Bjorn Borg is the Rafael Nadal of now, says Orantes
In an interview the Spanish legend Manolo Orantes was asked who was the most difficult player he has ever faced in his career. Orantes said: "For me the toughest one was definitely Bjorn Borg, even if he always struggled playing against me because I put him far away from the court. He did not feel comfortable, but of course he forced you to be at an impressive level if you wanted to beat him. Against other guys you played a four or five-set match and you could handle it more or less well. Against Borg it was differenti. He was the Rafael Nadal of now. You saw it as fresh as a flour, he did not even sweat and he seemed to be fit."
"With the players I never had issues. What happened is that back in the day tennis was very different than how it is planned now. Now players accept things much more. Before, you had to change many rules. When I joined as a captain (December 1985), like it happens with many Federations, I was depending on a player who was at the top of the rankings. The problem is that when that top player retires, you are like: 'What happened now, that there is nothing behind?' And the Spanish tennis dropped a lot. We had gone to the World Group II a couple of times and there were players who competed well, but we did not have top guys."
Alexander Zverev was honored to clinch the final win for Team Europe at the Laver Cup: "I’ve never played in something like that, it was unbelievable", admitted the German. "It’s very special, especially playing in front of those guys and them trusting me to play the last singles game. This event is something I hope to play in every single year of my career.”
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2n8JuUd
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