5’80s Tennis Pros Who I Loved

The’80s were a great decade for tennis. A long decade that saw the face of the sport change.

Let’s take a look back at the classic decade for the sport by remembering some of the most entertaining tennis players from the decade. These are all based on my personal favorites, and not based on who I thought was best. Anyway, here goes.

The early’80s were dominated by Bjorn Borg before his early retirement. At the top of his game, he was undoubtedly the best in the world and one of the best to ever play the sport.

Stefan Edberg. One of the last true serve and volley players who captured the world’s number one rank. I can’t think of a player who covered the net as well as Edberg has, and he was one of the last of a breed of true serve and volley tennis players that essentially no longer exists.

How about Boris Becker? When he took the tennis world by storm after winning Wimbledon at the young age of 16, tennis fans knew that a legend was born. Becker followed through with some great tennis for another decade, and cemented himself as one of the sport’s all-time greats.

While he wasn’t exactly a fan favorite, I absolutely love what Ivan Lendl did for the sport. He sat atop the rankings for longer than anyone before him in modern tennis had, and he won more tournaments than one could possibly dream of winning today.

At number one on my list is John McEnroe. His personality and his talent were both top notch, and he played the sport with all of his heart. McEnroe may very well be the most beloved American tennis player in the history of the sport.

When I think of tennis in the’80s, I think of the five players mentioned above. All made significant contributions to the sport that still have a lasting effect to this day.

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