Just rewatched the men's Wimbledon final and I was shocked!

[joeybee12]

When did Ivan Lendl join the Russian Mafia?

[marmar]

1. There are sculptures that are more animated and less stoic than Lendl.

nt

[joeybee12]

2. I did not recognize him for most of the match...

And then it hit me...he never smiled when he played, either (or most of the time he didn't) and really was never a fan favorite.

[marmar]

3. I always liked him because when I started watching tennis in the mid-80s.....

....... He (and Martina) were the dominant players, Stefan Edberg was my favorite player, Chrissie was in her twilight and Steffi Graf and Boris Becker were just emerging. HBO had the daily coverage of Wimbledon then, and Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King were color commentators.

[joeybee12]

4. I'm either older or started watching earlier...it was when Chrissie just

came onto the scene, and Evonne had started breaking up the Billie-Jean and Margaret Court hold on women's tennis...Chris still had a couple years to go. Stan Smith was the top man, never liked what's-his-name from Australia who was tops and who was a pig and a Bush-lover. I liked Stefan and I actually liked Ivan...he seemed decent, but the media got on him because of his usual dour expresion.

Newcombe! John Newcombe...just thought of his name.

[TBF]

5. We've visited Newcombe's ranch here in Texas -

it's out by San Antonio. Hubby played all weekend with some other club-level guys and I hit the outlet malls. It was summer though and John is too smart to visit Texas in the summer. He does turn up now and again for certain training weeks.

I never cared for Lendl. But, then again, if your rival was John McEnroe you'd be too annoyed to smile too.

[joeybee12]

6. McEnroe was one I never cared for...

I even liked Connors in the beginning but his act got tired...I never liked McEnroe from Day One.