Topic: The Tennis Channel Thread

[MC ill Logic]

I figured since most of us don't have The Tennis Channel yet, it won't be worth starting a new thread for everything I see since very few of us will have seen what I'm talking about.  

So feel free to use this thread to talk about stuff on TTC that doesn't warrant its own thread.

[MC ill Logic]

I just saw a match between John McEnroe and Andrew Murray, US Open Boy's Champ, 2004.  

McEnroe smoked the kid 6-1, and the match was every bit as lopsided as the score suggests.  It was played in Wembley Stadium on a relatively fast indoor court (not sure if it was carpet or hard).  

Mac attacked on every single ball.  I think there were like 4 legitimate baseline rallies the whole match.  Andrew pumped his fist on the second point in response to Mac's pre-match showmanship.  After that it was all Mac.  

The kid's just not used to playing somebody like Mac.  He couldn't get any sort of rhythm at all.  It was quite interesting.  Of course, in a best of 5 or even best of 3 the kid might have settled down, or Mac's inferior physical fitness might have become a factor.  

Amazing that a 45 year old guy beat the one of the world's best juniors.  On any given day in this sort of format Mac could give a lot of the ATP's top 50 pros problems.

[Tennis4you]

That is very interesting.  I would of loved to see that!

[gary2414]

It seems the match you saw on indoor carpet at Wimbley stadium was a replay from 2004 since they are now in Australia for the pre AO matches.  I wonder how long the tennis channel can last if it does not get on more cable systems.

[rhubarb]

The Murray/McEnroe match was from the Superset exhibition at Wembley in October last year.

[MC ill Logic]

Yeah, I know it's not new or anything.  I'm pretty sure the Ancic and Mac match I saw a few months back was from this same Superset Tournament.  In that one Ancic won but it was close.  

With all that's been rightfully said about how much the game has progressed, it's amazing to see how Mac's style of play holds up.  He doesn't rely on endurance, speed, or anything that deteriorates with age...

Actually, I was going to say that I can't imagine Lendl, Borg, or Connors having similar success but in the case of Connors, that guy was making some major noise in his late 30's so...

Mac's stayed relatively match tough all these years and his style of play gives the young guys fits.  And I remember watching him play in Queens and some of the guys there telling me about how the teaching pro beats him sometimes.  He can really turn it on.