TennisGrandstand

Today is Tuesday so that means another edition of “Tennis History Tuesday” where we bring you another excerpt from my book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY with events that happened on January 13.  While the tennis world is gearing up for the Australian Open, this time of the year used to be devoted to the men’s tournament known as the year-end Masters Championships played at Madison Square Garden. The Australian Open was played in December and, due mainly to the proximity to the Christmas holidays, did not feature the strongest fields and was not considered as prestigious at the time as the Masters (or the women’s equivalent, the Virginia Slims Championships.). Enjoy the excerpts below, which features memorable wins for Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe. For more information on the book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY, go to www.tennishistorybook.com

1980 – Bjorn Borg finally wins in New York as the two-time U.S. Open runner-up wins the Masters Championships at Madison Square Garden, defeating Vitas Gerulaitis 6-2, 6-2 in the championship match. “I wanted to win a tournament here for a long time,” says Borg, who would play – and lose – two more U.S. Open finals in his career.

1985 – John McEnroe wins his third – and final – Masters singles championship, defeating Ivan Lendl 7-5, 6-0, 6-4 in the final at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Says Lendl of McEnroe in the post-match press conference, “I would say that he played very well. Unfortunately, I’ve seen him play very well many times.” The only hiccup in the match comes with McEnroe serving for the first set at 6-5 and, while bouncing balls off his racquet, waiting for photographers to settle down in their courtside positions, he bounces one of the balls higher than anticipated that hits his eye and requires McEnroe to engage in a three-minute injury time-out. Says McEnroe of freak injury, “I couldn’t see for a couple of minutes. I’ve hit myself before never when it hurt that way.”

1997 – Unheralded Spaniard Carlos Moya upsets defending champion Boris Becker 5-7, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the Australian Open in oppressive 95-degree temperatures, with on-court readings registering as high as 135 degrees. “The weather was maybe the key to the match,” Moya says after contesting only his third five-set match. “I was also tired, but I think he was more tired than me. I am a young man, he is 29…I played a good match. Nobody can beat Boris when he’s playing 100 per cent. I was sure at least to fight (out) the match and put pressure on him.” Moya, a future French Open champion and world No. 1, goes on to reach the final of the tournament, where he loses to Pete Sampras.

2003 – Two-time defending champion Jennifer Capriati becomes the first defending women’s singles champion to lose in the first round of the Australian Open, losing to German Marlene Weingartner 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 on the opening day of the Australian Championships. Capriati partially blamed the loss on recent eye surgery in late 2002.

2007 – In a rare, ironic twist, James Blake wins the Sydney International with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 win over Carlos Moya, the same player he is scheduled to play in the first round of the following week’s Australian Open. Three days later, Blake again beats Moya, registering a 7-6 (8), 6-2, 6-4 first round win. Blake joins four-time champion Lleyton Hewitt and two-time titlist Pete Sampras as the only players to win back-to-back titles in Sydney in the Open era.

1974 – Six weeks after losing the 1973 Davis Cup final to lose its five-year hold on the Davis Cup trophy, the United States is dealt its earliest loss ever in Davis Cup play as Jairo Velasco defeats Erik van Dillen 6-0, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to clinch Colombia’s 4-1 first round win over the United States in Bogota, Colombia. A 45-minute rain delay at the end of the third set snuffs out any momentum that van Dillen can muster as the American double-faults 10 times in the fourth set to go down in defeat. After clinching the historic victory, Velasco is carried around the court by enthusiastic fans.

1998 – Martina Hingis becomes the first No. 1 ranked woman ever to lose her opening match of a calendar year, losing 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to fellow 17-year-old Venus Williams in the first round of the Sydney International tennis championships.