Watch the extended highlights between John McEnroe and Michael Chang in Round 3 of the 1991 US Open. Click here to subscribe: / usta Twitter: / usta Facebook: / usta Instagram: / usta Website: www.usta.com
Awesome tennis ... the 80s and 90s were a battle between baseline and net attack ... way better than the boring repetitive baseline slugfests of today. Thanks Mac
I remember watching this match live. Beautiful play with contrasting styles. You don't see this kind of matchup anymore. 1985 Hana Mandlikova vs Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova???
This was the only time Chang beat Mac. They had met 4 times before, twice when Michael was 16, and twice when he was 17, and Mac had one them all, dropping a set in the last match only. this was a five set match. Mac later complained, jokingly, about Michael's topspin lobs, and the fact that "he ran down every stinking ball!"
So excited to watch Chang and McEnroe play in NY. Every point of both players were amazing with paced, depth, and precisely accurate. Add to the drama of Mac plus NY crowds are the toughest to win on any given day. These are the legend of our times.
Some of these line calls were so bad. I'm glad we have hawkeye these days to prevent these kinds of situations. But Chang did a fantastic job of not letting it get to him.
I've often imagined if today's imaging tech was available back in the day. Of all the things one could say, it definitely would've taken alot of drama out of the game☺ For one thing, we never would have experienced our infamous McEnroe rank at Wimbledon -- " .... that ball was clearly on the line .... chalk flew up ... " Chalk vs. hawkeye ... hmmm ...
on the ace overrule i was saying 'no way!' before the ump even spoke up. even in this low res video i could tell it was clearly in. so of course johnny mac loses his shit over an overrule of an obvious error. the linesmen were really bad this match.
@@beorlingo cm 174 - they were playing early mid '90s and not in the 70s or in the 80s-Please check height and weight of the palyers who won GS slam tournaments from 1990 until now
Michael Chang had three opponents to defeat here: the unfair NY crowd, blind and deaf line and net judges (net touch not heard) and an extremely unsportsmanlike John McEnroe! Bravo Chang!
@@sevaraalimova4706 Because McEnroe is from NYC & was an aging legend in 1991. It wasn't really that the crowd was against Chang... it was much more about them rooting hard for their idol that they grew up watching
@@roberto4288 Brilliance is subjective, Macca did more than Kyrgios but similar attitude. That die hard attitude of Chang is what Nadal has but with more height and reach which makes the difference in the modern game. Chang was a perfect all round player but shorter legs and arms could only do so much like Diego Schwartzman, Rochus and Ferrer have shown. Funny to see Chang's lawnmower celebrations which Rafael incorporated into his celebrations. Federer is like Macca but a little better work ethic, fairness towards opponents, patience and superior physical specimen with foot speed, jumping power and anticipation almost on par with Nadal.
@@roberto4288 McEnroe is from NYC & was a huge crowd favorite & aging legend in 1991. Chang was the new kid just starting to make a name for himself while trying to take Mac out, At least 90% of the crowd was pulling hard for Mac, which is what happens when a hometown legend plays in front of fans that grew up watching them since they were kids...
Now it's just a bunch of robots with little to no personalities slugging the ball back & forth as hard as they can until someone makes an error. Tennis is actually getting kind of boring compared to how exciting it used to be...
Mac quite generously congratulated Chang at the net. He had played real good and acknowledged that Chang that day was even better. The last game with those Chang aces, I think Mac just felt he had done nothing wrong so imho he felt great respect for Michael's resilience.
It's interesting that McEnroe lost his 3 last match at the US Open to Sampras, Chang and Courier while he lost his last match in WImbledon to Agassi, so basically all the best american players then
Great match by Chang. McEnroe is easily 6 years past his peak tennis years, but 14:00 is in my opinion, quintessential McEnroe. McEnroe at the net was deadly. For those to young to know, McEnroe is the only male player to be ranked N°1 in singles and doubles simultaneously. Edberg was also, but not simultaneously. And Chang....Goran Ivanisevic (Djokovic's current coach), once said that against Chang, you have to win the point three times just to win it once.
Having to describe modern tennis compared to that played by John Mc Enroe, an elegant classic with a brilliant and effective touch, we can say that it was like a steamroller and a press that destroyed the sport of tennis where now everything takes place with technical violence, speed control and precision in shots and this is due to the fact that the change in the materials used for rackets and tennis balls has revolutionized the way of playing tennis but every time I see John Mc Enroe on the court I am convinced that he is tennis itself and he has no equals in the history of this sport for his classy poise, elegance in the setting of shots and touch as demonstrated by the match reproduced here on RU-vid, thanks for uploading it online.
Offensive lobs are rarely a decisive most impactful shot in matches like this, but this is one of those matches where they were a huge factor. Chang really knew how to impart serious topspin, and his footwork was so exceptional he was always in perfect position and balance so disguise was easy.
@@MyOneFiftiethOfADollar It's my opinion, but I have to clarify exactly what I mean. Lobs as outright winners, definitely can win some crucial points, but normally don't win enough points outright because its hard to execute them once an opponent starts to defend by not closing in quite as far. If he is anticipating lobs, then the overhead gets grooved and the direct effectiveness is dramatically reduced . But the real value of the lob is indirect. If they are nervous about closing, then the passing shots get a lot easier. If its windy then that overhead may never get grooved and you end up inducing errors. Cumulatively the lob's impact can be huge even if the lob winner stat that they are mentioning here, is not so impressive as in this match. I am pro lob, but at this level it sets up points, more often than it soars out of reach.
@@MyOneFiftiethOfADollar its his opinion based on scant evidence and poor tennis training. he went to school with the dude above that claims Michael Chang didn't have top 4 ability, when in fact he was ranked #2. Don't get upset, there are so many bad tennis players with poor tennis knowledge. Very few make it at any pro level and very few have accurate things to say about tennis players or tennis in general. They come from basketball or some other sport and think tennis is easy, and their opinions come from the books they read, but certainly not from playing at any of the 3 levels of professional tennis that exist in reality.
Johns serve is very side on and the ball toss is a disguise I noticed when he played Pete Sampras that is back swing is inline with is ankle and powerful swing. Johns serve is really good I have learned a lot Thanks for the upload.
At the end, McEnroe didn't shake the hand of the chair ump, but he did give a warm handshake and a pat on the back to Chang, so kudos to John for that..
Thank you for posting this. I forgot how much I used to love tennis. Damn that Chang had some wheels on him! Like a human backboard. And Mac, constantly attacking. You know he’s coming, they know he’s coming, everybody knows he’s coming. What are you going to do about it? This is classic puncher vs counter puncher. Amazing!
I always liked Michael Chang. I hope he is doing well all these years later. The 1970's, 80's and early 90's were the best years for tennis. Racket technology hadnt taken over and ruined the game yet. There were no 140 MPH serves and no 40 ace matches back then. Longer points meant using strategy, angles and the entire court to earn points. Nowadays it's mostly about blazing serves, rocket forehands and backhands. Some guy at Wimbledon yesterday had a 137 MPH serve. Thats crazy. And there were many superstars in tennis back then. Legendary names and matches. I couldnt name 5 tennis players now. I will admit that I dont watch much anymore. The tennis isn't that good like it was back in the day. Borg, McEnroe, Chang, Connors, Edberg, Becker, Agassi, Sampras, Nastase, Lendl and thats just some of the men off the top of my head. The womens side had big stars also. Fun times back then.
"There were no 140 MPH serves" pretty sure Becker, Ivanisevic and Krajicek etc. were hitting huge serves in the early 90s (and Tanner before them). The radars were different and a 120mph serve back then probably equals a 130mph today.
@@hehehehehahahaha2025 I would agree with you. The early and mid 90's saw racket and string technology leap into a different realm. I dont know anything about radar but like everything else, Its probably better now also. Tanner hit a 150 MPH serve in 1978. Wonder what he could have hit today? 180 lol?
I think you are mistaken if you don't think there were huge serves in the 90's. As a matter of fact they began to slow the courts down in response to the huge serves. In the 80's and 90's you could still serve and volley and win but it's almost impossible to play that way now so you have to bash from the baseline because of not just the string and racket technology but because of the slower courts, even at Wimbledon!
Roscoe tanner hit into the 140s wayyyy back in the 70s. Rackets don't make the serve, the strings help with spin. Rackets help the return and groundstrokes in terms of larger center of percussion (sweet spot) for returning serves, groundstrokes and hitting passing shots. That's why volleying/ serve volleying has died. Returns are so accurate and have so much spin. Also they have slowed down most all hardcourts and grass, and that too has killed to volleying for most singles players. Radar tech isn't better than it was before, it's just in a smaller package today, maybe even on your phone. Blows me away the people who think radar in the 70s wasn't accurate. We broke the sound barrier and apparently went to the moon before the 70s. Stuff had to be pretty accurate to do that. Radar 'guns' are simple devices that are tested to be very accurate. It would take me a least a year to correct all the misunderstanding and outright errors in the comments expressed here.
@@riverwalker2173 He retired in 2003. He started to decline in the late 90s due to injuries and probably because of how physical his game was. Also I think Chang's tennis became a little lightweight at the start of the 2000s with players like Safin, Roddick, Federer etc breaking through
@@jmiller05 Ah well, nevertheless he made his mark in a Euro dominated sport. He played with a thunderheart in his prime . A great warrior on the court ⚡️❤️
@@jmiller05 the game evolved beyond him. he was the first to really bring that superhuman foot speed and defense to pro tennis, but he still hit like an 80s player - lots of spin off both wings. never learned to really flatten out his ground strokes and blast clean winners like agassi and sampras brought to the top of the men's game.
I would have appreciated a Score Box at the bottom which is normal for matches. What happened to it ? Otherwise, it was impossible to determine the game score.
Dovendo descrivere il tennis moderno rispetto a quello giocato da John Mc Enroe classico elegante di tocco geniale ed efficace potremo dire che è stato come un rullo compressore ed una pressa che ha distrutto lo sport del tennis dove adesso tutto si svolge con violenza tecnica controllo velocità e precisione nei colpi e questo è dovuto al fatto che il cambiamento dei materiali utilizzati per le racchette e le palline di tennis ha rivoluzionato il modo di fare tennis ma ogni volta che vedo John Mc Enroe in campo mi convinco che lui è il tennis in persona e non ha eguali nella storia di questo sport per portamento classe eleganza nel impostazione dei colpi e tocco come dimostra anche l'incontro qui riproposto su youtube grazie per averlo caricato in rete.
Besides this match, McEnroe always destroyed Chang. Mac's 1984 season might be the best season any player has ever had in tennis history!! His heart is still broken over blowing a 2-set lead against Lendl at the French
Tennis players back in the day just didn't take care of their bodies like tennis players do now. John was 32 at the time. 32 year old players now are in much better shape.
@@fearsomebunny From the moment he married his 1st wife (Tatum O'Neal) in 1984 who was a junkie -- he never won another Grand Slam. He just went downhill from that point on... Basically, she destroyed his career and what it could've been.
@@toddlesiak3837 That's true -- 1984 was the greatest year any player in open era has ever had. I think he only lost two matches the entire year -- one of them was to Lendl at the FO. But then he got married to the wrong woman at the end of the year -- and never won another GS for the rest of his career.
Seems tennis hasn’t changed much over the years, but today tennis is a new game. The strength of these athletes if phenomenal, the shots are unbelievable.
Enthralling; on an altogether higher plain to the present day monotony of two base-liners slugging it out, each trying to hit the ball harder than the other. A dedicated and highly skilled net player against an equally capable base-liner in the days before technology tipped the scales against the former.
Still just so exciting to watch McEnroe play. It's Other-Worldly. I went to law school with Todd Martin's sister A___. All of us were up late AF that night watching this match we were 1L or 2L's and we all wanted Mac to win that so bad, no offense to Michael whatsoever. 18:26 Michael's approach clearly in.
McEnroe groundstrokes and passing shots suck. They only worked against generations of wooden or primitive metal racquets. Once new technology came into play passing shots and returns were too much for him to handle and he lost a lot more.
@@SpiderMan-qh6vz McEnroe actually started using a Dunlop graphite racquet in 1983. Mac had a record of 82-3 in 1984, which is a win percentage of 96.5%, which happens to be the greatest year ever for a tennis player. He also had a 42-match win streak in 1984, & won a record 75 straight matches on carpet between 1983 & 1985... you don't accomplish these great feats with poor groundstrokes & passing shots. No one can accomplish this with passing shots & groundstrokes that suck, because you don't just get to serve the entire match, you also have to return serve. If his passing shots & groundstrokes really sucked so bad, then how did he break his opponent's serve enough to have a record of 82-3??? You don't make much sense. Mac was already pretty old once your so-called "new technology" came into play. All new technology really is are giant oversized racquets with wide frames which allows players to just sit back at the baseline & crush the ball. Being able to play with a wooden racquet shows just how skilled & how much touch a player really has. Pete Sampras won 13 grand slams using a tiny 85sq inch Wison Pro staff racquet, & he blew his opponents right off the court that were mainly using wide-body racquets. That's how skilled he was. Stephan Edberg also used this same racquet & won 6 grand slams, while Jim Courier won 4 grand slams using the tiny original Pro Staff. The players now might hit the ball harder with their huge racquets, but they sure don't possess more overall skill, touch, & craftiness as the top players of the 80s & 90s. The top players of the 80s & 90s also had much more dominating serves than most of today's players who just mostly serve the ball in & then just have a slugfest of back & forth groundstrokes. Sampras, Becker, Ivanisevic, Krajicek, Forget, Stich, Rafter, & Martin would all serve most of today's players right off the court, while McEnroe & Edberg would beat today's players with placement & high kick. Different eras are always hard to compare, but besides for the "big three" of Federer, Nadal, & Djokovic, the top players of the 80s & 90s are much more skilled in just about every facet of the game than the players of today that mainly just slug the ball back & forth until their opponent eventually makes an unforced error...
@@SpiderMan-qh6vz You just proved my point fool. They worked in his generation because they were good. AGAINST HIS PEERS. Did Jimmy's ground game suck too? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Y9LEoui1xJ4.html Borg's strokes weren't shit when he tried to come back on the tour because GUESS WHAT? THE FUCKING GAME HAD CHANGED. Duh. I have some nice door prizes for you on the left LOL Dude.
Loved this match. High quality video too for 1991. Wish you would've overlaid the score every once in awhile though, perhaps even just once a set would've been nice.
McEnroe really had to earn his points later in his career. The prime reason was his serve. In 83, 84, Macs first serve was hitting lines or just inside. By watching this video, his 1st serves are landing 12 inches from the lines. That enabled guys like Chang and Lendl to swing with intention. Just my observation.
When tennis was still great! A great match between the two fastest men on the tour in ‘91, albeit from different generations and completely different playing styles, which made matches between Mac and Chang were always exciting. This one was the only match Mac lost against the always relentless Chang. Mac should’ve won though as he was the favorite to do so. He did what he had to do playing his style of game, but Chang finally found an answer to the aggressive attacking style…. the devastating lob!
@@dongmingzhu666 Chang was not a big server... he won with great groundstrokes & electric footspeed. Serena Williams is bigger than many men on the pro tour!
At 23:50, that serve was almost INSIDE the line...not sure how that could have been called out. Some awful line judges...so much better for the players having Hawkeye now..
chang definitely an overachiever. he maximized his potential with the limited height that he has at 5'7" (170cm). he was a 4 time grand slam finalist, and won 1 grand slam. had he played in this era, he would stand no chance of achieving what he did in the 1990's.
limited height...you never heard of Marcelo Rios....he was ranked one higher than chang...at #1 in the world. check the box for another that doesn't know tennis very well.
Plus he had fast hands at the net and was explosive. You never knew what he would do. I'm a lefty and Big Mac is still my fave all time player. Saw him play Courier at Casino Rama when he was 50 years old. Mac was still in great shape
i don't think , he decided to play within the line anticipating as much as he can, of course that made bassline game very difficoult for him . Ironically in mid 80's more the power begun important in the game , and more he decided to renunce to stay back, that was the main error in my opinion , about the second part of his career.
His anger & fiery temper helped fuel his game & made him one of the best & most feared competitors ever! He's one of the few tennis players ever that actually played better while angry
his abuse of the umpire after the chang's ace overrule was fully unwarranted and unprofessional. it was the correct call and i could tell immediately from the live shot it was well in.
McEnroe's net attacking game would not have survived in today's modern game for the simple season that he would not have find a lot of chances effectively attacking the net. Modern racquet and string technology (since Jim Courier's days) have made groundstrokes so strong that players are pinned too far away from the net. Also, the forehand (especially) and body mechanics have evolved to take advantage of these more powerful racquets. Tennis then, like this, was more fun to watch with net attackers like McEnroe contrasting with the nippy baseliner like Chang. Now, it's just bom-bom groundstrokes between Nadal and Djokovic. I would like suggest to the Tennis Authorities to remake the equipment rules and depressurise the balls a tad bit to bring back these old style matches.
Bullshit! They hit the ball shorter nowadays than they did back then So he would have plenty of opportunities to come to the net. Plus with today’s racket and strings his sir would be bigger and he would have no trouble with standing the power of the ball. Great players would adjust to circumstance.
@@MrPernell27 How many players serve and volley (even on grass) now? My comment above was not a hit on McEnroe. It was a comment on the net attacking game in general. Even the great Federer had to change his Wimbledon game (net attacking in his younger days to mostly baseline). Even short-landing balls are hit with greater power now that players are pinned far back on the baseline.
@@raynerstuelgalid It will be interesting to see how Carlos Alcaraz's career develops. He is not a serve volleyer specialist (no one is today) but he serve volleys, and attacks the net more than any player I have seen for 20 years.
@@raynerstuelgalid For instance, one thing I love from Alcaraz is his inside out forehand and sneak in on a floating reply to put away volleys. That is Sampras like tactics and for many years players were simply not confident in playing this way.
Prior to this, few had the footspeed of Chang and the quick directional changes, and also not many challenged Mac's tight closing net position with the topspin lob. Macs volley advantage, on of them, was that he was very tight to the net. Here, that positioning lost the match for him.
John McEnroe was incredibly childish throughout this career, I'd be embarrassed. Michael Chang showed incredible resilience and thats the sign of a champion!
What a pain in the ass was McEnroe - met him once in Seoul where he was playing a challenge game and he was moaning about not having enough security to keep a few people who wanted autograph!
I think John Mac's volley did not quite have the stick and Chang was quick to track down the volley. Chang's next match after this one was against Edberg. Mac's probably just well past it, but Edberg was kniving his backhand volleys. Mac's ground shots were not the weapons that can outrallying Chang. Chang played two greatest volleyers in successive matches in this tournament. Chang always seemed to come up short at USO he lost to eventual tournament champions a lot of time at USO. 91-92 to Edberg, 93 to Sampras, 94 to Agassi, 96 to Sampras, 97 to Rafer.
Mac was no longer a dominating player in 1991 but could still hang with the best at times. Besides for this match, McEnroe always destroyed Chang. Watch McEnroe totally embarrass Chang on clay at the 1988 French Open 6-0-6-3-6-1
@@toddlesiak3837 That's true but he played him generally when he was like 16 and had a 70mph 1st serve. And a lot of the wins were on super-fast carpet, where the ball didn't bounce and groundstrokes were basically useless. Chang got better later, he was never at the peak as good as JMac but it wouldn't have been so lopsided if they played on clay or hard and Chang had grown up some.