Borg, Connors, McEnroe, had all 4 slams been held in todays value?

[krosero]

One more factor in comparing the speed of play at RG and Forest Hills is is the pressure of the balls.

This was in Sports Illustrated after 1981 RG:

No U.S. player has won in France since Tony Trabert in 1955, and no U.S. player seems about to, either. Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe may be 2-3 in the world, but not when they're playing on the irritating, slow and swirling clay of Paris with rocklike low-pressure balls. The low, flat trajectory of Connors' shots doesn't allow him the margin for error one needs in these brain-jangling, hour-upon-hour marathons. In such matches his aggression comes a cropper. The more facile McEnroe, blessed with marvelous touch on the lob and drop, seems to think patience, concentration and hard work are unnecessary. Neither man's temperament is suited to clay. Neither man knows how to slide properly. "The points just keep going on and on and it's so frustrating," McEnroe said. "I don't think that the most talented players necessarily win here."

Wrong.

Did we have a discussion somewhere about the pressure of the balls used at Forest Hills?

 

[krosero]

True, Connors beat Borg at the 76 US Open, he played a fantastic match.He also beat Borg at the Buenos Aires exo in the later 70´s and may be, somewhere else.

Not on clay, see WCT's posts above.

 

[urban]

Maybe it was a mental thing too, that the US players did traditionally quite badly at RG since Trabert's time. Ashe, Smith, Connors, Mac talked so much about the conditions at RG, that it got into their heads and they began to believe it. Besides the surface and equipment questions, there is also a certain atmosphere, a sort of genius loci, that constitutes a certain place in tennis. Federer mentioned often the sheer dimensions of the Court Central and the wide spaces behind the baseline, which was strange for him. The Paris crowd is problematic and can get into players heads. Connors was a different beast in the carnival atmosphere of New York, not depending on the different surfaces. He got however a rousing ovation in his remis match with Chang on his swan song at RG.

 

[kiki]

Chip Hooper said at RG " It is still a tennis court, same length, same size".Attacking players like
Laver,Panatta,Pecci,Gottfried,Noah,Edberg and, once, JMac have been able to do very well on french clay.It´s tough, but not impossible, and the only way is not letting it get into your minds, and play your basic game enforcing risk taking and accepting your % will go down.