Andrea Jaeger

Andrea Leand Podcast: The Greatest Upset In WTA Rankings History

July 26, 2016 by Admin

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

Andrea Leand is more recently known as the former tennis writer for USA Today and in other volunteer and administrative roles in the world of tennis, but as a player, she made tennis history – a few times.

As an unranked amateur at the 1981 US Open, she performed the greatest upset in the history of women’s tennis by ranking by upsetting No. 2 seed Andrea Jaeger in the second round. After her fourth-round US Open finish, she soon made history again making the highest rankings debut ever in the WTA rankings at No. 18.

She was a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic tennis team that competed in the demonstration event in Los Angeles and is the only player in history of tennis to represent the United States in the Olympics, Fed Cup, Wightman Cup and the Bonne Bell Cup.

What is Wightman Cup and the Bonne Bell Cup? Find out when in my conversation with her in the PrimeSportsNetwork tennis podcast here: http://primesportsnetwork.com/prime-sports-tennis-july-25-podcast/

Leand relives her historic win over Jaeger in the podcast and also discusses the breakthrough Olympic tennis competition in Los Angeles in 1984 and about representing the United States in international tennis competitions.

Good Bye To The Grandstand – A U.S. Open Court That Featured Many Record-Breaking, Historical and Memorable Matches

September 1, 2015 by Admin

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

The email came in to me from Greg Sharko from the ATP World Tour, copying Bill Simons from Inside Tennis Magazine.

It was an inquiry to joggle the memory on what some of the most memorable matches were on the Grandstand court at the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center at the U.S. Open. With the 2015 U.S. Open being the last year of the court’s existence – being torn down in the U.S. Tennis Association’s new redevelopment of the site, it was a worthy topic.

The Grandstand was for years the No. 2 court at the U.S. Open, from when the USTA National Tennis Center first hosted the U.S. Open in 1978, until it was downgraded to the No. 3 court when Arthur Ashe Stadium debuted in 1997. It’s always been regarded as the most intimate court, seating 6,000 fans, complete with shade created from the over-hang of Louis Armstrong Stadium to the west, which provided refuge for fans and players, but the shadow did cause for difficult playing conditions. Up until the 1990s, a restaurant called “Rackets” was situated along the west end of the court, where diners could get a premium table along the glass window where they could watch the tennis while lunching. For those U.S. Open aficionados, the Grandstand was best place to watch tennis.

I remembered the first match I could recall on that court that I saw in person – Guillermo Vilas vs. Erik van Dillen in the third-round of the 1979 U.S. Open, Vilas winning in five sets. I always associated Aaron Krickstein with the Grandstand court, although the only match I could definitely remember from there was his upset win in 1983 in the third round as a 16-year-old over Vitas Gerulaitis after losing the first two sets and being down 2-4 in the fifth set.

I remembered Brad Gilbert with a massive five-set win over Boris Becker in the fourth round in 1987 on the Grandstand. I could still see both Becker and Gilbert yelling after points in that match – Becker in agony, screaming missives in German, and Gilbert acknowledging himself, complete with fist-pumps, after finishing off the two-sets-to-love comeback win.

Steffi Graf made one of her earliest announcements on the tennis scene on the Grandstand, upsetting the No. 4 seed Pam Shriver as a 16-year-old in three-tiebreakers 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4) in a 2-hour, 46-minute quarterfinal. It was the first-time in U.S. Open history where a match was played featuring tie-breakers in all sets.

When I was working with the USTA, two matches I vividly remember was Wally Masur coming back from 0-5 down in the fifth set to beat fellow Aussie Jaime Morgan in the fourth round in 1993, winning the last seven games of the match, winning at one stretch 16 points in a row. It was probably the greatest comeback in U.S. Open history. Also, Goran Ivanisevic and Daniel Nestor played the longest tie-breaker in U.S. Open history in 1993 (equaling the longest in the history of men’s singles), with Ivanisevic winning 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (20-18).

In fact, the longest men’s and women’s tie-breakers in U.S. Open history were played on the Grandstand as Sam Stosur and Maria Kirilenko also played a 32-point tiebreaker in 2011, Kirilenko winning the tie-breaker, but Stosur winning the fourth-round match 6-2, 6-7 (17-15), 6-3. The round earlier, Stosur played the longest U.S. Open women’s match in history in time – three hours, 16 minutes – beating Nadia Petrova 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-5 on the Grandstand.

A U.S. Open semifinal was actually played on the Grandstand – also in 2011 – when Stosur beat Angelique Kerber 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, the USTA being forced to use this court due to a back-up of the schedule due to rain and Louis Armstrong Stadium already being knocked out of service for the event at that late stage in the event.

Other matches that came to mind were when Andrea Leand, a 17-year-old, unranked amateur, beat No. 2 seed Andrea Jaeger in the second round In 1981 by a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 margin in one of the biggest upset in Grand Slam tournament history. I think the first time I saw Andy Murray play in person was when he won his first ever U.S. Open match on the Grandstand in the 2005 first round against Andrei Pavel, highlighted by Murray throwing up all over the side of the court at the beginning of the fifth set, causing a substantial delay in play to clean up the mess.

What are your memories of the Grandstand Court? What are some of your favorite matches on the court or some of the best ever that have been overlooked? Share in the comment section below.

Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Helen Wills Moody Make Wimbledon History 25, 30 and 75 Years Ago on July 2

July 1, 2013 by Admin

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

The dateline July 2, 2013 provides some interesting anniversaries in Wimbledon women’s history, as documented in the new This Day In Tennis mobile app (www.TennisHistoryApp.com)

With Sabine Lisicki’s historic upset of world No. 1 Serena Williams, it is interesting to note that July 2, 2013 marks the 25^th anniversary of another blonde-haired German with a booming serve and powerful groundstrokes, Hall of Famer Steffi Graf, winning the first of her seven Wimbledon women’s singles titles.

The woman who Graf defeated on this day 25 years ago also won a Wimbledon title 30 years ago on July 2, 1983, defeating Andrea Jaeger in the final. Navratilova won an astounding nine Wimbledon women’s singles titles. Petra Kvitova, also from the Czech Republic like the naturalized American Navratilova, will be looking to join Navratilova as the only Czech-born multiple winner of Wimbledon women’s singles titles, following up her singles victory in 2011.

Navratilova and Chris Evert, who have each won 18 major singles titles, have been much discussed in the conversation of Serena Williams adding to her major singles title collection as both American legends have won only two more major singles titles than where Serena currently sits with 16 majors. However, the player who Serena should be aiming for is Helen Wills Moody, who has won 19 career major singles titles and is the American record holder in this category. It was 75 years ago on July 2, 1938 when Wills Moody won her 19^th and final major title at Wimbledon, defeating Helen Jacobs in the championship match.

The following are the excerpts as seen in the “This Day In Tennis” mobile app. To order a hard copy of this compilation, the book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY is available for sale at www.newChapterMedia.com and wherever books are sold.

1988 – Nineteen-year-old Steffi Graf ends Martina Navratilova’s six-year stranglehold on the women’s singles title at Wimbledon, defeating the eight-time champion 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 to win her first Wimbledon singles title and capture the third leg of her eventual Grand Slam. Navratilova fails in her attempt to win her ninth Wimbledon singles title and breaking the record that she shares with Helen Wills. Says Navratilova of the loss, “This is how it should happen. I lost to a better player on the final day. This is the end of a chapter, passing the torch if you want to call it that.”

1983 – Martina Navratilova concludes a dominant performance at Wimbledon, defeating Andrea Jaeger 6-0, 6-3 in 54 minutes to win her fourth championship at the All England Club. Navratilova wins seven matches without relinquishing a set en route to the title in less than six hours total time. Says Navratilova, “I’ve been the favorite the last two years to win every match that I’ve played. If I don’t live up to it, the whole world seems to come tumbling down. It’s a disaster, a tragedy, like there’s nothing worse that could happen in the world to you but lose a tennis match. After the French, everyone was predicting that I would come apart at the seams. If anything, it inspired me to play better, more aggressively.” Entering the final, Navratilova had lost only four matches in 18 months, most recently to unheralded Kathy Horvath in the fourth round of the French Open four weeks earlier in one of the biggest upsets in tennis history.

1938 – Thirty-two-year-old Helen Wills Moody wins her 19^th – and final – major singles title, easily defeating rival Helen Jacobs 6-4, 6-0 in the women’s singles final at Wimbledon. Jacobs plays the match despite a severely-strained Achilles tendon, which hampers her as she loses the final eight games of the match. The final is the 11^th and final meeting between “the two Helens” – with Wills Moody winning the rivalry by a 10-1 margin. Wills Moody’s 19 major singles titles is the all-time record until it is topped in 1970 by Margaret Smith Court, who goes on to win 24 major singles titles.