Becker will win
Alex Chan
>Boris Becker, one of the truly great players of the decade,
>will soon silence his clueless critics by adding another GS title
>to his collection.
>Michael Chang is a fine player. I would even give him a better than
>50% chance of beating Boris in New Haven or Indianapolis.
>But in a GS final a great champion will not be denied in a match
>against a lesser player.
We'll see who will win. I don't think Chang is a lesser player than Boris.
I don't hate Boris, actually, I find him very respectable. We can tell from
how he acted after he defeated Chang in the ATP Championship. He tried to
make Chang not feeling left out from the German audiences.
But I have to go for Chang this time. He's very hungry for anotehr GS title.
>Michael.
BTW, you are always a Chang basher anyway.
-Alex
Mikhail Solodov
>>From: sol...@monterey1.cs.wisc.edu (Mikhail Solodov)
>>Boris Becker, one of the truly great players of the decade,
>>will soon silence his clueless critics by adding another GS title
>>to his collection.
>BTW, you are always a Chang basher anyway.
Nonsense.
I have a lot of respect for Chang, particularly because he is
constantly working on improving his tennis. I like him more than any other
baseliner in the game. But I call things the way they are -- Boris is
a great champion; Chang is just another solid top 10 player.
The difference is huge.
Michael.
Woody Jin
>>From: sol...@monterey1.cs.wisc.edu (Mikhail Solodov)
>
>>Boris Becker, one of the truly great players of the decade,
>>will soon silence his clueless critics by adding another GS title
>>to his collection.
>
>I don't hate Boris, actually, I find him very respectable. We can tell from
>how he acted after he defeated Chang in the ATP Championship. He tried to
>make Chang not feeling left out from the German audiences.
>
>But I have to go for Chang this time. He's very hungry for anotehr GS title.
>
>>Michael.
>
Alex, he is not.
He flamed me a lot when I once bashed Chang. :)
But he is a great fan of serve-and-volleyers.
I could have liked Boris and Michael, but they are not really complete
players (of course IMHO). In case of Boris, he is a *damn* boring
one-dimensional player. If you are his fan, you might like seeing him
crushing his opponents with his big serves and volleys. But for rest of
us, his game is readily expected and not that interesting.
Besides, he is complaining too much *unnecessarily* - it is annoying.
This is why you don't see many (I mean not many enough considering his
excellent career) of his fans even though he has been in tennis for 10 years
and mostly within top 5 or top 10 ( he could have much more fans ).
However, in AO final, I saw that some differences.
It seemed to me that his ground strokes are really improved, a sign of
being a complete all round player. I also hope that he gets mentally
matured too. We'll see. A true test may be the battles against
Sampras or Agassi. I am very anxious to see matches of Becker vs. Sampras
or Becker vs. Agassi.
As I predicted last year on rst, because of Becker's addition, this year's
No. 1 spot will be very interesting.
--
Woody Jin
mailto:wj...@cs.uh.edu
Charles Lin
|| Nonsense.
|| I have a lot of respect for Chang, particularly because he is
|| constantly working on improving his tennis. I like him more than any other
|| baseliner in the game. But I call things the way they are -- Boris is
|| a great champion; Chang is just another solid top 10 player.
|| The difference is huge.
Well, for many years, (1991-1994 or so) Becker looked rather
tame to me. He stopped reaching GS finals. He used to lose early
in normal tournaments, and the only time he seemed to play well was
at Wimbledon and indoors. His clay and hardcourt performance
seemed subpar. When he was in his original heyday, he was somewhat
like Cash, a player who played well at the big events, and sometimes
against the big players. One quality he has still managed to
keep, or rediscover, is his ability to play the big points well.
Now, Becker did say that during the years above, he was more
concerned with his personal life than his tennis, and now he is
focusing more on his tennis. The Australian is just more evidence
added to his rather successful Grand Slam year (finalist at W,
semi at US, winner at Aus). Chang still has more to acheive
in his game. It seems he lacks some of the big point mentality
of a Becker or Seles or Graf. Still, if his skills were extraordinary,
it would not matter much. Agassi may not be a big point player
either, but his skills may be overwhelming enough not to worry
about playing the close points well. He may just face fewer
of them.
--
Charles Lin
cl...@cs.umd.edu
Bertrand Emako lenou
How can you said Becker had few fans!!
Maybe you have never travel abroad but all over the world, Boris is the
most popular player, and this since he wins his first Wimbledon.
The only player who is as popular as Becker is Agassi, especially in the
USA. Once we talk about european countries, Becker is by far the most
known. Actually, when you listen european player, Becker is a legend!
Boris's game is far from being boring. His well-known drive is still
the most spectacular shot in tennis. Added to that, he has been an still
involved in so much classic tennis match that, even though he is not my
favorite player, I prefer watching his games than those of Sampras (who is
my favorite)
--