From: The Racketeer 42, July 2001
Tennis Heroes
by Duncan Burd
Replying to last issue's article by Frank Raistrick, Duncan Burd does his bit for Anglo-American relations.
LIKE FRANK, I can remember as far back as Gonzales, in particular his marathon match against Charlie Passarell from the States in the 60s. At something ridiculous like 20 games all in the 5th set on a swelteringly hot finals day afternoon, Gonzales opted not to attempt to return the Passarell serve, thus conceding, his opponent's service game, in an effort to conserve energy for his own service.
This tactic has recently been adopted. unwisely I feel, by certain less fit members of the men's squad. It paid off for Gonzales as he eventually ran out a winner in the longest five-setter in history. This was made all the more remarkable by the fact that changeovers in those days constituted a quick drink and towel down without the services of a chair.
My first live Wimbledon memory was the '72 final between Nastase and Smith. I remember feeling cheated at Smith's win, and from that moment on found it very hard to empathise with any American tennis player. Nastase had the lot in terms of ability, probably too much, and was tennis's equivalent to Jimmy White in snooker - the best player never to win Wimbledon .
Nastase went on to lose another final in '76 to my greatest tennis hero, Bjorn Bong. The iceman outclassed Nasty from the start and it was a strangely subdued performance from the ultimate entertainer. Nastase was a broken man and resorted to pantomime tennis in future years, leaving Borg to get on with the serious business of winning five consecutive titles. Borg's reign was threatened and eventually broken by the archetypal American brat, McEnroe, who in turn forced Borg into retirement.
This dislike of American players included Lendl and Navratilova, who I admired when they represented Czechoslovakia, but disowned once they had adopted America as their native country. This may all seem a little irrational but whilst I have the greatest respect for the skill of players such as McEnroe, Sampras and Agassi, I could never class them as tennis heroes.
Becker rose to hero status in the 80s but nobody has really stood out in the 90s and into this century.
This is a sad indictment of the modern game where individuality has gone out of the window and players are mere clones of earlier greats.
How for instance could you ever warm to Henman, who appears now to have developed a coached clenched fist mannerism, which presumably is supposed to impersonate passion and determination.
He may well win Wimbledon one day, but I for one won't be dancing around celebrating.
On the subject of heroines in tennis, I have just one word to say on the matter: GOOLAGONG.