From: clin@eng.umd.edu (Charles Lin)
Subject: Re: Semifinal Result: Canadian Open
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 92 00:54:19 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park
Originator: clin@coke.eng.umd.edu


   I think Clark means HTS will show it 1 am, not 1 pm.   HTS,
which stands for Home Team Sports, picks up some sports events
from Prime Network, which appears to be some sort of syndicated
sports channel (something like Fox Network).   Basically, this
means that HTS would pay Prime Network to show some of its programming
since HTS doesn't have enough sports that it can cover locally
(thank goodness).  I think I would still prefer ESPN to cover
the event, as they have in years past.

   Anyway, on to the more meaningful part.  I watched the second set
of the Lendl-Masur match.  The main comment that I want to make was
how Lendl was playing.  As most people know, when Lendl first started
playing, he used to gun the ball nearly every shot.  He did this
throughout the 1982 season, and only by 1983 or so, did he start
to slow the game down, willing to trade rallies, and set up the point.

   Against Masur, and also against McEnroe, Lendl seems to have gone 
back to his old style of pressuring the opponent very quickly.  He
seems to be playing more aggresively than usual.  Lendl came in a
few times, and seemed to be volleying quite well, not making
quite the same errors he used to.   I, too, am surprised that Masur
traded rallies with Lendl, and was able to hold his own much better
than expected.  Of course, Lendl's shots did force Masur to play
back, but even on his own serve Masur didn't come in all that
frequently.   

   Commentators noticed how often Lendl went to towel off, and
how he had been taking longer than the 25 seconds alloted between
points.  Masur, typical of Australians in the past, did not complain
and kept on playing points in a usual brisk manner.

   Tim Mayotte still seems to show a little inexperience in interviewing.
He interviewed Lendl and asked if the match between he and McEnroe
got his blood boiling, and if he were psyched up because of that
match.  Lendl basically said no, and that the main thing was that
he wouldn't get too excited and play poorly against Masur.   He
also said that Masur played all the shots well, but has no power
shot that can hurt Lendl, so by playing a power game against Masur,
he could keep Masur from playing the kind of game he wanted to
play.

   It was also mentioned that Lendl had some problem with some
muscle in his leg, and that he had been taking some anti-inflammatory
drugs for a while, and that didn't seem to help, then switched
to another one, which seems to be doing the trick.  When asked
how important winning the Canadian was to his chances at the
US Open, he felt that winning one, two, or three tournaments
would be fine, basically hinting that winning tournaments
is nice, but it doesn't always mean that one will play well a
the Open, and that he'll take the tournaments as they come.

   He was also asked about how he felt about becoming an American
citizen, and he said that it seemed natural to become one as he
had stayed in the US the last 12 years, and he was basically a
citizen, and becoming one just made it legitimate.

   He was also asked (one of Mayotte's longer interviews as you
might guess) what he thought his chances against MaliVai Washington
and Andre Agassi might be.  He said that he had split two matches
with "Mal" (he won a five-setter against Washington last year,
if memory serves) and that Washington was a tough player.  Against
Agassi, he said that his record was pretty good against Agassi,
but that they hadn't played each other in a few years.

   Lendl seemed to answer the question quite honestly, matter-of-factly,
more reminiscent of his earlier days.  It could be that I just haven't
seen Lendl playin a long, long time.   It's nice to see that he is
striking the ball well.  I think his chances are good against
Washington, and 50-50 against Agassi.  It really depends on if
Agassi recalls the losses against Lendl (which I doubt).  Lendl
seems to be hitting well, so I wouldn't really count him out either.

   Who recalls the first meeting between Agassi and Lendl?

--
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  / ____ \  |  |  |__| |   \ |  |    Charles Lin
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