It was 35 years ago Saturday that perhaps the most famous single tennis match in the history of the sport was held in Houston, Texas when Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the famed “Battle of the Sexes.” The following are events that happened this week in tennis history as documented in my soon-to-be-released book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.tennistomes.com).
September 20
1973 – In perhaps the most socially significant event in the history of tennis and sports history, 29-year-old Billie Jean King defeats 55-year-old Bobby Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in 2 hours, 4minutes to win the “Battle of the Sexes” played at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The match is played in a circus-like atmosphere in front of a world record crowd of 30,492 fans and millions in front of televisions around the world. “She was too good,” says Riggs, the 1939 Wimbledon champion, following the match. “She played too well. She was playing well within herself and I couldn’t get the most out of my game. It was over too quickly.” Writes Neil Amdur of the New York Times, “King struck a proud blow for herself and women around the world.”
1988 – The sport of tennis returns to official status as an Olympic sport for the first time since 1924 as the tennis competition opens at the Seoul Games. Wimbledon champion Stefan Edberg, the winner of the gold medal in men’s singles at the 1984 demonstration in Los Angeles, plays the first match on stadium court, defeating Austria’s Horst Skoff 7-6, 6-2, 6-3. Says Edberg of tennis being part of the Olympics, “I don’t really know whether we should be here in tennis, but it is worth giving it a chance. It needs some time. In the 1920s, there weren’t that many countries competing in the Olympics. Now, here, all the top players aren’t competing so that hurts it a little bit. Plus, we have all the Grand Slam events we play in, and those are the most important right now to us. But this is only played every four years, so there’s nothing wrong with trying it.”
1977 – Ilie Nastase is upset in the round of the Grand Prix tournament in Paris by Frenchman Georges Goven, who uses a double-strung “spaghetti” racquet to post the 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory. The spaghetti-strung racquet provides added speed and lift to shots. “That’s the first time I’ve played against someone using one of those things,” says Nastase of the spaghetti-strung racquet.
2000 – Just one week after being crowned U.S. Open champion, No. 1 seeded Marat Safin of Russia, bows out in the first round of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, losing to Fabrice Santoro of France 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. Safin takes the court barely 24 hours after arriving in Sydney from Uzbekistan, where Safin won the President’s Cup in Tashkent.
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1969 – Stan Smith and Bob Lutz give the United States an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Romania, clinching the Davis Cup title, defeating Ilie Nastase and Ion Tiriac 8-6, 6-1, 11-9 in Cleveland, Ohio.
1997 – Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge defeat Pete Sampras and Todd Martin 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-4 to cut the U.S. lead over Australia to 2-1 in the Davis Cup semifinals in Washington, D.C. Sampras is so angry at the loss that he refuses to attend the post-match press conference, causing the International Tennis Federation to fine the U.S. team $1,000. “I really didn’t have anything to say. I really didn’t,” Sampras says the next day. “I was getting a rubdown, and the key thing was to recover, because I played back-to-back matches. It was more important to get ready for an early match, an 11 o’clock match. It is early for me.”
September 21
1997 – World No. 1 Pete Sampras defeats reigning U.S. Open champion and No. 3-ranked Patrick Rafter 6-7 (8), 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 to clinch the 4-1 victory for the United States over Australia in the Davis Cup semifinal in Washington, D.C. Says Sampras of the satisfying win over the man who took the U.S. Open title he held since 1995, “I couldn’t play any better. I did everything that I could do very well. I served and returned well. If I can play at that level and that intensity, I feel like I am going to be pretty tough to beat.” Sampras never faces a break point on the afternoon and gives up only 18 points on his serve over four sets. Says Rafter, “Pete served too well today. I played Pete a lot of times before and I’ve always had at least one chance to break him. But today I couldn’t read his serve and just didn’t pick the ball up. He was too good for me on the day.” After Sampras and Michael Chang win opening day singles matches over Mark Philippoussis and Rafter, respectively, Australia cuts the U.S. lead to 2-1 in the doubles contest, defeating Sampras and Todd Martin 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-4. Sampras is so angry at the doubles loss that he refuses to attend the post-match press conference, causing the International Tennis Federation to fine the U.S. team $1,000. “I really didn’t have anything to say. I really didn’t,” Sampras says after his win over Rafter of skipping his media session after the doubles loss the previous day. “I was getting a rubdown, and the key thing was to recover, because I played back-to-back matches. It was more important to get ready for an early match, an 11 o’clock match. It is early for me.”
2000 – Venus Williams defeats Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and then pairs with younger sister Serena in the pair’s Olympic doubles debut, defeating Canada’s Vanessa Webb and Sonya Jeyaseelan 6-3, 6-1 in the first round. In between matches, Venus meets with Janette Howard, the wife of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and trades pins with The Right Honorable Hage Geingob, the Prime Minister of the African nation of Namibia.
2003 – Agustin Calleri of Argentina, substituting for teammate Mariano Zabaleta, connects on an incredible 109 winners in just three sets in beating reigning French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 7-5, 6-1 to level Argentina even with Spain in the Davis Cup semifinal in Malaga, Spain. Carlos Moya beats Gaston Gaudio in the fifth and decisive rubber of the tie 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to elevate Spain to the final.
1988 – Called a “David-and-Goliath tennis match” by Bill Dwyre of the Los Angeles Times, 19-year-old Clement N’Goran of the Ivory Coast, ranked No. 827 in the world, falls to Britain’s Andrew Castle, ranked No. 142, 6-7, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6, 7-5 in the first round of the Olympic tennis competition.
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New York Times
Hurricanes and the US Open
As Hurricanes Hanna – and its remnants – threaten play on Super Saturday at the US Open, it’s interesting to remember how hurricanes have impacted play at the U.S. Championships.
As documented in the new book On This Day In Tennis History ($19.95, New Chapter Press) in 1960, in the most delayed conclusion to a major tournament in tennis history, Neale Fraser of Australia and Darlene Hard of the United States won the singles titles at the U.S. Championships – one week after winning semifinal matches. The U.S. Championships at Forest Hills are delayed a full seven days as Hurricane Donna slams New York and soggies up the grass courts at the West Side Tennis Club. Fraser finally defends his 1959 title, defeating fellow Aussie Rod Laver 6-4, 6-4, 10-8, becoming the first repeat men’s winner at Forest Hills since fellow Aussie Frank Sedgman in 1951 and 1952. Hard finally breaks through and wins her first U.S. singles title, upsetting defending champion Maria Bueno of Brazil 6-3, 10-8, 6-4. Fraser and Hard both win semifinal matches seven days earlier on September 10 – Fraser beating Dennis Ralston and Hard beating Donna Floyd – before the rains come.
On September 23, 1938, after a delay of six days due to a un-named hurricane hitting the New York area, play is resumed at the U.S. Championships at the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills as Don Budge keeps his dream of being the first player to win a Grand Slam alive by beating 1931 Wimbledon champion Sidney Wood 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the men’s semifinals. Advancing to play Budge in the final is his unseeded doubles partner, Gene Mako, who defeats Australia’s John Bromwich 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in the other men’s semifinal. In women’s singles semifinals, Alice Marble beats Sarah Palfrey Fabyan 5-7, 7-5, 7-5, saving two match points at 2-5, 15-40 in the second set, while Nancye Wynne defeats Dorothy Bundy 5-7, 6-4, 8-6. The following day, Budge achieves the first “Grand Slam” of tennis, when he defeats Mako 6-3, 6-8, 6-2, 6-1 in the final. Writes Allison Danzig of The New York Times of the final “The book was closed yesterday on the greatest record of success ever compiled by a lawn tennis player in one season of national and international championships competition.” Mako, who also wins the U.S. doubles title with Budge, was the only player to win a set from Budge in the tournament. Their final is played in great spirits and with a high quality of play, despite the fact that many of the crowd of 12,000 is certain that Budge, the overwhelming favorite, would easily win the match. Writes Danzig, “The play was animated with friendly manifestations across the net whose contagion was communicated to the gallery, particularly in the third set when the crowd was roaring with mirth as the doubles champions trapped each other repeatedly with drop shots. But there was no holding back on either side and there was no trace of amiability in the scorching forehand drives with which Mako caught Budge in faulty position inside the baseline or the murderous backhand and volcanic service which Budge turned loose.” In the women’s final, Marble defeats Wynne 6-0, 6-3.
"Majors Not Grand Slams" Says Bud Collins
NEW YORK – Bud Collins, the Hall of Fame tennis journalist and personality and author of the new book “The Bud Collins History of Tennis,” wants to set the record straight. Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Ana Ivanovic and the Williams sisters will not be vying for a “Grand Slam” title in New York at the 2008 U.S. Open. They will be seeking a “major” championship.
“I really wish everyone in tennis would get the word usage correct – a ‘Grand Slam’ is when you sweep in one year all four major tournaments – the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open,” says Collins. “If you win the U.S. Open – you will have one a ‘major tournament’ not a ‘Grand Slam.’ You cannot say Pete Sampras has won 14 Grand Slams. He has won 14 majors. Roger Federer has won 12 major titles – not 12 Grand Slams. Ana Ivanovic did not win her first Grand Slam title at the French Open. She won her first major title.”
Only five players have won a Grand Slam in singles – Don Budge in 1938, Maureen Connolly in 1953, Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969, Margaret Smith Court in 1970 and Steffi Graf in 1988. “Rod Laver won two Grand Slams – one in 1962 and another in 1969 – and overall he won 11 major singles titles,” says Collins.
In “The Bud Collins History of Tennis,” Collins writes of how the Grand Slam came into being. Writes Collins, “Jack Crawford, the stylish Australian of the 1930s, had no idea when he departed his homeland by steamship in the spring of 1933 that he would, unknowingly, be the instigator of a concept eventually known as the Grand Slam. He had won the Australian title for the third successive year, defeating Californian Keith Gledhill, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-2, and was headed for Europe.
“In Paris, Jack became the first non-Frenchman to seize the championship of France, dethroning Henri Cochet of France, 8-6, 6-1, 6-3. Then, crossing the Channel to London, he lifted the Wimbledon title from another Californian, Ellsworth Vines, in a splendid final, 4-6, 11-9, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.
“Nobody had won those three majors in a row, but Jack had enough. He’d been through a grueling campaign, was bothered by asthma and insomnia, and wanted to go home. However, as an amateur he was controlled by his country’s tennis administration, the LTAA (Lawn Tennis Association of Australia), insisting that he play the U.S. Championships at Forest Hills because a fee due the Association for his appearance was involved.
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“The prospect of his winning that one, too, intrigued a New York Times columnist, John Kieran. If he did, wrote Kieran, it would be something like a “grand slam” in bridge. But Crawford didn’t, although he battled gamely to the final. Drained physically and emotionally, he led Brit Fred Perry two-sets-to-one but could win only one more game, falling, 6-3, 11-13, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.
No Grand Slam, which Jack hadn’t set out to accomplish, anyway. But the idea had sprouted, and it made an impression on a kid in California, 18-year-old Don Budge. Having become No. 1 and retrieved the Davis Cup for the U.S. in 1937, Budge determined that 1938 would be his last as an amateur. He wanted a goal, something extra, and quietly set out (telling no one but his buddy, doubles partner Gene Mako) to conquer the Big Four, as they were known-the only countries to win the Davis Cup.
With little difficulty, losing three sets in 24 matches (one to Mako in the U.S. final), Budge posted the initial Grand Slam. It was duly noted by Allison Danzig, tennis correspondent for the New York Times. But it took a long time catching on. However, nurtured as a pro by Mr. Grand Slam, Budge, who dined out on it, the Slam became a popular term in tennis. Also a misused one, as proprietors of the four majors carelessly called their events Grand Slams, confusing the public. Although there is no written rule, a Grand Slam has come to be accepted as winning all four within a calendar year. Each tournament is a major, not a Slam.”
The Bud Collins History of Tennis ($35.95, 784 pages, New Chapter Press, www.newchapterpressmedia.com) is the ultimate compilation of historical tennis information, including year-by-year recaps of every tennis season, biographical sketches of every major tennis personality, as well as stats, records, and championship rolls for all the major events. The author’s personal relationships with major tennis stars offer insights into the world of professional tennis found nowhere else.
Among those endorsing the book include the two women who hold the Wimbledon record for most total titles (noted by Collins in the book) – Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King – who both won 20 Wimbledon titles each in their careers. Said Navratilova, “If you know nothing about tennis, this book is for you. And if you know everything about tennis-Hah!-Bud knows more, so this book is for you too!” Said King, “We can’t move forward if we don’t understand and appreciate our past. This book not only provides us with accurate reporting of the rich tennis history, it keeps us current on the progress of the sport today.”
New Chapter Press is also the publisher of “The Roger Federer Story, Quest for Perfection” by Rene Stauffer and “Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games” by Tom Caraccioli and Jerry Caraccioli. More information on New Chapter Press can be found at www.newchapterpressmedia.com.