cher@ihlpm.UUCP (Mike Cherepov) (11/21/85)
Well, it looks like this time the Germans' luck will run out. Despite of playing the Davis Cup final at home on a very fast surface, they appear to be outclassed by the Swedes. The second man on the German team would be either Westphal or Schwaier or Maurer. Hardly an opponent for Edberg or Jarryd. Wilander's mastery of artificial surfaces and indoor courts might be questionable, but he's not a poor performer on a fast court, and , besides is having a pretty good year. I would also pick the Swedes in doubles, whether Jarryd plays with Edberg or Wilander. They play and practice together often and have had huge success. The friendly crowd is not enough for Becker-Maurer. Then, of course, there is the miracle man Boris, who can always threaten to win both of his matches. But it looks much harder then whipping Mecir, Smid, Krickstein and Teltscher. Some top talent is coming. Not having cable tv is really breaking my heart: I miss Aus. Open and Cup. Davis Cup should be pretty interesting no matter who wins, Australian should be very good because several players, men and women have a shot at the top ranking for the year. Martina should win this time. I pick McEnroe who got re-dedicated(at least verbally): Lendl is not a grass man, Becker has had his share of good grass fortune, Wilander is not the best grass-court player in the world, Curren hasn't been too steady lately...... Connors..., you know... (is he playing there anyway?) Talking does not cost me much Mike Cherepov -- Mike Cherepov
cccallan@ucdavis.UUCP (Allan McKillop) (11/23/85)
> > Well, it looks like this time the Germans' luck will run out. > Despite of playing the Davis Cup final at home on a very fast > surface, they appear to be outclassed by the Swedes. > The second man on the German team would be either Westphal or > Schwaier or Maurer. Hardly an opponent for Edberg or Jarryd. > Wilander's mastery of artificial surfaces and indoor courts > might be questionable, but he's not a poor performer on a > fast court, and , besides is having a pretty good year. > > I would also pick the Swedes in doubles, whether Jarryd plays > with Edberg or Wilander. They play and practice together often > and have had huge success. The friendly crowd is not enough > for Becker-Maurer. > > Then, of course, there is the miracle man Boris, who can always > threaten to win both of his matches. But it looks much harder > then whipping Mecir, Smid, Krickstein and Teltscher. Some top > talent is coming. > I don'tknow about this. I think the West Germans have a chance (albeit slim) of pulling it off. It would require Becker to win both of his singles matches, but I don't see that as an impossibility. Becker is 1-1 with Willander this year (losing 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 in the second (?) round of the French and beating him 6-4, 6-3 in the finals of the ATP championships (which were on a fast asphalt court)). Then there is the matter of the Sweedish #2 player. Will it be Jarryd or Nystrom? Becker has not lost to Jarryd this year (in three or four matches including a Wimbledon semifinal) and he is 2-1 over Nystrom. This means that the whole cup COULD (if Becker comes through) rest on the doubles. While I will agree that Becker and Mauer are not a tested team, they did do very well against Flach and Segeuso in the US-FRG tie (losing 7-5 in the fifth). Remember, nobody thought Borg and Bengson were a good doubles team, but they almost beat Smith and Lutz in Stockholm in the US-Sweeden Davis Cup semifinals in 1979 (i think (Bengson served for the match at 5-3 in the fifth, i think) in (what turned out to be) the deciding match of the rubber, so don't underestimate a team just because they are not established winners. > Not having cable tv is really breaking my heart: I miss Aus. Open and > Cup. Davis Cup should be pretty interesting no matter who wins, > Australian should be very good because several players, men and > women have a shot at the top ranking for the year. > > Martina should win this time. > > I pick McEnroe who got re-dedicated(at least verbally): > Lendl is not a grass man, > Becker has had his share of good grass fortune, > Wilander is not the best grass-court player in the world, > Curren hasn't been too steady lately...... > Connors..., you know... (is he playing there anyway?) Yes, the Australian Open is one of the reasons I did decide to get cable. I still feel sick at the thought of having missed seeing the Sukova-Navratilova semi-final from last year, and this year with McEnroe, Lendl, Willander and Becker (is Connors really signed up to play?) in, the latter rounds should be very good. Martina is showing signs of the effect of being #1 for the last couple of years. She is starting to get nervous in tight situations (like when she had Evert-Llyod 5-5 0-40 in the third set in Paris and didn't come in on any of the points) and the rest of the women are fast catching up on her. She needs this tournament, but I don't think she'll win. My guess it Evert-Llyod (so ok, my extreme prejudice for her is showing...). She has said as much that if she wins, she'll retire, and i have always thought it fishy that when Billie Jean King announced that 1975 was going to be her last Wimbledon, PRESTO, she wins. And lets not forget Virginia Wade winning the big W in 1977 (the Centenary Year). Is something rotten in the burough of Wimbledon, here? Hana has been playing poorly (when she has been playing at all) since her US Open win. She got creamed by Garrison in the European Indoors. She'll get to the semis, maybe get upset in the quarters. Sukova, Garrison and Kohde-Kilsch will all do well, but won't really challenge the top two. McEnroe is still playing very poorly. I thought that maybe his loss to Lendl at the Open would shock him out of his slump, but he turned around and lost to Johan Kriek in the Transamerica semis. Lendl has a ton of confidence right now, and if he is ever going to win the Australian, it is now. Willander and Becker could win (they both have the tools) but i think they will be looking to the Davis Cup final, and thus won't be at 100%. Curren could do well here. He usually has two good tournaments per year, Wimbledon and the Australian. But I think the suprise of the tournament will be Nystrom, Jarryd and Edberg. They will all be fighting for a place in the singles for the Cup final, and how they do in the Australian could be a determining factor. Paul Annacone could do really well here, but for some reason, i don't think he'll do THAT well... -- """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Allan McKillop ...{ucbvax,lll-crg,dual}!ucdavis!deneb!cccallan) "Where there's a will, there's a relative..."