Why we all love tennis

TheMaestro1990

TheMaestro1990

Hall of Fame
My own moment was seeing @sureshs bless us with his unique style of tennis. The floating-above-the-ground-movement combined with his excellent touch and way of constructing points are just second to none. To not further humiliate the great players of yesterday and today, I chose not to include any of the epic points from Sureshs in the video.
 
joekapa

joekapa

Legend
Mid 80's, golden period of tennis. The pinnacle, as an Aussie, was Pat Cash winning Wimby. We all had tennis raquets in hand (I had a Pro Kennex Micro Ace, and then a Boris Becker Puma). Local courts were buzzing. We were fixated. Lendl, Wilander, Edberg, Mcenroe, Connors. Then came Becker, and off course, THE GREATEST OF ALL, Sampras, Agassi.

Stopped watching in 2003, as the quality was simply ****house. Started watching in 2009, when Nadal, Djokovic, Murray started making inroads, leading to another great era.

Been playing on and off throughout these years too.
 
ScentOfDefeat

ScentOfDefeat

G.O.A.T.
Actually, I read the thread title too quickly and didn't realize it was about the moment that made us fall in love with the sport for the first time, so I just posted one of my favorite moments in general. I actually can't remember which match made me fall in love with the game. Perhaps one of those close Graf-Sanchez-Vicario matches at the French Open back in the early 90's.
 
Tennease

Tennease

Legend
TheMaestro1990 said:
Was there a particular match or perhaps even a particular moment or point that made you fall in love with the game of tennis? If so, when, where and why?

Click to expand...


4:45 =That Yoshihito's "backhand volley behind the back" down the line winner is super duper awesome. Which tournament is that? The crowds' reaction was hilarious.
 
ScentOfDefeat

ScentOfDefeat

G.O.A.T.
Minion said:
There was a match - a specific match, against Wilander, on hard court, I can't remember exactly, but I think it was a USO match. I think Lendl lost that match but, I was just amazed at his game.
Click to expand...

I think that was a match with really long rallies and a lot of slice/tactical play/incredible ball placement. I remember watching it on youtube. I'm pretty sure it was at the US Open. I remember watching it and thinking how different tennis was back then.
 
Shaolin

Shaolin

G.O.A.T.
Pete+at+Wimbeldon.jpg


Seeing Sampras play in 1994 made me want to pick up a racquet.
 
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FedEx23

FedEx23

Semi-Pro
I always liked playing tennis and while I would always catch the majors, I didn't really follow the sport that closely. In the summer of 2008, when I was 17, I worked in a tennis pro shop and they always had Tennis Channel on TV. It was that summer that I really started rooting for Federer, starting in the 2008 French Open. I remember seeing Djok/Gulbis, Fed/Monfils, having never heard of those opponents. Nadal's demolition of Federer in that final was actually the moment I remember most. Here's a guy who was on the way to becoming the GOAT, and this guy Nadal in a tank top and capri pants only allowed him four games. From then on out, I've been a diehard Fed fan, and he's been an underdog for most of the nine seasons that I've rooted for him.

I'm enjoying this US Open as much as any other tournament, even though Federer isn't present. I think that bodes well for my interest in tennis post-Roger.
 
S

slice bh compliment

G.O.A.T.
Tennis keeps on giving.

Nasty and ashe forest hills 1972
AShe over jimmy, wimbledon 75
Vilas over jimmy, forest hills hartru 77
Borg and mac, wimbledon 79 and 80
Yannick over mats, 83 roland
Mac and lendl roland 84 and flushing 84
Becker over curren and lendl, 85 and 86 wimbledon
Cashy over lendl 87 Wimbledon
Edberg and boris in general but especially at Wimbledon
Mac over mats in st louis davis cup....82
Davis cup, boris over mac in ct in 87?
Pete over lendl, mac, agassi, flushing 90
stich over boris, 91 wimbledon
Pete over jim 93 Wimbledon
Stich over pete, Hannover
Pete over dre, uso 95
Pete and boris, five sets indoors in 96
Andre winning the french in 99
Roger in general.
 
T

tennisnut1

Semi-Pro
I started playing in the 60's, so my idol was Jimmy Conners. Seeing him compete was an inspiration in my early years. So many awesome rivalries with conners, borg, mac, lendl, becker, sampras, agassi, etc. The list can go on on on. I loved the beauty of the wooden rackets, my favorite was the tad imperial, the throat was layered with strips of wood and the workmanship was amazing. I moved on to the wilson pro staff that mac used. Fell in love with the arthur ashe competition, such a cool looking aluminum racket, I don't think anyone other than ashe used it on the tour. Then the graphite explosion and the marketing nerds took over the show.
 
macattack

macattack

Professional
Agassi's first USO title in 1994. I was 12 and had been a fan in general since I was a little kid, but that final against Stich locked in my love for tennis. ANDRE!

Edit: Correction

 
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D

Deleted member 512391

Guest
Probably Graf - Seleš at the FO 1990. The one I remember well.
Also, Edberg/Becker matches at Wimbledon.
 
swizzy

swizzy

Hall of Fame
i was a kid and i saw wimbledon on television.. the pomp..the grass, the way the commentators talked about this tournament on the other side of the world.. royalty in attendance.. and then out of the tunnel walked this guy with long hair and a short beard...with a name i couldn't pronounce..either his first or last.. by the time warm ups were done i was hooked. i went out to the garage where a few old wooden rackets were left from the previous owners and i began hitting against the wall of my elementary school, an old brick building..and sometimes the ball came back in a straight path..while others would hit a mortar joint and send the ball off in a crazy direction and i would scramble to get it back in play.. all the while thinking i was a guy named bjorn.
 
mixtape

mixtape

Professional
TheMaestro1990 said:
Was there a particular match or perhaps even a particular moment or point that made you fall in love with the game of tennis? If so, when, where and why?
Click to expand...

1988 ATP Memphis, Agassi vs. Curren. Curren hits a lob and Agassi runs it down and hits it between his legs! I remember recording that match and the Agassi vs. Pernfors on Betamax :confused: over my old episodes of Transformers and GI Joe. My parents were shocked I would record over those!

I also got the news after tryouts that I made the high school tennis team that year. :D
 
zvelf

zvelf

Hall of Fame
The 1982 Wimbledon final in which Jimmy Connors beat John McEnroe 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, still one of my favorite matches ever.
 
haqq777

haqq777

Legend
Great thread. For me it was the French Open Final of 1991 which I saw with my dad and I remember watching this all American Agassi/Courier duo fight it out in 5 and Courier wiped the floor with Agassi next year in a straight set affair in the semis I think. Really got me intrigued. Courier went on to win the slam in 92 as well. Oh and vaguely enough I remember wanting that multi colored racquet Agassi had.

Attaching bad quality YouTube clip:

 
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Jezza94

Jezza94

Rookie
Roddick and El Aynaoui at the Australian Open in 2003 really grabbed my attention of the sport.

My favourite match ever is Federer v Safin at the Australian Open Semi Final in 2005.
 
ruerooo

ruerooo

Legend
Jezza94 said:
Roddick and El Aynaoui at the Australian Open in 2003 really grabbed my attention of the sport.

My favourite match ever is Federer v Safin at the Australian Open Semi Final in 2005.
Click to expand...


ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING MATCHES EVER

I don't think there's any Safin-Federer or Federer-Gonzalez match that's not worth watching. Ridiculous tennis.

 
ruerooo

ruerooo

Legend
I went through a serious period of Rafa-steria in 2004-2006.

I don't think I could choose between Federer-Nadal 2004 (though it was the beginning of my FEDALForever-dom, I think), the Monte Carlo Coria-Nadal 2005 final, that unbelievable hours-long Rome 2006 final, and this

 
Tennis wizard

Tennis wizard

Legend
loved watching Federer play
I also enjoyed playing tennis casually
I didn't start to fully follow the tour until a few years ago when I started to play tennis more competitively, its really the best individual sport.
The game involves so much skill,athleticism,passion and entertainment, how can you not love it.
 
Steve0904

Steve0904

Talk Tennis Guru
Great thread!

For me, believe it or not there was a short time I preferred Roddick over Federer. I was only 13 when this happened and loved the huge serve and FH. In those days I didn't watch for strategy I just wanted to see how hard someone could serve and hit the ball.


Highlights:


This is the first match that I really remember watching live.
 
ForLoveOfTheGame

ForLoveOfTheGame

Semi-Pro
NatF said:
Where it began...


And a reminder...

Click to expand...
What's funny is I think this is the tournament that Agassi wrote about in his book where the fans greatly disliked Fed (might have been the year before but I know it was when it was held in Houston). They didn't appreciate the fact he wasn't American and didn't like his attitude or something. How the tide changed once they watched him play.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
PDJ

PDJ

G.O.A.T.
I grew up around tennis as my Grandparents were regulars at Wimbledon but my earliest actual memory was as a very young boy when ......


and when I fell in love with tennis :

 
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