The Rites Of Passage

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comeback

Hall of Fame
I just watched this insightful video about John McEnroe..But was surprised at the great footage of his college days.Seeing the college tennis scene in those days was cool with lots of shirtless guys getting tans and natural girls...almost hippie like..Mac comes back from set points in several tense matches with 9 point tiebreakers..Also watch when the other finalist refuses to shake hands with the Stanford coach. And McEnroe's girlfriend refuseing to kiss him when his parent's were there..Also great segment with Harry Hopman..Mac's court speed and net coverage is just off the charts back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XYbvHibG2c
 
C

comeback

Hall of Fame
comeback said:
I just watched this insightful video about John McEnroe..But was surprised at the great footage of his college days.Seeing the college tennis scene in those days was cool with lots of shirtless guys getting tans and natural girls...almost hippie like..Mac comes back from set points in several tense matches with 9 point tiebreakers..Also watch when the other finalist refuses to shake hands with the Stanford coach. And McEnroe's girlfriend refuseing to kiss him when his parent's were there..Also great segment with Harry Hopman..Mac's court speed and net coverage is just off the charts back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XYbvHibG2c
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I am bumping this up..Will the commentors from the "Really how great was McEnroe" thread please watch this..i'm starting to think the greatest "all around" players of all time were Laver, Fed and McEnroe (with his Davis cup and Doubles record)
 
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pc1

pc1

G.O.A.T.
comeback said:
I am bumping this up..Will the commentors from the "Really how great was McEnroe" thread please watch this..i'm starting to think the greatest "all around" players of all time were Laver, Fed and McEnroe (with his Davis cup and Doubles record)
Click to expand...

There are a lot of other candidates for that including Gonzalez, Kramer, Borg, Tilden, Vines.

Incidentally the definition of all around can be taken in several ways. What's your definition of it?
 
C

comeback

Hall of Fame
pc1 said:
There are a lot of other candidates for that including Gonzalez, Kramer, Borg, Tilden, Vines.

Incidentally the definition of all around can be taken in several ways. What's your definition of it?
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I'm just trying to get some posters here to watch this great video to see film of McEnroe i had never seen..Please watch it ..he's amazing then let's talk:)
 
pc1

pc1

G.O.A.T.
comeback said:
I'm just trying to get some posters here to watch this great video to see film of McEnroe i had never seen..Please watch it ..he's amazing then let's talk:)
Click to expand...

Don't have time now but I'll watch it when I get the chance.
 
Triskadekaphilia

Triskadekaphilia

Semi-Pro
Great find. Thanks for posting. Quality of the video was decent considering its >30 Y old. Takes you back, man those were good times.
 
Triskadekaphilia

Triskadekaphilia

Semi-Pro
You can appreciate how tennis has evolved. Different type of athleticism. Mac was naturally gifted and honed his craft simply by playing a lot. No cross training no weights. Contrast that with today where there is so much more general fitness, diet, and physiology applied to a professional athletes regimen. Look at mac's thighs, he had built them up from play, not from weight lifting.

These things started to change with lendl and graphite. Taken to a new level when polyester and midplus frames took over.

Love to see how Mac rushes the net relentlessly. Even with subpar approach shots. His movement saves him in many cases, lets him get a racquet on a passing ball and get a strong volley back. Pros today will get killed with that style of play, need a perfect approach shot to an opponent who has been moved out of position by good groundstrokes to have any hope of avoiding a passing shot. The style of play currently is more similar between different players, much more contrast in style in the past.
 
C

comeback

Hall of Fame
Triskadekaphilia said:
You can appreciate how tennis has evolved. Different type of athleticism. Mac was naturally gifted and honed his craft simply by playing a lot. No cross training no weights. Contrast that with today where there is so much more general fitness, diet, and physiology applied to a professional athletes regimen. Look at mac's thighs, he had built them up from play, not from weight lifting.

These things started to change with lendl and graphite. Taken to a new level when polyester and midplus frames took over.

Love to see how Mac rushes the net relentlessly. Even with subpar approach shots. His movement saves him in many cases, lets him get a racquet on a passing ball and get a strong volley back. Pros today will get killed with that style of play, need a perfect approach shot to an opponent who has been moved out of position by good groundstrokes to have any hope of avoiding a passing shot. The style of play currently is more similar between different players, much more contrast in style in the past.
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So true and Mac was still beating Borg, Lendl and Connors with WOOD when they were using metal..Even though i followed Mac from the beginning, i sort of forgot some things..This video brought a lot of things back for me..like those Davis Cup matches on red clay..How great were those camera angles?
 
newpball

newpball

Legend
ScentOfDefeat said:
Shame about the quality of the video. :neutral:
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It is a shame, it was captured completely wrong.

If robertedwardn owns the original video I would be glad to capture this for him and put it on Youtube. I left him a message.

:grin:
 
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P

PMChambers

Hall of Fame
comeback said:
So true and Mac was still beating Borg, Lendl and Connors with WOOD when they were using metal..Even though i followed Mac from the beginning, i sort of forgot some things..This video brought a lot of things back for me..like those Davis Cup matches on red clay..How great were those camera angles?
Click to expand...

When was Borg & Lendl using "metal". Neither used metal racquets, Borg even used old 65 wood in his late 90's come back. Metal was not choice material of the top pro's except Connors and a few big servers. Composite was used & gaining popularity or wood with fiber glass laminates to increase rigidity. Wood & wood composite was the racquet of choice.
 
Triskadekaphilia

Triskadekaphilia

Semi-Pro
Mac switched to graphite soon after lendl rose to prominence. He found a graphite racquet that played with the feel of wood, but also added power to keep up with lendl. Max 200G. Yes, as far as I know Borg never played metal and stayed with wood long after this was prudent. Connors played with metal famously. Not for the power since all accounts are that the t2000 was an extremely difficult racquet to find the sweetspot. He picked it cause he liked the look of it and thought it made him look unconventional, kind of like Agassi playing in jean shorts and toupee.
 
BHBeguile

BHBeguile

Semi-Pro
Thanks to OP for posting the link. I remember this era well; it was these guys -- Ashe, Borg, JMac -- that got my brother and me playing. I'm biased, but I really miss this style of finesse, of not being reluctant to come to net.
 
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comeback

Hall of Fame
BHBeguile said:
Thanks to OP for posting the link. I remember this era well; it was these guys -- Ashe, Borg, JMac -- that got my brother and me playing. I'm biased, but I really miss this style of finesse, of not being reluctant to come to net.
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Thanks for watching, this is one of the best documentaries on tennis that i have seen .It just captures so much as you said. Great memories
 
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PMChambers

Hall of Fame
I found Mac early serve interesting. I remember him from 80+ when he had developed the full "American" twist. In the interview with Bud, he was saying he needed more power on his serve and at that time was serving a more conventional serve transitioning from"pin point" serve and 1-2 years later he had a platform extreme side on serve. He added a huge amount of body rotation. Also loved the "Gut Stretching" involving bouncing on his racquet strings until the right tension reached. The 70's where so raw, tennis required a lot of self development. No slow motion cameras, travelling coaches where rare, no one to assist mentally or physical repair. And huge fundamental changes in the technology.
 
halbrikj

halbrikj

Rookie
Bud Collins somehow / somewhere managed to find the worst music ever made in the history of history, and used it as the background for this otherwise excellent video.
 
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