Quote:
> Jaros>
> > The clincher to this argument is that Seles *never*, not even against
> Graf,
> > ever lost a match because she was visibily tired and winded due to
being
> > overweight before her stabbing. Thus, we know that despite whatever
> > meaningless statistics Max or you can generate, that flaw in form
existed
> in
> > 1995 and didn't exist earlier.
Whisper>
> Fair enough, but you have to factor in she was only 21 when she came back,
&
> a supposed world class athlete. It should be almost impossible for a pro
> tennis player to be out of shape at that age......
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Uh..., an athlete can be out of shape at any age, for a myridad of reasons.
Studies have show how quickly lack of conditioning even just for a week or
two can impede someone's athletic performance . One of the early knocks
on the young Andre Agassi was in 1988 as an 18 year old when he lost a five
set match to Wilander 6-0 in the fifth at Roland Garos, he freely admitted
he was out of gas and out of shape relative to playing a conditioned
Wilander.
Besides, I understood that Jaros meant that she was *out of shape* relative
to how she was before the stabbing 2 1/2 years before. As he mentioned she
was good enough to steam roll over most the competition but not Graf.
Of course the debate will always rage over *why* Seles came back to tennis
relatively out of shape and overweight and not conditioned as she was before
her stabbing.
Some said that because she was naturally pear-shaped to begin with, the 2
1/2 years of inactivty perse couldn't really be overcome and her body type
overwhelmed any efforts to get back into prime conditioning.
Others say she was just too lazy to get back in prime conditioning and
lacked the motivation.
Regardless of the real reason, physically the evidence is there for anyone
to see a taped match from 1993 and one in 1995. She has a *tummy* on her,
and everyone including Seles even commented upon it once she got back. Once
she got back in 1995 she couldn't outlast a top competitor once they got to
a 3rd set in a GS. And one of the hallmarks of Seles at her *peak* (91-93)
is that she seemed to get better and stronger as a match went on. She peak
Graf in back to back GS in three sets before the stabbing.
Quote:
> The fact she was means it woulda happened anyway, & to suggest the
stabbing
> caused her to stay fat for 10 yrs is completely irrational & taints your
> other good arguments.....
***************************
So a tennis player gets stabbed and is removed from competition in an
unprecendented act and because she doesn't recover her peak conditioning
form is bound to have *happened anyway*.....yeah, right.
Tell ya what. The only way to satisfy you I suppose would be to have had
some deranged fan stab Graf in the back and see if she would have comeback
in peak conditioning. Heck, you would probably want them to stab the whole
top ten and see how they would come back.
Theo