03-29-2005, 06:56 PM
DeeBye,Mar 29 2005, 10:54 AM Wrote:Love him or hate him, he made tennis a lot more interesting.
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Interesting?
He tried to turn a sport into a spectacle in the "it's all about me" category. There is a difference between a foot race between athletes, and a bunch of streakers running by. His exploits took the former and corrupted it into the latter far too often. (I say this even though I saw and immensely enjoyed a whole bunch of his finals matches with Borg at Wimbeldon and the US Open. Played much tennis in my day . . . )
A brilliant player, one of the finest wooden racket virtuosos I ever saw, I don't think he ever understood, until late in his career, what being a professional meant . . . even with a class act like Arthur Ashe to teach him during Davis Cup years. His delayed maturity over time eventually taught him something . . . after he had already dropped the steaming turd into the Tennis' Punch Bowl.
"Tennis" let him get away with it. :angry: Why? The spectacle created buzz, even as it stained the sport. I stopped watching and caring about one of my favorite sports, tennis, a LONG time ago.
Occhi
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete