Word: lendl
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...attested by his straight set, 45-minute routing by Yannick Noah last week on his favorite surface, clay. Borg's return to top-flight tennis will require both time and match play against his real competitors (Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, and Jimmy connors), and not against satellite stars whom he would meet in qualifying rounds...
Despite the apparent folly of this quandary, such a scenario is currently being played out in the otherwise quiescent law-abiding game of tennis. The imminent withdrawal of Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl--two of the game's reigning troika--from Wimbledon has confounded the complacent tennis establishment, Lendl and Borg's threatened decisions not to play in the game's most prestigious tournament highlight the damage single-minded prima donnas inflict on the sport's reputation. Formerly distinguished by its courtly respect for propriety and unwaivering adherence to time-cherishes customs, tennis now suffers from an image crisis...
Meanwhile, Ivan Lendl, the game's hottest player, decided to pass up Wimbledon to avoid a likely letdown after all the recent euphoria surrounding his six-tournament win streak. He has emerged victorious in five of his last six encounters with John McEnroe, the world's top-ranked player. But at Wimbledon, his payoffs are traditionally paltry. In a total of three outings, he has only reached the quarterfinal round once. Realizing that slippery, unpredictable grass courts are less hospitable to his power-paced grooved baseline game, the 21-year-old Lendl reasons. Why take two weeks off prior...