The upcoming issue of Tennis looks back at the past 40 years of tennis (the Open Era), which began with an inclusion of professionals into its most esteemed events — the Grand Slams — for the first time. This move revolutionized the sport and brought us some amazing memories in upsets, defeats, victories, and feats. Read on to see what the mag deemed worthy of its list. (Do you agree? Tell us!)
The Best Shots: The invicible serve of Peter Sampras. “No player owed as much to a single shot. Even as he aged, his serve kept winning him Wimbledons.” The runners-up are Steffi Graf’s forehand, Chris Evert’s backhand; Jimmy Connors’ return, and Roger Federer’s forehand.
Crucial Matches: Props to Tennis for not going with the safe choice of Billie Jean King d. Bobby Riggs (no offense, BJK). Instead, they turn our attention to the 1990 U.S. Open meeting between Sampras and Ivan Lendl. “An unknown Sampras ended Lendl’s streak of eight U.S. Open finals, and helped usher in the power era,” according to the magazine. Runners up are McEnroe defeating Borg at the 1981 U.S. Open, the 1973 Battle of the Sexes, Rosewall winning over Laver in Dallas, 1972; and Graf’s victory over Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1988.
Biggest Upsets: Navratilova’s 1983 French Open loss to Kathy Horvath, bringing the American’s win-loss record for that dominant year to 83-1. Runners-up are Doohan d. Becker, 1987; L. McNeil d. Graf, 1994; Yzaga d. Sampras, 1994; and Ashe d. Connors, 1975.
Outrageous Moments: The biggest buhskyooze moment is the 1993 stabbing of Monica Seles. The incident derailed a potentially historic career for Seles (btw, why wasn’t her backhand in the top 5?). Runners-up are McEnroe defaulting in Melbourne, 1990; Connors wiping out a ball mark, 1977; the Ilie Nastase uprising at Flushing Meadows, 1979; and Jennifer Capriati’s drug bust mug shot, 1994. (By the time Martina Hingis effed up at Wimbledon this year, drugs were already passe…)
Biggest Rivalries: “The cold war duals of Navratilova vs. Evert defined the term ‘rivalry’ in tennis,” notes the magazine. Their duels ended up 43-37 in Navratilova’s favor. Other rivalries mentioned are Laver vs. Rosewall, Borg vs. McEnroe, Court vs. King, and Sampras vs. Agassi. It’s early yet, but what about Rafa and Roger?
Records: Steffi Graf’s Golden Slam. Runners-up are Chris Evert’s semifinals run from 1971-1987; Navratilova’s 350 titles (that’s 200 more than almost everyone else, man or woman!); Roger Federer’s 10 Grand Slam Finals from Wimbledon 2005 to the U.S. Open in 2007 (a men’s record), and Nadal’s clay-court streak of 81 consecutive wins.
Best Dressed: Serena Williams takes the title in fashion. “From the cat suit to the soccer socks, Serena has made tennis fashion a sport of its own.” Runners-up are Bjorn Borg, Chris Evert, Maria Sharapova, and Roger Federer.
Biggest Disappointments: The “ornery and super-smooth” Chinito, Marcelo Rios. He never won a major, and he defaulted a match in Los Angeles back in the early aughts, ruining the one chance I had to see him play. Other losers are Iva Majoli, Anna Kournikova; Dick Stockton, Mark Philippoussis.
Feel-Good Victories: The tearful collapse of Jana Novotna in the 1993 Wimbledon final made her 1998 win against Natalie Tauziat even sweeter. Runners-up: Virginia Wade’s win at Wimbledon in 1977, Yannick Noah’s 1983 win at Roland Garros, Jennifer Capriati’s comeback at the 2001 Aussie Open, and Goran Ivanisevic’s historic Monday final in 2001.
Rosewall
Obama, Clinton, Ashe, Churchill and Reagan and a "What If" Argument About Rod Laver
I think it is interesting that Senator Hillary Clinton’s U.S. Presidential campaign is accusing rival Senator Barack Obama with plagiarism for using lines in his speeches from his friend Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.
In a tennis equivalent to this issue, should Arthur Ashe get the credit for the quote that is etched in stone and attributed to him at the Arthur Ashe Commemorative Garden at the USTA / Billie Jean King National Tennis Center? Ashe’s quote says “From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.” This sounds like the same quote from Winston Churchill, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” The very similar quote, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give” is also attributed to Ronald Reagan. Someone once emailed me and had this quote on the signature of their email, but it was attributed to Reagan. I thought, “That is strange. I thought Arthur Ashe said that.” I googled it and found that is was also attributed to Winston Churchill. Whoever gets the “credit” for the quote, I think, is mostly irrelevant, but what is important is that the point of the quote is conveyed, regardless of the messenger.
During the Australian Open last month, I heard the Tennis Channel’s Bill Macatee and Martina Navratilova discussing Roger Federer and his quest to win the most career major singles championships. Bill and Martina also talked about Rod Laver and how many more majors he would have won had there been Open tennis and he would be allowed to play from 1963 to 1967.
A fair point, however, let’s look at another side of the story.
Laver’s 1969 Grand Slam was certainly the most impressive of accomplishments considering tennis was “Open” and all the major championship draws were filled with the best amateurs and pros (i.e. Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe, Roy Emerson, etc.)
If tennis was “Open” in 1962, would Laver have achieved his sweep of all four majors for his Grand Slam? He would have had to tangle with the likes of Pancho Gonzalez, Rosewall, and Lew Hoad (although Hoad may not have played at a high level due to his back troubles) among others. Would Laver have won his two other pre-1962 majors – the 1960 Australian and the 1961 Wimbledon – had tennis been Open? My view is that it probably would have evened out and Laver would have lost a major or two between 1960 and 1962 and would have picked up a major or two between 1963 and 1969.