Miloslav Mecir – ‘The Cat’
Must be pure skill not just championships.
What about you?
I agree. If only he’d had Lendl’s application…
He turned up to Wimbledon, made it to the finals from a fishing trip without bothering with Queens, got to serve for the final and was so nervous that he served underarm, but he could beat any of the very best on pure skill on his day.
One of the best, and definitely the most entertaining.
[quote=“bigduke6”]One of the best, and definitely the most entertaining.
[/quote]
Cocaine in sport.
Marat Safin was pretty awesome when he had it together mentally. Nadal is my favorite to watch. Murray seems like the best from the baseline. But I find it hard to argue against Federer as the greatest of all time, even after his loss to Murray tonight.
He turned up to Wimbledon, made it to the finals from a fishing trip without bothering with Queens, got to serve for the final and was so nervous that he served underarm, but he could beat any of the very best on pure skill on his day.[/quote]
I remember watching him play on court number 2 in the late 80s. The court was less than half full - but Edberg, Willander, and Becker were all there watching. If I remember correctly, of course 
.
Yannick Noah was also fantastic to watch.
Naomi Osaka
Not sure if she’s skillful or not. Haven’t even seen her play. But I find her refreshingly different, telling from this press conference:
I hate to be the one to state the obvious, but hasn’t Serena Williams been recognized as the best of all time (by many). Perhaps another “Battle of the Sexes” should be held, as the above examples are males. Remember Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs (although some might consider that an unfair matchup).
If I’m allowed to ask, what female on male match would you most like to see?
no denying that Serena kicks ass. But my lifetime only encompasses a little over the last couple decades so I really don’t know or care about the olds.
Naomi seems to be awesome, too; she did beat her, didn’t she?
Indeed, just today! It’s hard to choose only one in my lifetime. Most of the older ones are not familiar. Perhaps the telegraph was broken that day and the scores didn’t reach my village. Doesn’t help that I’m so young, ha ha, ok not really.
It’s probably been settled in favor of Roger Federer the past few years.
If it hadn’t I’d probably go with Pete Sampras. I like serve-and-volley tennis.
It’s hard to compare players who used wooden rackets with modern players. Wooden rackets were really heavy, balance was always an issue, and the sweetspot was relatively tiny (about the size of a grapefruit). If you mis-hit the ball you almost always lost the point, and that’s just not apples and oranges to today’s game. I wonder how Rod Laver would have fared if he’d been born fifty years later in 1988.
Shameful loss for Serena Williams. Won’t be rooting for her anymore, the better player won the match. The crowd is a disgrace as well. A 20 year old just won her first US open against undoubtedly the best female tennis player and they were booing and the announcer was talking about Serena as the champion of champions.
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Naomi Osaka is awesome.
Here’s a wonderful bio published in the New York Times Magazine in August before her US Open victory:
Guy
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Good rebuttal. It’s a sad spectacle. Thank you for sharing.
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Good article. Glad to see an Asian player rising to the top! She truly deserved her win!
I thought that once Serena regained her composure she redeemed herself. She was super gracious to Osaka, and that counts for something.
But Serena also deserved the game penalty she got to go down 3-5. You can’t have two sets of rules, one for championship players and one for those who aren’t yet champions although there’s an article in today’s Washington Post titled Sexist power play by U.S. Open umpire ruins a powerful final for Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka arguing otherwise.
Yeah, in DC Serena was defeated by the patriarchy. Washington just gets sillier and sillier.
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The fact Naomi Osaka (awesome name btw) cried tears of sadness and felt the need to apologize during her moment of triumph while that overrated, spoiled diva’s fanbase booed her from the stands was a fucking travesty. And now of course mainstream media is all about Serena Serena Serena while Naomi is a footnote during her own US Open win. Serena and her cheating coach should take a break. Maybe even early retirement so she could spend more time with that daughter she kept screaming about.
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It wasn’t like she spat at her and refused to shake her hand, but as someone who loves sports I felt like she was acting like a diva and taking away a moment the young Osaka dreamed of and earned every bit of. The only time I refused to show any recognition to the other team/player is if They did something that was clearly cheating and unsportsmanlike during the game. Almost always I raise my opponents hands up before I go full celebration if I win. I felt like she could have step aside or said something to the crowd. So sad to see the better player apologizing for winning.