Epic Matches

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

RE: Epic Matches

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Looking back, many of my tennis memories seem to link to the old wimbledon court 1. What a great court, cramped, that steep bank of seats on one side, the dark, covered area opposite. Lots of matches went late and dark. 1976, gb played italy in davis cup, the lloyd brothers won an tumultuous double over Panatta and bertolucci, 4th set was 18-16. My first wimbledon visit was 1981, saw john lloyd win in 5 over phil dent, the aussie and then mac played gullickson and the famous pits of the world, the chalk went everywhere! I was there, my dad had gone to get drinks and missed it all! A few years later Jeremy bates beating Thierry Champion in 5.

I remember becker playing doohan there, and connors playing a match that went to nearly 9.40 pm , lights twinkling and losing in 4 but I cant recall who he played ! Edit Robert seguso! Anyone remember flach and seguso the doubles pair and seguso married Canadian Carling Bassett,

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Saturday 4th of April 2020 08:18:49 AM

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

My only ever Wimbledon final was 1986, when becker beat lendl. No epic, but what a privilege.if I'd realised then I'd never attend again I'd have taken so much more in!

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Mention of Yayuk Basuki reminds one of when she first made an impact on British tennis. That was in the days when the Fed Cup was a straight knockout and we played Indonesia in the 1st round in Melbourne in 1988. After Clare Wood beat W. Walalangi, Sara Gomer then lost 2-6, 6-7 to Yayuk. Yayuk with her partner K.Kusuma then beat Clare and Julie Salmon in straight sets in the doubles. A humiliating experience for GB. At least Yayuk went onto a successful career. I recall at the time GB had not bothered to watch their opponents in practice. The only other result I thought was as bad was when we lost to Turkey in 2015.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Mention of Tom Okker and Leicester made me have a look back at the tournament which seems to be have been held in 1970 and 1971 and was sponsored by Green Shield. It was obviously on grass but whereabouts is anybodies guess. Tom Okker won the mens in 1970 when the likes of Roger Taylor, Owen Davidson, Cliff Drysdale and Mark Cox were also playing. The mens event in 1971 did not have players of the same calibre. Turning to the ladies, post Wimbledon 1970, Evonne Goolagong won 3 grass court tournaments in a row Leicester being the last. Other ladies in the tournament included Patti Hogan(who Evonne beat in the final), Kerry Melville, Julie Heldman and Judy Dalton. It could never happen these days but following her Wimbledon singles win, Evonne returned to Leicester in 1971 again beating Patti in the final. Other entrants included Judy Dalton and Helen Gourlay who Evonne had beaten in an All Australian French Open final that year. So completes this tennis history or" the past is a foreign country they do things differently there."

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Rosamund, you might find this interesting!

books.google.com/books/about/A_Social_History_of_Tennis_in_Britain.html

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

This was on french wiki!

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tournoi_de_tennis_de_Leicester

Andy Parker · Strong Club Player

Thanks for the updates on Yayuk - it is so good to hear that she is still successful - I always used to watch her matches at Wimbledon; I think for quite a few years I was the only regular live follower at Wimbledon that she had - quite often on the park bench courts, when her matches started, there would be about ten of us watching, and nine having no idea who was in front of them, having chosen her court as somewhere quiet to eat their lunch . It is heartwarming to hear she is doing well - I could have probably found the info online, but it brought a smile to my face anyway.

I remember her coach well by the way; a fellow Indonesian bespectacled chap, who was always courtside at her matches over the years.

Yayuk was a very under-rated player and I am not surprised Indonesia beat Great Britain if she was playing - I have no memory of that I must admit.

The Tom Okker updates were interesting - he had a fine doubles partnership with Owen Davidson too, in the 1960's, which I seem to recall included Grand Slam doubles titles.

Okker's longevity meant he also had long partnerships with John Newcombe, Dick Stockton and Marty Riessen - he was always a big draw for the crowds; his small stature and lack of power were offset by his phenomenal athleticism, his joie de vivre and refusal to ever give up on shots, as he bounced around like an exuberant puppy, diving for shots and going for impossible balls. I'm sure any videos that exist will probably showing him diving headlong sideways to get back balls that anyone else would have given up on.

I don't remember his doubles title at Leicester, but then only Wimbledon was televised in those days, the internet obviously didn't exist and I'll guess it got minimal press coverage. JonH Comes Home is of course right to remember the doubles partnership with Fibak; it was one of the great doubles partnerships of all time, and Okker, probably more than any other player, was the reason that doubles was so popular in the late 60's through to the end of the 1970's as so many people wanted to watch the Flying Dutchman play.

Of course the McEnroe brothers were frequent opponents, as were Hewitt and McMillan, and they were equally popular; doubles was much, much bigger than it is now; sad to see it is really a sideshow for most people these days. After Martina Navratilova, few great singles players have had really great doubles careers at the same time. In that era most of the top 16 in singles would also being trying hard to win doubles titles; these days I suppose the greater depth in tennis means fewer easy matches, and so top singles players generally avoid tiring themselves out with extra doubles matches.

Fond memories

-- Edited by Andy Parker on Saturday 4th of April 2020 11:32:12 PM

-- Edited by Andy Parker on Sunday 5th of April 2020 12:06:53 AM