Can't agree with you on Sampras. He's one of the greatest all round players to ever play the game HEAD made some massive advancements in racquet technology you're right there. Don't like their racquets myself though, prefer Wilson ones as they're the ones I started off with. Those French racquets from Babolat are pretty decent too Borg and McEnroe both ace players but with very different demeanours, love Jonny Mac as a pundit nowadays
No disputing the guys talent, but he was ****ing dull to watch, especially at Wimbledon, as no-one could live with his serve and even when they got it back he was a superb on the volley and as a result he dominated and his games were never great to watch as contests.
Serena Williams is the best female player of all time and you're right there, the dad dragged them out of the ghetto and into the tennis system and eventually the pro circuit. Of course they attract a lot of unfair and unbalanced comment all the time from fans and pundits because their skin's the wrong colour for the sport for a lot of people. Just like Woods in golf and Hamilton in F1. Not as bad as pro cycling though... how many black cyclists have you ever seen in the Tour de France??
Hence my comment about variety... having a powerful serve and deft hands on the volley are very different skill sets, then there was his famous running forehand and the 1 handed backhand which was just a classy shot. Personally I love watching him, go and watch his first meeting with Federer at Wimbledon in 2001 I think, top match, beautiful shots. Lots of aces yeah and shorter points due to serve and volley still being a thing, but let's not forget this was an era dominated by massive servers... Ivanisovic, Krajicek, Phillipoussis to name a few
Absolute ****ing horse ****! They got a lot of attention because they have bloke like structures. Never heard a mention of racism within Tennis, never mind aimed at the Williams sisters.
How many Olympic size swimming pools are there in Africa that aren't in Mugabe's back yard Cycling is an elitist sport as the bikes and lifestyle are so expensive, to get African people to riding in Africa would be difficult due to the poverty there, how many amazing distance runners do Kenya and Ethiopia produce though. It's not that Africa doesn't have brilliant endurance athletes. Pretty sure if you put a few on bikes instead of in trainers they'd excel
The Sampras era saw the game change into a game were tall players dominated. The racket technology and the power that could be generated meant that the taller players dominated, especially on grass, due to the angle that they could get the ball to come in from, combined with the power they could generate, on a low bouncing surface like grass, if you weren't over 6ft you were ****ed. The game lost a lot of it's exciting game play as a result imo. I think the current era of players are all now physically similar so the game has evolved again, as they all possess booming serves.
Serena is built big, but Venus?? No way Telling you there's a snobbery and prejudice aimed at them because of where they come from, they've had a few spats with some of the eastern european white chicks on tour because of this who look down on them, especially Serena, because they can't handle being owned and dominated every time they play her a) because of her background and b) because of her genetic advantage
It's also to do with the continuing development of racquets and string, and the changes to the court surfaces. The grass at Wimbledon plays faster now Errrrrrrrr... Eric the Eel??
It's to do with ongoing changes and technological developments to the racquets, strings and court surfaces as well, as well as the fitness of the players But yeah the taller players tend to have the bigger/biggest serves. The new technology has helped shorter players counter those big serves though as well as their increased fitness. The top players now... Federer, Nadal, Djoko, Murray are all around 6'2 - 6'3... not the tallest but tall enough to have excellent serves but not so tall that their movement is inhibited by their size. The higher up you are the higher the centre of gravity making it very uncomfortable to hit groundstrokes, slices, lower bouncing shots, volleys. So Federer et al actually have an advantage being a little less tall in that they can still hit great serves but the rest of their game is up to par. The taller players these days don't tend to win big tournaments and grand slams. Having said that Cilic won the 2014 US Open and he's 6'6, but he's somewhat atypical for a big guy in that he doesn't have that huge a serve and is quite agile I always wonder if we went back to wood racquets which of the top, elite players would still be successful with the type of game they have. Federer definitely. Djoko and Murray for sure. Nadal... he would have to adapt due to the extreme spin he and grip he uses, but he has the raw athletic talent.
I was talking girth not length Venus is tall but she's also lean as ****, not built like a truck like her very obviously steroidal sister
I am fully confident federer is the greatest to have ever played and great to watch. give him a ping pong bat and he'd still be great. Nadal is a great player too.. had his injuries not been so long he'd be making me think was he... the guys in the 1970s are guys who played a sport at a time when there was not 24/7 coaching form a young age... i would contend federer and nadal are the products of that development just as all of the things that came together to make usain bolt the best. he's had all the science and training possible and his body type says hey he prob is actually clean too. federer and ndal prob hit more tennis balls by the time that they were 18/19 than some i nthe 1970s ever did. I'm fully sure sometime in 30 years this same debate will occur and some other guys who are at thier peak will be touted and i am fully confident i'll prob agree as that player will have built upon all the advances they have available inthe next 30 years.
