Wimbledon's Greatest Games , livre ebook

Pitch Publishing Ltd - Abi Smith

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

141 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Wimbledon's Greatest Games features 50 of the most exciting and absorbing tennis matches ever played on the All England Club's courts. Journey back in time and relive the unforgettable feats of Rod Laver, Althea Gibson, Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Billie Jean King, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams among many others. From the roar of the crowd to the emotion of the players, the drop-shots, the volleys, the epic rallies and the double-faults, each thrilling contest comes alive as the action from the famous venue is brought to you in vivid detail. So, serve yourself a Pimm's, sit back and let Abi Smith transport you to Centre Court as you explore this comprehensive collection from the greatest tournament of all. Capturing gentlemen's, ladies' and doubles matches that have shaped the game, Wimbledon's Greatest Games is an action-packed, ace-filled guide that every SW19 fan will want to devour.

Sujets

Gran Londres

Greater London

Tennis

Grand Londres

London

Informations

Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	31 mai 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781785319464
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2021
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
© Abi Smith, 2021
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright.
Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 9781785318443
eBook ISBN 9781785319464
---
eBook Conversion by www.eBookPartnership.com
Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Game, set and match
1. Maureen Connolly vs Louise Brough
2. Andre Agassi vs Goran Ivanišević
3. Roger Federer vs Andy Roddick
4. Venus Williams vs Serena Williams
5. Björn Borg vs John McEnroe
6. Althea Gibson vs Darlene Hard
7. Henri Cochet vs Bill Tilden
8. Arthur Ashe vs Jimmy Connors
9. Ann Jones vs Billie Jean King
10. Rod Laver vs John Newcombe
11. Jamie Murray and Jelena Janković vs Jonas Björkman and Alicia Molik
12. Pete Sampras vs Pat Rafter
13. Serena Williams and Venus Williams vs Julie Halard-Decugis and Ai Sugiyama
14. Boris Becker vs Kevin Curren
15. Virginia Wade vs Betty Stöve
16. Fred Perry vs Donald Budge
17. Martina Hingis vs Jana Novotná
18. Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs Julien Benneteau and Édouard Roger-Vasselin
19. Ricardo Pancho Gonzales vs Charlie Pasarell
20. Margaret Court vs Billie Jean King
21. Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde vs Sandon Stolle and Paul Haarhuis
22. Steffi Graf vs Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
23. Maria Sharapova vs Serena Williams
24. Stefan Edberg vs Boris Becker
25. Martina Navratilova vs Chris Evert
26. Stan Smith vs Ilie Năstase
27. Steffi Graf vs Martina Navratilova
28. Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan vs Dorothea Lambert Chambers and Ethel Thomson Larcombe
29. Kitty McKane vs Helen Wills
30. Evonne Goolagong Cawley vs Chris Evert
31. Venus Williams vs Lindsay Davenport
32. Angelique Kerber vs Serena Williams
33. Goran Ivanišević vs Tim Henman
34. Angela Mortimer vs Christine Truman
35. Andy Murray vs Novak Djokovic
36. Serena Williams vs Heather Watson
37. Steffi Graf vs Monica Seles
38. Lori McNeil vs Steffi Graf
39. Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer
40. Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver vs Kathy Jordan and Anne Smith
41. Novak Djokovic vs Roger Federer
42. John Austin and Tracy Austin vs Dianne Fromholtz and Mark Edmondson
43. Betty Stöve vs Sue Barker
44. John McEnroe and Peter Fleming vs Brian Gottfried and Raúl Ramírez
45. Goran Ivanišević vs Pat Rafter
46. Mansour Bahrami and Henri Leconte vs Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis
47. John Isner vs Nicolas Mahut
48. Billie Jean King and Owen Davidson vs Raúl Ramírez and Janet Newberry
49. Ken Rosewall vs Cliff Richey
50. Lleyton Hewitt vs David Nalbandian
Bibliography
Photos
To Lily, Henry & Tommy. The court is all yours.
Acknowledgements
WHERE THERE is a will there is a way… never has this phrase been more profound. Covid-19, home-schooling, paper-rounds and childcare bubbles. This might not have been a never-ending struggle like a Mahut/Isner match, but it certainly felt like lockdown three was here to stay. Thank goodness therefore, for this escape into the world of Wimbledon.
I will always remember the excitement of receiving my first tennis racket so to begin, I must thank my parents for signing me up to take part in Coca-Cola awards and instilling in me a love for the game (over the net, remember Dad?). Chris, I hated your drop-shots but I still love you, so all is fair in love and tennis.
Thanks to TV director Simon Brooke, photographing legend Graeme McAlpine, the ever- helpful Sarah Parrott and former county player Robin Mayes who have helped enormously with their extensive tennis knowledge, expertise, and Wimbledon reference library. Robin, I look forward to seeing your vast collection of rackets one day soon!
Thanks to the behind-the-scenes coaching team who never let me dwell on a double-fault (writers anxiety) or an outrageous line-call (someone asking me to wear jeans) and to my trio of superstars who make me proud. Every. Single. Day.
Lastly, special thanks to Peter Butler, a neighbour who has become a dear friend and who continues to inspire us all. Jenny would be so proud.
Foreword
MY FIRST memory of watching Wimbledon is viewing the men’s singles final of 1956 between Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall on our tiny black and white Ferguson television set obtained a couple of years before for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
I was captivated. Little could I imagine that in future years I would get to know both of those great players.
I started making my way to SW19 a year or two later, happy to roam around the outside courts and watch some of the greatest players the game has ever known begin to make their mark on the sport.
In due course via newspapers and local radio I found myself actually covering Wimbledon for BBC Radio. I endeavoured to have a go at radio commentary of the sport and soon learnt it was a mistake to try to describe every shot.
Then it was BBC Television and first the evening show which I co-presented with my old friend the late Gerry Williams, who was certainly not a player of note himself, but knew more about the game of tennis than anyone. Fully ten years after we stopped doing that show Gerry and I were walking through the grounds of the All England Club when we were approached by two fairly elderly ladies. ‘Looking forward to seeing you on the show tonight,’ said one. ‘We never miss it,’ said the other.
How the memory can play tricks but Abi Smith has saved us the trouble of trying to recall some of the great moments of the Wimbledon championships down the years – she has done the work for us with her meticulous research. One of the matches she has picked out was the remarkable men’s final of 1985 when a 17-year-old German came from nowhere to win the championship. In the final Boris Becker beat Kevin Curren of South Africa who had been the hot favourite after knocking out two former champions in John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. There are many more stories of the great games. If you love tennis and Wimbledon in particular, you will be absorbed by this book.
Des Lynam OBE,
2021
Game, set and match
COMPILING A collection of the greatest games to have ever been played on the grass courts of Wimbledon has been, to some extent, the most challenging aspect of this book. Various experts, former players, current players, anthologies, tennis guidebooks, well-thumbed collections and media gurus have been consulted. Hours of footage have been examined and replayed to shouts of ‘you can’t be serious, mum?!’ as I take up position in front of the TV to relive some of the best/most iconic/tremendous tennis action that has been recorded. Strawberries have been eaten, Pimm’s has most definitely been drunk. All in the name of research.
But the one (passing forehand) point I want to make, before you start thumbing through the list and delving into the action, is that this collection makes no reference to order – the match that I have listed as number 1 is only marked thus because it’s the first game in the book. There is no number one seeded match, no top three, no out-and-out winner, nada. I won’t profess to be anything more than a fan with a means to write, and therefore to rank them in any kind of order would be an insult to you the reader, the players and probably a ball girl or two. And whittling down thousands of matches across 144 years of play is even harder than returning a Sampras serve. You can do it (and I have), but there will always be balls that pass you by. So the games that I haven’t included, well, it doesn’t mean they still can’t be on your list. And feel free to write about them.
What I would hope this book brings you, in a gentle overhead lob kind of way, and perhaps during a rain break from your own rallying, is a trip down memory lane: a collection of variety, of historical games; matches of significance, of delight; ones that brought thrills or upsets when they were played in the two weeks of summer.
Tennis teaches us about life … And I have given this my best shot.
Maureen Connolly vs Louise Brough
Date: 5 July 1952
Score: 7-5, 6-3
‘Here was the realm of my hopes, my fears, my dreams, and as long as I live, I shall be there in spirit, savouring the glory.’ Maureen Connolly
CHAMPIONS ARE sometimes known for their longevity in the world they play in, their years of domination cementing their success status. But not Maureen ‘Little Mo’ Connolly. Arguably * one of the greatest female players of all time, Mo was just 17 years old when she first came to Wimbledon, a journey that also marked her first ever trip to England. Her nickname, given to her when she was 11 years old by a San Diego sportswriter, was in reference to her powerful forehand and punishing backhand. After watching her hit a ball, he described her shots as having the same power as the big guns of the USS Missouri, known as the Big Mo.
The All England Club fell in love with her as soon as she arrived; she was young, passionate and poetic to watch, sailing through the tournament to reach the final on a warm July afternoon. Centre Court was packed. An all-American final between Mo and her opponent – three-time Wimbledon champion Louise Brough – meant that the crowd would be witnessing a teenager making her