Very cool, Kev! I’ve never seen Antonious play, but I understand he’s pretty good.

Thanks to all my time playing tennis, I have a cool party trick I break out now and then - I can balance most anything, like a racket, on my nose.

You can't compare across era's since sport marches forward relentlessly.

That said end of Graf's career and start of Serena's were close enough you can make some sort of useful comparison.

Yeah the equipment is so different. I always remember when my hitting partner and I would go out and spar with the old stuff we have here like the original Pro Staff 6.0 (Sampras/O. Fed) and the Head Prestige mids (Safin, etc.). I'm in my late 30s now and holy ****, to generate any power with those it ****ing hurts. Also have to take into account there was no Big Banger Rough and people were stringing 'em up at like 60 lbs natural gut. I can put crazy spin on the ball with this "midsized" open-bed Babolat and ALU Rough with way less effort.

Have coached a bunch of people who did exactly that!

I played with the Edberg Pro Staff until I got a sponsorship, but I am pretty sure I had switched to Kirschbaum already back then.

I tried, out of pure pride, to keep playing with the Fed Pro Staffs later on and just couldn't. Switching away from those to a mix of Babolat Aeros and Head Radicals was the best decision I ever made.

I go hybrid Yonex Fire and Babolat Origin now and definitely nowhere close to 60lbs!

My racket in high school:




My first non-wood racket:

My first non-wooden racquet was the Pro Kennex Ceramic Ace. It was nice

Monica Seles’ career was cut short right in her prime. If I can remember correctly she was starting to dominate as well. She is a pretty big “what if... “ imo.


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Omg the double bar. We thought it meant it was amazing for some reason.

Did you use those grips as is?

It looks like a pipe.

Modern racquets are so much better. A $12 Head TI at target is a thousand times better than any racquet ever used prior to 1985.

Man Zverev just doesn't have IT does he?

My first racket was the model up from the one Jimmy Connors was using:



Before that I used my dad's old one

No, there was a tacky tape you wrapped it with, and then sometime when I was in college, Tourna-Grip came out - and that's still used today.

lol for you young'uns, that thing on the wooden racket is a straightening frame - it kept the racket from warping when you weren't using it.

Are you from the era of continental for everything and second ball held in your off hand, or is that before your time?

Also tell us some stories about when yellow balls became a thing.

Not so sweet memories of blisters from playing too long with the leather grips...

I like watching people play all continental to this day. There's this semi-old Russian guy that plays for Queens Club and he is one of those players. Quite often he'll take our young college players to 3rd because they can't deal with his precision (obv they win the third most of the time because he's close to 50 if not past)

As a child I used continental for everything until I got coached and he beat that out of me. Started two handed backhand and everything.

Lolzniacki.

I had a fairly neutral forehand grip that was my best shot. Fairly flat coming off the racket. Think of Connors’ forehand. But I could do big, looping, top-spin shots as well.

I had a traditional, one-handed backhand where I could change between a slice or topspin with ease by adjusting the racket on the backswing with my right hand (I’m left-handed.)

I was mostly a baseliner in singles, but had the most success in doubles, where I was deadly at the net.

My serve was nothing special, and I relied on spinning it out wide or into your body. I always held the 2nd service ball in my hand. I’d feel naked without it!

Also had to use wrist bands to keep the sweat off the grip as much as possible.

My HS and college playing lasted from 1978 to 1986.

In college, my coach was one of the first proponents of “running around your backhand,” or, as he would say, “playing 70-30 tennis.”

This was huge for me, as my forehand was my best and most consistent shot, and it immediately vaulted me into the starting 6 in singles on my college team, which was ranked top 5 in the country. Before that, I was only starting in doubles.

It seems obvious to run around your weakest shot now, but man, it was like a light bulb going off then!

LOL! That was before my time. I always played with yellow balls, except the few times I played on grass in Mass...then we used white balls.

It was impossible for me to play with just the leather grips - they just got too slippery