Andre Agassi on Brad Gilbert

[John Yandell]

I love this!

http://www.insidetennis.com/2019/05/...-agassis-life/

[nytennisaddict]

i teared a bit great article.
my favorite line: “I’m sorry, buddy. Tomorrow will be better.” I’d ask, “How do you know?” He’d say, “I’m a stats guy. I look at the odds and I know that there’s no way you can play any more sh–ty than you played today.”

[stroke]

Great article. Andre is right, Brad did have an ugly game but a great tennis mind. He was a perfect fit for Andre at that point in his life.

[don_budge]

Great article. Andre is right, Brad did have an ugly game but a great tennis mind. He was a perfect fit for Andre at that point in his life.

i teared a bit great article.
my favorite line: “I’m sorry, buddy. Tomorrow will be better.” I’d ask, “How do you know?” He’d say, “I’m a stats guy. I look at the odds and I know that there’s no way you can play any more sh–ty than you played today.”

Personally I never understood what was so ugly about Brad Gilbert's game. As I remember he had nice strokes. Can't recall the service motion. But the knock against him as a "modern tennis player" is he didn't tear the cover off of the ball. But I'll bet he is old enough to have his roots in the wooden racquet era.

He was a terribly intelligent player. Is that winning ugly? I don't think so.

Good comment about being a stat guy. I have a similar comment that I use with regard to hitting second serves to my students. The old tennis coach Sherman Collins told me that you have to be a bit fatalistic about the second serve and go ahead and swing at it. That's right. But I would tell my students that I would swing even harder at my second...maybe with more spin. But my reasoning was that I am a stats guy...if I missed my first serve there is no way statistically possible that I miss two in a row.

Good article though. Brad is a cerebral tennis guy. Is he that way off the court?

[nytennisaddict]

Personally I never understood what was so ugly about Brad Gilbert's game. As I remember he had nice strokes. Can't recall the service motion. But the knock against him as a "modern tennis player" is he didn't tear the cover off of the ball. But I'll bet he is old enough to have his roots in the wooden racquet era.

He was a terribly intelligent player. Is that winning ugly? I don't think so.

Good comment about being a stat guy. I have a similar comment that I use with regard to hitting second serves to my students. The old tennis coach Sherman Collins told me that you have to be a bit fatalistic about the second serve and go ahead and swing at it. That's right. But I would tell my students that I would swing even harder at my second...maybe with more spin. But my reasoning was that I am a stats guy...if I missed my first serve there is no way statistically possible that I miss two in a row.

Good article though. Brad is a cerebral tennis guy. Is he that way off the court?

the "ugly" in brad's game is that he didn't have any huge weapons like the folks he played: agassi, lendl, aaron... so on crappy 1980's tv sets, it's easier to see when someone "hits big" but the intelligence of brad's game did not translate well to TV imo.

[gzhpcu]

Does not seem to bad to me...

[don_budge]

Does not seem to bad to me...

Brad Gilbert sort of took one on the chin against Stefan Edberg on this particular day in 1990. The year before in the same tournament Gilbert beat Edberg 7-6 in the third in the finals. I think that Gilbert had a rather aesthetically sweet looking game...except for that hitch in his serve. Tactically he was getting everything out of his talent he possibly could. Maybe he might be able to get through to the bad boy...Mr. Kyrgios.

Gilbert was born in 1961 so I was correct in assuming that his roots were in the wooden racquet era and it shows in the way he sort of has a tendency to finesse the ball around the court. But he can apply the hammer when it makes sense.

Here is his ranking history. No slouch...by any means.

https://www.atptour.com/en/players/brad-gilbert/g016/rankings-history

[stroke]

I remember watching BG on the Grandstand court at the Lipton a long time ago. He definitely got all he could, as db said, his talent. He would be a great coach for most any player.