January 1, 1974 – Engaged couple Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert both compete in the men’s and women’s singles finals respectively at the Australian Open. Connors becomes only the fourth American since 1946 to win the title, defeating Australia’s Phil Dent 7-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to win the $6,500 first prize. Evert, however, falls to Evonne Goolagong 7-6, 4-6, 6-0 in the women’s singles final. Says Connors after the match, “I know it is the first Grand Slam, but I am not going to make any predictions because then it becomes a psychological battle to win the next three.” Connors goes on to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1974, but is not allowed to play in the French Open due the French Tennis Federation’s ban on players competing in World Team Tennis.

January 2, 1980 – Guillermo Vilas wins his second straight Australian Open men’s singles title, defeating feisty and tempermental American John Sadri 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Sadri, best known for losing a five-set NCAA singles final in 1978 to John McEnroe, causes controversy during the tournament with what the Associated Press describes as “offensive finger gestures” as well as foul language and the smashing of an on-court ice bucket during his semifinal match with Colin Dibley the previous day. The only incident during the final with Vilas, according to the Associated Press, was when Sadri “gestured to an open court” where as “Vilas returned the sign.” Says Vilas of Sadri following the match, “There are persons who are born stupid. If he does those things, he may be funny, but he will have to try a little better to make me laugh.” Earlier in the day, American Barbara Jordan, ranked No. 68 in the world, becomes the unlikely winner of the Australian women’s singles title, defeating unheralded fellow American Sharon Walsh 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

January 4, 1976 – Twenty-one-year-old Mark Edmondson, who worked as a janitor three months earlier to supplement his tennis income,  becomes the lowest-ranked player to win a major singles title when, ranked No. 212, he registers one of the biggest upsets in major tournament tennis in defeating fellow Australian and defending champion John Newcombe 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1 in the final of the Australian Open. Says Edmondson after the final, “I’m suffering from shock and exhilaration or something. It is just too good to believe. I think I might have a couple of bottles of bubbly tonight.” The two-and-half-hour final is delayed for 30 minutes due to a severe weather conditions in which, according to the Associated Press, features 45 mile-per-hour wind gusts and a temperature drop “from 104 degrees in 79 in five minutes.” Earlier in the day, Australia’s Evonne Goolagong defeats Czech Renata Tomanova 6-2, 6-2 to win the Australian women’s singles title.

January 10, 1982 – In a match in which Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe nearly come to blows, Connors edges John McEnroe, 6-7, 7-5, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4, in the final of the Michelob Light Challenge in Rosemount, Ill. – an eight-player exhibition event used as warm-up to the Masters tournament. The match is highlighted by several point penalties and verbal exchanges between the two rivals, including a fifth-set confrontation that nearly got physical. Writes Neil Amdur of the New York Times, “Connors stepped across the net and confronted McEnroe for what Connors considered abusive language and delay tactics; the two players were ”about a whisker apart,” in Connors’s words, before being restrained by officials.” One day later, in a pre-Masters press event in New York, Connors is asked what McEnroe said to him to irk him so much. Says Connors, “I hope I misunderstood what he said.” Continues Connors of his relationship with McEnroe, ”I think we both have the same attitudes. He’s aggressive, I’m aggressive. We both stick up for our rights. But I stick up for my rights in a different way. If I feel like I’m in the right, I’ll step up. I want some respect, not sloughing off. But there are certain limits.”

January 11, 1988 – Play begins at the Australian Open at the new $60 million Australian National Tennis Center at Flinders Park in Melbourne with American qualifier Wendy Wood winning the first match played in the new stadium court, later to be known as Rod Laver Arena, beating No. 14 seed Dianne Balestrat of Australia. Wood, 23, from Lexington, Mass., defeats the top-ranked Australian woman 6-2, 4-6, 8-6, registering her first professional match victory after playing only two previous WTA Tour-level events. “I’m very nervous now. I’m not used to these kind of situations,” says Wood, whose father Wilbur Wood was a standout pitcher for the Chicago White Sox in the 1960s. “I knew I was going to be nervous, but I figured she had more reason to be nervous than me.” Balestrat, 31, and an Australian Open finalist in 1977, says she has some difficulty adapting to the court – the synthetic Rebound Ace hard court surface – used for the for the first time at the Australian Open after a switch from grass courts. Pat Cash, the No. 4 seeded Australian and reigning Wimbledon champion, plays the second stadium court match and is greeted with boos and shouts from a group of anti-apartheid protestors who, in protest of Cash playing in South Africa the previous year, also throw black tennis balls on the court before being escorted from the stadium. Cash is fined $500 for swearing at a linesman in the final game of his 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 win over 20-year-old Thomas Muster of Austria. Also on the day, Yannick Noah of France, the No. 5 seed, staves off two match points before overcoming Roger Smith of the Bahamas 6-7, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 16-14 in 4 hours, 51 minutes, the longest-recorded match at the time at the Australian Open. Says Noah, who saves the match points in the 16th game of the final set, “After I saved the match points, I felt much stronger.”

January 12, 1980 – Declaring in his post-match press conference, “Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row,” Gerulaitis ends a 16-match losing streak to Jimmy Connors with a 7-5, 6-2 victory in the semifinals of the Masters Championships at Madison Square Garden.

January 15, 1981 – Bjorn Borg, the calm, cool and collected “ice man” of tennis, puts John McEnroe – and a stunned crowd of 19,103 – in shock by losing his temper and is assessed two penalty points that virtually gives McEnroe the second set of  his 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 round-robin win at the Masters at Madison Square Garden in New York. With the score knotted at 3-3 in the second-set tie-break, Borg hits a forehand that the linesman calls good, but chair umpire Mike Lugg overrules the call, giving McEnroe the 4-3 lead. Says Borg after his victory, “It should have been 4-3 for me, a very important point.” Borg walks to the chair and argues the call. After 30 seconds, Lugg announces a warning against Borg, then, after another 30 seconds, he gives Borg a point penalty. After continued arguments, Borg is assessed another point penalty, giving McEnroe a 6-3 lead in the tie-break, that he claims when he wins the next point.  Writes Bud Collins of the Boston Globe of Borg’s lost temper, “It seemed as likely as the statue of the same name in Columbus Circle leaping and screaming that the world was flat after all.” Says McEnroe of Borg’s behavior, “Unbelievable. I was in shock watching Bjorn do that. He gave me the second set when he kept arguing and got those penalties. Borg hasn’t played a tournament in about six weeks, and I guess he got a little nervous, but I really can’t explain it. He just never does that.”

January 21, 1990 – Saying “I don’t really have anyone to blame but myself,” John McEnroe becomes the first player in 27 years to be tossed out of a major tennis tournament for misconduct. Leading Sweden’s Mikael Pernfors 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 2-4 in the round of 16 a the Australian Open, McEnroe is disqualified by chair umpire Gerry Armstrong after breaking a racquet and flurry of four-letter words. “This is like a long story that culminates in me getting defaulted in a big tournament,” McEnroe says in the post-match press conference. “I mean, I guess it was bound to happen. It’s too bad. I don’t feel good about it, but I can’t say that I’m totally surprised.” McEnroe is fined $6,500 for behavior in the match – $5,000 for racquet abuse, $500 for verbal abuse and $1,000 for the default. The previous disqualification came in 1963 when Colombian-born Spaniard Willie Alvarez is defaulted out of the French Championships.

January 27, 1969 – Rod Laver defeats Andres Gimeno of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to win the men’s singles title at the Australian Open in Brisbane – the first leg of his eventual 1969 Grand Slam. Laver’s toughest test of the championship comes in the semifinals against Tony Roche, who beat him earlier in the month of the New South Wales Open in Sydney. Roche and Laver battle for more than four hours in 105-degree heat before Laver prevails 7-5, 22-20, 9-11, 1-6, 6-3. Writes Bud Collins in The Bud Collins History of Tennis of the Laver-Roche semifinal match, “Both players got groggy in the brutal sun, even though they employed an old Aussie trick of putting wet cabbage leaves in their hats to help stay cool. It was so close that it could easily have gone either way, and a controversial line call helped Laver grasp the final set.” Before Laver’s win over Gimeno, Margaret Court beats Billie Jean King 6-4, 6-1 to win the women’s singles title for an eighth time.

January 31, 1927 – Gerald Patterson of Australia hits 29 aces – against 29 double faults – in beating Jack Hawkes 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 18-16, 6-3 to win the men’s singles title at the Australian Championships in Melbourne.

February 3, 1947 – President Harry Truman conducts the Davis Cup draw at the White House, joining U.S. President Calvin Coolidge as the only U.S Presidents to conduct the Davis Cup draw. Says Truman during the proceedings, “I hope the time will come when we can settle our international differences in courts, just as we settle our tennis differences on a court.”

February 5, 1985 – Ivan Lendl defeats Larry Stefanki 6-2, 6-0 in the first round of the Lipton Championships in Delray Beach, Fla., in a match that ends without an umpire or linesmen.  “We have played a few times without the umpire knowing the score, but never without an umpire,” says Lendl. After Lendl hits an ace – that was not called – to take a 4-0 lead in the second set, Stefanki is assessed a point penalty for delaying play while speaking with the chair umpire Luigi Brambilla of Italy. While Brambilla and other officials discuss the point penalty, Lendl and Stefanki continue play, prompting the officials and linesmen to leave the court. Lendl and Stefanki then proceed to finish the match without a chair umpire or linesmen. “Lendl said we should play while they are talking it over,” says Stefanki. “Tennis is entertainment and the fans loved it. When the umpire said we should start, we were already at deuce and told him that. We kept playing and the umpire left. Lendl and I made our own calls and somebody in the press box kept calling out the score. We were having fun and it was totally in control. The match wasn’t close and we just wanted to have some fun.“ The Lendl-Stefanki match is played on the first day of the tournament known as “The Lipton” – the co-ed tournament founded by former U.S. Davis Cup player Butch Buchholz. The tournament evolves into the modern day Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., and is soon regarded by many as the biggest tournament in the world outside of the four major championships. Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere wins the event’s first match earlier in the day, defeating Angeliki Kanellopoulou of Greece 6-3, 6-2.

February 10, 1893 – Six-foot-two “Big” Bill Tilden, regarded as one of the greatest players to ever pick up a tennis racquet, is born in Philadelphia, Pa. Tilden dominates the tennis world in the 1920s winning 20 major titles – 10 in singles including three Wimbledon titles and seven U.S. singles titles. Tilden anchors the winning U.S. Davis Cup teams from 1920 to 1926. Writes Bud Collins in The Bud Collins History of Tennis of Tilden, “If a player’s value is measured by the dominance and influence he exercises over a sport, then William Tatem “Big Bill” Tilden II could be considered the greatest player in the history of tennis.”

February 21, 1986 – Indignant at chair umpire Jeremy Shales and linesmen during his semifinal match with Ivan Lendl at the Lipton Championships in Boca Raton, Fla., Jimmy Connors walks off the court, defaulting the match to his Czech rival. As Connors sits in his chair trailing 2-5 in the final set, he is assessed three point penalties by Shales for time violations before being defaulted. Lendl wins the match by a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, 2-6, 5-2, default, decision. “Failure to complete a match is a serious thing,” says Marshall Happer, Administrator of the Men’s International Professional Tennis Council. “What Connors did is inexcusable.” Happer takes action against Connors one month later, issuing a 10-week suspension and a $20,000 fine.

February 22, 1983 – Bill Scanlon wins the first recorded “golden set” in professional tennis, winning all 24 points in the second set of his 6-2, 6-0 win over Marcos Hocevar of Brazil in the first round of the $300,000 WCT Gold Coast Cup in Delray Beach, Fla.

March 3, 1991 – Brothers John and Patrick McEnroe play in the singles final of the Volvo Championships in Chicago, with No. 19^th-ranked John defeating younger brother and No. 51-ranked Patrick 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to win his 77th and what would be his final ATP singles title. Says the 32-year-old John following the match, “I have incredibly mixed emotions right now…every emotion you can imagine was there, from worrying how he’s doing, to worrying that he might beat you.” The final was the third ATP men’s singles final involving brothers. Gene Mayer beat Sandy Mayer at Stockholm in 1981 and Emilio Sanchez beat Javier Sanchez at Madrid in 1987.

March 6, 1983 – John McEnroe is handed his worst Davis Cup defeat of his career, winning only five games in his 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 loss to Guillermo Vilas, which clinches Argentina’s 3-2 victory over the United States in the Davis Cup first round in Buenos Aires. Ten years later, in his book Days of Grace, U.S. Davis Cup Captain Arthur Ashe tells of the waning stages of McEnroe’s one-sided defeat in Argentina writing, “As he was about to trudge back to the baseline, down 1-4 in the third set, facing his and our team’s worst defeat in the Cup competition in many years, John turned to me. A smile that mocked us both flirted with a jaunty smirk. ‘Well captain,’ he said, plucking at his racquet strings, ‘do you have any pearly words of wisdom for me?’ I smiled, and he went out on the court to be beaten. I thought it was our finest moment together. Sometimes, a defeat can be more beautiful and satisfying than certain victories.”

March 11, 2006 – In one of the most stunning and disastrous reversals of fortune, Michael Chang, playing in his “champions” circuit debut at the Outback Champions Series event in Naples, Fla., leads Mikael Pernfors 6-0, 5-0 in a round-robin match, only two lose two games in a row and then ruptures his left achilles tendon running for a drop shot. Chang is taken off of the court in a stretcher and loses the match 0-6, 2-5, ret., and is forced to withdraw from the competition. He is not able to play competitive tennis for approximately 18 months.

March 14, 1971 – Margaret Court and Ken Rosewall win singles titles at the Australian Open at White City in Sydney, Australia. Court defeats first-time major finalist and fellow Australian Evonne Goolagong 2-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 to win her country’s national championship for the 10th time in the last 12 years. Goolagong leads 5-2 in the final set, before she is beset with cramping in her leg. Says Court of the final-set deficit, “I thought I’d had it. I don’t think I played particularly well, but when Evonne got the cramp, I took advantage.” Court’s title is her sixth straight major singles title on the heels of her 1970 Grand Slam sweep of all four majors. Rosewall defeats defending champion Arthur Ashe 6-1, 7-5, 6-3, benefiting from 13 Ashe double-faults. Ashe hits four double-faults alone in the sixth game of the match as Rosewall wins the first set in just 19 minutes. Says Rosewall, “I think Arthur lost confidence when his service was not going too well.”

March 22, 2006 – American Jamea Jackson becomes a footnote in tennis history after she becomes the first player to challenge a line-call using the new “Hawk Eye” instant replay system in her first-round match with Ashley Harkleroad at the NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Fla. Jackson uses one of her two allowed challenges on the opening point of the second set after seeing a forehand she hits called out. The challenge is referred to another match official, who reviews replays of Jackson’s shot and confirms that the ball she hit was out. Says Jackson, “I just wanted to be first.” Jackson fights off a match point and beats Harkleroad 7-5, 6-7 (3), 7-5. Says Arlen Kantarian of the USTA, the driving force behind the implementation of electronic line-calling, “So far there’s 100 percent support, which is not always the case with a rule change for a game that has been around for 100 years. To be honest, we expected a little more controversy at first.”

March 29, 1992 – Andre Agassi defeats Karel Novacek 7-6 (5), 6-0, 6-0 in the fifth and decisive match as the United States defeats Czechoslovakia 3-2 in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Ft. Myers, Fla. Says Agassi after the match, “There are two things I live by. Number one, you can never drive too far for Taco Bell; and number two, you can never beat somebody too bad, especially in Davis Cup.” Earlier, Pete Sampras loses to Petr Korda 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to set up the fifth and decisive match of the series.

April 10, 1912 – The Titanic, touted as the indestructible passenger ship, sinks in the North Atlantic with two of the world’s best tennis players on board. Dick Williams and Karl Behr, a future and past U.S. Davis Cup player, respectively, traveling to New York, survive the most famous passenger ship disaster and continue to play top-level tennis. Williams is on the ill-fated ship to travel to the United States to enroll at Harvard University. Williams goes on to win two U.S. singles titles in 1914 and 1916 and helps the United States win five Davis Cup titles from 1921-1926. Behr was a member of the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1907 and actually goes on to face Williams in an intriguing U.S. quarterfinal match in Newport in 1914, won by Williams 6-1, 6-2, 7-5. Behr escapes the Titanic by lifeboat, while Williams jumps from the deck of the ship, swimming to a lifeboat and hangs on until rescued. Bud Collins in The Bud Collins History of Tennis, tells the fascinating tale of Williams and his survival; “At the insistence of his infirm father, who perished with the ship, Dick dived from the deck at the last possible moment, swam to a half-submerged lifeboat and clung there in near-freezing water for six hours. When rescued by the Carpathia, he was advised by a ship’s doctor that amputation of the frozen-stiff, apparently useless legs (common treatment at the time) would save his life. Fortunately, Williams refused, somehow – regardless of intense pain — willing himself to abandon the stretcher and walk the deck. Only months later he was in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Championships, losing in four sets to champion Maurice McLoughlin.”

April 22, 1968 – “Open” tennis begins as the British Hard Court Championships – the first tournament open to professionals and amateurs – begins in Bournemouth, England at the West Hants Lawn Tennis Club. British Hard Court Championships. Writes Bud Collins in The Bud Collins History of Tennis, “Staged at the coastal resort of Bournemouth, it was the historic first chapter, and it began damply, coolly on a drizzly, raw Monday, April 22. The “open era” lurched into being with a minor young Briton, John Clifton, winning the first point but losing his match, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 8-6 against Australian pro Owen Davidson—then the British national coach—on the red shale courts of the West Hants Lawn Tennis Club.”

May 12, 1984 – Ivan Lendl drubs Jimmy Connors 6-0, 6-0 – the worst loss for Connors in his professional career – in the semifinals of the WCT Tournament of Champions at Forest Hills in Queens, N.Y. “I feel a little bitter – not personally – about Jimmy because he has taken me twice at the U.S. Open,” says Lendl of the 52-minute match and his two final-round losses to Connors at the last two U.S. Open finals. Says Connors, “I was in there. I was hitting the ball all right, but he wasn’t missing too much.” Connors commits 26 unforced errors, wins just 16 points and faces game point only twice.

May 25, 1976 – Adriano Panatta saves an astonishing 11 match points in defeating Kim Warwick of Australia 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the first round of the Italian Championships. The result becomes even more significant when Panatta goes on to win the title, defeating Guillermo Vilas in the final.

May 25, 1999 – Ranked No. 111 in the world, 17-year-old Roger Federer plays in his first main draw match at a major tournament at the French Open, losing to two-time reigning U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter of Australia 5-7, 6-3, 6-0, 6-2. Writes Rene Stauffer in the book The Roger Federer Story, Quest for Perfection, “He (Roger) jumped out to win the first set against the world’s No. 3-ranked player who then was at the peak of his career. However, the sun came out and the conditions became warmer and faster. The clay courts dried out and balls moved much faster through the court. The Australian’s attacking serve-and-volley style seemed to run on automatic and he won in four sets. ‘The young man from Switzerland could be one of the people who will shape the next ten years,’ the French sports newspaper L’Equipe wrote during the tournament. Rafter shared the same opinion. “The boy impressed me very much,” he said. “If he works hard and has a good attitude, he could become an excellent player.’”

May 28, 1983 – World No. 1 and defending champion Martina Navratilova is stunned in the fourth round of the French Open, falling to 17-year-old Kathy Horvath of Hopewell Junction, N.Y.,  6-4, 0-6, 6-3. Navratilova enters the match having won her first 36 matches for the year and 126 of 129 since the beginning of 1982. ”Obviously I’m not happy about it,” says Navratilova of the loss, ”but I knew I had to lose sooner or later. It’s not a disaster.” The loss would be the only one of the year for Navratilova, who finishes the year with an 86-1 record. Writes Bud Collins in The Bud Collins History of Tennis, “The ramifications of that upset wouldn’t be felt for months. Following the defeat, Navratilova won her next 50 matches and swept the field of Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and Australian Open championships. Not only had Horvath denied her the opportunity of achieving a Grand Slam but spoiled what might have been the first perfect campaign in the Open era.”

June 6, 1956 – Bjorn Rune Borg, one of the game’s all-time greats who won five straight Wimbledon singles titles from 1976-1980 and 11 career major singles titles, is born in Sodertalje, Sweden. Borg wins his first major title just days after his 18^th birthday in 1974 at the French  Championships, giving up only two games after dropping the first two sets to Spain’s Manuel Orantes. He wins win six French titles altogether in eight appearances at Roland Garros (1974-1975, 1978-1981). Adriano Panatta is the only man to beat him there – in the fourth round in 1973 and in the quarterfinals in 1976. In 1975, at age 19, he goes undefeated in Davis Cup singles play, leading Sweden to its inaugural title. One year later, he dominates Ilie Nastase in the 1976 Wimbledon final – the first of five straight championships at the All-England Club. His final Wimbledon title in 1980 is his most famous – a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16), 8-6 win over John McEnroe – highlighted by the 18-16 fourth-set tie-break – in a match regarded as one of the greatest of all time.

June 9, 1991 – Jim Courier wins his first major singles title with a hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over fellow American Andre Agassi in the first all-American French Open men’s singles final since 1954. The 3 hour, 19 minute wind-swept match marks Agassi’s third failure in as many major singles finals after losing the 1990 French final to Andres Gomez and the 1990 U.S. Open final to Pete Sampras. Courier benefits from a rain delay trailing 6-3, 3-1 and is able to confer with his coach Jose Higueras about altering his strategy. “I sat down with Jose and he told me I needed to back up on his serve because I was really getting hurt right away,” says Courier. “That really was the turnaround. That was the match. At least, that’s what got me into the match. It was the beginning of it for me.” Says Agassi, “It turned out that the rain delay worked to his advantage. He changed his strategy, started staying way behind the baseline. I felt like if it hadn’t rained I could have kept my momentum, but who knows how long that would have lasted?”

June 10, 1984 – Ivan Lendl breaks through to win his first major championship staging an incredible comeback from a two-sets-to-love deficit to defeat John McEnroe 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 in the men’s singles final at the French Open. The loss is the first of the year for McEnroe, who enters the final with a 42-0 match record on the year. The loss is McEnroe’s most devastating of his career, as he is never able to win a French title during his career. Lendl goes on to win seven more major titles. Lendl’s post-match speech to the crowd is short and to the point;  ’I'm very happy that I won my first Grand Slam tournament here in Paris and I will be back next year.”

June 13, 1915 – Don Budge, the first man to win the “Grand Slam” is born in Oakland, Calif. After winning at Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships – and leading the United States to the Davis Cup title – Budge delays turning professional after the 1937 season so he can help the U.S. defend the Davis Cup and stake his claim at winning all four major titles in the same calendar year. Budge tells only one person of his ambition to sweep the singles titles at the Australian, French, Wimbledon and U.S. Championships – his doubles partner Gene Mako, whom he beats in the final of the 1938 U.S. Championships to clinch the “Slam.” Writes Bud Collins in The Bud Collins History of Tennis of Budge, “His serve was battering, his backhand considered perhaps the finest the game has known, his net play emphatic, his overhead drastic. Quick and rhythmic, he was truly a complete player and, what is more, was temperamentally suited for the game. Affable and easygoing, he could not be shaken from the objective of winning with the utmost application of hitting power.” Budge won 14 major titles during this career – including the singles, doubles and mixed – triples! – at Wimbledon in 1937 and 1938 and at the U.S. Championships in 1938. Bill Tilden said of Budge, “I consider him the finest player 365 days a year who ever lived.”

June 15, 1981 – Telling fans to “go jump in a lake” and “shut up you jerks,” John McEnroe wins the singles title at Queens Club for a third straight year, defeating Brian Gottfried 7-6, 7-5 in the final. McEnroe is given an unsportsmanlike conduct warning at the tail end of the match by chair umpire Georgina Clark, whom McEnroe verbally challenges throughout the match. In the post-match press conference, McEnroe suggests it is more difficult for him to play a match with a female chair umpire as “it is harder to get upset with a woman umpire.” Says Gottfried of McEnroe’s assertion, “An umpire is an umpire, regardless of sex, but Mac may have a problem with women because his language is sometimes a little different.”

June 21, 1937 – In the first live broadcast of a tennis match, Bunny Austin of Great Britain opens up play on Centre Court at the 1937 Wimbledon Championships and defeats G. L. Rogers of Ireland 3-6, 8-6, 6-1, 6-2. The BBC broadcasts 25 minutes of live play from the match to an estimated television audience of 1,500 Londoners who have the luxury of television at the time. Austin trails a set and 3-5 in the second set before he dons a lucky blue jockey cap and changes his racquet and rallies to win 17 of the next 21 games. The next morning Britain’s Daily Telegraph describes that viewers could get a clear view of the action and “even the passage of the marks of the lawnmowers were distinctly visible.”

June 26, 2002 – Seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras plays what ultimately becomes his final Wimbledon match, losing in the second round – unceremoniously on the Graveyard Court – Court No. 2 – to lucky-loser and No. 145-ranked George Bastl of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4. Bastl, who enters the match having won only one main draw grass court match in his career, only gains entry into the tournament when Felix Mantilla of Spain withdraws the day before the tournament begins. Despite the loss, Sampras tells reporters after the match that he would return to the All England Club to play again, but after his U.S. Open triumph later in the summer, he never plays another professional match. “You know, I’m not going to end my time here with that loss,” Sampras says after the match. “I want to end it on a high note, and so I plan on being back… As long as I feel like I can continue to win majors and contend, I’ll just continue to play.” Says Bastl, “It’s a nice story isn’t it? I gave myself chances because I was practicing on grass for the last three weeks. I had won my last three matches and I knew my game was improving match by match. I felt I would have some sort of a chance.”

August 8, 1900 – The first Davis Cup matches are played at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, Mass., as Dwight Davis, the donor of the Cup that now bears his name, helps the United States to a 2-0 lead over Britain. Davis, a student at Harvard who purchased the sterling silver bowl as a prize for the international tennis competition among nations, defeats E.D. Black 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in the opening match of the series. Malcolm Whitman, another Harvard student, puts the United States up 2-0 as he defeats Britain’s Arthur Gore 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. According to the New York Times, “The courts were wet from the heavy rain and afforded the players none too sure of footing.” Of Davis, the New York Times reports, “Davis played a dashing game running to the net at every opportunity and placing the balls hard and far into the corners” while of Whitman, it states that he was “sending ground strokes first to one corner and then the other , and coming to the net only under the most favorable circumstances.”

August 9, 1938 – Rod Laver, the only player in the history of the sport to win the Grand Slam twice, is born in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia. “The Rocket” wins 11 major singles titles during his career – including sweeps of all four major titles during the 1962 seasons as an amateur and in 1969 as a professional. Laver also pockets four men’s singles titles at Wimbledon, winning in 1961, 1962, 1968 and 1969. Writes Bud Collins in The Bud Collins History of Tennis, “Few champions have been as devastating and dominant as Laver was as amateur and pro during the 1960s. An incessant attacker, he was nevertheless a complete player who glowed in the backcourt and at the net. Layer’s 5-foot-8-1/2, 145-pound body seemed to dangle from a massive left arm that belonged to a gorilla, an arm with which he bludgeoned the ball and was able to impart ferocious topspin.”

August 17, 1977 – The United States Tennis Association rules that 43-year-old transsexual Renee Richards will be allowed to play in the women’s singles championships at the U.S. Open. The USTA statement issued on the day reads, “For the past year, the USTA has been confronted with the difficult problem of balancing consideration for an individual transsexual with considerations of fairness for women tennis players in general, especially the lower-ranked players.  On the basis of medical authority, the USTA has had reason to believe that a postoperative transsexual may retain some physical and competitive advantages. It appeared to the USTA that a generally accurate, easily administered and objective test, such as the Olympic type chromosome test, was a desirable screening process in determining sex for the purpose of athletics. The New York State Court ruled in favor of an individual transsexual and places restrictions on the use of the chromosome test. As a result of this proceeding, the USTA will accept Dr. Richards as an entrant into the U.S. Open tennis championships.” Richards goes on to draw No. 3 seed and reigning Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade in the first round of the 1977 U.S. Open, losing 6-1, 6-4. She, however, reaches the doubles final partnering with Betty Ann Grubb Stuart (the mother of future U.S. pro Taylor Dent), losing to Martina Navratilova and Betty Stove, 6-1, 7-6.

August 18, 1970 – Haroon Rahim of Pakistan wins the closest tennis match ever competed, defeating Tom Gorman 6-7 (3-5), 7-6 (5-1), 7-6 (5-4) in the second round of the Pennsylvania Grass in Haverford, Pa. The tournament is one of the first to use the controversial nine-point “sudden death” tie-break – first to win five points. Rahim trails Gorman 1-4 in the final-set tie-break (four consecutive match points) and rallies to win the last four points – and the match. With both players holding match point at 4-4, Gorman nets a return off of Rahim’s second serve.

August 26, 1933 – Helen Wills Moody’s 45-match winning streak at the U.S. Championships ends in controversial circumstances as she quits her match with rival Helen Jacobs while trailing 0-3 in the final set of the women’s singles final at the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills. Trailing 0-3 in the final set, Moody walks to the chair umpire and informs him that she can no longer continue due to pain in her back. Jacobs pleads with Moody to continue, but the seven-time U.S. champion retreats to the dressing room, giving Jacobs the 8-6, 3-6, 3-0, ret. victory in front of  a shocked crowd of 8,000 fans. Moody’s loss is the first of any kind, in any circumstance since 1926. Moody issues a statement that reads, “In the third set of my singles match, I felt as though I was going to faint because of pain in my back and hip and complete numbness of my right leg. The match was long and by defaulting I do not wish to detract from the excellence of Miss Jacobs’s play. I felt that I have spoiled the finish of the national championship, and wish that I had followed the advice of my doctor and returned to California. I still feel that I did right in withdrawing because I felt that I was on the verge of a collapse on the court.” The loss marks the first loss for Moody in the championship since the 1922 U.S. women’s final.

August 31, 1881 – The first U.S. Championships begin at The Casino in Newport, R.I. as 25 men enter the inaugural competition. Harvard University student Richard Sears goes on to win the four-day tournament defeating William Glyn, a Brit who enters the tournament on a whim while on his Rhode Island holiday, in the final. The first U.S. Championships is a financial success, earning a profit of $4.32.

August 31, 1977 – John McEnroe plays his first U.S. Open match and receives his first U.S. Open code of conduct point penalty in his 6-1, 6-3 win over fellow 18-year-old Eliot Teltscher in a first-round night match at the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills. Chair umpire Patti Ingersol of Chicago issues the conduct violation after McEnroe stalls and argues over several calls in the second set. Following the point penalty, McEnroe serves the next point underhand and Teltscher, in a show of solidarity to McEnroe over the point penalty, lets the ball bounce twice, surrendering the point to McEnroe. Says McEnroe of his point penalty, “I was just mumbling under my breath and she assumed I said something. No one knows what I said. I was just saying I can’t believe the match was going like this and she said “Love-15.” I guess she was just trying to show her authority, but I think she went overboard.”

September 4, 1977 – James Reilly, a 33-year-old resident of New York City, is shot in the left thigh as a spectator at the John McEnroe – Eddie Dibbs third-round night match at the U.S. Open at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills. The shooting, from a .38 caliber gun, occurs at the start of the match near Portal 8 in the north section of the stadium and delays play for about six minutes as Reilly is taken from the stands to the first aid station and then to nearby St. John’s Hospital. Most of the 6, 943 fans in attendance are not aware that a shooting had occurred. Police conclude it was likely a shot that came from outside the stadium. McEnroe wins the best-of-three set match 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

September 6, 1943 – An unusual ending to a major final occurs in the men’s singles final at the U.S. Championships as Joe Hunt, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, defeats Jack Kramer of the U.S. Coast Guard 6-3, 6-8, 10-8, 6-0 at Forest Hills. As Hunt serves at match point in the fourth set, Kramer’s forehand return of serve lands long as Hunt buckles to the court with cramps. Writes Allison Danzig in the New York Times, “As Kramer knocked the last ball out of the court, Hunt, turned at the baseline to run to the net to greet his opponent, fell to the ground in pain, seized with a cramp in his left leg, which had been bothering him through the last set. Kramer walked over to his fallen rival and, with Hunt holding on to his leg, they shook hands on the turf as camera men rushed to “snap” the unusual scene.” Says Kramer of the match in The Bud Collins History of Tennis, “I hit a forehand long on match point. If I’d kept that ball in court I think I would have been the champ by default.” Hunt does not defend his title in 1944, due to his military obligations, and is killed in a plane crash on a training mission in 1945 off Daytona Beach, Fla.

September 7, 1980 – Two months after their epic Wimbledon final, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg stage one of the greatest U.S. Open finals as the 21-year-old McEnroe fends off a Borg comeback to win his second consecutive Open title and avenge his Wimbledon loss by a 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-7 (5), 5-7, 6-4 margin. Borg, attempting to win the third leg of a possible Grand Slam, is denied by the tempestuous native New Yorker. Writes Neil Amdur of the New York Times, “The match may have lacked Wimbledon’s fourth-set tie-breaker intensity and fifth-set drama in the minds of the players. But it had the same number of total games, 55; two tense tie-breakers and was especially noteworthy for McEnroe’s amazing stamina.”

September 9, 1968 – Arthur Ashe, an amateur and lieutenant in the U.S. Army, wins the U.S. Open to become the first black man to win a major singles title, defeating Tom Okker in the final 14-12, 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The tournament is the first of the “Open” era – open to professionals and amateurs and Ashe, an amateur, is not eligible to collect the $14,000 first prize and is given a $20 per day per diem for 14 days, while Okker is awarded the first prize paycheck. Dave Anderson of the New York Times calls Ashe’s win, “the most notable achievement made in the sport by a Negro male athlete.” Ashe fires 26 aces in the 2-hour, 40-minute final.

September 14, 1929 – Thirty-six-year-old Bill Tilden wins his seventh – and final – U.S. men’s singles crown, defeating fellow “oldie” 35-year-old Francis Hunter 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the championship tilt. Tilden’s seventh title ties him with Richard Sears and Bill Larned for the record of most U.S. men’s singles titles. At age 36, Tilden becomes the oldest U.S. singles champion since Larned won his last two titles in 1910 and 1911 at ages 37 and 38. Writes Allison Danzig of the New York Times, “The match went to five sets, with Tilden trailing 2 to 1, but there was never any question as to the ultimate reckoning and the final two chapters found the once invincible monarch of the courts electrifying the gallery as of yore with a withering onslaught of drives and service aces that brooked no opposition.” Bud Collins, In his book The Bud Collins History of Tennis, calls the 1929 U.S. men’s final “The Geezer’s Gala” as the combined age of both finalists – 71 years – ranks second only to the 1908 Wimbledon final played between Arthur Gore, 40 and Herbert Roper Barrett, 34.

September 17, 1960 – In the most delayed conclusion to a major tournament in the sports history, Neale Fraser of Australia and Darlene Hard of the United States win the singles titles at the U.S. Championships – one week after winning semifinal matches to advance into the championship match. 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 on September 10 – Fraser beating Dennis Ralston and Hard beating Donna Floyd – before the rains come. The Fraser-Laver final is a rubber match for the two Aussies, who split their two previous meetings in major finals on the year – Laver winning the Australian title in January for his first major singles title and Fraser turning the tide on “The Rocket” at Wimbledon. Fraser also ends Laver’s 29-match winning streak securing on the Eastern grass court circuit following his loss to Fraser at Wimbledon. Hard finally breaks through and wins her first U.S. title after five previous attempts to win the title. Says Hard, “I never thought I would do it, “says Hard.”That girl (Bueno) never gives up. She hits winners when she least expects it. It’s been a long time coming. It’s great.”

September 24, 1938 – Don Budge achieves the first “Grand Slam” of tennis, when he defeats doubles partner and Davis Cup teammate Gene Mako 6-3, 6-8, 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the U.S. Championships at Forest Hills. At the beginning of the year, Budge made a sweep of all four major titles his secret goal for the year and one by one claimed all four tournament goals – the Australian Championships in January, the French Championships in June, Wimbledon in July and finally, the U.S. Championships. 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, Alice Marble defeats Australia’s Nancye Wynne 6-0, 6-3.

September 28, 2000 – In the most decisive gold medal match in Olympic tennis history, Sisters Venus and Serena Williams win the Olympic gold medal in women’s doubles at the Sydney Olympic Games with a 49-minute 6-1, 6-1 victory over Miriam Oremans and Kristie Boogert of the Netherlands in the gold medal match. Venus Williams becomes only the second women to win Olympic gold medals in singles and doubles, joining 1924 Olympic singles and doubles champion Helen Wills. Williams defeats Elena Dementieva of Russia in Wednesday’s gold medal singles match. The win completes a sweep of the gold medals for the United States women for a third straight Olympiad. In 1996, Lindsay Davenport captured singles gold, while Mary Joe and Gigi Fernandez captured doubles gold. In 1992, Jennifer Capriati won singles gold, while Mary Joe and Gigi Fernandez captured doubles gold. The dynasty of dominance by the USA women’s tennis team since 1992 is the most dominant performance by any country in any Olympic sport that has more than one discipline with the exception of the U.S. women’s diving team, which swept all gold medal opportunities from 1924 to 1952 and the US men’s diving team, which swept all gold medal opportunities from 1928 to 1952. Says Serena Williams of the gold medal, “We have won a Slam in singles, in doubles and mixed doubles, but this takes the cake. Every year I can win a Slam. But this, it’s every four years. You never know what is going to happen. You have one moment in time and Venus and I were able to capitalize on it.” Says Venus Williams of the doubles gold medal, “For me this is almost bigger than singles. To have a victory like this with Serena, my sister, my best friend, doesn’t happen often. It’s very rare. So just to be able to stand up together and have success together on this level has been really, really good. We really worked hard for it and we beat a lot of tough teams along the way. Everyone gave a hundred and ten percent and, honestly, nobody plays like this in a Grand Slam. We had to beat everyone when they are playing better than their best because they are representing their countries.”

September 30, 1998 – Seventeen-year-old Roger Federer defeats Guillaume Raoux of France 6-2, 6-2 in the first round in Toulouse for his first ATP singles match victory. Rene Stauffer, in his book The Roger Federer Story, Quest for Perfection, summarizes Federer’s achievement, “Yet, before the chase for the year-end No. 1 junior ranking reached its decisive phase, the unexpected happened. Federer achieved his first great breakthrough on the ATP Tour. With a ranking of No. 878, he traveled to Toulouse, France at the end of September and, to his own surprise, advanced through the qualifying rounds to progress into the main draw of the tournament. In only his second ATP tournament, the 17-year-old registered an upset victory over No. 45-ranked Guillaume Raoux of France—his first ATP match victory—allowing the Frenchman just four games. In the next round, Federer proved this win was not a fluke by defeating former Australian Davis Cup star Richard Fromberg 6-1, 7-6 (5). In the quarterfinals—his sixth match of the tournament including matches in the qualifying rounds—Federer lost to Jan Siemerink 7-6 (5), 6-2, with a throbbing thigh injury hampering him during the match. The Dutchman was ranked No. 20 and went on to win the tournament two days later, but Federer was also handsomely rewarded. He received a prize money check for $10,800 and passed 482 players in the world rankings in one tournament—moving to No. 396.”

October 2, 1977 – Guillermo Vilas has his record 50-match win streak snapped when, trailing two sets to love to Ilie Nastase in the final of the Aix En Provence final in France, he walks of the court and defaults to protest Nastase using an illegal “spaghetti” racquet. Vilas trails 6-1, 7-5 when he suddenly walks off the court in protest of the racquet, which is labeled illegal by the International Tennis Federation. The ban, however, does not go into effect until the next day. Says Vilas, “I am completely disconcerted and discouraged by the trajectory of those balls. You can understand that Nastase, plus the racquet, that’s just too much.” The loss also ends the 53-match clay court win streak for Vilas. The Argentine, however, goes on to win his next 29 straight matches, losing next in January to Bjorn Borg in the semifinals of the Masters

October 3, 1982 – The United States completes a 5-0 shutout of Australia in the Davis Cup semifinal in Perth, Australia as Gene Mayer defeats Mark Edmondson 6-3, 6-3 and John McEnroe defeats John Alexander 6-4, 6-3. The most difficulty the U.S. team has with Australia is getting there, as McEnroe and teammate Peter Fleming encounter a frightening flight experience and travel delays that place them on the ground in Perth approximately 40 hours before the start of play. Leaving San Francisco Monday night after playing in the final for the Transamerica Open, McEnroe and Fleming’s flight stops in Honolulu to refuel. As reported in the New York Times, the flight from Honolulu to Australia aborts its first takeoff, but blows a tire when the plane finally does take off, but the problem is not discovered for two hours. The plane is forced to return to Honolulu and the pilots warn McEnroe, Fleming and other passengers that they should prepare for a crash landing. The plane safely lands back in Honolulu without incident, but McEnroe and Fleming are forced to wait 10 hours before a plane can be flown from Los Angeles to take them to Australia. They arrive in Perth at 9:30 pm Wednesday night, the night before the official draw ceremony for the series, which starts on Friday.

October 15, 1972 – In one of the greatest Davis Cup matches in history, Stan Smith overcomes “the worst officiating I ever had” and a partisan Romanian crowd to defeat Ion Tiriac 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-0 in 2 hours, 50 minutes to clinch the Davis Cup title for the United States over Romania in Bucharest. Smith’s victory gives him the distinction of clinching the Davis Cup victory for the fifth straight year (he would also clinch a six Cup-victory for the U.S. in the 1979 title in doubles with Bob Lutz). Smith, the Wimbledon champion, struggles mightily against Tiriac, who calls himself, “the best player in the world who can’t play tennis” as well as the Romanian linespeople, who are suspect in their fairness. “I started to believe they weren’t going to let me win… no matter how well I played,” Smith says following his victory. Writes Bud Collins in The Bud Collins History of Tennis, “Despite numerous pro-Tiriac officiating calls, Smith, knowing he had to hit winners inside the lines, was too good for Ion.” The fifth set is one of the finest sets of tennis ever played by Smith or seen in Davis Cup play as the reigning Wimbledon champion plays near perfect tennis to roll through the decisive set in just 20 minutes to clinch the 24^th Davis Cup title for the United States. Writes Bernard Kirsch of the New York Times, “When Smith hit a passing shot for Cup point, he threw his racquet high in the air, went to the net, shook hands with Tiriac and said: “I really lost a lot of respect for you.”

October 22, 2001 – Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, two the greatest champions tennis has ever produced, are married in a small, private ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two all-time greats date for more than two years since both won the singles titles at the 1999 French Open. “We are so blessed to be married and starting this chapter of our lives,” Agassi and Graf says in a joint statement after the ceremony. “The privacy and intimacy of our ceremony was beautiful and reflective of all we value.” Agassi and Graf are the only two players in the history of the sport to win all four major singles titles – and an Olympic gold medal – in their careers.

October 25, 1981 – Vitas Gerulaitis is defaulted in the final of the Miracle Indoor Tennis Championships in Melbourne, Australia when, playing against Australia’s Peter McNamara, he refuses to play on after a disputed line call at 5-5 in the third and final set. Gerulaitis leads 6-4, 1-6, 4-0 and serves for the match at 5-4 in the third set, before McNamara breaks Gerulaitis’ serve to even the final set at 5-5 with a down the line passing shot that is called good – despite a late called being issued. Gerulaitis argues with chair umpire David Bierwirth and demands to tournament referee Jim Entink and Grand Prix supervisor Keith Johnson that Bierwirth and all the linesmen be removed or else he will not continue to play the match. After Entink and Johnson refuse the request, Gerulaitis sits on his courtside chair and is assessed a time warning, two point penalties, followed by a game penalty, followed by the match default. Gerulaitis then collects his racquets, shakes hands with McNamara and leaves the court. Gerulaitis is later fined $1,990.

October 29, 1995 – Fourteen-year-old future world No. 1 Serena Williams makes an auspicious, humbling professional debut, losing in the first round of qualifying of the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, Canada to 18-year-old, Anne Miller 6-1, 6-1. The match is played at Club Advantage, a private tennis club in Quebec with little fanfare. Writes Robin Finn of the New York Times, ”Instead of a stadium showcase, she competed on a regulation practice court at a tennis club in suburban Vanier, side by side with another qualifying match.  There were no spotlights, no introductions, not even any fans. Her court was set a level below a smoky lounge that held a bar, a big-screen television, an ice cream cart and 50 or so onlookers with varying stages of interest in her fate.” Says Williams, “I felt bad out there because I lost.  I didn’t play like I meant to play. I played kind of like an amateur.” Says Miller, “I guess I played a celebrity…She has as much power as anybody around, but maybe she needs to play some junior events the way Anna Kournikova has to learn how to become match-tough. There really is no substitute for the real thing. I felt like a complete veteran compared to her.”

October 31, 1994 – Fourteen-year-old future world No. 1 Venus Williams makes her celebrated professional debut, defeating No. 59th ranked Shaun Stafford 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, Calif. Robin Finn of the New York Times describes Williams as “the most unorthodox tennis prodigy her sport has ever seen” stating that she is “a 14-year-old African-American girl with a ghetto in her past, a total absence of junior competition in her present and a plan to spend no more than a decade pursuing Grand Slam titles and six-digit purses so she can put a college degree in her future.” Says Stafford, “She moves extra well for her height, she’s got a great serve and it’ll get better. It’s exciting for tennis to have her here. When I came on the tour at 19, I was intimidated, but here she is at 14, ready to play the pros. It’s unique.”

November 7, 1993 – With the Parisien crown occasionally booing his boring play of  27 aces and 32 service winners, Goran Ivanisevic defeats Andrei Medvedev 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (2) to win the Paris Open. Says Ivanisevic of the booing French crowd, “’I don’t care. They want five sets but I don’t want to play five sets.”

November 12, 1978 – In the first ever meeting between John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg, the 19-year-old McEnroe defeats the 22-year-old Borg 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals of the Stockholm Open in Sweden. The loss marks the first-ever professional loss for Borg to a younger player. The McEnroe-Borg rivalry becomes one of the greatest in the sport as the two titans scare off 14 times in all – each player winning seven times. The two play in four memorable major finals, McEnroe winning three of the four at the 1980 and 1981 U.S. Opens and at Wimbledon in 1981. Their epic final at Wimbledon in 1980 is regarded as one of the greatest matches of all-time, Borg winning his fifth consecutive title in a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16), 8-6 epic. McEnroe wins the Stockholm singles title the next day, defeating fellow American Tim Gullikson 6-2, 6-2 in the final.

November 18, 1990 – In the first five-set women’s tennis match since 1901, sixteen-year-old Monica Seles defeats 20-year-old Gabriela Sabatini 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in 3 hours, 47 minutes in the singles final of the Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden. “It was an unbelievable match; we both played great,” says Seles, who becomes the youngest player to win the year-end women’s championships. “I think women’s tennis is at its best right now.” Says Sabatini, “I’m putting everything that I have together. I had a slow start, and in the second set, I had to start playing aggressive because that was the only way I could beat her.” The last recorded five-set match among women comes in 1901, at the U.S. Nationals, when Bessie Moore defeated Myrtle McAteer in five sets at the Philadelphia Cricket Club.

November 23, 1963 – Heart-sick over the news of U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s death, 21-year-old Dennis Ralston reluctantly plays the final of the South Australian Tennis Championships in Adelaide, Australia, and loses to Australian John Newcombe 6-1, 6-3, 15-17, 6-1. Ralston is urged to take the court by U.S. Ambassador to Australia William Battle, a close friend of Kennedy’s who assures Ralston that the President would have wanted him to take the court and play the final. “Our entire team was distressed over the news of the President’s assassination,” says Robert Kelleher, the captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team. “Denny didn’t know whether he should play or not.”

December 1, 1995 – In one of the most dramatic moments of his career, Pete Sampras collapses in cramps on match point as he outlasts Andrei Chesnokov 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 to give the United States a 1-0 lead over Russia in the Davis Cup Final in Moscow, Russia. Struggling with cramps in both hamstrings in the latter stages of the fifth set, the top-ranked Sampras guts out a 25-stroke rally on the final point of the match to dramatically fend off the pesky No. 91-ranked Chesnokov in 3 hours, 38 minutes. Writes Lee Hockstader of the Washington Post, “Pete Sampras didn’t walk off the court after his grueling five-set victory against Russia’s Andrei Chesnokov. He didn’t limp off the court. He didn’t even manage to crawl off the court. He was dragged from it — his cramped legs limp beneath him — by two U.S. Davis Cup teammates seconds after a heart-stopping, hair-raising, 25-stroke match point that left the Russian crowd in an uproar and Sampras flat on his back in pain. You might say he was lucky to get out alive.” Says U.S. Davis Cup Captain Tom Gullikson of Sampras and overcoming his cramping in the fifth set, “Pete has that low-key approach – and I think that helps him, because in tight spots a lot of people show their competitiveness more and get fired up. But then their muscles get so tight they can’t swing at the ball. One of Pete’s real strengths is that he hits out in the big moments.” Yevgeny Kafelnikov defeats Jim Courier 7-6, 7-5, 6-3 to even the score at 1-1 after the first day of play.

December, 1989 – After a 13-year stint at Madison Square Garden, the year-end Nabisco Masters stages its final match at the world’s most famous arena as Stefan Edberg defeats Boris Becker 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-1 to win the year-end championship in men’s tennis. The Masters, which is first held at Madison Square Garden in 1977, is moved to Frankfurt, Germany starting in 1990. Edberg enters the match having lost major singles finals to Michael Chang at the French Open and to Becker at Wimbledon and holding a 1-6 career record against Becker. Says Edberg, “I’ve been waiting for this one. It is something I really needed. I’m going to start believing in myself, and that’s something I needed to do because I know I’ve got the game and the talent to challenge for the No. 1 spot.”

December 8, 1978 – Play begins at the Davis Cup Final between the United States and Great Britain at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., as 19-year-old John McEnroe, playing his first Davis Cup singles match, has little trouble with John Lloyd in a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win in the opening match of the series. The day’s drama, however, occurs in the second match as McEnroe’s teammate Brian Gottfried lets a two-sets-to-love lead and a match point disappear in dramatic turn of events against Buster Mottram. Gottfried leads Mottram 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (the tie-breaker is still 11 years away from being played in Davis Cup), and holds a match point with Mottram serving at 30-40, but Gottfried decides to attempt to lob over the net-rushing Mottram, but  the Brit puts away the ball away with an overhead. Mottram then squeaks out the third set 10-8 and takes advantage of the momentum turn and wins the final two sets 6-4, 6-3 to win the match in 4 hours, 49 minutes and square the series at 1-1. Writes Neil Amdur of the New York Times, “As the sun dipped behind the San Jacinto Mountains in the mid-afternoon and the desert temperature dropped from 59 degrees to 37, the drama on the court seemed more like a change in the seasons. By the time Gottfried lost his serve on the second match point at 5:54 p.m. local time, only about 500 spectators remained from the crowd of 3,553 that had watched 19-year-old McEnroe complete an impressive Davis Cup singles debut in 1 hour 40 minutes.”

December 18, 1977 – Roscoe Tanner fires 29 aces and defeats fellow American Brian Teacher 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 to win the New South Wales Open in Sydney, Australia. Says Tanner, who completes one service game by hitting four straight aces, “That was the fastest I have ever served.” Says Teacher of the Tanner serve, “It’s not that much fun standing there watching the balls whiz by.” The match is nearly postponed after the fourth set due to darkness caused by smoke from nearby brushfires. In the women’s final, Evonne Goolagong defeats Sue Barker 6-2, 6-3 to win the New South Wales Open title for a fourth time.

December 27, 1954 – A crowd of 25,578 – the largest audience to watch a tennis match at the time – gathers at the White City courts in Sydney, Australia as the United States and Australia open up play in the Davis Cup Challenge Round. The United States takes a commanding 2-0 lead as Tony Trabert defeats Lew Hoad 6-4, 2-6, 12-10, 6-3 and Vic Seixas defeats Ken Rosewall 8-6, 6-8, 6-4, 6-3. The following day, Seixas and Trabert pair in the doubles to defeat Hoad and Rosewall 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8 clinch the Cup for the U.S. The crowds to watch the USA-Australia series remains a world record until 1973 when 30, 492 fans pack the Astrodome in Houston, Texas to watch the “Battle of the Sexes” match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. In 2004, when daily crowds of 27,200 watch the USA-Spain Davis Cup final in Seville, Spain, the 1954 USA-Australia Davis Cup series loses its status as the largest crowds to watch an officially sanctioned match.

December 31, 1977 – Vitas Gerulaitis wins his first – and only – major singles title, overcoming a severe case of cramping in defeating John Lloyd of Great Britain 6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2 in the final of the Australian Open. “Today was my lucky day and the good Lord looked down on me,” says Gerulaitis. “The pain was dreadful and I remember looking up toward the sky in the fourth set and saying to myself I couldn’t win without some sort of help. My muscles were popping out because of the cramp, which spread right through my body, but I wasn’t about to give up in such an important final.”