Are we in a golden era of tennis?

Contrary to what you may believe Polly, not everyone tennis conversation begins and ends with Murray.

My point is the way Djokovic, Nadal and Murray play very similar to Chang, Muster and Bruguera (super-fit players that make you play one more shot than you'd like, standing miles behind the baseline, relying on other players tiring themselves out and making a mistake), were very successful on the slower clay courts, but did very little on the fast grass at Wimbledon (check their records if you don't believe me).

That's why winning all slams in the 90s was much harder than it is now, because of the contrast between grass and clay compared to now, even the most ardent fan of these players will have to admit that grass courts are much slower than they were in the 90s, unless they never watched tennis in the 90s (which is what I suspect, one poster asked "who is Goran?".

BTW Polly, Murray hasn't even won all 4 slams, so my opinions are not directed towards him alone, much more towards Nadal if you were to read and stop being a Murray-guard.

Now, Djokovic, Murray and Nadal do have some tools that could've won the odd hardcourt slam in the 90s and without doubt Nadal would've collected the French Open (though not as frequently), but as for Wimbledon, I don't think they would've stood a chance. None of these 3 players have shown they're capable to adapt their game to conquer the fast grass or hard courts, luckily for them the surfaces have changed to suit they're style, because a few armchair fans got upset that there weren't enough ralleys at Wimbledon in the 90s due to fast servers who always serve and volleyed.

Ironically, one of the most popular and memobrable Wimbledon Champions (Goran Ivanisevic in 2001) was a fast server and his matches were known not to have many ralleys at all, yet he won Overseas Sports Personality of the Year as he had character, he was flawed, unpredictable, the crowd loved him, but he never really lived up to his potential.

The truth was there was never a problem with the surfaces, just that the dominant player of the 90s (Pete Sampras) was not very charismatic and didn't spend too much time trying to play up to the crowd (why should he? He was getting the job done), but as a result, they've fluffed up the balls, slowed down the surfaces, stopped playing on carpet and hence have effectively destroyed serve and volley tennis.

I apologise, you make a very compelling, coherent andn intelligent arguement.

I do though think that These players we refer to have adjusted to the surfaces and are good enough to have played on the faster surfaces

The old grass courts would have made them play a more aggressive game and I think they all have that in them. They've become counter punchers cos the courts have allowed them to become so but nobody perhaps Delpo apart can play on the front foot better than the big 3

The system has allowed them to take a back step and feel their opponents out and wear them down through fitness and better ground strokes

Nadal's forehand would keep him in a match with any of the old greats on their surfaces, Djokovic's movement and dexterity could become very frustrating for anyone to play against and Andy's speed around the court with possibly the best 2 hander the game has ever seen would in my opinion keep them at least on a par with Goran et al

Goran struggled and without the heavens above would have lost to Henman

With all due respect to Tim, he himself would admit, He wasn't even close to the same level as the current big 3

Thanks Polly

I agree that Del Potro would've been much more successful had the surfaces been faster and that the trio of Murray, Djoko and Nadal would've been a handful in any era.

Goran was lucky against Henman and yes on any other surface, Henman was not close to the current big 3, but he was a real handful on the fast grass as he had such a great volleying game.

He beat the likes of Krajicek, young Federer, Todd Martin, Pat Rafter, Korda, Kafelnikov etc. on the fast grass and in 1998 and 1999, really took it to Sampras in the semis.

What is the difference between the article and just true's well put point Polbethian JFT96?

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Slight ott reaction. Nice welcoming attitude you have to new posters on this forum I see....

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