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https://allenfoxtennis.com/?p=132
Exploring the Strategic Dimension of TennisMon, 31 Aug 2020 14:45:44 +0000hourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.26By: Richard
https://allenfoxtennis.com/?p=132#comment-491751
Wed, 20 May 2015 18:45:44 +0000https://www.allenfoxtennis.net/?p=132#comment-491751Don’t know if anyone will ever see this comment, since it is so long after your very fun article was posted. Of course, comparing players from different eras is academic as they say. Even from the same era is pretty tricky. Djokovic is completely dominating the tour in 2015 with spectacular results. Is he slightly better or slightly worse than Federer’s level in 2006. One could argue about this all day long. But I think your article is worthwhile to help dispel the notion that there is no comparison between today’s athletes and those of past generations. There is a wonderful TED talk by David Epstein, “Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger?” He argues convincingly that most of the differences can be attributed to changes in equipment and conditions. According to Epstein, “Jesse Owens … ran on cinders, the ash from burnt wood, and that soft surface stole far more energy from his legs as he ran. Rather than blocks, Jesse Owens had a gardening trowel that he had to use to dig holes in the cinders to start from. Biomechanical analysis of the speed of Owens’ joints shows that had been running on the same surface as Bolt … he would have been within one stride.” Tennis is most definitely a sport in which equipment and conditions have changed dramatically. Rules have changed too. Gonzalez, like all players before 1960, was required to keep contact with the ground when he served. You can see the difference in technique when you watch clips of the players who developed before the rule change like Laver and others. Gardnar Mulloy refers to the new rule as the “liberal foot fault” rule. Imagine Gonzalez with modern stick and strings and elevating a couple feet off the ground combined with his beautiful motion! Of course, the rejoinder to the overlapping careers argument is that incremental changes could add up to a large difference over enough careers. But still I find it impressive that Martina Hingis, who was the best singles player back in the late 90s, could come out of extended retirement and make the doubles finals at the US Open and rapidly rise to number two doubles player in the world in her mid thirties. Makes one think in her prime she would compare favorably to today’s top players. Martina does have a career 6-7 head-to-head record against Serena and no one currently on tour except for Venus is close to that.
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https://allenfoxtennis.com/?p=132#comment-56503
Mon, 21 Jul 2014 21:28:52 +0000https://www.allenfoxtennis.net/?p=132#comment-56503I respectfully disagree, Richard. Great as he was, Gonzalez beat Budge when he was well over the hill. By then Budge had a bad shoulder and could no longer serve at full speed. In fact Pancho told me that he played Budge when Budge was 40 and he could not serve and volley against him because he returned serve too hard and accurately. Pancho said the only way he could beat Budge was to stay back and run him until he got tired. And Gonzalez was the best serve and volleyer I have ever seen.
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https://allenfoxtennis.com/?p=132#comment-56314
Sat, 19 Jul 2014 21:43:28 +0000https://www.allenfoxtennis.net/?p=132#comment-56314Superb article, and thank God someone finally acknowledges the greatness of Gonzales. PS Gonzales handled Budge from Budge’s mid thirties on, losing only once in Los Angeles. He (Gonzales) is the greatest player in the history of the game, and would make the transition to today’s game and equipment with ease.
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https://allenfoxtennis.com/?p=132#comment-53746
Wed, 25 Jun 2014 04:37:25 +0000https://www.allenfoxtennis.net/?p=132#comment-53746An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a friend who
had been conducting a little homework on this.
And he in fact bought me dinner simply because I stumbled upon it for him…
lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!!
But yeah, thanx for spending the time to talk about this subject here on your blog.
]]>By: J Hursh
https://allenfoxtennis.com/?p=132#comment-39841
Mon, 17 Mar 2014 22:33:01 +0000https://www.allenfoxtennis.net/?p=132#comment-39841I love these hypotheticals. Murray is truly great, but personally I never saw Perry play, so I have no clue. Obviously today’s equipment is superior. What about fitness? Are today’s players fitter? What about during the match? Back then it was considered unhealthy to drink water during matches, so guys woud have to go five sets with no tiebreakers without drinking. Back in the day there were fewer great players so guys would have to go head-to-head more often. So it was probably easier to get into an opponent’s head and stay there for a while. No one knows, but my best guess is that the very top players would be at the very top in any era. But in today’s game there are just way more very good players than ever before–the depth is unbelievable.
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