How Good Was Michael Chang Actually?

michael

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was a fascinating great player of the modern era one of the most notable achievements in tennis history was his victory at the french open when he was 17 years old, at times he went toe to toe with one of the best in the world, Let's see how

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Michael is. Chang truly was Michael He had been breaking records since he was 12 At the age of 12 He won his first national title in the USTA Junior Hardcore Singles and won the Fiesta Bowl 16s when he was 13 Would you believe that? Well, that was Not All Two years later, 15-year-old Chang was already turning heads in American tennis.

He became the youngest winner of 18 US men's singles titles in 1987, at the age of 15 years and five months. This success was largely due to his father, his first coach. and a self-taught player who had begun playing two years after

chang

was born, his men's title in 1987 earned him a spot in the us championship where he defeated paul nacomi chang turned professional in 1988 and traveled to paris where he was intimidated and Humiliated by Mcenroe, however, he had Henry Laconte on the ropes for two spectacular sets at Wimbledon and at Flushing Meadow he beat Jonas Svenson and came back to win two consecutive five-set matches and advanced to the round of 16, where he was well stopped. by andre agassi.

None of this prepared fans for what happened in Paris in 1989. Chang would set another record by becoming the youngest male player to win a Grand Slam tournament. He had been a professional for less than a year and had only competed in four Grand Slams. slam events, but he came back to defeat first and third seeds Ivan Lendl in the round of 16 and Stefan Edberg in the final. Chang's most famous match, the Lendl match lasted 4 hours and 39 minutes, while the final lasted 3 hours and 41 minutes in At the risk of being too simplistic, one could argue that Lendl was outwitted and Edberg survived.

Lendl did not take enough tactical risks. He seemed to believe that if he continued to move away from the baseline, Chang would eventually become too tired and inexperienced to do anything other than lose. chain got tired but only in his legs and lendl wasn't pretty enough to take advantage of the obvious signs of cramps when the time came mentally chang was the sharper of the two chang surprised linda with an underarm serve at 4-3 and 15 30 in the fifth set left lendl embarrassingly exposed at the net. Lendl missed his first serve at 3 5 and 15 40 and Chang staggered forward on his light-as-rubber legs to receive the second ball while he stood between the baseline and the service line.

Chang's two stratagems were legitimate tests of Lendl's alertness. Nerves and technical stamina and the ever-pragmatic Lendl had no complaints. The final, on the other hand, was shorter because Ed Berg's four-court game shortened the rallies in one way or another. It was a classic final. A model contrast between an elegant and cunning background player facing off. Against a serve and volley specialist, Chang cannot be dismissed as simply a baseline player who was the basis of his game, but he was more versatile and assertive than players like Borg, Guillermo Vias, Matt Willander and Lendl. Chang did not have Sampras' serve. agassi's return mcenroe's volley o Conor lendl's personality once told him you have no serve and you certainly don't have a second serve you have a lot of balls but you have absolutely nothing you can hurt me with you can run but you better develop a weapon to survive here These were all weaknesses that Chang worked to improve and it was obvious when he defeated Lendl.

Chang certainly had the balls and in 1989 he was young and dumb enough to think that was enough. His groundstrokes were excellent, whether across the court or down the line. Chang's exceptional qualities were in his brain and his legs. He thought constantly and never missed a beat. His quick anticipation and strong legs allowed him to parry most attacks until his opponent made a mistake or gave him the opportunity to respond forcefully. Whether lob or sudden acceleration of pace, everything Chang did was logical and he exhibited an instinctive gift for reading his opponent's game and making split-second decisions.

He once shared his thoughts on how smaller players could rock the tennis courts using himself as an example. He revealed that he did not believe that a smaller player would have a disadvantage in tennis. Chang felt that smaller players might not be able to hit as hard or serve as well, but tennis wasn't just about that, according to Chang, being one of the smallest players on the tour meant there were always ways to beat bigger players and being smaller and faster had its advantages. He explained that the smaller players need to be able to play different styles because he keeps the bigger players off balance and, guessing, he also explained that he could have adapted to this trend.

It was also just because he was asked the same questions when he first played on tour, Chang was getting a lot of comments about his height and people saying he was too small, his serve wasn't big enough or he didn't have enough weapons, but he didn't care, he knew where his strengths were and he would never listen to what other people thought he could or couldn't do according to him if he had listened to people he wouldn't even turn pro

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chang and pete sampras were among the great american tennis players who emerged in the late 80s and early 90s andre agassi and jim courier were among those on the list all won grand slam titles and dominated men's tennis for most of the 90s united states we are still waiting for the next generation Of the tennis players unfortunately it has not yet arrived what remains is their legacy of classic matches and Sampras and Chang did not disappoint during their rivalry they had a

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number of classic matches Chang and Sampras faced each other 20 times in total with Pete leading the rivalry 12-8 That's an impressive record against Pete Sampras considering the fact that Sampras won 14 majors and was number one in the world six years in a row in the 90s.

The fact that this rivalry was so close shows how good Michael Chang was in the late 80s. and early 90's imagine going toe to toe with pete sampras here are some interesting stats about their rivalry michael chang won the first five games against pete which is incredible this included a complete demolition of pete in the second round of the open France 1989 in which he won 6-1 6-1 6-1 Pete would have an advantage in grand slams they faced each other five times in total Chang never won against Pete in a grand slam match after winning the French open they faced each other in a grand slam final which was at the 1996 US Open in straight sets, Pete won easily 6-1, 6-4, 7-6, they only met on clay once more after the 1989 French Open and it was in the round of 16 of the 98 ATP Masters in Rome where Chang won. the 6-2-7-6 match would have been interesting to see chang and sampras compete on clay courts more often one gets the impression that chang would have won more matches if they had met later in the 1990s when sampras he did not perform well on the court another player who had a deep rivalry with michael chang is stefan edberg between the 1980s and 1990s michael chang and stephane edberg had a fairly deep rivalry most people will remember them from one of the grand finals most iconic slam of all time, that of 1989.

French Open Michael Chang then 17 entered the French Open as 15th and fought his way through the draw defeating Ivan Lendl in the round of 16 after being down two sets Down in the final, he came back again to defeat number three seed Stefan Edberg, but this time he came back from two sets down to win his first and only Grand Slam, although many fans remember this match, only a few remember that these two would play 31 times during their careers with Edberg leading the rivalry 12. 8 if you ask me it's a pretty competitive rivalry although chang doesn't have the grand slam numbers that edberg has chang was a consistent top 10 player who routinely defeated former number ones like sampras lendl and agassi in major tournaments, especially on hard courts, ed berg and chang would compete in four tournament finals in total and chang put on wonderfully precocious deadpan performances against lindel and edberg, in turn chang was raised on hard courts but only excelled on clay as he did at the 1989 French Open.

He got stronger as the tournaments went by, but it was highly unlikely that he would grow much more. Fans were never very optimistic about his chances of gaining the power to win major titles on the fastest surfaces, but he built a great reputation on small point guards like Willander and Boris Becker, who also won Grand Slam titles at the age of 17. However, his place in tennis history is already unique, which must be comforting for a young God-fearing fisherman who caught a couple of monster fish while still settling on the shore. He enjoyed this video. Watch this video about Chang's family.