Who were you first a fan of?

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Who was your first fav?

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Many folks on here seem to have been watching tennis long before the Fedalovic Era.

Some hardcore fans on here of players such as Federer and Nadal have said that their tennis watching predates these players.

So, who were you first a fan of? Or who were you a fan of before Fedalovic?

Obviously post whoever you like, although I would appreciate it if you could choose an ATG in the poll too. :)
 
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Sampras was my favourite player back in the day. I used to love it when he got in the zone, no one could do anything about it and his forehand on the run was the best I've ever seen. The '99 Wimbledon final was the best example of this.
 
I grew up watching Borg. As he was from a neighbouring country, it was a no brainer rooting for him.

He was the big thing back then (late 70s early 80s in my case). Hard to imagine for the young, but it was nearly Beatlemania (google that kids!) when Borg was around.
 
Yeah, I should have mentioned that Navratilova was my favourite female player back then, and it was Seles after she returned to the tour in '95 and Martina had retired.
 
Pete! I watched my first tennis match when I was 9 it was when he won his 1st Wimbledon final! That got me into tennis! I wanted to try and play serve and volley like him and I followed all of his matches :)
 
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Andre Agassi. I loved his great run at the '95 AO (I've said this many times, however).
 
Connors, McEnroe, Edberg, Kuerten, and Ferrero have been my previous 'big favs'.

Among the ladies, Navratilova and Evert - still the best-ever tennis rivalry. :)
 
Edberg, seeing him in late 80s and early 90s what was got my into tennis as a kid. Then Sampras/Agassi.

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TheMusicLover said:
Connors, McEnroe, Edberg, Kuerten, and Ferrero have been my previous 'big favs'.

Among the ladies, Navratilova and Evert - still the best-ever tennis rivalry. :)
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I'm so envious of you that you were able to watch the Navratilova-Evert rivalry at its peak. I was only a baby at the time! :)
 
Djokovic2011 said:
I'm so envious of you that you were able to watch the Navratilova-Evert rivalry at its peak. I was only a baby at the time! :)
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Well I was a kid, and fortunately my mom was a massive tennis fan, so I got planted in front of the TV whenever there was tennis to watch. :D
Those ladies were just so fantastic, two completely different characters and playing styles - and both full of respect for each other. The way it should always be imho.

Mom was a Borg-fan and I well remember myself rooting for McEnroe and Connors, LOL. We did share a big love for Edberg though.
 
TheMusicLover said:
Well I was a kid, and fortunately my mom was a massive tennis fan, so I got planted in front of the TV whenever there was tennis to watch. :D
Those ladies were just so fantastic, two completely different characters and playing styles - and both full of respect for each other. The way it should always be imho.

Mom was a Borg-fan and I well remember myself rooting for McEnroe and Connors, LOL. We did share a big love for Edberg though.
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My mum was also a fan of Borg but what I'll always remember as a kid growing up was how much of a soft spot she had for Lendl and how she'd always root for him every year to win Wimbledon. Poor thing, I think she still feels a bit sad to this day that he was never quite able to get past the finishing line there.
 
Being from the UK we had Tim Henman media frenzied fever every time Wimbledon came up, just two weeks on the Tennis calendar where relevant lol. I truly respected Henman when he played his best tennis from late 2003 through 2004, he was awesome, serve and volley on Clay? booyaa!

I supported Federer in 2001/2002 as he was starting to make headway on the tour...I enjoyed it when he beat Sampras then lost to Henman oddly enough in Wimbledon. Federer had the ego, the "I'm better than you attitude" many peeps back then knew he was going to be a top star if he got it together mentally.

I wanted Verkerk to win the French Open in 2003 lol but Ferrero destroyed him.

I hated Hewitt back in the day as he was annoying, just a muppet, great returner though whilst being a hothead with an acid tongue!

I respect him now because he really is a fighter, he typifies the bulldog spirit...
 
Djokovic2011 said:
My mum was also a fan of Borg but what I'll always remember as a kid growing up was how much of a soft spot she had for Lendl and how she'd always root for him every year to win Wimbledon. Poor thing, I think she still feels a bit sad to this day that he was never quite able to get past the finishing line there.
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Ah yeah, Lendl! Great player of course, and indeed his failing attempts to win Wimbledon is the big hole in his resume... I can fully relate to your mom in this regard.

At that time we of course had this silly cold war going on, and about all athletes from the eastern countries were regarded as sort-of 'party poopers' whenever they won anything. Totally ridiculous of course, but it really formed a hindrance to the popularity of the eastern players at that time.
 
first real favourite was edberg...
later: ivanisevic, rafter, federer, baghdatis...

also liked sampras, arazi, philippoussis, gonzalez, srichaphan... and now gasquet, gulbis, nishikori.
(and probably others that i'm forgetting !)
 
Agassi- first person that ever got my attention on tennis - you have to consider we grew up in the age of Jordan so sports outside of basketball didn't see much attention as it.

but in 1996 the olympics came to Atlanta and that was when I got bit by the bug.
 
Greg Rusedski and then Tim Henmman.

But it was Andy Murray who really got me into it properly when he won the gold medal.

These days obviously Andy Murray most of all but also the obvious additions of Heather Watson and Laura Robson.

I don't know what it is about these guys.......

I also like Djokovic, Nadal and Federer along with Azarenka, Halap and S.Williams.

Quite like Gasquet for those highlight reel backhands.
 
McEnroe was the first player whose losses upset me. It lasted for about 5 minutes unlike Nadal's losses that could upset me for weeks even months. In fact I'm still upset about Nadal's loss to Nole at the AO in 2012.

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My rooting as far as "favorite" lineage is...

Borg, then McEnroe, then Courier, then Agassi, then Federer.

I think that's 48 slam titles. I guess I'm a front runner. haha.
 
I forget the exact order, Probably Lendl, Edberg, and then Graf, Sampras.
 
Borg! I saw him at the US Open in Forrest Hills when he was 17 years old. He had an entourage of young girls following him around...a freakin' ROCK STAR!
 
Thomas Muster, Goran Ivanisevic, Lleyton Hewitt and Rafael Nadal.

I always resisted getting swept up in the British craze around Wimbledon time, with hype surrounding Jeremy Bates, Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Andy Murray.
 
Michael Chang. Growing up, I always preferred the players who seemed to be trying the hardest (Chang, Seles) over their effortless-seeming counterparts (Sampras, Graf)
 
For the women, my favourite was definitely Monica Seles. I also liked Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, Mary Joe Fernandez, Mary Pierce and Kim Clijsters.
 
started out with sampras... but then Federer happened.. :evil::evil:
 
McEnroe was my first fav. Even played against him and Fleming in juniors doubles. Although he was a dick then and still is, I still love his S&V prowess. Then came Sampras, and now Fed.
 
I started playing tennis in 1986 (born 1980) and around that time I also started watching tennis. Of course late 80's/early 90's is when I really started watching tennis, as Eurosport broadcasted a lot of tennis back then and also some German channels that we could watch in the Netherlands.

Growing up on clay courts (tenniswise) I never had much love for the hard court season in those days, so early 90's when I really started watching, the first player I really was a fan of, was Sergi Bruguera. I really liked his style, playing with the open stance, far behind the baseline, so that's what I sort of mimicked.. :)

I also was a huge fan of Goran Ivanisevic, maybe even more of a fan of him than I was a fan of Bruguera. I really liked his emotion on the court and was a big fan of his drop shot and his specific forehand style.

Never was a big fan of Sampras or Agassi. Sampras showed no emotion, was cocky and had that stupid tongue hangig out of his mouth and Agassi was too much of an attention seeker in my opinion. I was a big fan of Courier though.

Ah, childhood memories.. Does anyone remember Mark Kevin Goellner? Really fun to watch.
 
Ivan Lendl, a big part of that golden era in the 80s.
His serve, style and presence grabbed me straight away, and tried to emulate his shots as a youngster.
Was absolutely gutted when he lost those USO's to Connors and Mac, so glad he redeemed himself and gave them both some stick back.
Still remember him winning his first Grand Slam (1984 French) and the relief felt too(was not televised down here).
A great shame he could never win Wimbledon, although was torn between loyalties when Pat Cash won it in '87.
 
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I didn't start watching till 2010... So probably Federer. I think the first match I ever watched on tv was Federer vs Ferrer at Madrid.
 
I started watching early 2000s and was always a huge Tommy Haas fan (still am). His fluid play converted me into a fed fan. Hopefully Grigor will fall in line next! Here's hoping for a great 2015!!
 
I will keep an eye out for the next Vilas/Muster/Nadal in terms of playing style, but I don't see him yet.
 
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