even if that were '97 Hingis rather than 04' Hingis. She had barely lost anything as a player but the game had changed.

Likewise, the radical improvement in the double hander on the women's side over the late 90s and onwards would either force Graf to make difficult changes to her slice-reliant game or would affect her success. Surely, Seles' double handed forehand would be a liability in the more athletic and physical game of peak WTA.

So on and so forth. This is why comparisons across eras are useless.