Hana Mandlikova battles Martina Navratilova - 1985 Madison Square Garden SF

A lot of people believe that players today are great athletes with great talent, and those of the past 'had it easy'...well judge for yourself if today's players have the kind of artistry, skills, strategy and flat out star power displayed here by Martina Navratilova and Hana Mandlikova. Martina brought greatness but Hana brought magic in the 1985 Virginia Slims Season-ending Championships SF, and the clash of these forces was instant tennis gold.

We'll return to classic Evert footage next time, but this clip is part of our small contribution to the dialogue on whether contemporary rackets & strings have "made the sport too easy," as Navratilova & McEnroe have protested, an issue of the balance between man & machine, and where on that scale tennis best functions.

The Super Trinity of Bud Collins, Mary Carillo, & Steve Flink commentate this footage provided for this channel by chrisevert.net.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• hana
• mandlikova
• martina
• navratilova
• classic
• women's
• tennis
• 1985
• virginia
• slims
• madison
• square
• garden

[Nigelxman]

These two make the current WTA look like a complete joke.

[thequinnster72]

Unbelieveable! The shotmaking in this match will likely never be seen again. These two were beautiful to watch when they were "on." They were definitely both on this day! One of the first matches featuring Martina in her glasses.

[mosamosa111]

Yeah, some year ago, tennis players had much more style in playing. Also the top-spin style of Conchita Martinez for example.

[Zeusdattilo]

That was the time I watched all matches on Tv...Martina was great but I have to say I didn't remember how much gifted and classy and talented Hana Mandlikova was...every shot a picture...

[KingCast65]

@thequinnster72 Great stuff. Love Hana's game.

[PuteraMeor]

they play slow tennis..boring..i prefer Hingis era..where names like Hingis,Majoli,Novotna,Venus etc

[LondonNil]

Hana was an awesome talent, but Martina 82-86 was pretty much unbeatable. Amazing volleying in this match.

[shottut]

@LMNFanNTVadBuff What ????........

[pablotjob]

madison square garden in NY??? or in Virginia???

[assindiastignani]

@tamarexxe She was indeed one of the first women to switch to a large-head racquet, but within a very short time most of the other women had also. It's immaterial though - she would have dominated with a ping-pong paddle.

[mtshishimbi]

This is really beautiful to behold - great style, athleticism, variety, shotmaking. There isn't a woman on tour today who can play like this.

[tamarexxe]

I'm pretty sure they are both using graphite raquets. Martina is an older generation player for me, but she is still my favourite of all time. But to be fair, she did not become dominant in the women's game until she adopted a graphite raquet in 1982. The players could serve and volley today but choose not to. I don't think its necessarily a bad thing because the men today play better than ever.