Parallels between Borg-McEnroe, McEnroe-Lendl rivalries and Fed-Nadal, Nadal-Djoker

[Maximagq]

Borg = Federer
McEnroe = Nadal
Lendl = Djokovic

Borg-McEnroe was widely considered the greatest rivalry in tennis having contested epics at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Federer-Nadal is now considered the best rivalry in tennis history with their epic matches at Wimbledon and Australia, and their grand slam meetings at the French. After McEnroe beat Borg at the 1981 Wimbledon (Nadal beat Federer at the 2008 Wimbledon), it was considered the changing of the guard that marked the slow decline of Borg (Federer) and enabled McEnroe (Nadal) to dominate men's tennis until the emergence of a third player from Eastern Europe named Ivan Lendl (Novak Djokovic). The McEnroe-Lendl rivalry would involve the most head to head meetings until the current Nadal-Djokovic rivalry but was overshadowed by the previous great rivalry. There were also long periods of win streaks in McEnroe versus Lendl (Lendl first dominated the rivalry, then McEnroe turned it around until 1984 when Lendl began to overpower McEnroe) that we currently see in the Djokovic-Nadal rivalry (Nadal dominated Djokovic early in their careers, Djokovic won 7 in a row from 2011-2012, Nadal would go on to win 5 out of their next 6 matches, and now Djokovic is looking to go on another huge win streak against Rafa with 2 wins currently). Thoughts?

 

[jg153040]

Interesting parallels. I never thought of it like this. Also Nole like Lendl is very consistent but he is not loved as much as Fedal. And he also has to play tough guys in finals losing a lot of them. I can totally see Nole with a bad record in finals.

Also FO eludes Nole like W for Lendl.

 

[Forehand Of Doom]

Good thread. I don't think Djokovic will turn the rivalry around again though, but we will have to see.

 

[jg153040]

Good thread. I don't think Djokovic will turn the rivalry around again though, but we will have to see.

I think he will. Champions seem to be motivated by bad losses. And Rafa took away Nole's heart in 2013. So, I think Nole will come back strong.

That is usually how things are. But we shall see, just a theory. The other reason is that Nole seems to be more consistent and across all surfaces and seems to have less mileage on the legs.

But we don't know anything. Things change so fast in tennis.

 

[kiki]

Mac and Nadal are Catholics, Federer and Borg are Protestants...but while Djokovic is an Orthodox, Lendl himself was a Catholic.

 

[Midaso240]

I think he will. Champions seem to be motivated by bad losses. And Rafa took away Nole's heart in 2013. So, I think Nole will come back strong.

That is usually how things are. But we shall see, just a theory. The other reason is that Nole seems to be more consistent and across all surfaces and seems to have less mileage on the legs.

But we don't know anything. Things change so fast in tennis.

Rafa beat him a few times in 2012 too,no? Novak is very lucky Murray got injured when he did as the Scot was starting to get the wood on him on 2/3 surfaces...

 

[Maximagq]

Mac and Nadal are Catholics, Federer and Borg are Protestants...but while Djokovic is an Orthodox, Lendl himself was a Catholic.

Federer is Roman Catholic.

 

[jg153040]

Rafa beat him a few times in 2012 too,no? Novak is very lucky Murray got injured when he did as the Scot was starting to get the wood on him on 2/3 surfaces...

Rafa is lucky he didn't have to face peak Murray in major finals too.

 

[jg153040]

Mac and Nadal are Catholics, Federer and Borg are Protestants...but while Djokovic is an Orthodox, Lendl himself was a Catholic.

Haha. The funniest thing about this is that you know this. It's crazy .

 

[Maximagq]

http://hollowverse.com/roger-federer/

 

[President]

Mac and Nadal are Catholics, Federer and Borg are Protestants...but while Djokovic is an Orthodox, Lendl himself was a Catholic.

Nadal is an atheist/agnostic and Federer is a catholic.

 

[Tenez101]

Yeah, Novak is looking more and more like the Lendl of this era. Hopefully RG won't elude him like Wimbledon did Lendl...also the surface homogenization should make it easier to win the career slam.

 

[Forehand Of Doom]

I think he will. Champions seem to be motivated by bad losses. And Rafa took away Nole's heart in 2013. So, I think Nole will come back strong.

That is usually how things are. But we shall see, just a theory. The other reason is that Nole seems to be more consistent and across all surfaces and seems to have less mileage on the legs.

But we don't know anything. Things change so fast in tennis.

It is going a be a very interesting season anyway.

 

[Deleted member 3771]

Novak is doing a good Lendl impersonation by losing a bunch of major finals.

 

[5555]

Taking everything into account (personality, game etc) there is more similarity between Djokovic and Connors than between Novak and Lendl. Lendl had boring personality while Djokovic and Connors are showmen. Djokovic's and Connors's best weapons were ROS and backhand. Lendl's best weapon was forehand...