Halloween, October 31, has been a salient day in the history of tennis – highlighted by the pro debut of Venus Williams in 1994. The following are events that happened on October 31 as excerpted from the book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.TennisHistoryBook.com).
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.”
2007 – In a Halloween match between “The Magician” and “Zorro” in the second round of the BNP Paribas Paris Masters, Fabrice Santoro, nick-named “The Magician” due to his unusual double-fisted playing style, defeats world No. 3 Novak Djokovic, who enters the court wearing a black Zorro eye mask, by a 7-6, 6-3 margin in the second round.
1980 – Bill Scanlon registers one of the biggest wins of his career, defeating Bjorn Borg 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the Seiko Championships in Tokyo. “I was surprised by myself,” says Scanlon. “It’s my biggest victory.”
1981 – Vince Van Patten, son of Hollywood actor Dick Van Patten ranked No. 83 in the world, defeats John McEnroe 6-3, 7-5 in the semifinals of the Seiko Super Tennis in Tokyo, marking the biggest victory of his career. The next day, Van Patten beats Australia’s Mark Edmondon 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to win the tournament title, his first and only ATP singles title of his career.
1986 – John McEnroe is defeated, fined and suspended in the quarterfinal of the Paris Open. McEnroe is upset by Spain’s Sergio Casal 6-3, 7-6 and is fined $3,000 for outbursts against chair umpire Jeremy Shales, forcing a 42-day suspension from tournament play. At one moment in the match, McEnroe says to Shales, “You are the worst umpire I have ever seen in my life. You’ll never work another one of my matches again.”
1982 – Martina Navratilova plays near flawless tennis, defeating Chris Evert Lloyd 6-1, 6-4 in the final of the Daihatsu Challenge in Brighton, England. From 15-30 in the third game of the match, Navratilova wins 19 of 22 points. Says Evert Lloyd of the first set that she lost in only 20 minutes, “It was as fine a set as anybody has ever played against me since I first came into tennis 11 years ago. I felt humiliated.”