Tokyo 1990 F Lendl vs. Becker

[@lucacilmi9421]

I wonder how people could talk about Lendl like if he was with no talent at all, and if his tennis was boring: what a magnificent player he was!! And what a beautiful backhand!!

[@kevinbrianfahy]

It's really nothing to wonder over. Yes, obviously as a pro he's talented in the general sense of the word, and will kick our asses as "normal" people, but his road to the top of the game was borne out of relentless practice, fitness, and drills as opposed to the raw talent most top pros relied on. You can see it in his style - it's technically sound with no flare, style, or signature to speak of. It is machine-like in nature, form, and repetition. Very different from the endless list of top pros who all have a specific flare or style they brought to the game. So that's what people are referring to when they say he had "no talent." Many feel it's the difference between watching art, or a conveyer belt in action. If it makes you feel any better, I also felt that Sampras could at times be machine-like and boring to watch, or John Isner.

[@luckyluke3456]

Very true, his succes was not just because of training. He was very determined to achieve what he wanted to achieve and he did! In a very difficult era with lot´s of competition. By the way determination is also a talent! But of course he was also talented, you cannot reach this succes only by training and determination.

[@LEONIDA1899]

Ivan Lendl is the greatest tennis player ever. And this match confirm what I said

[@radiohead2206]

​@@LEONIDA1899Right. How many Wimbledons did he win ? Oh wait.

[@amitmarathe232]

The way Lendl bends down to unleash those single handed back hand passing shots..it's pure class and such a joy to the eye! Also shows his amazing fitness levels as he sends those rockets past Boris.

[@Kishorefoodenmee]

It's amazing to think Lendl was playing from the late 70s with wooden rackets. The amount of evolution his game took along with the changing times, the players, and technology in incredible. Becker is a long ways away from Borg and Nastase but Lendl adapted and held his ground. He is one of the most dominating no. 1's , ever.

[@ScaramouchedaVinci]

I dont no why, but the matches in the 80 and 90 were the most exciting matches ever!

[@oot007]

Agree. I've watched and played tennis (university level and regional men's comp not ATP) since the late 70's and in my view the golden era of tennis was the mid 80's to the late 90's. The best all round (serve, volleys, ground strokes) and most talented players were from that era and the racquets were much heavier and weaker than today's. Krajicek, Stich, Becker, Sampras, Leconte had the smoothest and best service motions. Lendl had the most beautiful groundstrokes until Federer. Even the baseliners learnt to serve volley at Wimbledon and there was genuine variety. Now its all baseline robots except for Federer.

[@WONGLER]

Exactly, I am happy and proud that I was a part of this wonderful time, I still watch tennis because of the love for this game but the desire and deep fascination is not there anymore

[@chantaldesiree1393]

@Bijan Mehrpour Neither was Edberg. Edbergs serve had style but was not very hard or dangerous. I wonder why he didn't mention Ivanisevic, though.

[@lesterbba8443]

U never had a big 3 . Anyone of them could win and that is what made it exciting

[@lucacilmi9421]

I agree with you, but you forgot to mention Ivanisevic, talking about great servers of that era!

[@DingKong]

That backhand passing shot to win the match is just so deadly accurate. Classic Lendl.

[@gentlemanjim480]

I really miss this era. Proper serve and volley players against proper base liners. Even if we are experiencing the era of the GOAT, tennis overall us much more boring now. Love that Lendl won this game.

[@AlexanderArsov]

The kind of tennis I miss these days...

[@raysfonexchange]

Is it just me or are these single handed backhand returns (off bullet 1st serves) ridiculously good???

[@drlee2]

Becker got off to a really slow start in 1990 after a great 1989, his best year on tour, then late in 1990 he seemed to get his confidence back and turned up his play which carried over into 1991 as he won the AO, made it to the French Semis and then to his 4th straight Wimbledon Final.

[@denisdaly1708]

I forgot how good lendl's backhand was.

[@pablotupone4190]

Tennis need more players like Boris and Ivan

[@Gregoryt700]

Yeah, I forgot just how good Lendl's backhand was. Some of those passing shots are just lazers

[@michaelbarlow6610]

@ Gregoryt700. Lendl's topspin backhand is the greatest one-handed backhand in the graphite era of tennis. As great as Federer's topspin backhand is, I have seen Lendl hit backhand passes that I have never seen Federer even attempt to hit in a match. For example, Lendl in 2 separate matches against John McEnroe , hit an inside -out topspin backhand cross court from the center mark of the baseline past McEnroe at the net that landed right on the singles sideline! That angle, even if the ball is hit with topspin , is an exceedingly difficult, almost impossible angle to hit with one-handed backhand.

[@sauli-heikkitannerma4457]

Michael Barlow You are so right, thank’s!!! Ivan Lendl the Father of Modern Tennis!!!

[@oot007]

@@michaelbarlow6610 Agree that Lendl had the best one handed backhand in tennis history up to his retirement. Lendl was my tennis hero in the 80's and his backhand is a thing of beauty and power. However Federer has more versatility on that side and hits half volley backhands with ease that no one else in history can hit. However if you give Lendl today's larger and more powerful racquet, slower balls and court surface he would be the player most likely to all round match Federer's one handed backhand.

[@parthanandi9991]

The passing shot on match point is mind blowing.

[@robertportelli279]

After borg played lendl in 80. Borg said a star is born.

[@aaronaragon7838]

Borg saw the wave of Mac n Lendl, and promptly retired.

[@halleck3]

Poor Lendl. He was much maligned in his time... but certainly will go down in history as one of the best to ever play the game.

[@FloMat1976]

you're right! The little people or stupid masses love smiling faces and chummies. He was not.

[@Luchon20082010]

You don’t think he is the Goat?

[@laszlogq8203]

@@Luchon20082010 he is noone ever win 140some tournament like him in two different federation...plus I think he lost only may be all together only 2 exhibition out of many

[@soevjaanoemar2761]

Ivan Lendl is Pioneer Of Modern Tennis His Forehand , Serve and Backhand so Good , Lendl Mental Tougness so strong

[@nugget6292]

That mental toughness you're referring to netted Lendl zero Wimbledons lol

[@amitmarathe232]

Lendl beat both Edberg and Becker here. Great victory for him.

[@darkeneydarkeney8092]

Lendl is one of the greatest overachievers in my opinion. If we're talking about the greats of his Era (Edberg, McEnroe, Becker, Agassi later on, Sampras later on, Bjorg early on, among others), he probably had the least talent of them all. But his hard work and effort really pushed him over the top so many times in his career. I really admired his work ethic and his tenacity.

[@Karl-TechHD]

LENDL👍THE BEST👍

[@rodctenis]

Monsters! What a good tennis

[@alexmay2825]

Lendl is definitely one of the very best tennis players from Czechoslovakia.

[@overkongen34]

Who's better except Navratilova?

[@kinfcoolralf1269]

Man.... Back in those days, Lendl was one of those machines from the future.

[@Luchon20082010]

He looks indeed like Arnold in terminator 1

[@vincentmorel3064]

Même si je suis sur que l'obsession et tout le travail de Lendl pour le gazon a en partie saloper son jeu sur terre battue et même ciment à partir de 89 et surtout 90, par contre il est sûr que ça lui a servi pour les surfaces à bas rebond contre de tels joueurs.. son coup droit est l'un des meilleurs de tous les temps, c'est indéniable, il en est presque le précurseur... mais j'avais en partie oublié son revers ! Très beau et pas mauvais dès ses débuts, ce sont notamment les immenses progrès qu'il a accompli à partir de la fameuse année 85 qui donnent les résultats que l'on savoure sur ce match. Bravo et respect,le champion le plus sous-estimé, ou pas loin..

[@Kishorefoodenmee]

By this time Lendl was endorsed by Mizuno and he was dressed head to toe including his racket was by Mizuno. I think the contract was well over $20 million. The eagle shirt was very striking and well done. Lendl had all the best T shirts in those days

[@mattstyles1244]

Nike was at their best here. Mizuno was nothing compared

[@andregarabet3503]

10:23 Lendl is Legend

[@MrPernell27]

Best 1 handed backhand ever! Lendl

[@roeslan1969]

MrPernell27 Federer's backhand is the best ever..

[@fishbuddy663]

Federer was still in diapers when Lendl was teaching the next generation how to hit a proper one-handed BH.

[@thebigmonstaandy6644]

no.he was slicing to much.

[@Luchon20082010]

roeslan1969 Federer backhand was the weakest backhand I have ever seen from a top 1 ever!!! Sometimes it was great, but nowhere near the likes of Lendl, Sampras or even Wawrinka nowadays

[@thebigmonstaandy6644]

@@Luchon20082010 Sampras,McRoy,Rafter had weakest backhands and not Federer

[@tobiastorres-ly7lb]

good upload thank you. Becker had it on his racket here imho in the tie break, but squandered his chances by a series of bad volleys and especially weak attacking shots when coming in. More patience from the base line and coming in behind more compelling attackins shots and he would have taken the title. Imho. Bad great match and congrats to lendl

[@leliondescavernes1747]

Énorme performance de Lendl qui bat Edberg en demi et Becker en finale, les deux premiers mondiaux de l'époque

[@anantjoshi2277]

Copy book style game from Lendl. He was having adorable T shirt also.

[@grahamnewton3637]

Two handed backhand baseline grunters these days who receive too much money

[@io4439]

KZbin framestepping shows the ball was out @ 6:08

[@chantaldesiree1393]

Hard to say for sure. It might have just scratched the line a tiny little bit or it might not. But you are right it looks more out than in.

[@夜明けのヴァン-y1o]

セイコースーパーテニス。 日本の大会。、なつかしい。 レンドル、ベッカーが何度も優勝してたね。 外人さんが投稿してる動画で視聴もメインは外人さんなので このコメントみてもちんぷんかんぷんかー。

[@harishtekchandani6880]

Landle was great tennis player

[@TheColourwonders]

No candle

[@malekmoqaddam5806]

Lendl was underrated

[@criticalmass500]

Get the feeling Federer would have loved to play on this

[@denisdaly1708]

lendl should have changed his racquet in the mid 1980s. He wasva bit like Federer.

[@opencurtin]

Denis Daly he played with that small head Adidas graphite that lacked power he could have won Wimbledon if he had changed sooner I think

[@zeddeka]

It's interesting - in 1990 he did actually move to a larger headed racquet, but changed back again because he felt he'd lost some control.

[@dasdd376]

Did they ever hit forehand.

[@rocky49able]

It is amazing to see the Lendl-Becker rivalry and Lendl-Edberg rivalry. Lendl led 11-10 against Becker but down 13-14 against Edberg. Becker had the power to blow Lendl off court, but Lendl could stave him off. But Lendl struggled with Edberg's touch play and aggressive net play. By entire contrast, Becker had Edberg's number (25-10). Edberg just couldn't beat Becker after 1990.

[@mikerodrik3716]

en este partido podemos ver como evolucionaba el estilo de juego en el tenis mientras en los 80's el juego de saque y volea era muy comun,aqui se empieza a notar como ese estilo de juego tenia que ir dando paso al juego de fondo ya que las nueva requetas permitian mas control y facilidad de pasar a un adversario en la red.

[@karlsuer2749]

Giganten Duell 👍👍👍

[@vincentmorel3064]

C'est certain : la moquette indoor type taraflex ou suprême était vraiment la meilleure surface de Lendl.... Comme pour Becker certainement. Quel dommage qu'elle n'existe plus ou presque.. et là, on voit bien que tout le travail accompli par Lendl sur gazon paye ici indirectement, rappelez vous son superbe Queens. Quelle victoire ! Edberg ET Becker, contre qui il avait de plus en plus de mal

[@TheColourwonders]

I love Becker

[@MauricioKarren]

SUPER

[@m.p.9658]

Boris BOOM BOOM Becker

[@nelsonc6173]

The NTF needs to bring back faster courts. Serve and volleying are really missed!

[@dailylog7104]

Good clip ^^

[@hasanyilmaz9911]

Boris is out of prison He was 6 months in prison.

[@multiio1424]

Becker's serve & volley no-matter-what is really hit and miss there. More like miss when he even does it on the 2nd serve.

[@thebigmonstaandy6644]

yes.he had stupid taktic.

[@drlee2]

He came in WAY too much in this match, just giving Lendl easy passing shots.

[@71Kalej]

Becker too impatient.

[@opencurtin]

Then Sampras came along and blew them all out of the water ..

[@stickthatinyourpipeandsmok2457]

If not for Lendl there would be no Sampras.

[@paulryan5053]

Don’t forget when Sampras came along Lendl, Becker, edberg where near retirement, big age difference.

[@overkongen34]

@@paulryan5053 Becker kept playing for 9 more years after Sampras came along. He was only 4 years older.

[@MrGroenland1]

Ça change de Djokovic et Nadal. Le tennis est mort depuis la retraite de Sampras

[@leliondescavernes1747]

Depuis il y a eu Federer quand même

[@bernardlanguillier7970]

Le tennis est au contraire ne apres Sampras a mes yeux