why the 70´s were so special?

[borg number one]

Dunno, but people who frequent this thread may enjoy this little clip I made of Connors using a few clips I found on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXBTHkNcprA

Thanks Nathaniel. That's a very nice video clip tribute. I really like the use of "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac. Gloria S. Connors was such a big influence on Jimmy Connors. She was obviously tough and brilliant.

 

[jaggy]

Ole momma Connors really seems a trip

 

[borg number one]

Ole momma Connors really seems a trip

I think one very important thing that she understood was that it was fruitful to leave the young Jimmy Connors wanting to play more. She wanted him to always want to be out there on the tennis court longer and more often. That's a smart tennis mother! What a great player her son was and she was 100% tennis mom. All time greats such as Connors all seem to have substantial family support.

 

[TomT]

Tennis wise, like in music and arts, the 70´s brought a very rich melange of personalities, talents, different ways of playing all the way while pavering the way to the Golden Era

Massive popularity, helped by the great personality and class of the champions, corporate sponsorship and, of course, exos made it a very special decade; IMO, the greatest ever to enjoy the sport.same happened with music and it looks like we could trace a paralel.

we had the last line of great aussies, with all courters Laver and Rosewall as well as S&V like Newk and Roche

great US S&V players like Ashe,Smith,Tanner,Stockton,Gottfried,Lutz and all courters such as Gorman,Riessen,Mc Enroe,Gerulaitis or the baseline classics Dibbs and Solomon

emergence of latin tennis with all coruter Ramirez, s&V Pecci and baseliners Vilas,Clerc and Gildemeister

the last set of CC artists with Gimeno,Santana,Orantes,Nastase and Pannatta

eastern europeans like Kodes,Fibak,Taroczy,Franulovic,Pilc,Metrevali... and, of course, Bjorn Borg, the teen phenomenon and Okker,Taylor,Cox,Amritraj etc etc

S&V, top spin baselining, top spin offensive players, soft touch players and all round masters.The 70´s were, as they were in music, the richest and funniest era ever

Anyone who lived through that and has the experience and perspective COULD EVER DISPUTE THIS ASESSEMENT?

Nice post kiki. I first picked up a racquet in 1975. Played for a little over a year, then not again until 2012. I was definitely influenced by Borg's game.

The mid '70s were a great time for tennis. My current home courts were a hotbed of activity back then. Now, not so much.

 

[Nathaniel_Near]

Some of those images are fantastic.

 

[newpball]

Led Zepplin -- not a fan.

Neither am I, best rendition of Stairway to Heaven:

http://youtu.be/5NMzuQFHJVU

 

[borg number one]

Thanks Nathaniel. Now THIS is a good cover of Stairway. It even met with approval from the band itself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf2O3OAQjng

The thing about Led Zeppelin is that they had so many great songs. It's hard to pick even their best 20. Here'a a classic from an album released in Oct. 1969..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd3jDzp0QjM

 

[Feather]

Not the right forum but an era with this top 10 is special indeed:
Zepp,Who,Sabbath,Purple,Floyd,Rush,Queen,ACDC,Yes and Crimson
And other all timers such as Traffic,Hendrix,Stones,Beatles,Aerosmith,Humble Pie,Iron Maiden,Kansas,CCR,Eagles,Priest,Kiss,Ramones,Lynnyrd...
It is plainly unbeatable

Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and ACDC rock

Awesome bands.

In my college, I used to play the song Highway Star of Deep Purple a zillion times and head bang to it.

 

[kiki]

Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and ACDC rock

Awesome bands.

In my college, I used to play the song Highway Star of Deep Purple a zillion times and head bang to it.

In fact the top 20-25 bands of that era ( 1965-1990) make up for the dream team of Rock

 

[kiki]

The fact that jan Kodes best years coincide with Zepplin best years...

 

[forzamilan90]

Neither am I, best rendition of Stairway to Heaven:

http://youtu.be/5NMzuQFHJVU

The Definitive Live Version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugxFcmZXDyc

 

[Larrysümmers]

tv coverage and you had pro wrestling like rivalries

 

[kiki]

The Definitive Live Version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugxFcmZXDyc

The big three in the late 70´s were: Borg,Connors,Mc Enroe in tennis and Zeppelin/Sabbath/Purple on stage...

 

[kiki]

It is not only the sudden boom in USA,Western Europe,Latin America,South Africa, Arabic Countries,India and Australia...but also, the then called Eastern Block had their own boom.Never before we had had such a massive croop of top class players, something that the 80´s continued but to a lesser extension.But in the 70´s that explosion included Kodes,Nastase,Franulovic,Metrevali,Pilic,Taroczy,Fibak,Lendl,Smid as well as Navratilova,Marsikova,Ruzici,Romanov,Mihai,Morozova,Chernyeva,Jausovec,Tomanova and Mandlikova.

 

[newpball]

The big three in the late 70´s were: Borg,Connors,Mc Enroe in tennis and Zeppelin/Sabbath/Purple on stage...

Let Zeppelin:

:grin:

 

[kiki]

Let Zeppelin:

:grin:

I have no inconvenience to discuss LZ, specially since it is a 70´s thread but I think there are plenty of music threads going on at O&E

 

[kiki]

I can tell that you never visited Latin America, a region with over 500 million people. Yes maybe a dropp off in the level of Australia and the UK would not be compensated by the huge increase, and i really mean huge, of the playing field at all levels in Latin America. Just visit the public curts in Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Mexico, all places where i have had the luck to visit. You would be amazed. Tennis was almost non existant in Latin America prior the 90`s. Not even during the Vilas boom, and that i know well because i am argentinian.

That is only Latin America, i repeat a region with a bigger population of all western europe and the us combined. Go watch the videos of the Federer tour in South America, and then talk to me about being a rock star. Come on people be realistic here. Federer gathered all by himself 45000 people in 2 matches only in Argentina. If that is not popularity i don`t know what it is. I am willing to bet that in other regions such as eastern europe, the middle east and north africa, and east Asia tennis is more popular than ever was. By far. Not to sound offensive but some people here seem to think that the world begins and ends in the US.

Again, i am not talking about the quality of play or the personality of certain players, Borg i am sure would be even more popular today given the access to mass media. But in absolute terms tennis as other important sports are now more popular than ever, the pool of players is much larger than 30 years ago, and the quality has risen. Maybe not the quality at the top 10 or 20 but overall, it has.

Vilas made Sam tennis wake up.Historic fact.

 

[hoodjem]

Let Zeppelin:

Also looks like a wet Zeppelin.

 

[newpball]

Also looks like a wet Zeppelin.

Haha, a wet let Zepplin!

:grin:

 

[borg number one]

You had Laver and the Beatles in the 60's then Borg and Led Zeppelin in the 70's as tennis headed into the Open Era.

forzamilan90- Nice link!

 

[kiki]

tv coverage and you had pro wrestling like rivalries

yes, that is part of the explanation