- VHD39
The 1975 Championship reached a spectacular climax to the Gentlemen’s Singles Final between the world’s then number one player, Jimmy Connors, and Arthur Ashe.
Connors, a self-taught player from Belleville, Illinois, had burst onto the tennis scene only a couple of years earlier and was taking the tennis world by storm. In fact, he had enjoyed one of the most successful years of tennis that any player had ever experienced, producing some remarkable tennis along the way. He had won fifteen tournaments, including Wimbledon, The U.S. Open and The Australia Open.
During The Championships he looked invincible, having waltzed through to the Final without losing a single set. In contrast, Ashe from Richmond, Virginia, was pushing 32 and seemed past his prime. The prospect of Ashe being able to thwart his opponent in the final seemed remote, especially as Connors had beaten him in their three previous encounters.
However, there was a final twist in store, as Ashe overcame all the odds to beat the younger champion in four thrilling sets to win the most coveted title of all.
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January 2, 2011
#1
A great Stategic Victory For Ashe,
This is a classic match in which Arthur Ashe made one of the most amazing stategic decisions I have ever seen. He completely adapted his power game to thwart Connors. It is also a perfect example of what a poor attitude & behaviour can do for a world-class player like Connors. Watch this DVD if only to see how not to conduct yourself during a match. Ashe was a consumate professional, although certainly not as he himself admitted a great talent, but his intelligence clearly won the day and the match.
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|January 2, 2011
#2
wonderful,
Although I’ve been playing tennis consistently since I was a kid the mid ’70s, this was the first time I’ve ever seen Arthur Ashe play a full match. What a treat! He was graceful and smooth, and he had a MONSTER serve that he could move all over the box. I’ve read about this match many times, and I’ve always wanted to see it–especially since I’ve never liked Jimmy Connors and I enjoy watching him lose.
It’s true. Ashe did chop Connors up. From everything I’ve read, Ashe was known for his power game, and in this match he lobs and slices Connors to pieces. My guess is that Connors wasn’t at his best that day, but one gets the impression that Ashe really caught him off guard by mixing up the pace. Connors looked completely befuddled in the first two sets.
As a high school tennis coach, I often show old matches to my players when it rains. For the most part, I try to avoid anything involving wood or metal rackets because, frankly, the matches seem like they’re being played in slow motion. Compared to today’s punishers like Federer and Nadal or Sharapova or the Williams sisters, bygone champions like Borg and McEnroe or Evert and Navratilova–who thrilled me when I was in high school– just don’t seem to cut it with today’s kids.
That said, the 1975 Ashe/Connors final somehow seems more relevant, and I’m looking forward to watching it with my team one of these days. The tennis was very entertaining, and, as much as I hate Connors, I always knew his fundamentals were worth copying. One nice thing about older matches is that players tended to stick with standard strategies–good old “percentage” tennis, as we instructors call it–and it’s a little easier for young players to discern certain patterns with the older players. Not that today’s pros don’t rely on strategy, but they can hit the ball so much harder that they do things–like hitting clean winners from behind the baseline–that defy traditional teaching. If you get to the pro level, that stuff is great, but most high school players–and the rest of us, too–would do well to rediscover the basics. If you watch Ashe and Connors, they played almost every deep ball cross-court and almost every short ball down the line, promptly following it to the net. That’s percentage tennis, and you can reach a pretty high level by trying it.
Check out this match. You won’t be disappointed (unless, of course, you love Jimmy Connors).
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|January 2, 2011
#3
Classic Tennis Players,
I was glad to get this DVD, mostly because of Arthur Ashe. This is the first DVD that I know of that shows him in a tennis match. I was amazed to see how fast these guys serve the ball – not for the speed of the ball when served but for how little time they took between each ended point to serve the ball. It’s a big contrast to the way the game is played now. There was no reviewing of points played, they just played. Very impressive!
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