It is a full six weeks before the start of the 2010 Grand Slam tennis season with the start of the Australian Open in mid-January. Many may have forgotten that the Australian Open used to be played in December, sometimes over the Christmas holidays that keep away many of the world’s best players. This week, WorldTennisMagazine.com will provide excerpts from the book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.TennisHistoryBook.com) that detail Australian Open events that happened this week.
ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY – December 11
1983 – Mats Wilander wins the Australian Open for the first time in his career, defeating Ivan Lendl 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 in the first-ever Australian Open final contested between Europeans. Wilander becomes the first European to win the men’s title since France’s Jean Borotra in 1928. The loss is Lendl’s fourth in a major final without a victory – losing the 1981 French final to Bjorn Borg and the 1982 and 1983 U.S. Open finals to Jimmy Connors. Says Lendl, “I knew it was going to depend on how I served and volleyed, and most of the time, when I tried to come to the net, I just wasn’t able to.”
See some of the YouTube footage here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WIBU6i-Ac