John McEnroe is disappointed at Ivan Lendl’s withdrawal from Statoil Masters – Tennis News
American legend, John McEnroe, is not happy to know that he would be unable to renew his rivalry with Ivan Lendl due to the latter’s pull out from the Statoil Masters in London.
McEnroe and Lendl were scheduled to face each other in the capital of England for the first time in 22 years on Saturday night but the former Czech national withdrew from the event due to knee and hip injuries.
The American veteran shared his disappointment by saying, “I don’t know what happened, I got off the plane and they said he was out. We haven’t played a proper seniors match so this was going to be a great spot for us to play. He seemed to be reasonably
into playing and when I’ve played him recently he is certainly hitting the ball well.”
McEnroe and Lendl were part of one of the best rivalries in tennis history during the 1980s. They faced each other in numerous title matches over a period of more than 10 years. Though, their prime did not come at the same time, as McEnroe was older than
Lendl. They faced each other 36 times, with Lendl coming out as victorious on 21 occasions.
There styles were poles apart, as McEnroe liked to play shorter rallies and Lendl preferred long ones. McEnroe, who had a serve and volley style, used to play aggressively and win more of their battles on the slower courts.
However, things have changed now, as McEnroe is having advantage over Lendl during long rallies lately. The main reason behind this seems to be his superior fitness level. The 53-year-old is as fit as he used to be at any time of his professional career.
McEnroe added, “I never thought there would be a situation when the longer the point went on the better chance I had of winning it. That’s interesting. But if he’s hitting with Andy his game is going to pick up, it’s got to.”
The American is playing Statoil Masters after a gap of four years. He made a winning comeback by toppling Jeremy Bates in his first match at the Royal Albert Hall.
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