"I always played Boris when he was pretty close to his best": Ivan Lendl recalls rivalry with Boris Becker

Ivan Lendl recalled his rivalry with Boris Becker in a recent appearance on the Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast talking about how good of a player he was.

Becker's name in recent times has been more associated with his scandals than his tennis and it's a shame because his tennis was truly amazing. The German's falls from grace is unfortunate to see but Lendl made a point to talk about his tennis more as he remembered their rivalry:

"There were a few challenges playing Boris. He was very powerful, so he could control the points. Nobody likes to have the opponent control the points, right?"

He continued:

"The second thing is that Boris was 'hot and cold.' I got to play him always towards the end of the tournaments. If he was cold, he would have bad losses at times. But if he was on, now you're playing him at his best. I always played Boris when he was pretty close to his best so that was difficult."