a dollar store schwartzman
disrespect.
a complete nobody like Schwartzman
cool story michael
Nice try, but I was never even a Chang fan.
What is a fact is what Diego is a nobody compared to Chang.
Is Schwartzmann better than Chang was?true enough.
just a humble peasant who got a bit better than michael chang at tennis
true enough.
just a humble peasant who got a bit better than michael chang at tennis
Is Schwartzmann better than Chang was?
Is Schwartzmann better than Chang was?
He might fit into the group who believes that no player pre-2000 could compete today.
Did you have a better serve? You owned him at the French open 1989 final!What else do you want to know?
Exactly. People disrespect Chang so much. He was every player's nightmare with his court coverage.This is exactly what I mean by the disrespect.
Could a complete nobody like Schwartzman beat a prime Edberg, near prime Lendl, prime Agassi, and prime Sampras?
Schwartzman could walk over and bring Edberg, Sampras, and Lendl their water, that's about it.
Michael claimed the long body helped him, but as an observer, I did not really see it. I enjoyed watching him...the ultimate counter puncher. I was bummed when he lost to Muster. Figured he had a shot at Becker, but was not going to happen w/Sampras at the USO. So, he won perhaps the toughest GS event and made finals of USO, likely the 2nd toughest. Plus a bunch of titles. Not too shabby. He played some doozies at the FO and USO as well. Maybe he was a little unlucky not to get another GS in the bag.I agree with Edge. Chang's game went downhill when he switched to the longbody racket. I grant you that the change was a thought out planned thing. He and Carl did not think he could win another Slam or become #1 without added punch to his serve and power to his game. Give them credit for trying. He started trying tohit a bigger 1st serve. His ace count went up and his ranking went down as people sat on his second serve. His first serve percentage went down. I admire his grit and his willingness to change to try to improve. Rather than stay in the top 5 without a chance ot become #1 he change to try to get to #1. It didn't work. If he had stayed with his game he would have stayed in the top 10 longer but would not have won another slam. (IMHO)
Thickest Thighs award went to Chang (and Cash before him)! LOLHe had tree trunk legs. I remember the first time I saw him play in person I thought “he has tree trunk legs.” A first class grinder and mentally tough. But when you had tickets and it ended up Pete v Chang it was disappointing. He was also known to annoy players — Agassi most notably who called him out — with his reported incessant lockerroom proselytizing.
Cant agree.Exactly. People disrespect Chang so much. He was every player's nightmare with his court coverage.
Chang
A pretty observant Christian, believed in modesty and decorumlacked charisma
You know. he was a great athlete, super strong legs, he played with an extended racquet that must have had a huge swing weight but he had great technique and was able to achieve the best topspin among baseline players. He won the French Open beating the best seeded players on his way up. Only a teenager then. Under appreciated by many. I don’t know why, but he was great to watch. A true gentleman as well.Chang was a little fellow who had no technical nor mechanical weapons. His only hope was quickness, and the fact he was as scrappy as a three-legged steel-haired terrier that had just been fixed and sent home without pain killers. Bland. Overrated. But seemed like a nice guy.
Australian Open | F (1996) |
---|---|
French Open | W (1989) |
Wimbledon | QF (1994) |
US Open | F (1996) |
It's funny how that works right? Chang could beat Agassi, Becker can beat Chang, but not Agassi....matchups are funny like thatCant agree.
I know that Boris Becker really enjoyed Michael's win over Agassi in the ao96sf! Agassi would have been His nightmare.
That match vs. Lendl is a classic...serving underhand was such a ballsy move...no top guy would have done it. I think he just rattled Lendl at that pointAlthough I was really mad at him when he beat my idol Ivan '89 in Paris, later I really liked watching him play with his "weightlifter-legs".
At some point I also noticed that he - even though he was a top player - changed his serving motion quite often (at least the motion before the toss).