Nole Slam vs Laver '62 amateur CYGS

[Dan Lobb]

IMO, had Laver not turned pro he would not have won the 69 CYGS as turning pro made him a better player than he was in 62, due to playing: Gonzalez, Rosewall and Hoad on the pro tour.

Gonzales and Hoad were past prime by 1969, only Rosewall was a factor.

Laver had the edge over younger players like Newcombe and Roche.

 

[Dan Lobb]

Ashe and Laver played the AO in 71, with Ashe losing to Rosewall in the final and Laver losing early to a lower ranked player in an early round. Perhaps Ashe had personal business to attend to in 69 which kept him from playing the AO in 69, as he had played in the AO before 69. All this talk in nonsense, as players miss other slams too, for personal reasons.

If a player chooses to miss a slam it must be taken as a concession...that is the penalty for not showing up when you could have.

 

[thrust]

Gonzales and Hoad were past prime by 1969, only Rosewall was a factor.

Laver had the edge over younger players like Newcombe and Roche.

Still, I would think that Laver was a better player in 69 than he was in 62. Also, I do not think Laver was the reason Ashe did not compete in the 69 AO.

 

[Dan Lobb]

Still, I would think that Laver was a better player in 69 than he was in 62. Also, I do not think Laver was the reason Ashe did not compete in the 69 AO.

We cannot know why Ashe skipped the AO in 1969...but it really doesn't matter.

Ashe skipping is tantamount to a concession.

I suspect that if Ashe thought that he had a reasonable chance to beat Laver and proceed potentially to a GS year, Ashe would have made the trip to Australia in 1969.

Ashe did go in 1970, to contest a vastly depleted field due to a pro boycott.

Ashe was right in thinking that he had a good chance to win the AO with a weak field in 1970, and he chose to travel to Australia that year and won the AO.

 

[Dan Lobb]

We cannot know why Ashe skipped the AO in 1969...but it really doesn't matter.

Ashe skipping is tantamount to a concession.

I suspect that if Ashe thought that he had a reasonable chance to beat Laver and proceed potentially to a GS year, Ashe would have made the trip to Australia in 1969.

Ashe did go in 1970, to contest a vastly depleted field due to a pro boycott.

Ashe was right in thinking that he had a good chance to win the AO with a weak field in 1970, and he chose to travel to Australia that year and won the AO.

Ashe did travel to the AO in 1966 and 1967. Skipped 1968 and 1969.

 

[Zhilady]

Those other three majors had higher status than the AO, and you could play both the French and Wimbledon in one trip.

And that’s why all those players skipped the Australian Open. It wasn’t because Laver scared them all away with his QF run at the US Open.

 

[Dan Lobb]

And that’s why all those players skipped the Australian Open. It wasn’t because Laver scared them all away with his QF run at the US Open.

Ashe usually made the trip to the Aussie, except in 1969, and it is possible that the prospects of beating Laver at the 1969 were so remote that Ashe would think

twice about going there that particular year. Laver was not an obstacle in 1970, because of the boycott/lockout, Ashe made the trip to Australia and won a weak

field event.

But no way would Ashe skip Wimbledon, even if he didn't expect to win it, it was clearly the number one event.

 

[Zhilady]

Ashe usually made the trip to the Aussie, except in 1969, and it is possible that the prospects of beating Laver at the 1969 were so remote that Ashe would think

twice about going there that particular year. Laver was not an obstacle in 1970, Ashe made the trip to Australia and won a weak field event.

Your mind-reading capabilities aside, most of the top 50 players in the world skipped the Australian Open. You can pretend to know what Ashe was thinking all you like, but the facts belie your arguments. It wasn’t just an Ashe thing.

 

[Dan Lobb]

Your mind-reading capabilities aside, most of the top 50 players in the world skipped the Australian Open. You can pretend to know what Ashe was thinking all you like, but the facts belie your arguments. It wasn’t just an Ashe thing.

I was trying to put myself in Ashe's place, to figure out why he would skip the Aussie in 1969, when his usual practice was to go there.

Ashe was not a top 50 player, he was top 5, and he usually went to the Australian.

But that year, Laver was an intimidating presence on the tour, as Laver himself stated. He just had to show up and the other players would get nervous, and try

too hard, and not relax.

The bottom line was that there was no need for any player who was not an Aussie to show up in 1969, it was pretty well a foregone conclusion that Laver had

it, if he wanted it.

Notice that when Laver was not able to show up at the Aussie in 1970, Ashe went there, and won the event.

Any Americans below the top level had no need to attempt the impossible.

It was a concession.