Ivan Lendl explains how he broke John McEnroe's dominance in the 80s
Former American tennis legend Ivan Lendl revealed how competed against fellow American John McEnroe during his career.
The duo faced off against each other 36 times on the tour, with Lendl prevailing 21 times over his great rival. They have played some of the most iconic matches in history, like Lendl's epic comeback in the 1984 Roland Garros Final.
On the Craig Shapiro podcast, the eight-time Grand Slam champion mentioned that he hated playing against lefties like McEnroe and Connors. He pointed out that he would try to lock McEnroe into a baseline battle to avoid his excellent net game.
"If I could and I would even come forward, that was part of it. The worst thing that I could do was rally with him and then he could choose when he comes in," said Lendl. "If I rally with him where I'm pushing him where I threaten to come in, he would come in on some shots when he shouldn't come in, and then the pass is there.:
He continued:
"So by being more aggressive, I forced him to be more aggressive in some ways and I mean he was still great at it but he dropped off a lit bit because he would come in on the ball that was deep and he would come in and I had angles and so on."
"It was the worst loss of my life, a devastating defeat" - John McEnroe on losing to Ivan Lendl
In a recent interview, seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe revealed that his defeat to Ivan Lendl in the 1984 French Open final was "the worst loss" of his career.
He mentioned that heading into the match he believed that he could win the tournament and not Ivan Lendl could stop him.
"I was on my way to Europe to play the French and go for my third Wimbledon. And this was my year, I knew it. I was playing so amazingly well that I thought no one could beat me, on any surface. Not even Lendl. Not now," he said.
"It was the worst loss of my life, a devastating defeat: Sometimes it still keeps me up nights. It’s even tough for me now to do the commentary at the French—I’ll often have one or two days when I literally feel sick to my stomach just at being there and thinking about that match. Thinking of what I threw away, and how different my life would’ve been if I’d won," the American said.