Classic Don Budge serve...

[stotty]

Thanks for your comments, Don.

Phil, you're a gem! Another great clip. It's so hard to get decent footage of Lew Hoad. He's the one player from the past I'd like to study in detail. I have to say, the more I look at his serve, the more I like it - and can see nothing much wrong with it.

[gzhpcu]

Here's another, much longer clip, of the famous Hoad - Trabert Davis Cup match for you Stotty....
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=81817

[uspta990770809]

Wow

Here's another, much longer clip, of the famous Hoad - Trabert Davis Cup match for you Stotty....
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=81817

Has to be one of the best quality tennis films I've ever seen pre 60's. And Hoad probably was a brute. They say he was awfully strong. There is stop action and frame-by-frame advance on the Pathe site and Hoad's "pro drop" position is a little bit shallow, but still pretty good. The rest of the action is pretty classic, including the post contact pronation. Not quite as much as Sampras, but pretty substantial.

It looks like Hopman is wearing the same sweater he was wearing 25 years later at his tennis camp in Largo, Florida where he was running me around in 1978. And they did sit down on change of sides!

don

[gzhpcu]

Budge versus Riggs...

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=50406

Good angle on this video...

[gzhpcu]

Hoad again...



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[stotty]

The clips get better and better. That clip is the best and most clear I have seen of Lew Hoad. You can get a clear impression of his game and physical strength.

It is noticeable how players were less wary to approach the net backthen. They almost wandered in! These days, with modern rackets, players can hit winners at full stretch and get power on balls where you never could with wood. You really have to have your wits about you these days and hit a bloody good approach shots if you are to venture to the net.

I looked for some Frank Sedgeman, no luck. Legend has it he was the finest volleyer of them all. I wonder about that, being as the game has moved on so...

Fascinating clips, Phil...well done...it's been an education for me.

[gzhpcu]

Stotty,
Here is Sedgman versus Hoad...
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=34493


and here:
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=30310

[stotty]

Amazing clips again, Phil. What a contributor to TP you are. John Yandell ought to employ you to ferret out great across the clips internet.

The clip you found of Hoad and Trabert is the best. It's the best clip I've ever seen for visibility and gives a good insight into what it must have been like to play back then.

Another thing that stands out from all these old clips is there seems to be very little emotion from the players, and you can't sense any tension in the matches either...it's almost eerie!

It makes me realize how influential Borg was when he came along with his more extreme forehand grip and the shape of his forehand. There's a marked difference here, between him and those that went before him. His forehand set the trend for the forehands we see in the modern game today. I never realised it at the time but he was a revolution, wasn't he?

[gzhpcu]

Another thing that stands out from all these old clips is there seems to be very little emotion from the players, and you can't sense any tension in the matches either...it's almost eerie!

Hoad wasn't always without emotions.
http://news.google.com.au/newspapers...pg=5466,925230
and then don't forget Pancho Gonzalez's antics...

[gzhpcu]

Hoad wasn't always without emotions.
http://news.google.com.au/newspapers...pg=5466,925230
and then don't forget Pancho Gonzalez's antics...

As for Borg, he sure showed the way the future game was going. People often ask how today's player's would fare with wooden rackets. IMHO, they should just look at Borg..

[uspta990770809]

Look at the rest of that page

Hoad wasn't always without emotions.
http://news.google.com.au/newspapers...pg=5466,925230
and then don't forget Pancho Gonzalez's antics...

What a reminder! Look at the rest of that page. Stock market hits 25 year high at 154...but no, that was the AP average of 60 stocks! Chrysler at 66, AT&T at 176...

[gzhpcu]

Ted Schroder versus Drobny in Wimbledon final 1949:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKzgf...eature=channel

[uspta990770809]

And people tell me the game was slow and boring with wooden rackets

Hitting these links has gotten me started down a road I may never find an exit from. You just get led from one link to the next. But check these things out. We've been talking about the difference in the game of the serve and volley days and today (here as well as in other posts). A lot of the films make these guys look slow. They weren't that slow.

don

Laver-Newcombe 1969 Wimby final
Part I, wood rackets, grass, and a game we may never see again.
Check how far Newc gets in after his serve with that right foot landing first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q13_STOUBc&feature=related

Part II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePo6KcGQd4M&feature=related

Rosewall/Laver White City final 1970, again on grass with wood, the end of an era: Laver would soon be using the gold Chemold and Rosewall the innovatively strung Seamco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8IJ0F01IiU&feature=related

and then a kid from the midwest made the game too quick for these guys, ...or did he
Laver/Connors Caesar's Palace, 1973 or 1974. Notice Connors has raised the speed (yes it was indoors), but check these volleys. (And can you imagine the Tournament Director of the US Open sitting on the center service line at a competing tournament. At 5:10, check out Billy Talbert behind Connors. Of course, most of you have no idea who Billy Talbert was, but he was the TD for the first US Opens)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcRNZeo70P4&NR=1

[stotty]

I think these older clips are very deceptive about the how the pace of the game was, and also how skilful players were.

I saw Nastase at Wimbledon in the 70s. I'm telling you the man was a genius. It was uncanny and downright weird what he could do with a tennis ball. The feel and control he had, the way he could steer a ball around. He could bend backhands never mind forehands! Unfortunately the old clips you see never seem to truly reveal his great skills in quite the same way as seeing him live back then. It's one of those things: "You had to be there or you've missed it".

Anyone knowledgeable who saw Nastase play will know exactly what I mean. These old clips only tell you half the story.