John McEnroe vs Bjorn Borg Wimbledon 1980 Final 1080p Highlights

[gkf411]

haha check out the referee feeling the net for lets

[canibal04]

I love tennis

[thenicedudejay]

Borg looks like he could go another 2½ hour match , not a drop of sweat @14:55!

[Bhraihh]

I didn't know about the raquet before. O.o

[zezo510]

have these two ever heard of a BASELINE RALLY?

[Peaches1822]

@zezo510 have you ever watched tennis BEFORE 2003? Seriously, tennis is much more than Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, Murray. The latter 2 have made almost a career (murray more than nadal) of waiting for an opponents error because of how stupidly slow the courts are getting. There can be so much variation on a tennis court with quicker courts and even a basliner like borg so the merits of consistently approaching. It just can't be done in todays game with the slower balls. Players like nadal have

[LegendKiller0084]

@Peaches1822 Hahaha..... Variation.... Funny, because serve-volley point or serve-volley-pass is hardly variation. Today's tennis is the best overall but I do wish the grass would go back to the way it was from 03-05.... It wasn't as slow as it was today and not too low bouncing either to allow REAL variety....

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 you've actually missed my point. The guy said have these guys ever herd of a baseline rally. Which completely disregards the entire history of the game. I agree that the tennis of the 90's in particular where the courts were so fast it made the game look a bit simple and uninteresting, but in todays game the variation in some from some of the top 20 is quite infuriating because it would add an extra element to the game. I'm not saying it should be SV every point, but ......

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 with the way the courts are, we will never see anybody successful in all aspects of the game (with federer as the exception and even his volleying after he adapted his game is now highly suspect) again. I agree the movement in tennis is better than ever, and it makes it brilliant to watch, but as someone who has played a decent level of tennis (ok, maybe not past a certain tournament level) I appreciate the skill in varying how you play. Making gets and running a lot(i.e nadal)

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 isn't variation, it's actually why I quite liked the game from 01-05, because it was almost a transition era where you had players of all types succeeding, but there are certain players who would never be able to succeed on faster courts without throwing in a certain amount of 'variety' into their game. If you'd like to define real variety on a tennis court, be my guest, but players like nadal, ferrer, del potro (I love del po, but his game is a tad 1D) though great, do not..

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 seem to have that element to their game where I could legitimately say the word variety

[LegendKiller0084]

@Peaches1822 You make some good points, but I think your argument of "volleying is dead" is completely untrue, I think guys like Djokovic and Nadal can volley very well, it's just the fact that the Serve & Volley play may never be seen again, which is a shame that it's still not a PART of the game today, but in this 1980 clip, it had a stranglehold on all of the plays, limiting the length of their rallies and depending on the volley, making it impossible for the returner (on a good volley), OR

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 I agree apart from nadal being a very good volleying. IMO he is effective, and that is it, because he almost always does the same thing, which is that short half drop volley and I honestly can't stand it because I'd like to see something different. Djoko on the other hand is (almost) exceptional at volleying, but his approaches are suspect at times

[LegendKiller0084]

@Peaches1822 What do you expect from a volley? They use it very well when they have the offensive position after they've stretched their opponent out wide they volley into the open court, it's a skill everyone needs to practice and be effective as, it's just not the number 1 weapon for guys anymore

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 from a technical side, it needs to be a crisp punch, much like sampras, henman or edberg. I just pointed out that IMO that nadal is not a great volleyer because when he actually has to make a difficult volley (and one that isn't a short put away) he gets passed a lot of the time. And I would say it is a dying skill from a lot of players, because some of the volleys I see federer make are terrible, same goes for nadal, winning a high percentage of points at the net is not the

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 same as being a good net player. Most matches are decided by peoples bad volleying skills as opposed to good ones. Classic example the set point berdych had in the AO quarter final, or the 2 shit drop volleys federer played against nadal to get broken (i think in the first set). I agree it is a secondary skill, but one that is no where near the standard it should be because you don't get a reward from a very good volley like you should. In todays game, volleys have to be

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 absolutely exceptional, where as ground strokes can actually be quite poor proivded you have the stamina to last it out. The reverse was true 20 years ago, a guy with a decent second serve and good volley could make the wimbledon 4th round, so as I have said before, there should be a happy medium. Saying that, you've completely taken every single point I've made prior to this out of context and now I'm off on a tangent about what a good volley should be. It is not where near to

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 what I was getting at talking to the other guy. Have these guys ever herd of a base line rally? Well variation works both ways, SV all the time-no variation, stay back and make gets all day until your opponent makes and error= looks amazing, but still, there's no variation

[LegendKiller0084]

@Peaches1822 I'm not taking what you said out of context at all, I agree with you that today's game and volleying have gone into a totally different realm, where the skillful volleying is pretty much gone and a lot of time players do need hit a second volley since they can seldom put away a first, But saying that groundstrokes can be "poor" is a completely unfair statement, especially if poor groundstrokes contain no pop or depth, a half decent player even can step up and crush a winner.

[LegendKiller0084]

@Peaches1822 And honestly, unless you're a freak athlete that plays amazing defense,if you cannot be offensive with your groundstrokes you will never accomplish anything in a major, let alone come close to winning, that's ludicrous, and the fact that you mentioned that Rafa gets passed "all the time" is completely attributed to today's surfaces keeping the ball up too long, it's not Rafa's lack of skillful volleying. There are a lot of factors to explain volleying's decline but what can we do?

[Peaches1822]

carry on complaining about it :). And though I agree that the surface keeps the ball up too much, I think nadals way of hitting approach shots isn't good, be basically hits a hard ground stroke and that seems to just sit up. I'm surprised at the amount of net points he loses when he makes an approach. And the poor ground stokes was a tad to far from myself. I was simply comparing 2 extremes. that today you can get away with not exceptional groundies, the same way back then it was with volleys

[LegendKiller0084]

@Peaches1822 Yeah, I think it's incredibly unfair that they have slowed the courts to the degree they have, and yes the fact that I'm a Roger fan is the sole motivation for that :)

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 ahhhh, looks like were are on the same (currently depressing) side. Ye, I don't think it's a fluke that one of federers most successful courts is Cincinnati which has by far the quickest conditions in the main tour out of GS and masters, and even a lot of indoor too.

[Peaches1822]

@Peaches1822 IMO

[LegendKiller0084]

@Peaches1822 Generally I'd say yes we are in the same boat, don't get me wrong, the French is supposed to be slow, and I think the US Open is still as fast as ever (minus last year because of the hurricane not allowing the USTA to keep the courts as pristine as they usually do every year). Australia and Wimbledon have slowed down way too much, looking at Australian Open Highlights pre-2008 and then now the difference is too great, and we all know the story with the new grass haha, Roger the GOAT

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 I was actually referring as a fed fan

[LegendKiller0084]

@Peaches1822 Oh? I thought you were the type (like my father) who dismisses all progress after the 80's and uses phrases like "they dont make athletes like they used to", you know, clinging to older times haha I dont mean that in a bad way though

[Peaches1822]

@LegendKiller0084 haha I'm 24 so I don't consider my self (that) old. So I grew up watching sampras and the like, but I was more inspired by the later generation, I just appreciate where tennis has come from

[LegendKiller0084]

@Peaches1822 Haha I see you, I'm 19 but didn't get into tennis until I was a teenager really, thanks to Roger anyways, and it's gonna be weird in a few years to probably call him a classical style player because of the new way it is played today...

[LegendKiller0084]

@Peaches1822 And if the player on the other side has the speed to get volleys back which many of these guys do, they have to be able to continue to volley on the defense as well, it's not a dying skill at all, it's just a secondary one, but still an important one.

[LegendKiller0084]

@Peaches1822 making it impossible for the server at the net (on a bad volley) to win the point. If I'm forced to choose whether to have serve & volley on 95% of the points, as opposed to 5%, I'll take the 5%.. Clay is always going to be clay, I think the fact that the Australian Open Courts and US Open courts are very dissimilar is very good for the game (US is still fast and Aussie Slowed down), but you are right that they have taken the grass to a speed way too low to be the grass we all love

[Peaches1822]

@zezo510 improved their net game, but nadals net game consists of coming in behind a stabbed return from an opponent and putting in a short volley. It's effective and works alot of the time, but there's no flare that a spectacular net game can produce. Unfortunately, your comment is simply a product of the past 10 years of tennis technology and deliberate slowing of the courts...it's nice to watch, but the skill and variation is slowly being destroyed

[Gbax13]

@Peaches1822 i totally agree with you (new to the conversation here :P ) but do you really like the style of tennis in this video more than today's? i mean, net play IS spectacular and it's one of the reasons i am a federer / djokovic fan, but rushing to the net every time is a little boring, don't you think? in my opinion, today's game has more variety (a lot more)

[Peaches1822]

@Gbax13 Oh, don't get me wrong, I do prefer watching tennis in this era, it really is soooooo good when I watch federer/djokovic federer/agassi when they just hug the base line and take the ball as early as they can to try and get ahead. Players like tsonga offer a lot too, a huge game, which includes (as you said) him sometimes just wandering into the net for almost no reason :). I do agree with the fact that rushing the net every time is a bit boring to watch, and that's almost the reason...

[Peaches1822]

@Gbax13 ..they've changed the game as much as they have. It's just I've played tennis for a long time and I feel that some of the skills that are so difficult to master, are almost irrelevant for winning a match. My main beef with what is going on is that the serve, although it is massively important, isn't as important as it should be because the courts are so much slower. 3 of the top 4 players in todays game are better returners than they are servers, which is a little disappointing for me..

[Peaches1822]

@Gbax13 ...saying that, in the 90's, you were at the complete opposite end of the scale, if you had a half decent 2nd serve, you could get to the 4th round of wimbledon without having to think, I just wish there was a happy medium that awarded more aggressive play that 'playing one extra shot'. That really is what is scaring me about the future of tennis, because I hate to bring this into a federer loving conversation, but in 5 years time when the presence of fed may have disappeared...

[Gbax13]

@Peaches1822 Don't get me wrong, but i think that tennis is more 'fair' now as a sport. Physical condition matters, without it being the main factor to win, and there is always space for technique to be proven useful in a match... Tennis players now are 'athletes', more than then. They spend hours at the gym, and most of them are rewarded, like djokovic, who is the best example of a 'tennis machine'. Thus, this doesn't mean that you can be based on your muscles. Strategy, a key element ...

[Gbax13]

@Peaches1822 missing back then, is more apparent nowadays, because you have to struggle to break someone's defense. Of course, you may say, nadal is where he is only because of his power ... i disagree (I don't like nadal's 'raw' style, but I appreciate his mentality, his special moves etc.) because, even with his power, you can see that he is a clever player (it is a bit tough due to his repetitiveness, but i strongly believe he is :P ). But, even if he got there due to hard work on his body

[Gbax13]

@Peaches1822 he won't be there for long, because djokovic outranked him, playing, from my point of view, more efficient tennis, with much variety... The truth is, players like him will not be around when 30, and that's because the false impression that exercising can bring them anything. Fast-paced, smart and spectacular tennis still lives, just watch a federer, tsonga, dolgopolov, or even djokovic match if you might...Finally, to answer your rhetorical question as to what happens after fed,

[Gbax13]

@Peaches1822 i want to hope that there is future in tennis: tomic, tsonga, harison, dolgopolov (i didn't mention raonic because he is a more 'old-fashioned' player). These guys can prove that today's tennis can be beautiful and that slowing down the courts may actually show that more elements of your game have to be working in every point. To end with, do you really think that having more good returners that servers is bad? Do you prefer watchin a match with just on break of serve? -respectfully

[Peaches1822]

@Gbax13 hmmmmmmmm, good question, hmmmmmmmmm :), i don't know. Actually, I do prefer watching the better returners, I just think there could be a happy medium than what happened in the 2011 US open final, where I think it got a bit silly. Saying that, I did love watching nadal and djoko pummel the crap out of each other, which is why tennis is my favorite sport, watching 2 men metaphorically beat each other into submission which makes it very entertaining. On the flip side.....

[Peaches1822]

@Gbax13 I did enjoy the 09 wimbledon final. A match that was literally decided on 1 break of serve (okay, and maybe one point). So a happy medium would be good, but I get the point. Plus, today is better for spectators, which if it gets more people watching, I am all for, cos I personally don't think tennis gets half or even a quarter of the recognition I believe it deserves

[davd1986]

@Gbax13 Tomic's game sucks, IMO, plus he acts like a spoiled jerk/brat out there. I hope he isn't too succesful. I enjoy the other guys though. Dolgopolov really has a funky game, but he is so laid back and really enjoys the gam, and it's great to see that. Tsonga is the same way. I'm really expecting a lot from Raonic. He is big, has a massive serve, hits big from both sides, moves pretty well for a big guy and has a net game. Good upside for him.

[Peaches1822]

@Gbax13 ...what's going to happen, it's why when I see dimitrov in the draw I always try to watch what he could produce on a consistent basis, in a hope that top flight tennis will be decided by more than just your fitness levels. Ha, sorry for the long response, and I'm sure this is a conversation that requires more than the 500 character limit :), but I don't want to sound like I'm giving a 100% for or against argument for todays game, cos it is a very complicated issue :)

[Gbax13]

@Peaches1822 totally agree with you, the technique in volleys and half-volleys was for sure better then, but now other factors matter. First of all, you can see that there are many players who are mainly dependent on their physical condition (i.e. nadal, who wouldn't be even a decent club player then in my opinion ). This may sound unfair to you or anyone, but times have changed, and in the same way, players like karlovic or isner would be the men to beat in the 80's......

[hansioung]

fuck borg won

[hansioung]

Score?

[rogerfederer2424]

You are the man @TenisHighlights. Thank you for this video in good quality.

[ikkenienwel]

borg is handsome

no wonder he makes underwear and says tennis is the most sexy sport in the world...

[DLPBurke]

If this was the same surface as today Nadal wouldn't have 1 wimbledon.

[93RastafarianPikachu]

Heh McEnroe's shorts.

[Songs2Tennis341]

Great highlights. Great quality/

[ccauffma]

thank you so much for these highlights! Until today, I have never seen quality video from this match. =)

[McEnroeable]

i love the volley at 2.55 and the backhand at 3.16 and the backhand pass on first match point at 8.48 thanks tenishighlights could you do 1980 us open final and 1982 wimbeldon final mac with wood is tennis at its best

[TenisHighlights]

@McEnroeable Thanks!!! I'm gonna make those highlights

[davd1986]

If you think about how hard it was to control the ball with these small wooden racquets, you would appreciate the greatness, the genius, the control of these legends. The courts were faster, the ball was smaller and didn't fluff up as much (mostly due to technology and the way guys then and how they hit now). You couldn't just swing wildly and hit a winner 10 feet behind the baseline, you had to construct points, and not wait for mistakes. Epic match.

[DLPBurke]

@davd1986 yup today it is 1 dimensional slash and it has robbed fed of even more titles and given the likes of nadal more.

[littletennisking]

Amazing how when they both play this final.Federer was still in his father's penis

[maujos4]

Wow, it's awesome to finally find good quality highlights of this match. Some great shot making here, I had always heard a lot about this match but seen so little, so thanks.