soogar said:Janna, Lendl had been competing and winning lots of non-Grand Slam Competitions since 1981 and always had a very high ranking. However prior to 1984, he had the monkey on his back that he was choker b/c he would make the finals at a Slam and then not win. He won French in 1984 (coming back from 2 sets down to Mac- maybe Mac choked) but didn't really hit his stride until the US Open 1985 and then he was very consistent.
Yeah , Lendl never won Wimbledon, but I wouldn't say that he choked because always lost to the player who wound up winning the whole thing and those matches were never close enough for it to be called choking. I mean, he was losing in 4 sets or so and never really had an advantage.
Neither would I say that Lendl was really choking in Wimbledon, but our commentators always used to say as he was playing somewhere and perhaps winning, that he is a tennis player to have lots of other titles, but never that of Wimbledon champion. And I understand that he had won those players elsewhere that he lost to in Wimbledon? It was perhaps the grass courts which did not suit him.
Sorry about this OT, but could not help of answering because I used to follow tennis a lot starting in the times of Swedish player Björn Borg.
About defining choking I would say that something can be called choking if an athlete does not reach the result she/he is expected to reach (based on earlier competitions). On the other hand so many different matters with nothing to do with so-called choking can cause a loss for an athlete. I think that choking - although very descriptive - is not a nice word to use about an athlete if she/he is not winning or getting a medal. Besides, everybody is having off-days, what ever our work might be.
Marjaana
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