Players we never talk about

[5point5]

Sebastien Grosjean!

One of the greatest Frenchies!

 

[slice bh compliment]

Grosjean was awesome. His name translates to .... Fat john? As opposed to petitjean? Short guy, tight shorts, hat backwards. Could never get into that look, but man did he get a lot out of his little body.

Remember grosjean's comeback against dre at rg? Bill clinton, america's first, first black president was in da stade that afternoon.

Remember grosjean's aus open semi against le clé?
Incroyable.

Well, while we are at it....arnaud clement. Davis cup captain for france. Not a bad job this year. Rough final against the swiss, dough.

Well, if we are talking about great frenchies, we must not forzhey guy forget, henri leconte and the inimitable yannick noah.

Ok, a quick trip down undah...
Wally masur.
John fitzgerald. Simon youl. Mark kratzmann. Richard fromberg. Rod frawley. Scotty draper. Matt breen (played college tennis at the uc down in los angeles). Michael hill (also played college tennis, at Cal).

 

[Rosewall]

Kevin Curran

So little talked about that people often spell his name wrong!

Curren was one of the best players in the world from about 83-85. Two-time slam finalist, coached by Tony Roche. I thought he was going to beat Becker in 85. Anyone remember Becker bumping him in that Wimbledon Final? Psychologically, I don't think Curren ever fully recovered from that match.

 

[slice bh compliment]

How did curren beat mac and connors during the week ....then this freak served him off the court that sunday!?

That was huge.
Just so inspiring for all big-hitting young guys. It really came together for young boris. Ranks up there pretty high on the list of exciting sundays in tennis along with 8⃣3⃣ noah, 87 cash, 01 goran, 79 mac, 77 vilas, 72 ilie, 75 ashe, 88 wilander, 04 fed.

Ok, since curren got a mention....big servers corner here....
Steve denton, his dubs partner. What a cannon. Waltzed into his serve.
Chip hooper. Eric korita. John feaver. Colon dibley. Roscoe tanner.

 

[bluetrain4]

How about Tommy Ho. Tommy was asian american and came up around the same time as Chang. he was picked to have the bigger career.....lots of endorcements etc. etc. Things just never seamed to materialize. No idea what hes doing now. he was a good player though. Complete all court game. Bigger than chang. Good volleyer...better serve. I followed him for a while.

heres a forgotten one.... Lawson Duncan. Monster, Monster forehand on him. American who was actually kind of a clay court specialist. He was a practice partner of Lendl. Last I heard he was coaching Odesnik off and on.

I didn't realize that Ho even had a sort of substantial pro career. I certainly remember him from all the tennis magazines when I was kid (we're the same age) and him being touted as a potential pro stand-out. I though he immediately faded away due to injuries. I didn't know he had an on-again, off-again 10-year career which included a No. 85 singles ranking and 4 doubles titles, as well as one third-round appearance in a Slam.

It's always interesting to see the young kids that are getting a lot of attention. Of course, most don't do anything of note no matter how stellar their junior careers. I remember an African-American player, Martin Blackmon (sp?) who was in Tennis Magazine and got some attention (Not Ho level attention, but a few write-ups), but he never did anything of note.

For everyone who thinks Donald Young has had such a horrible career when compared to the early hype, there's been hyped players who have achieved much, much, less.

I'll add Richey Reneberg and Leander Paes to the list of players for the thread.

 

[magnut]

yeah reneberg was a hell of a singles player although he is known primarily for doubs. I think his back finally did him in.

 

[DerekNoleFam1]

Aaron Krickstein rarely gets mentioned anymore.
Good to see people here remember Kevin Curren.
And then Kiwi journeyman Chris Lewis - who lost to Mac at Wimby in 1983.

 

[DerekNoleFam1]

How about Tommy Ho. Tommy was asian american and came up around the same time as Chang. he was picked to have the bigger career.....lots of endorcements etc. etc. Things just never seamed to materialize. No idea what hes doing now. he was a good player though. Complete all court game. Bigger than chang. Good volleyer...better serve. I followed him for a while.

heres a forgotten one.... Lawson Duncan. Monster, Monster forehand on him. American who was actually kind of a clay court specialist. He was a practice partner of Lendl. Last I heard he was coaching Odesnik off and on.

Remember him vaguely, used to get him confused with Hawaiian surfers though!

 

[jaggy]

Colin Dowdesswell who chipped and charged. He was a very successful banker in between spells of being a tennis pro.

 

[sabala]

Ok, how about Dr. Dirt - Tim Wilkison! Always with the hat on lol.

Hearing Tommy Ho reminds me of another American player in the Agassi - Chang age group - Chuck Adams.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

yeah reneberg was a hell of a singles player although he is known primarily for doubs. I think his back finally did him in.

I really liked the Palmer-Reneberg doubles team. Jared Palmer is an underrated former #1 in doubles and managed to win a singles tournament as well. Richey won 3 singles titles and was as high as #20 in the world at some point.

 

[Capulin Zurdo]

Jiri Novak (Czech), ranked as high as no. 5

 

[pc1]

Brian Gottfried
Dick Stockton
Raul Ramirez

 

[jaggy]

Mike Bauer who reached 29 in the world, I saw him play the Scottish Nationals in about 1983 I think.

 

[slice bh compliment]

There was a mike bauer who played at cal and then on the tour. Same guy? About 55 yrs old now. Nah. Could not be.

 

[joe sch]

Players rarely spoken about here but deserves some attention
Pancho Segura-Arguably number one in the world at times in the 1950's. Had possibly the greatest forehand of all time.
Frank Sedgman-great player overshadowed by Jack Kramer and Pancho Gonzalez. He was perhaps the greatest volleyer ever and one of the fastest players in history.
Bobby Riggs-Known mainly as the loser to Billie Jean King in 1973 but a superb beautiful stylist which he was on top. Oddly enough, despite being small he had a big serve with great variety. Vines thought his serve was superior to Don Budge! Great touch, good power and super control. Master of the lob.

Three greats that could have been talked about as GOATS if not for the GOATS that overshadowed them. Segura was not even the best Pancho of his time but was number one and could beat anybody. He had outstanding strokes including 2 handed FH that Kramer thought was greatest stroke of all time. I heard there was a Segura movie sorta like the some of the Gonzales specials but not sure if it was ever released ? Would be very entertaining. Segura was one of the nicest guys and always entertained the other players with him unending stories and jokes.
Riggs was another very interesting character and backed up his bets with outstanding play including a trifecta at Wimbledon where he bet on winning the singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Im sure Bobbys barnstorming tours that preceded the Krmaer tours were very entertaining and full of interesting times.
Its a shame there there is little video of both Segura and Riggs.

 

[jaggy]

There was a mike bauer who played at cal and then on the tour. Same guy? About 55 yrs old now. Nah. Could not be.

Wikipedia says it's the same one.

 

[PDJ]

Any one remember Hu Na who was the subject of international headlines when she defected from China in 1982?
If so, how did she play?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...se-tennis-star-who-came-in-from-the-cold.html

 

[kiki]

Brian Gottfried
Dick Stockton
Raul Ramirez

That is true, the three had great seasons and Gottfried and Ramirez teamed up to make one of the classic doubles formations of the 1970´s.Three great representatives of the 1970´s.

Gottfried and Stockton were classical S&V players but Gottfried used more finesse and Stockton more power.Gottfried had the best FH volley on tour and Stockton had the best OH.Their best year was 1977

Ramirez was also adept to S&V but was basically an all round player, who was able to straight set Manuel Orantes at the IO F in 1975, beat Vitas Gerulaitis to reach the W SF in 1976 and played the WCT and Masters SF on fast carpet.

They had paralel careers.From 1973 to 1982 I´d say, although Stockton and Ramirez had slump years from 1979 to 1982 while Gottfried was a top 15 during those seasons.Great watching the three and specially Brian and Raul doubs interaction.

 

[Mike Bulgakov]

Mike Bauer who reached 29 in the world, I saw him play the Scottish Nationals in about 1983 I think.

He once beat Jimmy Connors in Taiwan.

 

[kiki]

Corrado Barazutti
Hans Gildemeister
Eliott Teltscher
Brian Teacher

 

[jaggy]

A name I always liked was the Italian Francesco Cancellotti. Has a ring to it.

Won 2 singles titles and reached a high of 21 in 1985. Had a win over Wilander.

 

[kiki]

A name I always liked was the Italian Francesco Cancellotti. Has a ring to it.

Won 2 singles titles and reached a high of 21 in 1985. Had a win over Wilander.

Had a good cc game and could have had a better career,but he was always cursing and was not that much focused

 

[slice bh compliment]

A name I always liked was the Italian Francesco Cancellotti. Has a ring to it.

Won 2 singles titles and reached a high of 21 in 1985. Had a win over Wilander.

Great name. I remember him playing an age group or two above me in a big int'l tournament at port Washington.

I played a guy in a satellite named kenichi kiyomiya. American and also japanese. Made it to the atp tour level. One of the coolest names in the sport. Up there with cancelotti.

Nduka odizor is another one. They called him the duke. The duke is a cool name, but it was really john wayne....and really, nduka is even cooler.

Ok, what about the zimbabwean player, genius chidzikwe? Deserves a mention on this thread.

 

[Capulin Zurdo]

Nicolás Massú (Chile), ranked as high as no.09 and won a gold medal in the olympics for doubles in 2004.

 

[Gizo]

Julian Alonso - An attacking clay court player who liked to dictate points with his big serve and forehand. He destroyed the home favourite Rios in the 1997 Santiago final to win the first of his 2 career titles. He loved his partying more than his tennis and dated Hingis for a period.

Jay Berger - After injuring his shoulder as a junior, he adopted a service motion with no wind-up or backswing, and he fought hard in long, gruelling rallies. He has victories over Wilander in his best year 1988, Becker in his best year 1989 and a prime Edberg also in 1989, and reached 2 slam quarter-finals that year.

 

[kiki]

Julian Alonso - An attacking clay court player who liked to dictate points with his big serve and forehand. He destroyed the home favourite Rios in the 1997 Santiago final to win the first of his 2 career titles. He loved his partying more than his tennis and dated Hingis for a period.

Jay Berger - After injuring his shoulder as a junior, he adopted a service motion with no wind-up or backswing, and he fought hard in long, gruelling rallies. He has victories over Wilander in his best year 1988, Becker in his best year 1989 and a prime Edberg also in 1989, and reached 2 slam quarter-finals that year.

Dating Martina far oughtweights any on court achievement

 

[Vegito]

Harold Solomon, one of the thoughest rivals for Guillermo Vilas. Also Wojtek Fibak; he and Guillermo played a great semifinal in the 1976 Masters.

 

[DerekNoleFam1]

Peter McNamara, good Aussie player in the early 80's, played a fair bit of doubles as well when it was still popular to do both.

 

[PandaTrueno]

Taylor Dent. He didn't achieve very much and was absolutely overshadowed, but when people talk about James Blake's go for broke style, I often felt that Dent's was even more so. When it paid off, it looked brilliant, but when it didn't it was difficult to watch! I loved watching him because it was always a surprise - never knew which Dent you were going to get!

Joachim Johansson. Man those injuries sure did him in. I remember watching him outpower Roddick (I think at the US Open) and was thoroughly impressed. That was a fun power duel to watch.

 

[mydogsparty]

I remember David Wheaton and Pat Cash because they seemed to make their bandanas famous. Wheaton wore a bandana that looked American flagish and Cash wore a black and white checkered one. Cash had the better game of course. He was very fast and athletic with great touch at the net. Cash was also famous for winning Wimbledon and climbing through the stands to get to the box seats his family was sitting in so that he could give them a hug. I don't think Cash appreciated the Women's tour. I seem to remember Cash feeling like the Women's tour was riding the coattails of the men's tour in terms being able to draw their own fans and make money.

 

[Capulin Zurdo]

Taylor Dent. He didn't achieve very much and was absolutely overshadowed, but when people talk about James Blake's go for broke style, I often felt that Dent's was even more so. When it paid off, it looked brilliant, but when it didn't it was difficult to watch! I loved watching him because it was always a surprise - never knew which Dent you were going to get!

Joachim Johansson. Man those injuries sure did him in. I remember watching him outpower Roddick (I think at the US Open) and was thoroughly impressed. That was a fun power duel to watch.

You're correct Johansson did defeat Roddick at the USO, in the quarterfinals. Tremendous power match from both players.

Glad you mentioned Dent; I think he was a good serve and volleyer. Also, his father, Phil Dent made the Australian Open final in 1974, losing to Connors in four sets. I believe he also made the French Open semifinal and Wimbledon quarterfinal in 1977.

 

[Gonzalito17]

Igor Andreev. Jerome Golmard. Magnus Larsson. Thomas Enqvist. Aravane Rezai. Hyung Taik Lee. Mona Barthel. Chuck Adams. Brian Gottfried. Felix Mantilla.

These players never get talked about.

 

[Mike Bulgakov]

Igor Andreev. Jerome Golmard. Magnus Larsson. Thomas Enqvist. Aravane Rezai. Hyung Taik Lee. Mona Barthel. Chuck Adams. Brian Gottfried. Felix Mantilla.

These players never get talked about.

Did Andreev retire? He once had a great forehand and girlfriend, but seems to have disappeared. I really enjoyed watching Larsson, who could smoke the ball. John McEnroe had a strange nickname for him, but I forget what it was.

 

[Mike Bulgakov]

Dmitry Tursunov deserves pages of discussion. He possesses great talent, is very smart, very funny, and can't control his emotions. Injuries have hampered his tennis career. Few tennis players have been more entertaining with their writing.

 

[Mike Bulgakov]

Elena Likhovtseva was an early Russian WTA success. She had really nice flat groundstokes, and a smooth all-court game.

 

[joe sch]

Taylor Dent. He didn't achieve very much and was absolutely overshadowed, but when people talk about James Blake's go for broke style, I often felt that Dent's was even more so. When it paid off, it looked brilliant, but when it didn't it was difficult to watch! I loved watching him because it was always a surprise - never knew which Dent you were going to get!

Joachim Johansson. Man those injuries sure did him in. I remember watching him outpower Roddick (I think at the US Open) and was thoroughly impressed. That was a fun power duel to watch.

It was a joy to see Taylor play the all-out SV attacking game including chip/charge return of serve. Same as Joachim in that injuries never allowed Taylor to achieve his potential. Taylor displayed great potential and old school Aussie taught SV game from 2002..2005 and then never was able to comback in 2008 from his injuries. He did reach #21 in the world and won 4 titles including Memphis in 2003 where he defeated #1 Roddick. He had one of the most awesome serves on the tour often around 150mph and backed it up with his big guy forward attack and punishing volleys. Taylor married WTA Tour player Jennifer Hopkins and they had a son in 2010 so maybe there is another great SV player on the horizon

 

[boredone3456]

Elena Likhovtseva was an early Russian WTA success. She had really nice flat groundstokes, and a smooth all-court game.

I remember her....she was fairly talented, I remember she made the SF of the french in 2005...lost to Pierce.

Another player I thought of last night was Jonas Bjorkman...very talented. I remember his 2006 Wimbledon run and rooting for him against Fed in the SF even though I knew he didn't stand much of a chance. He was talented sadly never really did much in singles.

 

[Tshooter]

Igor Andreev. Jerome Golmard. Magnus Larsson. Thomas Enqvist. Aravane Rezai. Hyung Taik Lee. Mona Barthel. Chuck Adams. Brian Gottfried. Felix Mantilla.

These players never get talked about.

I was sitting behind THE GREAT Bud Collins when Adams beat Karel Novacek 3rd Round USO 1993.

I was half eavesdropping and I remember Collins being excited to watch the match (it was a huge result for Adams making the 3rd round) and commenting that it was the biggest match Adams had ever played and probably ever would.

Bud as I'm sure was typical when it came to things tennis related was correct. I looked it up out of curiosity. Adams made one 3rd round Major after that. (No disgrace losing straights to Sampras 3rd Round at W) and one 2nd round. The rest were 1st round exits.

Your list seems a total random list of players though. Of the list Enqvist and Gottfried should get more respect. Especially Gottfried who stuck in or around the top 10-15 during the late 70s when guys named Borg, Connors and McEnroe were around. Hitting #3 in the world at one point.

Which reminds me. Throw Raul Ramirez in with Gottfried. Similarly top level pro in the same era that gets little mention and respect around here.

 

[Tshooter]

.. I remember watching him outpower Roddick (I think at the US Open) and was thoroughly impressed. ..

Yes, 2004 USO. I think it was the first year I saw JJ play. 2004 USO when he blew Lu off the court R1. I saw some of his subsequent matches too.

I thought I was watching a guy that could snag a Major one day.

 

[jelle v]

just throwing some names to see what comes back...

david wheaton (with his bandana!) ?
ronald agenor ?
magnus larsson ?
alexander volkov ?
goran prpic (now that was a real knee injury!) ?

David Wheaton! I was thinking about him in the topic on General Player Discussion. I liked Wheaton very much. If i remember correctly he played the yellow/black Head 630.

Magnus Larsson was a hero. He was sort of the predecessor of Soderling. Also a tall guy with big ground strokes. His forehand was very big.

Alexander Volkov was incredible. Lefty with very much feel. I saw him play live in Rotterdam in 91 or 92 (?) in the final against Boris Becker. If I remember correctly Volkov defeated Becker.

Goellner was a one-trick-pony. or lets say two-trick-pony. Serve and Forehand. with these weapons he could give top players trouble, but in the long run that was not enough. over here in germany, he was quite popular in 93 with his babyface. but i think Dreekmann and Karbacher were more successful.
Does anybody remember them?
Both of them reaching the roland garros qf.

Dreekmann and Karbacher! Karbacher with the weird service motion! Wasn't Dreekmann's first name Hendrik?

Still, i rememer Mark Kevin Goellner better. As said, with the cap and his Head Prestige and his wicked topspin forehand.

This is one fantastic topic!

Here in Holland we received DSF (Deutsche Sport Fernsehen)in that time period. Does DSF still exist?

EDIT:

as some posters before, i admire French tennis. they always had players in the mix. did somebody mention Fabrice Santoro?
during 80s/90s Holland had a string of decent players. of course wimbychamp Richard Krajicek. but also the names Jan Siemerink, Michiel Schapers, Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis come to my mind. Eltingh/Haarhuis were very successful in doubles and Haarhuis did upset Becker at the USO91 converting 5/5 breakpoints!!! and Haarhuis is 3:3 vs Sampras.
Spain reigned the claycourts with Emilio Sanchez, Carlos and Albert Costa, Alex Corretja, Carlos Moya, Francisco Clavet, Alberto Berasategui.
Italy was rather weak with Andrea Gaudenzi as the only player reaching top20, but Omar Camporese and stefano Pescosolido had some good results.
besides the big names sweden had many excellent players like Joakim Nystroem, Jonas B. Svensson and the very unlucky Kent Carlsson. did somebody mention Joachim Johansson, Henrik Holm - both big servers? Jan Gunnarsson? Magnus Gustavsson?
Romania had Andrej Pavel and Adrian Voinea.
Yugoslawia produced of course Goran Ivanisevic, but also Slobodan "Bobo" Zivojinovic and Goran Prpic.

Remember almost all of the names you posted.

The spain players were great. Very rarely does the name Carlos Costa get mentioned on these boards! I watched a video of Clavet a few weeks ago. Had very nice looking ground strokes, especially his forehand was very eye pleasing.

You mention Andrei Pavel. Great tennis player! His backhand was one of the best. Very nice all court game. If I remember correctly he had kind of a transition game from the 90's playing style to the current playing style? But seriously his backhand.. just wow..

Gaudenzi was also such a cool player to watch. Very muscular guy if i remember correctly. He had this backhand that started as a double handed backhand but after he had hit the ball he would swing like a one handed backhand.

Haarhuis did very well one time at the US Open. He lost in the quarters or semis against Connors if I remember correctly. I watched that match live and still get kind of frustrated, because Connors won because of the home field advantage.. Well that's how I feel about it anyway..

EDIT II:

Jiri Novak (Czech), ranked as high as no. 5

Oh yes, definitely remember him!

Oh man.. so many names coming to mind. Does anybody remember Arnaud Boetsch, Chesnokov, Novacek, Meligeni?

Never saw pictures, but didn't Chesnokov break his leg really badly during a tennis match?

EDIT III:

Yes, yes and yes.

Boetsch was awesome. What a backhand on that guy. Whippy FH, too. Avg height, but a big hitter. Typically stylish frenchman blessed with great eyes and hands. Used to get wrecked by the truly tough players like sampras, iirc. Oh, and i also remember him as one of the last to wear the terrible shortshorts...well into the nineties!

Ok, more forzhotten frenchmen for y'all to remember. Olivier delaitre. Thierry champion. Thierry tulasne (less stylish than the typical frenchies, but lots of promise coming out of jrs). Roldophe gilbert.

I just quit editting my previous post..

But Thierry Champion I remember very well. Specificly I remember that he lost at Roland Garros to Sergi Bruguera 6-0 6-0 6-0.. i just cannot verify if this was actually true. Does anybody know for sure if Champion actually lost 6-0 6-0 6-0 to Bruguera?

I also think that Champion looked a lot like Terence Hill..

 

[slice bh compliment]

But Thierry Champion I remember very well. Specificly I remember that he lost at Roland Garros to Sergi Bruguera 6-0 6-0 6-0.. i just cannot verify if this was actually true. Does anybody know for sure if Champion actually lost 6-0 6-0 6-0 to Bruguera?

Yes, it was hendrik dreekman, pronounced drakeman.

And great memory, jelle, ja, thierry c was indeed triple bageled by luis bruguera's son. I believe that was the year sergi beat pete, medvedev and jm courier to take his first of two roland titles. Five set final over courier. I will never forget it. Must have been 93 as he won the next year's final over berasategui.

 

[kiki]

Paul Verkeerk, RG finalist in 2003.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

Used to get wrecked by the truly tough players like sampras, iirc. Oh, and i also remember him as one of the last to wear the terrible shortshorts...well into the nineties!

... the terrible shortshorts !!!
(were boetsch's really the last standing shortshorts of tennis history ?...)

that being said, after typing "shortshorts" in google images, i'm not suresure if shortshorts are such a terribleterrible idea......

(or maybe i should have added the word "tennis" ?)

 

[Gizo]

Hernan Gumy. He had a nice one handed backhand, superb fitness and conditioning, and an incredibly volatile temper with him smashing rackets as if his life depended on it. Plus with his looks he had quite a strong female fanbase. He had a very good track record coaching several players, but given how similar he was to Safin, their coaching relationship is pretty funny to think about.

His most famous match was his epic R3 defeat against Corretja at RG in 1998. It lasted for 5 hours 31 minutes, making it the longest ever recorded grand slam match until the Santoro-Clement match at RG in 2004 toppled it. It was completed over 2 days with play suspended on the first day at set point to Corretja. Gumy fought back from 5-1 down and saved 4 match points in the 5th set, before eventually losing it 9-7.

He won his 1 ATP title at Santiago in 1996, beating the home favourite Rios in front of an expectant Chilean crowd. That was pretty hilarious, as it was his only victory against Rios in 7 attempts. So despite having such a lopsided negative h2h against him, he still won what was clearly their most important match.

 

[kiki]

Gene Mayer, the best drop shots over the last 30 years

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

jonas svensson ?... reached #10, some interesting slam-scalps (becker, lendl), 2 SF at RG and 1 QF at the AO !

i also remember goran had to save match point against him... before going on to successfully beat 4 top10 players to win bercy 1993 !
R64 Bye N/A W
R32 Jonas Svensson (SWE) 32 W 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3)
R16 Michael Chang (USA) 7 W 7-6(5), 7-5
Q Pete Sampras (USA) 1 W 7-6(3), 7-5
S Stefan Edberg (SWE) 6 W 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(3)
W Andrei Medvedev (UKR) 8 W 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(2)

 

[tennisjon]

How about Kent Carlsson? Had the best record on tour in 1998. But injuries forced him from the game in his early 20s. Watch his videos on youtube and you see that he could have won majors. What a talent!

 

[jaggy]

How about Kent Carlsson? Had the best record on tour in 1998. But injuries forced him from the game in his early 20s. Watch his videos on youtube and you see that he could have won majors. What a talent!

I seem to remember an entire thread on him here.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

how about the black/sanchez/maleeva bros'n'sis ?!