Mens Tennis Forums banner

Every era was full of clowns (tennis history lesson)

1 reading
44K views 259 replies 141 participants last post by  Time Violation  
#1 · (Edited)
no this wasnt for mtf but might as well post here to stop the nadal v fed posts

Not only this era is full of clowns

1906-1967 Pre-Open Era
Either amature-infested slams, or so-called pro matches that were nothing
more than exhibitions played on hockey rinks. Since no one knows who actually won what in those days, both are worthless, and thus full of clowns. Besides, have you seen film of those days? It looks like they're playing badminton and have a USTA level of 2.0. These guys were actually pro tennis players:

Image




1968-1969 Laver Returns
A 30-year-old man, ancient in tennis terms, won the grand slam. That should be your first tipoff that this was a clown era of the highest order. Have you actually looked at who Laver had to beat in those slam finals? Gimeno? Rosewall, even more ancient than Laver?
Newcombe, who was Laver's bitch? And Roche, a known slam final choker?
Sure, Laver was no clown, but in an era of clowns, is it any wonder he won
the slam? All he had to do was show up. Players over 40 were making slam
SF. Major clown alert.


1970-1973 Old Men and The Clown Prince
The best player of the era was nicknamed 'The Clown Prince' which is a giveaway in itself. Like most clowns, Nastase could make you laugh, make you cry, and occasionally flip you off. Other notable highlights from this era include 37-year-olds winning slams, noted clowns Dick Crealy, Zeljko Franulovic, and Patrick Proisy making slam finals, and a fitting capstone, the majority of the tour refusing to play at holy Wimbledon. Sacrelige!
Bunch of freaking clowns.

The Clown Prince:
Image



1974-1980 Connors and Borg
Connors and Borg ... and that's pretty much it. They had cakewalks to every
slam final, and why not? They played in a supremely clownish era. Borg won
5 Wimbledons in a row? Playing mainly from the baseline? WTF?
Ashe? Vitas? These guys had dropped all pretense and actually looked like clowns as the pictures show.


Ashe:
Image


Vitas:
Image


Vilas? His one French title came when Borg decided not to show. The next
year Borg ripped away the mask and revealed the Vilas clown, 6-1 6-1 6-3.
We'll toss in the fat clown Edmondson for the hell of it.


1981-1984 McEnroe the half-clown
Mcenroe was lucky he didn’t play like a clown because he both looked and acted very clownish.
As for his competition? Clowns across the board. Connors was a old man with an old racquet. The fact that Connors himself was still winning slams should give you a big clue about the rest of the players. Lendl sucked before 1982. Chris Lewis ring any bells? Johan Kriek? Top ten players from this era include Gene Mayer , Jimmy Arias, Jose
Higueras, Henrik Sundstrom, Anders Jarryd, Eliot Teltscher, and Peter
McNamara. What did they all have in common? That's right, none of them
ever made so much as one slam final, and they were all clowns.




1985-1989 Lendl the dour clown
What can you say about the best player of the era losing 11 slam finals? If
you said it must be a clown era, you get a big pile of shredded newspaper
thrown in your face. Pernfors? The silky smooth but ultimately worthless Mecir? Curren? There was promise with Bonking Boris, but he pulled a big clown maneuver by setting himself up for sustained greatness and then letting down time and again. And
Wilander? A player who reaches the pinnacle and then essentially quits?
Must be a Swedish thing.

Lendl the robot clown:
Image




1990-1992 Edberg and Courier
Two worthy champions, and then? Old Lendl, unfinished Sampras, downward
sliding Becker. The clowns of this era were proud to wear bright, bold
colors:

Image


Top ten players included Karel Novacek, Guy Forget, Emilio Sanchez, and Brad Gilbert. Thats clowns winning ugly.


1993-1994 Early Sampras
Sampras winning everything in sight. Why not? Playing giants like Pioline,
Martin, one-slam wonders Chang and Goran (their slams being far, far removed from this era), how could he help it? Edberg got old, Becker still off Bonking somewhere (no slam finals 1992-94), Agassi perfecting his zen clown technique.


1995 Anti-Clown
Finally, after years of waiting, we have a non-clown year. Agassi and
Sampras at the peak of their powers, Muster turns in one of the greatest
clay seasons ever, and Boris is resurrected. All hail 1995, the anti-clown era!

1995:

Image



1996-1998 Late Sampras
Mental Rios. Corretja. Rusedski. Bjorkman. Kucera. Henman. Yes, these were days when giants walked the court ... giant clowns. Sampras often played left-handed to keep it interesting. The clowning glory of this era occurred in 1996, when MaliVai Washington made the Wimbledon final. Thats right, MaliVai freaking Washington made the Wimbledon final.


1999-2000 Agassi and the Clowns
Four straight slam finals seems impressive, until you bring in the clown
factor. Medvedev, Martin, Kafelnikov. When Agassi played the one
non-clown, Sampras, he got destroyed. Drunk clown Voltchkov made Wimbledon semis. Lapentti? Kiefer? Norman?
All top players. Or should I say, top clowners. Some guy from Brazil was
#1 in 2000. He looked like a clown.

Image


2001-2002 The Hewitt Era
I should probably be prosecuted for even writing 'The Hewitt Era'. This guy
was #1 for two straight years. Hard to believe? Not when you examine the
clowns he had to deal with. Young, no experience in slams, known final choker Nalbandian in Wimbledon final? An old feeble Sampras who didn’t even care anymore? Not much more to say here. Oh wait, yes there is. Thomas Johansson and Albert Costa, slam champions. Clowns.

2003 Roddick was #1.
The title says it all, really. Although the picture below sums it up.

Image




2004-2006 Federer and his bitches (clowns)

People have already covered this in detail although the pictures below are disturbing




Clown #1:
Image


Image



Clown #2:
Image


clown #3:
Image
 
#3 ·
Good visual when it comes to clowns hitchhiker.

For the amount of clowns during the years, it still pales into insignificance of MTF Clown Posse.
 
#4 ·
:haha:

Hilarious :worship:

But there is more than a grain of truth to the fact that people often look back thinking certain eras were more competitive and interesting than the current one when actually back in those eras people did exactly the same thing- look back and contemplate on earlier eras being more competitive.
 
#182 ·
there is more than a grain of truth to the fact that people often look back thinking certain eras were more competitive and interesting than the current one when actually back in those eras people did exactly the same thing- look back and contemplate on earlier eras being more competitive.
spot on though I doubt everybody understood this thread...
 
#8 ·
kindablue said:
I'm sure that in about 10 years 2006-2010 will be called the fedclown
vs the rafaclown era :lol:
Yes, he has been called Fedclown already.
 
#9 ·
:rolls: Love the photos especially. :yeah:
 
  • Like
Reactions: DhammaTiger
#12 ·
love the piks!!! But i have a list of my own clowns! The clowns i like-nadal(nowadays his fist pumps look like hes imitating power rangers(still love it!) Monfils-wannae rapper and he just looks funny. Roddick-piks explain it all!!The way he talks Useless crowns who are called clowns coz they TRYINg to be tennis players-IVAN LJUBICIC!
 
#18 ·
Hitch :hearts: you should come up with these more often
 
#19 ·
Hitchhiker... when Roddick was no.1, he was among those who warshiped him and wanted him to be the end-and-all of modern tennis. But when it became apparent even to him that Federer is a better player, he was so narrow-hearted that he couldn't admit it, but went on to make all the players look unworthy. That is how a self-indulgent, truth-unloving fan looks like. It's much reminiscent of some Nadal fan's today - only Nadal is luckuly not no.1. If he was... :scared:
 
#20 ·
DDrago2 said:
Hitchhiker... when Roddick was no.1, he was among those who warshiped him and wanted him to be the end-and-all of modern tennis. But when it became apparent even to him that Federer is a better player, he was so narrow-hearted that he couldn't admit it, but went on to make all the players look unworthy.
maybe you should reread the original post