This level of play is higher than a lot of today’s women’s tennis and also much faster than tennis in the mid 80s. The early 90s were the first golden age of women’s tennis. Thanks so much for this high quality video.
This match in particular really shows what a pre stabbing Monica could do ..she could turn defence into offence with amazing anticipation and movement and angels…post Hamburg she could never truly regain this exceptional talent ..wherever she got pulled wide she mishit the shot or not even get to the ball when she returned in 95..hey Monica even without this skill was still one of the best in the world post Hamburg but oh what could have been..prime example of this is the point that starts at 2:20 in this reel
I think a lot of people forget that those were the defining abilities of her early-90s game. People have this idea of Seles as a player who hit out on every shot (in part because she was left with no other choice post-stabbing) but when she was dominating in the early-90s, her game was based more around elite anticipation and functional athleticism (even if she was lacking in that department in the traditional sense) - those traits enabled her to take the ball extremely early and move opponents around the court by changing the direction of the ball (a lot like Hingis or Vika or Novak in later years). She'd just wear opponents down by taking time away from them (especially topspin retrievers like Sanchez/Sabatini/Martinez). I think she along with Agassi and Lendl are characterized as power players because the pace of their shots were ahead of their times but a closer look at their games reveals otherwise.
@@yotagarn3303 1995 and 1996 were her better years in her second career, but she was still more error proned than before, ESPECIALLY at big moments. I can still remember her hitting her stellar backhand in those years with many more unforced errors for no reason. The following years were just grew ever more painful to watch, as she really lost her way and fitness was of course a huge part of that.
@@thb1091 I couldn’t agree more with all of that. And does anyone have a better drop shot off both wings? She consistently hit drop shots on the rise, which I don’t even know how that is possible. And they were usually cold winners. She had amazing hands.
