If you could go back in time and change tennis history...

[Mr Topspin]

I am bored and as Wimbledon starts on Monday 23rd June 2008 I thought I would start an irrational and illogical 'What if' thread.

Imagine if you could go back in time and change tennis results and then predict the changed history. I will begin.

I would go back back in time and change the French Open 2001 result in Kim Clisjters favour. I believe the confidence of winning her first gs in 2001 would give her the confidence to defeat Henin in 2003 and would have probably given her 4-5 gs.

I would also change the 2002 Wimbledon final result in Nalbandian's favour. IMO the confidence of seeing Nalbandian with a slam would have given the tennis world a much earlier rival to Federer who has the game to trouble him which may have altererd the current landscape with Nalabndian becoming a regular gs finalist.

I would go back to 1982 and persuade Borg to stay on and work a bit harder on his game. With Borg still in the game in the 82 Wimbledon Borg would have been seeded 2 with Connors 3rd. There is a possiblity that Connors would have played Mcenroe and defeated him providing Borg with a chance of beating Connors who Borg always had the edge over on grass at least.

 

[chris1992]

Put the Australian Open final 05 in Hewitt's favour and let Safin win it in 2004.

Let Murray beat Nalbandian at Wimbledon a few years ago.

Give the FO at least once to Roger

Allow Henman to defeat Ivanisevic in 2001 in the semis to give Tim the title (and chance) he deserved.

 

[deme08]

I would also change the 2004 French Open final result in Coria's favour. He deserved to win it IMO. The confidence of seeing Coria with the French title would have given clay tennis a much more decent rivalry between the then upcoming Nadal and clay king Coria (at the time).

 

[Deleted member 21996]

Work something on agassi mid carreer...

 

[MAX PLY]

Limit racquet head sizes to 85 sq. inches.

 

[DomStar7]

Ivanovic to win 2007 french and 08 aussi

Djokovic to win USO 2007

 

[ElSuegro]

Prevent Gunther Parche from stabbing Monica Seles and ruining her career. Who knows what she could have done if she was healthy?

 

[simi]

Allow 'pros' to be able to play during those early years when they were banned.

 

[MAX PLY]

Prevent Gunther Parche from stabbing Monica Seles and ruining her career. Who knows what she could have done if she was healthy?

Nice (wish I had thought of that).

 

[simi]

Prevent Gunther Parche from stabbing Monica Seles and ruining her career. Who knows what she could have done if she was healthy?

I sure hope that guy legally changed his name. I'm sure everyone has noticed that nobody names their newborn son "Judas".

 

[shintan17]

Limit racquet head sizes to 85 sq. inches.

Yeah...but only FOR PROS....otherwise, a lazy bum like myself cannot play this sport.

 

[Char]

Prevent Gunther Parche from stabbing Monica Seles and ruining her career. Who knows what she could have done if she was healthy?

^ This. If just one thing, this most definitely.

 

[zagor]

Prevent Gunther Parche from stabbing Monica Seles and ruining her career. Who knows what she could have done if she was healthy?

Would be my choice as well althought I will always try my best to stay away from Monica stabbing discussion in this forum as it is an emotional topic for me and I would probably end up saying something I shouldn't.

 

[shortnsour]

Put the Australian Open final 05 in Hewitt's favour and let Safin win it in 2004.

Let Murray beat Nalbandian at Wimbledon a few years ago.

Give the FO at least once to Roger

Allow Henman to defeat Ivanisevic in 2001 in the semis to give Tim the title (and chance) he deserved.

Ivanisevic deserves it way more than Henman.

 

[shortnsour]

This is because Ivanisevic's 3 time runner up is greater than Henman's 4 semi's at Wimbledon.

 

[ninman]

I would change the FO final results from 2006 and 2007 in Federer's favour, and also the Rome 2006 and Monte Carlo and Hamburg 2008 all in Federer's favour. The reason, Federer would have 2 calendar GS and we would see much better matches between Federer and Nadal on clay because Federer would have the mental strength to believe that he CAN defeat Nadal on clay.

 

[SempreSami]

Make Goran not bottle his serve in the decisive game against Agassi in 1992 and let Tim win in 2001.

 

[Nadal_Freak]

I would also change the 2004 French Open final result in Coria's favour. He deserved to win it IMO. The confidence of seeing Coria with the French title would have given clay tennis a much more decent rivalry between the then upcoming Nadal and clay king Coria (at the time).

Coria was too much of a lightweight to handle either Federer or Nadal. His timespan was very short as he relied solely on not missing.

 

[Deleted member 25923]

Let McEnroe win the 1984 FO. He was up 2 sets to love!

 

[Lucky57]

let djokovic win nothing >

 

[Thor]

I want to see what would have happenned had there been no rain delay in the 2004 wimbledon final(Roddick vs Federer)

If Roddick would have won im sure hed be a different player today

 

[Duzza]

Kill all threats to King Roger

 

[charlottefromca]

I would give 1999 French Open to Hingis... I think that meltdown against Graf really did her in.. she didn't win another GS after that...

 

[SempreSami]

Coria was too much of a lightweight to handle either Federer or Nadal. His timespan was very short as he relied solely on not missing.

I'm quite sick of you denying that anyone ever could possibly match up against Nadal.

 

[Nadal_Monfils]

Give Nadal the 2006 and 2007 Wimbledon titles so he would have back-to-back French-Wimby doubles. Also give a US Open title to Borg and then have him play the Australian to go for the Calendar slam.

 

[Alexio92]

I would let coria win 04 french open, along with 03 06 and 07 and 08.

I would let henman win wimbledon 07, and he would retire straight after. A stuff you to the media if you like...

Davydenko to have won us open 07, and australian open 07.

Have Gaudio win rg 05.

Ivanisevic win all the wimbledons he could have when he was almost there.

Hewitt win wimbledon 08... we will have to wait and see.

 

[moonbat]

Prevent Gunther Parche from stabbing Monica Seles and ruining her career. Who knows what she could have done if she was healthy?

Yeah, that's my pick, too...

 

[Mr Topspin]

Interesting ideas for all.

I would agree that i would stop the 'Seles' attack and see how many slams she would have racked up all things being equal. A lot of pro's felt that Steffi having 22 slams and Seles only on 9 was and is so unfair.

I would have Agassi beat Pete in the 1990 US open final and the french open finals he lost in 91 and 92. So by 92 Wimbledon Agassi would have had 3 slams or more.

I would have had JC Ferrero win the 2002 French Open and the 2003 Us Open and I would have begged him not to change rackets in 2004 and to skip the Davis Cup final in 2003.

I would have changed the US Open semi with Roddick and Nalbadian in Nalbandian's favour.

I would change 98 wimbledon in Goran's favour. He should have won that one and he would in 5 tight sets.

 

[cucio]

Prevent Gunther Parche from stabbing Monica Seles and ruining her career. Who knows what she could have done if she was healthy?

Definitely. The blackest moment in tennis history. Some of the things fantards say here, even in so-called jest, are downright creepy... :| (See Duzza above.)

 

[superman1]

Get Agassi and Steffi Graf hooked up during the Wimbledon dance. Usually the winners of the tournament would have a dance, but they canceled it in '92. I'd be like Marty McFly in Back To The Future. Get up there, play guitar, sing Earth Angel.

I'd also tell him to play the Australian Open earlier.

That would win him, oh, maybe 5 or 6 more Slams.

 

[Supernatural_Serve]

When Monica Seles started grunting, howling, and barking on every shot, I would like to go back in time and show everyone who let her get away with this nonsense, what it was going to lead to in no time.

What a disaster for tennis.

 

[zagor]

Get Agassi and Steffi Graf hooked up during the Wimbledon dance. Usually the winners of the tournament would have a dance, but they canceled it in '92. I'd be like Marty McFly in Back To The Future. Get up there, play guitar, sing Earth Angel.

I'd also tell him to play the Australian Open earlier.

That would win him, oh, maybe 5 or 6 more Slams.

I'm surprised you being an Agassi fan wouldn't change the '95 USO final outcome as Agassi really went into a slump after that loss.Who knows what would have happened if he won,he was overall playing amazing tennis that whole year(the best tennis I've seen him play).

 

[Nadal_Freak]

I'm quite sick of you denying that anyone ever could possibly match up against Nadal.

Sick of the truth I see.

 

[The-Champ]

Tell Sampras to stay healthy and win more slams because one day a federer will break his record

 

[superman1]

I'm surprised you being an Agassi fan wouldn't change the '95 USO final outcome as Agassi really went into a slump after that loss.Who knows what would have happened if he won,he was overall playing amazing tennis that whole year(the best tennis I've seen him play).

Yeah, but my theory is that with Steffi, he'd enter his prime sooner and wouldn't get into a slump. There's no way he would essentially quit tennis while his wife was out winning Slams.

 

[coloskier]

I would change the US Open, AO, and Wimbledon back to the fast grass that it used to be.

 

[Mr Topspin]

Yeah, but my theory is that with Steffi, he'd enter his prime sooner and wouldn't get into a slump. There's no way he would essentially quit tennis while his wife was out winning Slams.

Settling down early may have affected both Steffi and Andre. That is why most pro's settle down in their latter years ala Sampras, Mcenroe, etc.

 

[Nadal_Freak]

I would change the US Open, AO, and Wimbledon back to the fast grass that it used to be.

The game has evolved. Why go back now? Grass is too hard to keep up anyways.

 

[VikingSamurai]

The game has evolved. Why go back now? Grass is too hard to keep up anyways.

Says who?... Have you ever played on it?

 

[Nadal_Freak]

Says who?... Have you ever played on it?

They have to mow it real short, it gets beat up easily, and you have to water it. It's just not easy to keep up. It would be nice if they did but I don't see that happening.

 

[veroniquem]

Prevent Gunther Parche from stabbing Monica Seles and ruining her career. Who knows what she could have done if she was healthy?

Best pick by far. I remember being devastated by this attack. Seles had the most phenomenal mental before it happened. When someone on this thread said "killing all threats to king Fed", it sent a chill down my spine remembering the Seles incident.

 

[Swissv2]

Keeping up grass is the same whether they make it fast or slow. I think the point is - why not make grass fast again.

 

[zagor]

Yeah, but my theory is that with Steffi, he'd enter his prime sooner and wouldn't get into a slump. There's no way he would essentially quit tennis while his wife was out winning Slams.

You might be onto something.I always felt that when Agassi married Steffi,he finally dedicated himself fully to tennis and heroicly battled it out with much younger players until 2006 when his body couldn't take it anymore so I'd say it's possible that Agassi would have entered his prime much sooner if he had Steffi by his side then.

 

[superstition]

I would have pushed hard, when spaghetti string was banned, to have a maximum head size of 80 sq in and a maximum stiffness no higher than the stiffest wood.

Preventing Seles' stabbing, of course, is a given. Getting that "grunt" nipped in the bud is also one. As Bud Collins said, it should have been taken care of right away and not complained about after she had been on the tour for two years.

I would have coached Navratilova to improve her diet in her early days, preventing her from being what Bud Collins called "the Great Wide Hope".

I would have given Tilden advice to hopefully prevent him from being having sex with a prostitute and being arrested, as well as advice so that he wouldn't have wasted so much money in failed theatrical productions.

I would have given Conchita Martinez a real injury to go with the injury time-out she took in the 1994 Wimbledon final (joke). More importantly, I would have given Navratilova advice to hopefully prevent her from losing that match.

 

[jaggy]

I would go back and sterilize Nick Bollitirieris father.

 

[Nadal_Freak]

Keeping up grass is the same whether they make it fast or slow. I think the point is - why not make grass fast again.

It is fast. I guess since Nadal does well, everyone has to complain about the speed if it's not clay. Pathetic imo. I don't understand why Nadal has so many haters.

 

[PCXL-Fan]

Convince a very young Nadal and his parents to focus him on his bright career as a soccer player for Real Madrid instead of some silly sport like tennis in which he would never amount to very much.

 

[i8myshirt]

Make Roger Federer born in the era of Pete Sampras. However, how would Federer do without that win over Sampras at Wimbledon? That seemed to be the trigger to his success.

 

[Psyballa]

Two things I can think of off the top of my head:

- Roddick would lose before facing Fed AO 2006
- Roddick won the two tiebreaks against Fed USO 2007

 

[Davydenko]

Change Davydenko vs. Puerta
Change Wilander vs. Noah
Change Mecir vs. Lendl in GS finals