Thank you for posting this! Been wanting this full match forever!! I think it's one of Chris' best matches she's every played. Taking a set from the Golden Slam winner, at 34 years old is a tremendous effort.
Graf has all the weapons to beat Evert. Evert is a great baseline player, however, Graf is a well rounded player with so many weapons to hurt Evert's game.
Well, Graf has weapons to beat everyone, not just Evert. The only possible exception was Seles, pre-tragedy. The fact that Chris took a set off Graf, the year right after Graf won the Golden Slam is impressive, especially for a 34-year-old.
@@senorgato70 I agree with you but Graf did have the weapons to beat a pre-stabbing Seles. She did so 3 times in 1989, twice in 1991, and once in 1992.
gk891 but notice the trend in your own post. Graf’s ability to defeat Seles diminished with each year. 1989 was Seles first year on the tour and Graf’s 3rd or 4th.
@@senorgato70 Part of that was because of the changes that happened to Graf's game. In early 1990, Steffi broke her thumb in a skiiing accident. When she came back during the claycourt season, many noticed that she was hitting her groundstrokes closer to her body than before, especially her backhand. It went from a hard and vicious slice backhand with a ton of block on it into a short and choppy one. Because of that, she was often hitting her slice crosscourt all the time which made it very predictable and her topspin backhand started to disappear. Combine that with her sinus problems in 1990, the blackmail scandal, hanging onto an old and archaic Dunlop racket until the end of 1993, the awesome rise of Seles, and the major improvement in Sabatini, her game went off somewhat until the mid 90s. When she made her debut in 1995, she was noticeably getting much better extension on her backhand again and she was hitting it down the line a lot more.
Interesting to see how far behind the baseline Chris is on many of these points - you're just not going to win from there. I think it illustrated the problems Chris encountered as a new generation of baseliners came along. Her stroke mechanics were from the era of wooden racquets, and she tended to let the ball drop rather than take it on the rise. Against aggressive baseliners who either took the ball early and aggressively (like Steffi) or hit with very heavy topspin (like Gabi) Chris could find herself pushed all over the court at times. She couldn't step in on the baseline and hit on the rise, so effectively gave up a lot of the initiative.
@@thebigmonstaandy6644I'm not so sure it's to do with flat strokes. Jimmy Connors hit probably the flatest of them all, and he could take the ball early. Also, Medvedev hits his forehand at least with a bit of topspin.
Thank you for posting this! Been wanting this full match forever!! I think it's one of Chris' best matches she's every played. Taking a set from the Golden Slam winner, at 34 years old is a tremendous effort.
Graf has all the weapons to beat Evert. Evert is a great baseline player, however, Graf is a well rounded player with so many weapons to hurt Evert's game.
Well, Graf has weapons to beat everyone, not just Evert. The only possible exception was Seles, pre-tragedy. The fact that Chris took a set off Graf, the year right after Graf won the Golden Slam is impressive, especially for a 34-year-old.
@@senorgato70 I agree with you but Graf did have the weapons to beat a pre-stabbing Seles. She did so 3 times in 1989, twice in 1991, and once in 1992.
gk891 but notice the trend in your own post. Graf’s ability to defeat Seles diminished with each year. 1989 was Seles first year on the tour and Graf’s 3rd or 4th.
@@senorgato70 Part of that was because of the changes that happened to Graf's game. In early 1990, Steffi broke her thumb in a skiiing accident. When she came back during the claycourt season, many noticed that she was hitting her groundstrokes closer to her body than before, especially her backhand. It went from a hard and vicious slice backhand with a ton of block on it into a short and choppy one. Because of that, she was often hitting her slice crosscourt all the time which made it very predictable and her topspin backhand started to disappear. Combine that with her sinus problems in 1990, the blackmail scandal, hanging onto an old and archaic Dunlop racket until the end of 1993, the awesome rise of Seles, and the major improvement in Sabatini, her game went off somewhat until the mid 90s. When she made her debut in 1995, she was noticeably getting much better extension on her backhand again and she was hitting it down the line a lot more.
And several weeks later, Evert would lose to Monica Seles in Houston! All the undercurrents of greatness at work that Spring of 1989!
Interesting to see how far behind the baseline Chris is on many of these points - you're just not going to win from there. I think it illustrated the problems Chris encountered as a new generation of baseliners came along. Her stroke mechanics were from the era of wooden racquets, and she tended to let the ball drop rather than take it on the rise. Against aggressive baseliners who either took the ball early and aggressively (like Steffi) or hit with very heavy topspin (like Gabi) Chris could find herself pushed all over the court at times. She couldn't step in on the baseline and hit on the rise, so effectively gave up a lot of the initiative.
this is the problem of tennis players with flat strokes. if they play on slow surface , they had to stay very far from baseline. for example Medwedev
@@thebigmonstaandy6644I'm not so sure it's to do with flat strokes. Jimmy Connors hit probably the flatest of them all, and he could take the ball early. Also, Medvedev hits his forehand at least with a bit of topspin.