A Look Back At The U.S. Open’s Most Epic Day

by Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

“Imagine John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors playing a U.S. Open semifinal match and in the fifth set, the stadium is only like half full?”

This is what former New York Post reporter Ray McNulty said 40 years after covering the most famous single day in the history of the U.S. Open, the September 8, 1984 “Super Saturday” which ended at 11:14 pm in the evening with McEnroe’s five-set win over arch rival Connors.

The day is summarized in the “On This Day In Tennis History” book (which you can buy or download here: https://a.co/d/hjy9rsG) below.

1984 – Perhaps the single greatest day in tennis history, as each of the four matches played on stadium court extends to the maximum number of sets. Stan Smith defeating John Newcombe 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the men’s 35s semifinal, Ivan Lendl defeating Pat Cash 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) in the men’s semifinal, Martina Navratilova defeating Chris Evert 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 for the women’s title and John McEnroe defeating Jimmy Connors 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the men’s semifinal. Play began at 11:07 a.m. and ended at 11:14 p.m. Writes Curry Kirkpatrick in Sports Illustrated of “Super Saturday” as it became to be known, “Call it Sempiternity Saturday, Tennisathlon, whatever. The U.S. Open had never seen anything like it. The day began at 11, and by the time it was over at 11:14 p.m., the jaded/slash/manic New York tennis fans had been treated to 16 sets, 165 games and 979 points on the Stadium Court of the National Tennis Center. These hardy souls hardly could be expected to remember when John Newcombe’s smile began and Connors’s sneer ended—those being the parameters of the Saturday show.”

Bud Collins, the late great Hall of Fame journalist and tennis historian, described the incredible single day as such in his famed volume “The Bud Collins History of Tennis” (for sale here https://a.co/d/gjRw3uy)

Those who couldn’t wait for the showdown of the perennial bad boys had a very long afternoon on Super Saturday at the USTA National Tennis Center. They went on last following a men’s 35 match between legends John Newcombe and Stan Smith, the first men’s semifinal between Lendl and brash Cash and the women’s final between those rivals for the ages, Navratilova and Evert Lloyd. All four matches were carried to the ultimate set and the tennis, which began at 11 a.m., didn’t conclude until 11:14 p.m.

Even McEnroe, annoyed that he didn’t strike his first ball until 7:28, allowed that, “It had to be the best day (for fans) at the Open … ever.” Certainly, the day’s finale qualified as the match of the tournament, if not the year.

After 37 minutes, Connors had equaled the four games he won in the Wimbledon final. Within 90 minutes, he had won a set and broken McEnroe’s serve for the fourth time for a 3-1 lead in the third set. In the end, only a scant few shots separated the pair, perhaps none more important than a missed forehand by Connors on break point in the seventh game of the fifth set. Connors finished with 45 winners, to 20 for the winner. But McEnroe’s 19 aces pushed him over the top in a magnificent 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 victory. Both agreed the match was superior to their epic 1980 semifinal.

In the final, Lendl, who barely survived his semifinal over Cash, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 — saving a match point in the fifth with a sensational topspin lob on the run — was no match for a McEnroe at his peak. Eighteen hours after vanquishing Connors, McEnroe routed Lendl, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1, to claim his fourth U.S. title.

When Navratilova and Evert Lloyd collided in Louis Armstrong Stadium on Sept. 8, their series stood at 30 victories apiece. Additionally, Navratilova had won 54 consecutive matches, one shy of her opponent’s Open era record. With all that and an Open title at stake, Evert Lloyd played superbly, perhaps the best of any of her nine U.S. finals. Still, it was insufficient. Navratilova rallied for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. “It’s just not enough to play a good match against her anymore,” Evert Lloyd lamented.

In the New York Times at the start of the 2024 U.S. Open, Cindy Shmerler also wrote about the most epic day in tennis history as you can read about here: U.S. Open: A Super Saturday When the Big Stars Played On and On – The New York Times (nytimes.com)