Tennis seems to have changed a lot over the years. The style of play is a lot different to what it used to be like and the racquets have changed a lot too, I suppose a lot of the change seemed to occur around about the Eighties. Why don’t we just go back to the Eighties for a moment and try to remember some of the great Tennis players that showed us their talents back then.
One player must stand out above all others from the Eighties, when he was on top of his game he was almost untouchable, and his name was Bjorn Borg. He was one of the best players around at the time, but for some reason known only to himself, he decided to call it a day and retired whilst he was still quite young, what a waste of a great talent.
One of the great serve and volley players of the Eighties was funnily enough another great Swedish player, Stefan Edberg. He just seemed to be able to serve and volley with ease, and this was a talent that took him to the world’s number one by the late Eighties.
But not every great talent on the circuit at that time was Swedish, as a young German seemed to come to the fore in the Eighties, a certain Boris Becker. He won quite a few titles on the Tennis merry go round, but I suppose that he will always be remembered as the first teenager to win Wimbledon.
Ivan Lendl is the next person that I remember, as this Czech player had an amazing base line play. He was such a steady player, and he also won quite a few tournaments and a few grand slams as well.
I suppose the most memorable player of the Eighties had to be the American bad boy, John McEnroe. Not only was he a brilliant player at singles but he was a mean doubles player as well, and when things did not go all his own way, he always used to shout at the line judges “you cannot be serious, the ball was in!” – unforgettable and fun.
When I think of Tennis of the Eighties, these are a few of my favorite players, but there was undoubtedly a lot more. All of these have made a contribution to the way tennis is played today, and I for one will not forget them!