if someone is interested to know, after this match, which finished at 1 in the morning, both players, along with Nastase´s wife and Roy Emerson, had dinner together
My favorite Nasty moment was at the '82 U.S. Open when he played Connors. He said to a lines man, "You look at me like that again, and I kill you.," in that crazy accent he had. Connors went to serve, and he stopped mid-serve and busted out laughing. The crowd started laughing, and Connors said, "Let's play." Connors went on to win the championship that year, and he also had won Wimbledon. His career was having a re-birth.
Very good comment! He did it many times before and that might be one of the reason why he didn't achieve more. But for him tennis was fun and that was his approach to life in general
I wish the Serve & Volley game would come back. The Baseliners have made Tennis rather one-dimensional. It's cool to see 100+ MPH serves, but I preferred watching guys who could play in and around all 4 sides. That was the kind of game that Johnny Mac was a genius at playing!
This is awesome to see after all this time. of the 3 recent uploads this one has the most tennis. It looked like a normal match in the first 2 sets. All it took was one bad call for Nastase to go berserk and lose his concentration. People forget that Nastase was the only one to take a set off Mac the entire tournament. Nasty and Mac still have the most ATP titles, singles and doubles combined, of anyone. When giants roamed the courts!!
I wish we could get the whole match! Love the way these guys played tennis. Love the VW Rabbit ad at the end. Thanks so much again for this. I remember reading about it I was in 10th grade or so... fans were hucking beers on the court, etc etc... great stuff. Both men and Agassi the best hand-eye ever right.
Thanks!:) I have 27 minutes of this game on another site here. Not much tennis, but lots of fun!:) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-usWhVIhsjZM.html
Equipment changes in sports it's like apples and bowling balls.Asking people with this equipment to hit topspin foerhands that are 90 mph and 3000 revs a second is like asking golfers to use wooden clubs and shoot 10 under on a 7900 yard golf course. The game was different but the skill and touch on show here is sublime.
These guys didn't take care of themselves in the gym back then. Diet also. McEnroe admits he went to a lot of late night parties and tooted some blow. These top guys today train like crazy. Also, you don't see a lot of running around to the inside our forehand like today to open up the court.
Thanks so much for posting this. McEnroe out-Nastaseing Nastase. As McEnroe said in one of his books about Nastase (quoting me, although I'm sure McEnroe did not know it) Nastase was "poetry in motion". He is my favourite player, and McEnroe my next fave, so seeing this was fantastic. Such a shame that Nastase could let his temper take him off-track - If that had not been the case I am sure that he would have won the two Wimbledon finals he was in.
I had been watching some of the small grass court tournaments played before Wimbledon and saw most points won within 3 swings of the racquet....boring. This video shows me that tennis was much better and entertaining with the wood racquets. Nastase was a gifted, albeit tempermental, player who often showed moments of brilliance. I saw McEnroe play in his prime and he was an amazingly natural talented player. This video is of good quality and it was good to see these two gifted, entertaining characters play tennis the way it is meant to be played. Thanks for posting.
I remember Nastase lying on his back behind the baseline in this match. It was on the news. He was out of his mind. Nobody really knows if he did it on purpose, but it worked fine for him, because both people and press were always looking at him. Mc Enroe was almost worse
Different era, different racquets, diff’rent style of play. The Greatest Of All Time: Björn Borg (sorry Roger Federer, you didn’t change the game the way Borg did).
Nastase played like Kyrgios, moments of brilliance and then a lot of stupid points lost to poor execution and strategy. That's why he never won a Slam.
MC and Nastase play a soft tennis. MC never close the point and Nastase when hit the ball after MC sevices keeps the shot very short... Another tennis another epoque
I don't care if you're the Pope. If you touch a referee or anyone with your racket like Nastase did here, then you should get suspended from the tour for a year.
foarte bine a facut, fiecare vietate din america, fie ca e om sau animal sau referee cum ii zici tu, sau orice comisie care se afla acolo, merita un pumn in gura, dar unul puternic, asa ca sa o aduca cu picioarele pe pamant. sunteti mai rai decat tiganii pe planeta asta. iar referitor la tenis, strict luat de pe filmarea cu jocul, ceea ce prezinta ea, mcenroe il face pe nastase gramada, nu e ca intr-un joc echilibrat, ci il umileste la propriu.
In 1978 or 1979 Borg himself said that McEnroe had already surpassed Nastase in pure touch and dexterity, while the rest of McEnroe's skill set annihilated Nastase. In this match, Nastase knows he has zero chance of victory.
In July 1978 Nastase beat McEnroe in straight sets at Forest Hills 6-3-7-6; and regarding annihilation; Nastase beat Borg 6-1 6-1 6-2 in the Masters Final in Stockholm , Nastase's 5th Masters final, of which he won 4; only losing one of the finals to Vilas in 5 close sets. All hail McEnroe, Borg and Nastase, tennis royalty!
NASTASEis#1! Nastase is the only player ever who could walk onto a tennis court drunk, and still win. I do miss that final 'wooden' generation of tennis royalty.
.. didn't annihilate Nastase in the second set. Ilie lost by a few service breaks and his speed was gone. After '76, Nastase was clearly in decline but McEnroe never equalled Ilie's touch. McEnroe was a great offensive volleyer with quick hands and a quicker mind.
tennis was pathetic in 1979. i truly believe that i could go back in time, pick up one of those racquets, and blow either of these guys off the court 6-0,6-0,6-0.
+joostisabelle Actually, I'm a 6'3" male who was a national-level badminton player in my U19 and college days and didn't find tennis until my late 20s (after my badminton career was finished) and had a 120mph 80%+ first serve and a 5.5 game within 3 months.... and realized that my natural talent and body-type was far more suited to tennis than badminton and that I would have been a top 100 ATP player for sure had I found tennis at a much younger age, instead of badminton. I'm 38 now and still in great shape from my badminton background, and I'm pretty sure I'd give these guys a match using one of these old racquets.... just because of how good my hand-eye coordination and ergonomic flow is in conjunction with modern knowledge of tennis. I think any 5.5 player could do it if their hand-eye is as good as mine is.
the lob is a really great shot to have in your bag of tricks and both of these guys knew how to use it offensively and defensively...great shot if for no other reason than allowing one to catch their breath and to get back into the point.
