By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Forty years ago this Sunday, on July 7, 1973, Jan Kodes was the last Czech man to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, a distinction that Tomas Berdych would like to take away from the Hall of Famer from Prague.
The 1973 Wimbledon championships is perhaps more known for the 82 men’s players who boycotted the event in support of Yugoslav player Nikki Pilic’s suspension by his federation. But Kodes was able to navigate through a draw that featured such standouts as Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Ilie Nastase among others. In the semifinals, he won a dramatic 89 97 57 64 75 match against Britain’s Roger Taylor where the match was delayed by rain with Kodes serving down 4-5 in the fifth set. In the final, Kodes defeated Alex Metreveli of the Soviet Union 61 98 63.
Kodes discusses his unique preparation for the Wimbledon final in his book JOURNEY TO GLORY FROM BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN (New Chapter Press, available at www.NewChapterMedia.com) that included a last-minute panic just before playing the biggest match of his life, as explained in this exclusive book excerpt.
Realization descended on me the next day. I grasped what was ahead of me. The finals of the most prestigious tournament in the world! Playing the finals of any tournament of consequence is still very different from playing the Wimbledon finals. Metreveli made it known that he would have preferred meeting Taylor in the finals.
Many players prompted me: “Please, don’t let the Russian win! That hasn’t happened here yet!” I went to lunch and heard again: “I hope you won’t let the Russian win!” I arrived for practice and a Polish Englishman, an emigrant Mr. Spychala, who was in charge of scheduling play on practice courts and passing out balls, said: ‘Jan, tomorrow I’ll be rooting for you; you won’t let a Russian win, will you?” I had to listen to this all day long! I would have preferred playing against Newcombe or Smith. That would have been a real spectacle!
And then it struck me: “What do they say at home? In Prague? The 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia was still a fresh wound in everyone’s mind. The entire nation is following this development! What if I lose? People will say: Naturally, they ordered him to lose, he had to let him win. It is the same as with the hockey team! ”
Such was my way of thinking that Friday, a day before the most significant final match of my life. I contemplated all odds, I practiced just 30 minutes and rested; I had a massage and tried to nurse my messed up ankle
The evening before my final match they showed clips on television from the matches played in the last few days. There was Metreveli defeating Jimmy Connors and Alex Mayer, the winner over the Rumanian Nastase, and then they showed my match against Taylor. In the train of the clips Jack Kramer and Fred Perry made their commentaries. They talked with Dan Maskell, a former Davis Cup player in the era of our Kozeluh and afterwards a Wimbledon commentator for many years: “It is the first time in the history of this championship that two players from communist countries face off in the finals. Who will prevail?”
“If I were to put money down on anybody it would be Kodes,” said Fred Perry. “Why? Because he won Paris twice and he reached the finals on grass at Forest Hills. Metreveli will be nervous, he does not have much experience dealing with the pressures of a final match.”
“I was Kodes’ commentator in 1971 at Forest Hills, where he defeated Newcombe and Ashe,” said Jack Kramer. “He has a dangerous serve return and his game on grass improved tremendously. He is a more complete tennis player now, after winning Roland Garros twice and he showed against Taylor that his serve is adequate.”
These comments made me feel very good. I persuaded myself that if experts say that I am better, it must be so. I went to bed around 10:30 pm. I called the reception and asked not to forward any calls to me since I did not want to be disturbed in the middle of the night or early in the morning. I put cotton wool in my ears and took half of an aspirin to warm my body through. I did all that in order to have a good rest before the finals. In the morning the receptionist woke me up as I had requested and within a minute I had
four phone calls! My friend, Franta Novak, told me: “I could not get hold of you!” Others asked: “What is going on with you? It is impossible to reach you!” I only blessed my fantastic foresight that I might get disturbed by phone calls. In real terms I found myself fitting a true “professional” with all that it entailed.
On the way to Wimbledon I realized that I had not asked anybody to warm me up. But it didn’t disconcert me. Just making my way to the court struggling through the crowds will tire me out! Well, I’ll have a massage done and warm up in the locker room. Inwardly I decided that I did not need the on-the-court warm up.
Upon my arrival I spotted Metreveli warming up on court number two! I panicked and was overwhelmed with a feeling that I should, indeed, warm up a little. I looked around and found no players in sight; they have already left. Damn it, who shall I hit with? At that moment the veterans finished some doubles and they came to the locker room all sweaty and tired out, among them Vic Seixas, a 1953 Wimbledon champion, By the way, Vic was one of the first individuals who came to me after the match with Taylor and told me how unfair was the suspension of play at 4:5; he did not remember anything of the sort ever taking place at Wimbledon before.
I approached him: “Vic, I am due to go on the court to play the finals in a few minutes but I have nobody to warm up with. I am a bit nervous and need just a few minutes to hit the balls back and forth. Would you pop up a few balls for me? Fifteen minutes, no more than that.”
“You don’t think that I could warm you up? I can’t take that responsibility.” He knew what it entailed to be in the finals and he was afraid he could not warm me up sufficiently.
“Vic, only a few minutes; you’ll serve, I’ll return in order to get the rhythm going!”
“But Jan, how can I warm you up?”
“Come on, we are both changed to play…”
I talked him into it, picked up balls and we went to court number two. I started a rally but he was unable to respond successfully. Poor guy was more nervous than I was! I needed only a few hits, a return, some serves, a few volleys, just to get the timing going.
We spent about twenty minutes on the court and as we were returning to the locker room he said: “I know this did not give you much but I hope that it helped you and you’ll win the first set.”
I took a shower, light massage and off I went to the Centre Court.
I was immensely grateful to Vic for those twenty minutes of warm up. He knew very well the meaning of what he said when he wished me good luck in the first set. On grass, success at the beginning of the match is terribly important. If I start the match off well, my opponent will “miss the train.” And that is exactly what happened!
I won the first set 61.
