Agassi and Rafter at the Laver Cup
- Thread starter galain
- Start date
McLovin
Legend
He's been using the Solinco Blackout lately. Not sure if it's XTD or normal length, but it's most definitely the Blackout. You could see the Solinco butt cap during the US Open exhibition a few weeks ago.
innoVAShaun
G.O.A.T.
innoVAShaun
G.O.A.T.
mpournaras
Hall of Fame
The foremost expert
Say Chi Sin Lo
G.O.A.T.
To be real... those Precision Response were way ahead of its time. They were practically spec'd like today's "modern control" racquets.Images from Laver Cup practice. Agassi seems to move between frames a lot in his retirement. This doesn't look like the Percept he's been spotted with. More like his POG.
And it does my heart good to see Rafter still using his original Precision Response!
I had the Precision Response Ti. and LOVED that racquet.
FootFault18
Rookie
And black Karakal PU Super Grip. I don't understand how he can like it. In that color is very slippery.
Vincent-C
Legend
That'd be fun!
Seth
Legend
I bought one a few years back to see why Henman liked them so much. I can’t imagine using it bare. Like you said, it gets super slick.
Seth
Legend
This would be incredible. LC is already an exhibition, though players take it more seriously. Would be cool to see those retired players go all out for a doubles match.
innoVAShaun
G.O.A.T.
FootFault18
Rookie
The best color, in my opinion, are orange and yellow.
Anyway, quality of Karakal grip is not the same since pandemic. Now is worse.
PBODY99
Legend
Dae18
Hall of Fame
I find it interesting he’s a Nike ambassador yet he wears Lulu here. Not sure how it works
brinkeguthrie
Hall of Fame
and Lululemon. No more Nike?
You can see it in Agassi's eyes that he is ready to sub in if guys get injured. The passion is there.
Maybe that is why he's taking Ozempic?
Rabbit
G.O.A.T.
Yeah, somewhere on the boards, there's a commentary on the balance using a rubber band bigger/smaller.....
McLovin
Legend
A Pure Drive.
Oh, so no feel.
Vincent-C
Legend
Beautiful underspun BH pass by Rafter at around 1:25. Loved that guy's game.
jmacdaununder2
Legend
Shame poly wasn’t banned at the get go as per double stringing; Sampras was right when he called it ‘cheatalon’ - it’s ruined the serve/volley baseline balance that made tennis so watchable.
heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
One one hand Yannick Noah under-coached, phoned it in & Agassi over-coached, gesticulating like a traffic ccp on speed.
I liked Rafter's approach, somewhere in between.
I liked Rafter's approach, somewhere in between.
Rabbit
G.O.A.T.
I couldn’t agree more!
McLovin
Legend
Was that Sampras or Agassi? Maybe Agassi didn't call it 'cheatalon', but I do recall him saying it felt like he was cheating when he first tried it.
Rabbit
G.O.A.T.
I watched the Gentlemen's Invitational doubles at Wimbledon this year and was tickled to see Xavier Malisse play. He's still playing the Prince Diablo he used on tour and from all appearances was still using a multifilament. As a friend of mine says, "it ain't the arrow it's the archer".
McLovin
Legend
Agassi did seem a bit over-the-top, but I'm guessing that on some level, his players enjoyed it. Noah seemed to be doing his best Borg impression.
Maybe it's a cultural thing? In years past Tiafoe & Kyrgios performed the "over-the-top" antics, and the team seemed to respond positively. In fact, most of the years I've watched Laver Cup, Team Europe has been considerably more reserved than Team World.
Rabbit
G.O.A.T.
Vincent-C
Legend
..and polyester strings are hard on the arm, and make an ugly sound when striking the ball.
McLovin
Legend
I would be interested to see if someone like Fonseca approaches Agassi for coaching advice. I don't think he's interested in being a full-time coach, but he could fill the Annacone-type role for someone young. I know he's worked w/ Rune recently, but I just don't see the desire to listen & improve on his side.
Just imagine if Fonseca could learn Agassi's lessons, but at a much younger age. If he could learn to control the baseline like Agassi did, but still have that firepower, he'd be a real threat to Sinner & Alcaraz.
Just imagine if Fonseca could learn Agassi's lessons, but at a much younger age. If he could learn to control the baseline like Agassi did, but still have that firepower, he'd be a real threat to Sinner & Alcaraz.
FootFault18
Rookie
I prefer a tennis based on a base line game.
Serve and volley is boring.
Polyester string, in my opinion, help tennis to evolve in a better way.
thebigz
Semi-Pro
Agreed. There’s no way I would look at Sincaraz final highlight and a 90s S&V Wimbledon highlight and find the latter more entertaining. And if you show the videos to an average person who isn’t a tennis nut, I bet most of them would agree too.
There wouldn’t be the Federer/Nadal/Djoker golden area without poly strings as well.
thebigz
Semi-Pro
If you watched Darren Cahill’s appearance on Tennis Insider Club podcast, he mentioned Agassi would text paragraphs and paragraphs when giving player advice sometimes. And he says Andre sometime can give too much information than what is digestible for the players. That’s just how Andre processes the game. And there is value in coaching to distill information down to a more simple message
Rabbit
G.O.A.T.
Sorry, I’d much rather watch a90s Wimbledon match. Becker/Edberg or Agassi/Ivo. Serve and volley tennis showcased touch and tactic not just bashing.
I do find Alex Dimanaur to be a breath of fresh air. He can do it all.
vsbabolat
Talk Tennis Guru
I find the lack of variety of styles in modern tennis boring. I loved watching match ups of S&V playing a baseliner. The clash of styles was far more entertaining than the product that’s out there now.
McLovin
Legend
Agassi v Edberg, and later, Agassi v Rafter, were some of the most enjoyable matches to watch in the 90s.
Seth
Legend
You mean you guys don’t like watching two exceedingly dull players hit it progressively harder in the middle 60% of the court until someone dares to hit it somewhat close to the line?
Next you’re going to tell me that you don’t like Zverev rolling 55mph forehands into the open court when the match gets tight. Or Sinner moving two steps inside the baseline, getting scared, and moving backward again even though the next ball would be an easy put-away at net.
Rabbit
G.O.A.T.
@Seth - I’m afraid I will.
I also don’t like all the hugging. A certain amount of bad blood is good.
Anybody else remember after Pat Rafter won the U.S. Open, Sampras was asked “what’s the difference between you and Pat rafter?” Sampras replied “about 10 slams”.
When rafter was asked to comment he said “I guess it’s 9 now “
McEnroe/Everybody but Borg
Connor’s/everybody but Borg
Lendl/everybody
Rivalries with hate!
I also don’t like all the hugging. A certain amount of bad blood is good.
Anybody else remember after Pat Rafter won the U.S. Open, Sampras was asked “what’s the difference between you and Pat rafter?” Sampras replied “about 10 slams”.
When rafter was asked to comment he said “I guess it’s 9 now “
McEnroe/Everybody but Borg
Connor’s/everybody but Borg
Lendl/everybody
Rivalries with hate!
Kevin T
Hall of Fame
Yes! I'll go one further and note how enjoyable watching 80's clay/Roland Garros matches when Edberg, Stich, Becker could still impose their will and challenge for the title was for me. This was my introduction to pro tennis, going into jr high and high school late because of final exams or coming home early during the last week of school to watch French Open matches. Great memories and great match-ups. Clay tournaments are almost unwatchable for me at this point. The lack of interesting personalities and match-ups doesn't help but it's like watching Forrest Gump's table tennis tour in China.
jmacdaununder2
Legend
Yep exactly! It was the contrasting, yet equally viable styles that made it so watchable, à la McEnroe vs Borg or Connors, Cash vs Wilander or Lendl, Rafter or Sampras vs Agassi etc. etc.
jmacdaununder2
Legend
Without poly there would’ve just been the Federer era.
Agassi still uses the rubber band dampener!Images from Laver Cup practice. Agassi seems to move between frames a lot in his retirement. This doesn't look like the Percept he's been spotted with. More like his POG.
And it does my heart good to see Rafter still using his original Precision Response!
