Contained in a a nice feature piece on Andre Agassi in today’s Oz was this quote.
I got to play with three generations, really,” Agassi says. “Maybe more depending on how you count them. I got to see the game from the McEnroe-Connors era to the Lendls, Beckers, Edbergs, Wilanders, to me and Pete and Courier and to Chang and to this group.
“From the Safins, to the Kuertens, to the Hewitts, to Federer and then Nadal. I’ve seen the game evolve very personally and the game has gotten so much better in those years that it’s unimaginable.”
On this point, Agassi differs from his great American rival. Sampras believes tennis was more competitive when they took on each other and a host of European and South American stars in the 1980s and 1990s. Agassi says the ease with which Federer produces the impossible, and the fact Nadal can keep up with him (on clay at least) hides the way they have lifted the game’s standard.
Despite continuing claims to the opposite in some quarters, this is true. In fact, this current crop of players is better in most aspects of the game that any generation before it. Competitiveness, speed, power, fitness and skill sets have all improved to amazing levels, with Federer raising the bar higher, and the other players following quickly.
However, it’s the defensive aspect of tennis that has improved beyond imagining, it’s just plain hard to win a match today, everything gets run down and everything comes back with interest, from an aggressive counter, or a shot that reduces an opponents options; just about every top 100 player is evenly matched.
Take it from the master and ignore those who say the mens game is boring. Today, the game of mens tennis is better than ever.
1 response so far ↓
Shaun // May 12, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Phil,
All things being equal, how do you reckon a Borg, Laver etc would fare in the modern day?