It’s fun to remember great matches from US Opens of the past and look through the record books at all of the great accomplishments in the history of the U.S. Championships. My book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY ($19.95 New Chapter Press, www.tennishistorybook.com) gives you that walk through memory lane – and the US Open record. Here’s an excerpt featuring happenings from this week.
August 24
1925 – Helen Wills wins her third consecutive U.S. women’s singles title, defeating Britain’s Kitty McKane 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 in the final played in front of 7,000 fans at the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills. Wills leads 3-1 in the first set, but drops five games in a row to surprisingly lose the first set. The Berkeley, Calif., native, however, needs only 25 minutes to sweep that last two sets. Writes the New York Times of the victory, “Miss Wills, at the outset, was rampant. Keenly on edge and keeping right on top of the ball every moment, the champion raised the gallery to a pitch of enthusiasm as she drove the ball to the corners with tremendous sweeping strokes, getting the sharpest angles on them.”
1929 – With a crowd of 9,000 fans watching on, Helen Wills wins her sixth U.S. women’s singles title and her 11th major singles title, defeating Britain’s Phoebe Watson 6-4, 6-2 in the final at the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills. Wills, who earlier in the year wins at Wimbledon and the French Championships, gives her the distinction of winning three major championships in one season for the second straight year after sweeping all three titles in 1928. Will devastates the women’s field at Forest Hills, losing only eight games in six matches en route to the title. The fact that Watson wins six of those eight games in the final, provides an indication of Wills’ dominance. The previous day in the semifinals, the Berkeley, Calif., native destroys Molla Mallory in the women’s semifinals, handing the eight-time champion a 6-0, 6-0 loss in just 21 minutes (eight minutes for the first set, and 13 for the second set.)
1997 – Carlos Moya defeats Patrick Rafter 6-4, 7-6 to win the singles title at the Hamlet Cup in Commack, N.Y. The final-round loss for Rafter is his fifth without a victory during the 1997 year. The Australian, however, breaks his winless streak in finals for the year two weeks later, defeating Greg Rusedski in the final of the U.S. Open.
1992 – Stefan Edberg tops Mal Washington 7-6(4), 6-1 to win the Volvo International in New Haven, Conn., and win his 35th title of his career. The victory provides a solid confidence boost for the Swede, who goes on to win his second straight U.S. Open title three weeks later. “It’s necessary for me to win at least once in a while,” says Edberg after the match. “I’ve proved this week that I can play pretty good tennis. I’ve sort of got the momentum going, and that’s what I needed, because I really haven’t played that well in the last couple of months. At least I know my game is back in shape.” The match is curiously played on a Monday, after the tournament undergoes a major disaster when, after days of heavy rain leading into and during the tournament, the Deco-Turf II court surface becomes soft. A nine-inch tear on the baseline of the Stadium Court, due to the soft nature of the court, makes the court unplayable and tournament officials are forced to rip off the court and re-surface it during the Wednesday session of the tournament, causing for the event to be delayed by a day.
1929 – Bill Tilden beats fellow American George Lott 6-4, 7-9, 4-6, 11-9, 6-2 to win the Newport Invitational singles title at The Casino in Newport, R.I. Writes the New York Times of the match and atmosphere, “A large gallery surrounded the championship court at the Casino and was held spellbound for more than three hours. It required every wile of the game and every tennis trick that Tilden possessed to beat Lott, and it was a toss up until the fifth and deciding set.”
August 25
1997 – The United States Tennis Association dedicates Arthur Ashe Stadium with a dramatic on-court ceremony featuring Ashe’s widow Jeanne Moutassamy Ashe, Whitney Houston and 38 former champions. Tamarine Tanasugarn wins the first-ever match on Arthur Ashe Stadium defeating Chanda Rubin 6-4, 6-0. Future world No. 1 and two-time U.S. Open champion Venus Williams makes her U.S. Open debut, also on Arthur Ashe Stadium Court, and defeats Larisa Neiland of Latvia in the first round 5-7, 6-0, 6-1.
2003 – In an emotional on-court ceremony at Arthur Ashe Stadium on the opening night of the U.S. Open, five-time U.S. Open champion Pete Sampras officially announces his retirement from professional tennis. Just 12 months earlier, Sampras, seeded No. 17, brushing off the critics that say he is washed up and dramatically wins the U.S. Open – ending a tournament title slump of nearly 26 months – beating arch rival Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the final. Sampras appears on the court with his wife Bridgette and his 9-month-old son Christian, whom he carries in his arms as he takes one final victory lap around the center court at the U.S. Open. “I’m going to miss playing here,” Sampras tells the crowd. “I really loved playing in New York, loved playing in front of you guys. But I know in my heart, it’s time to say goodbye.”
1927 – Althea Gibson, the woman who broke the color barrier at the U.S. Championships in 1950 and became one of the world’s most talented and accomplished players, is born in Spring, S.C. Gibson is the first black player to win a major title at the French Championships in 1956 and also becomes the first black player to win at Wimbledon (1957-1958) and at the U.S. Championships (1957-1958).
1950 – Play begins at the 50th anniversary edition of the Davis Cup Challenge Round as the United States and Australia open up play at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, N.Y. Australia takes a 2-0 on the Davis Cup holders as Frank Sedgman defeats Tom Brown 6-0, 8-6, 9-7 and Ken McGregor defeats Ted Schroeder 13-11, 6-3, 6-4. Australia goes on to claim its first Davis Cup title since 1939 the next day as Sedgman and John Bromwich defeat Gardnar Mulloy and Schroeder 4-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 giving Australia an insurmountable 3-0 lead. Brown prevents an Australian shutout on the third day of play as he comes back from two-sets-to-love deficit to defeat Ken McGregor 9-11, 8-10, 11-9, 6-1, 6-4 in the fifth and final match. Brown, a finalist at Forest Hills in 1946 and at Wimbledon in 1947, continues to play competitive tennis well into his 70s. In 1994, he undergoes shoulder replacement surgery where his arm was disconnected from his body and surgically re-attachment with an artificial shoulder.
2007 – James Blake wins his 10th career ATP singles title, defeating good friend Mardy Fish 7-5, 6-4. in the final of the Pilot Pen Championships in New Haven, Conn., just down the road from Blake’s childhood home of Fairfield, Conn.
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.
1951 – Frank Sedgman and Ken McGregor clinch the first Grand Slam in doubles, defeating fellow Aussies Mervyn Rose and Don Candy 10-8, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in the doubles final of the U.S. Championships, played at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, N.Y..
1986 – John McEnroe suffers his first – and only – first round loss at the U.S. Open, when fellow Long Island native Paul Annacone fires 23 aces and dismisses the four-time champion 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 on the opening day of the tournament. McEnroe, the four-time U.S. Open champion, plays only his third event after returning from a six-month sabbatical from the game that featured him being married to actress Tatum O’Neal and the birth of his first child. Says McEnroe of his lack of vigor in his first-round exit, “I have to look at myself in the mirror and ask whether I have the enthusiasm. There’s not much sense in pretending it’s there.” Says Annacone of the victory, “I kind of felt awkward beating him. He’s a great champion. He’s entertained so many millions of people and done so much for the game. I want to see him come back, but I feel he has got to get some more matches under his belt.” While McEnroe is beginning the downward path of his career, Andre Agassi, a standard bearer for the next generation of American tennis, makes his U.S. Open debut as a 16-year-old. The future two-time U.S. Open champion also loses in the opening round, falling to Jeremy Bates of Great Britain, 7-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
1991 – No. 8 seed Andre Agassi commits 61 unforced errors in his 7-5, 7-6, 6-2 first round loss to Aaron Krickstein at the US Open. Says Krickstein simply of Agassi and the upset-win,” He had a lot more to do with what happened than I did.” Says Agassi, who lost in the finals of the U.S. Open to Pete Sampras the previous year, “I don’t know what is harder, to lose in the first round or to lose in the finals.”
2002 – The United States Tennis Association pays tribute to the City of New York nearly one year after the Sept. 11 World Trade Center tragedy with a moving on-court “Opening Night” ceremony at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The World Trade Center flag that flew over the Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan is unfurled on-court, then raised over the stadium. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Tony Bennett, actor Judd Hirsch, Queen Latifah, John McEnroe and Billie Jean King join New York City police and fire fighters during the ceremonies.
1949 – Twenty-one-year-old Richard “Pancho” Gonzales makes his Davis Cup debut defeating Frank Sedgman 8-6, 6-4, 9-7 to help the United States to a 2-0 lead over Australia after the first day of the Davis Cup Challenge Round at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens, N.Y. Born of Mexican parents in Los Angeles, Gonzalez wins the singles title at the U.S. National Championships at Forest Hills the year before in 1948 and goes on to defend his title in 1949. Following his triumph at Forest Hills in 1949, Gonzales, short of money, turns professional thus not being eligible to play Davis Cup again until the advent of Open tennis in 1968.
1974 – Bjorn Borg, who earlier in the year wins the Italian and French Championships, wins the U.S. Pro Championships in Boston, defeating Tom Okker in the final, 7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-1. Borg rallies from being down 2-5 in the first set to easily capture his first title in the United States. In the semifinals, Borg comes back from a 1-5 deficit in the fifth set to beat Jan Kodes 7-6 (7-3), 6-0, 1-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) in the semifinals.
1991– After mysteriously skipping Wimbledon earlier in the summer, Monica Seles is unveiled as the spokesperson for the blue-jean manufacturer “No Excuses” in a press conference in New York. Seles, who absence from Wimbledon was the only blip on a season that saw her win the other three major tournaments she entered, used the excuse of shin splits for her Wimbledon withdrawal after weeks of speculation and secrecy regarding the reasoning for her no show.
2006 – Nikolay Davydenko of Russia defeats Agustin Calleri of Argentina 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the Pilot Pen Championships in New Haven, Conn., to win his eighth career ATP singles title. Davydenko wins the crown in New Haven – his first title in North America – without losing a set.
August 27
1975 – The U.S. Open begins at the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills with two major changes in the tournament – clay courts and night tennis. For the first time in history of the tournament, the tournament is not played on grass as the U.S. Tennis Association installs Har-tru clay courts as the surface of the tournament. In the first stadium match not played on grass in the history of the tournament is played between reigning Wimbledon champion Arthur Ashe and fellow American and lucky-loser entrant Victor Amaya, with Ashe registering the 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory. Night tennis makes its debut at the U.S. Open many hours later as 4,949 fans watch Onny Parun of New Zealand defeat Stan Smith 6-4, 6-2 in the first night match ever played at the U.S. Open.
1985 – Mary Joe Fernandez, at the age of 14 years and eight days, becomes the youngest player to win a match at the U.S. Open when she defeats Sara Gomer of Britain 6-1, 6-4 in the first round. Also during the day, defending champion and No. 1 seed John McEnroe survives a five-set, first-round scare by Israel’s Shlomo Glickstein, ranked No. 175 in the world, 6-1, 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7). Glickstein is two points from the match with McEnroe serving at 4-5, 15-30 in the fifth set – and again at 6-6 and 7-7 in the final-set tie-break, but is unable to convert. McEnroe closes out the match on his fifth match point of the fifth-set tie-break. Writes Peter Alfano of the New York Times, “What should have been nothing more than an afternoon workout became a struggle for survival that lasted until evening and very nearly resulted in what might have been considered the most shocking upset in the history of the United States Open.”
1903 – Laurie Doherty of Great Britain becomes the first foreign player to win the U.S. Championships, defeating American William Larned 6-0, 6-3, 10-8 in the final in Newport, R.I. The New York Times describes the anticipated and excited pre-match atmosphere of the British-American clash, stating, “When the rivals appeared and began their preliminary working out, the interest reached a high pitch and the tension was as severe in the gallery as it was among the players.”
1972 – Olga Morozova becomes the first Soviet player to win a U.S. tournament when she defeats countrywoman Marina Kroshina 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 to win the Eastern Grass Court Championships at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club in South Orange, N.J. In the men’s final, Ilie Nastase needs only 45 minutes to defeat Manuel Orantes 6-4, 6-0.
1909 – William Larned wins his fifth U.S. men’s singles title, defeating William Clothier 6-1, 6-2, 5-7, 1-6, 6-1 at The Casino in Newport, R.I. Writes the New York Times of the match, “Yet with the full limit of five sets being played before the largest gallery that has ever assembled about the court of the Casino, there was relatively but few exciting moments in the competition.” Larned goes on to win two more U.S. singles titles to equal the record of seven title set by Richard Sears and subsequently equaled by Bill Tilden. In addition to being a world champion tennis player, Larned serves militarily for the United States as part of Teddy Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders” in the Spanish American War in Cuba in 1898. Roosevelt, in his book The Rough Riders brags of the enlistment of Larned and fellow U.S. Davis Cupper Robert Wrenn along with “an eclectic group of eastern dudes and western deadshots.”
1928 – Helen Wills, fresh off her public announcement that she is supporting Republican candidate Herbert Hoover for President, needs only 33 minutes to win her fifth U.S. women’s singles title, defeating Helen Jacobs 6-2, 6-1 in the final. Wills wins the tournament without the loss of a set and with the loss of only 13 games en route to the title. The win also cements her sweep of the U.S., Wimbledon and French titles for the first of two straight years. Wills also wins Wimbledon and French without losing a set. New York Times tennis writer Allison Danzig calls Wills’ performance as “the most devastating power ever applied to a tennis ball by a woman.” In a press announcement the day before fhe final, Wills is named by the Hoover campaign as the head of his women’s sports committee. A statement from Wills is read at the public announcement where Wills states, “All youth can admire Herbert Hoover because of his sincerity, intelligence and great industry. His achievements in the past have been marked with success because of his ability for organization and his wonderful powers of perseverance.” Wills goes on to win two more U.S. titles (1929, 1931), while Hoover goes on to win a landslide victory of Democrat Al Smith in the Presidential election.
1991 – Fifteen-year-old Lindsay Davenport, who goes on to become the 1998 women’s singles champion, makes her U.S. Open debut, losing in the first round to fellow American Debbie Graham 6-3, 6-2.
1972 – Margaret Court easily defeats Billie Jean King 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the Virginia Slims of Newport on the grass courts of The Casino in Newport, R.I.
August 28
1950 – Althea Gibson breaks the color barrier as the first black player to compete in the U.S. Championship when she takes the court in the first round of women’s singles at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, N.Y. Gibson wins her first round match defeating Barbara Knapp of Britain 6-2, 6-2 to set up a second-round match with Wimbledon champion Louise Brough. Writes Allison Danzig of the New York Times of Gibson’s win over Knapp, “Miss Gibson carried the attack forward continually to score on her volleys with a big crowd gathered around the court.”
1914 – Dick Williams and Karl Behr, two men who survived the sinking of the Titanic, meet in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Championships at the Newport Casino, with Williams emerging victorious by a 6-1, 6-2, 7-5 margin. Williams goes on to win the title, defeating Maurice McLoughlin 6-3, 8-6, 10-8 in the championship match.
1990 – With form described by Robin Finn of the New York Times as “floundering like a fish out of water on a hot, dry day,“ Stefan Edberg becomes the first No. 1 seeded player since John Newcombe in 1971 to lose in the first round of the U.S. Open, losing to Alexander Volkov of the Soviet Union 6-3, 7-6, 6-2. Edberg enters the match having won his last 21 matches and his last four tournaments, including Wimbledon. Says Edberg, “This was one of the best summers so far and I really wanted to do well at the Open, but it’s too late now.”
1984 – Fifteen-year-old Steffi Graf, the future five-time U.S. Open champion, makes her U.S. Open debut and loses in the first round to countrywoman Sylvia Hanika 6-4, 6-2.
1989- Eighteen-year-old Pete Sampras, the future five-time U.S. Open champion, wins his first U.S. Open singles match, defeating Agustin Moreno of Mexico 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 on Court No. 18 at the USTA National Tennis Center.
1995 – After a two-year absence, Monica Seles returns to the U.S. Open and defeats Ruxandra Dragomir 6-3, 6-1 in the first round – 28 months after she is stabbed in the back on court in Hamburg, Germany.
1991 – In the early hours of the morning (1:35 a.m. to be exact), Jimmy Connors defeats Patrick McEnroe 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in one of the most dramatic first round matches ever at the U.S. Open. Connors, ranked No. 174 and five days shy of his 39th birthday, trails McEnroe 4-6, 6-7, 0-3, 0-40 before rallying to victory.
1949 – Ted Schroeder clinches the Davis Cup title for the United States, defeating Australia’s Frank Sedgman 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in the Davis Cup Challenge Round at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens, N.Y. Schroeder’s win gives the United States its fourth consecutive Davis Cup title – the third longest stretch the United States has held the Davis Cup. Schroeder, who is a member of all four Davis Cup championship teams, also clinched the Davis Cup title for the U.S. in 1947. Closing out the 4-1 American victory is Richard “Pancho” Gonzales, who in his final Davis Cup match, defeats Bill Sidwell 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
1955 – Vice President Richard Nixon presents the Australian Davis Cup team with the Davis Cup trophy after the Aussies complete a 5-0 shutout of the United States at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens, N.Y. Nixon is told by Australian Davis Cup Harry Hopman that he might someday be “the youngest president in American history.” Nixon next touches the Davis Cup in 1969 when, as the 37th President, he welcomes the victorious 1968 U.S. Davis Cup team that defeats Hopman’s Australian team in the 1968 Davis Cup final in Adelaide, Australia.
1959 – Barry MacKay defeats 21-year-old Aussie Rod Laver 7-5, 6-4, 6-1 as the United States and Australia split the first two matches on the first day of play in the Davis Cup Challenge Round at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens, N.Y.
1995 – The U.S. Open begins at the USTA National Tennis Center in New York and Shuzo Matsuoka of Japan and Petr Korda of the Czech Republic play a match that is talked about for years. With the score tied at 5-5 in the fifth-set, Matsuoka collapses on the court with cramps in his left leg after 3 hours, 26 minutes of play. For three agonizing minutes, the Japanese player lays on the hard court surface screaming and suffering, but is not allowed to be treated as cramps are considered a loss of condition and helping him would instantly result in a default. USTA Tournament Referee Brian Earley institutes a point penalty after a 60 second delay, then a game penalty after 120 seconds and then defaults Matsuoka after 180 seconds. Says Korda after the match, “He was in tremendous pain because he had a big spasm in both legs. Rules are rules, and it’s pretty sad that no one can help him.” The incident causes for a rule change where cramping does not constitute a loss of condition and treatment is allowed without a default being instituted.
2006 – The U.S. Open becomes the first major tournament to use instant replay and the player challenge system on the opening day of the 2006 U.S. Open. Three hours and fifteen minutes into the tournament, 24-year-old American Mardy Fish makes the first player challenge in major tournament history during his match against Germany’s Simon Greul on Louis Armstrong Stadium at the USTA National Tennis Center. With Fish leading 6-4, 6-4, 1-0 and Greul serving at Ad-In, Fish challenges Greul’s point-winning shot — that was called in — on the sideline. The call was upheld, leaving the set score at 1-all following the video review which was seen simultaneously by players, officials, fans and television viewers.
2001 – Marcelo Rios completes one of the longest days in U.S. Open history, finishing of Markus Hipfl of Austria, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-0 at 1:25 am on the Grandstand Court. Rain delays cause for many matches to begin later than scheduled, included the Rios-Hipfl match which begins at 10:50 pm.
August 29
1978 – The gates open at the new USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. for the grand opening of the newly-constructed public facility that is the new home of the U.S. Open. “Tonight the US Open belongs to us, the people, the tennis fans,” says actor and comedian Alan King, the master of ceremonies for the opening session of the tournament. “Ten months ago when we broke ground I thought they were crazy. But here we are. This is where the legends begin.” Bjorn Borg and Bob Hewitt play the first match at the new facility with Borg winning the best-of-three set first round match 6-0, 6-2. “Probably when I get to be 75 years old and look back, I’ll say I was the first one to play in the new stadium,” says Borg after defeating Hewitt in front of only 6,186 fans during the opening night session of the tournament.
1952 – Two years after Althea Gibson breaks the color barrier as the first black player to compete in the U.S. Championships, Dr. Reginald Weir becomes the first black man to accomplish the feat when he takes the court in the first round of men’s singles. Weir, however, is defeated in the first round by William Stucki 11-9, 5-7, 8-6, 6-1. One day later, another black man, George Stewart, also loses in the first round of the U.S. Championships to Bernard “Tut” Bartzen 6-3, 9-7, 6-0.
1968 – The first professional U.S. “Open” with a tournament field consisting of professional and amateurs begins at the U.S. Championships and Billie Jean King plays the first stadium match at the U.S. Open, defeating Long Island dentist and alternate player Dr. Vija Vuskains 6-1, 6-0. Amateurs Ray Moore and Jim Osborne register upset wins over professionals; Moore defeating No. 10 seed Andres Gimeno 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 and Osborne defeating Barry MacKay 8-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
1951 – Described by Allison Danzig of the New York Times as “scenes almost unparalleled at Forest Hills,” Gardnar Mulloy defeats fellow American Earl Cochell 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 in the fourth round in which Cochell hits a ball out of the stadium, tanks a game by returning Mulloy’s serve with his racquet switched to his left-hand, and serves underhand to the gross displeasure of the crowd, who shower Cochell with boos and barbs.
1927 – Sixteen-year-old Betty Nuthall of Britain advances into the women’s singles final of the U.S. Championships at the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills, defeating Charlotte Chapin of the United States 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in the semifinals. Nuthall, at age 16 years, three months and six days, is the youngest woman to reach the singles final at the U.S. Championships. Helen Wills, a three-time U.S. champion, relents only two games to her rival Helen Jacobs in the other semifinal, winning 6-2, 6-0. The next day, Wills wins the title, defeating Nuthall 6-1, 6-4. Nuthall becomes the first British woman to win the U.S. title in 1930.
1970 – Arthur Ashe and Cliff Richey give the United States a 2-0 lead over West Germany in the Davis Cup Challenge Round played at the Harold T. Clark Courts in Cleveland, Ohio. Ashe defeats 1967 Wimbledon finalist Wilhelm Bungert 6-2, 10-8, 6-2, while Richey defeats Christian Kuhnke 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The United States goes on to clinch the series and its third straight Davis Cup title the following day when Stan Smith and Bob Lutz clinch the match by beating Bungert and Kuhnke 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in the doubles rubber. The U.S. ultimately wins the series by a 5-0 margin, with Ashe providing the final exclamation point, winning the most dramatic dead-rubber matches in Davis Cup history, overcoming a two-sets-to-love deficit and a match point in the fourth set to defeat Kuhnke 6-8, 10-12, 9-7, 13-11, 6-4.
August 30
1989 – Down match point, Boris Becker benefits from a let-cord passing shot just out of the reach of Derrick Rostagno in his 1-6, 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-3 come-from-behind second-round U.S. Open victory in 4 hours, 27 minutes. Rostagno leads 6-4 in the fourth-set tie-break and after pushing a forehand long on his first match point, Becker’s forehand clips the top of the net and out of Rostagno’s reach. Becker then wins the next two points to win the fourth set before running out the fifth-set. Says Becker, who five rounds later claims his first and only U.S. Open singles title, “In a match like that you get many shots in your favor and many against you,” Becker says. “When you get a shot like that on match point, it’s certainly sweet.” Also on the stadium, qualifier Paul Haarhuis, ranked No. 115, stuns No. 4 seeded John McEnroe 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in one of the biggest upsets in U.S. Open history. Says McEnroe following the loss, “I am too disgusted to think straight right now.” In the evening session, 18-year-old Pete Sampras upsets defending champion and No. 5 seeded Mats Wilander 5-7, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 to mark his arrival on the top stage of pro tennis. Says Sampras after the match victory, his first over a top 10 player, “At the start I really didn’t believe I could beat Mats Wilander. But he gave me a couple of opportunities, and I took advantage. It really all depended on how I was playing. I was going to win it, he wasn’t going to lose it.”
1979 – In one of the most chaotic matches in the history of the U.S. Open, John McEnroe and 33-year-old Ilie Nastase compete in a wild night match featuring, in the words of Neil Amdur of the New York Times “cheers, boos, point penalties, game penalties, police on the court, a switch in chair umpires and even some brilliant shot making.” Pandemonium breaks out in the fourth set, starting with Nastase’s stall tactics that forces chair umpire Frank Hammond to issue a game penalty to Nastase. As Nastase continues to complain and stall, Hammond then defaults the Romanian exclaiming into his microphone “Game. Set. Match. McEnroe.” An 18-minute free-for-all ensues where fans scream, boo and throw objects onto the court – some fans even running onto the court – causing New York City policemen to also enter the court to protect the players and officials. U.S. Open Tournament Referee Mike Blanchard then reinstates Nastase and then replaces Hammond on the chair for the remainder of the match. McEnroe closes out the match at 12:42 am, beating Nastase by a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 margin and goes on to win the tournament five matches later. Earlier in the day, Kathy Horvath is five days past her 14th birthday when she loses a first round match to Diane Fromholtz 7-6, 6-2 to become the youngest person to play a match at the U.S. Open.
1978 – The USTA National Tennis Center hosts its first full day of US Open tennis. Arthur Ashe plays the most exciting match of the day, saving three match points in the second-set tie-break to defeat Ross Case 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 in a best-of-three-set first round match. Ashe calls the new USTA National Tennis Center “The greatest thing since sliced bread.”
1950 – Althea Gibson’s debut appearance as the first black player to compete at the U.S. Championships comes to a close as she loses all three games played in the continuation of a rain-delayed match with reigning Wimbledon champion Louise Brough. Gibson leads Brough 7-6 in the final set when play resumes after a rain storm from the previous day, but falters to lose the match by a final score of 6-1, 3-6, 9-7.
1988 – Eighteen-year-old Jim Courier and seventeen-year-old Pete Sampras make their U.S. Open debuts. Courier defeats Horst Skoff of Austria in the first round 7-5, 6-4, 6-3, while Sampras is defeated by Peru’s Jaime Yzaga 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.
1986 – John McEnroe and Peter Fleming are defaulted from the men’s doubles championships at the U.S. Open when they arrived six minutes late for their first round doubles match. The doubles pair get caught in traffic driving from McEnroe’s family home in Cove Neck. The normal 30-minute drive takes over an hour. Says Fleming, “I’m shattered right now. It hurts. I thought we were going to win the tournament. You don’t get too many chances to win the U.S. Open. We’ve done it the same way 20 times in the past seven years, and 20 times we’ve had no problem. It’s stupid. What can you say? I mean, you can’t say anything. It’s stupid, I guess. If I could do it differently, I’d do it 1,000 different ways.”
1959 – Peruvian born Alex Olmedo, a student at the University of Southern California, defeats Rod Laver 9-7, 4-6, 10-8, 12-10 to even up the Davis Cup Challenge Round at two matches apiece at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens, N.Y. The fifth and decisive match between Neale Fraser and Barry MacKay is postponed due to rain. The next day, on his 24th birthday, MacKay loses to Fraser 8-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 giving Australia the Davis Cup title by a 3-2 decision.
1982 – Andy Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion and U.S. Davis Cup star, is born in Omaha, Neb. Roddick beats Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero in the 2003 U.S. Open final and finishes the year as the world’s No. 1 player. He also reaches the U.S. Open final in 2006 and two Wimbledon finals in 2004 and 2005 – losing all three championship matches to Roger Federer. Roddick makes his Davis Cup debut in 2001 at the age of 18 and six years later, passionately leads the United States to its first Davis Cup championship in 12 years.
2005 – Life imitates art as No. 4 seed Andy Roddick, featured in an omnipresent American Express marketing campaign in which he loses his “mojo,” in fact loses his mojo in an embarrassing straight-set loss to Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the first round of the U.S. Open. The 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (1) loss comes on of all days as Roddick’s 23rd birthday and marks Muller’s first career U.S. Open match. Says the No. 68-ranked Muller of how he defeated Roddick, “I have no idea.”
1923 – Victor Seixas is born in Philadelphia, Pa. Seixas registers 38 Davis Cup match victories for the United States in either singles and doubles combined, placing him second only to John McEnroe’s 59 match victories for a U.S. Davis Cup player. Seixas stars for the U.S. Davis Cup team from 1951 to 1957, helping the U.S. to the 1954 Davis Cup title. Seixas plays the U.S. Championships a record 28 times between 1940 and 1969, winning the singles in 1954 over Aussie Rex Hartwig, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. He also wins Wimbledon in 1953 over Kurt Nielsen, 9-7, 6-3, 6-4.