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Nice find.
Lovely to see Goolagong and Nastase moving so gracefully like that, and Nastase with a full continental grip on his forehand.
That's the one US final Borg should have won. He was a better player than Connors by around that point and rarely lost to him after that match. On that surface Borg should have won. I bet he rues that now.
Good to see Marty Riessen, if only playing a few shots. I saw him once at Wimbledon. He was quite a doubles player.Stotty -
Actually the 1976 U. S. Open Championships were played at Forest Hills in Queens, New York. I know this...because I was there.Originally posted by gzhpcu View PostNice short documentary....
It was my first trip to New York City and my friend and I stayed with a fellow by the name of Jeff Wolfman who was this Jewish kid from Queens. Jeff was a funny fellow...literally speaking. He performed at "To Catch a Rising Star" one night while we were there. He followed this guy who was dressed up like the Pope who was making the most incredible anti Jewish jokes...some making light of "The Holocaust". Jeff showed some remarkable composure when he got up to do his stick. Interesting fellow...Jeff Wolfman.
Jeff was a talker. He had his ideas. Obviously he wasn't shy about things although come to think of it he was actually very reserved and if not quiet...he wasn't a loud mouth. But he had this idea about a tennis player that lived in Queens at the time. A sixteen year old kid. Jeff said that this kid was going to be the next Ilie Nastase and would be the greatest tennis player in the world one day. The kid just so happened to be in the qualifying tournament at this country club in Queens so we went out to see him play. The match turned out to be one for the ages and goes down in Johnny McEnroe lore as one of the most controversial of his career.
It was the infamous match that he played against one Zan Guerry of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.
!975 and 1976 were the only years that the U. S. Open was played on Har-Tru clay. Why they gave up on the grass is anybody's guess. Big money was pouring into the game and things were changing fast and furious since the game went open in 1968. Just check out the richly talented draw sheet from the men's championships that Jimmy Connors eventually defeated Björn Borg in the finals of.
The depth of this draw makes the current draws look rather weak. There were no cake walks to the semifinals like the Big Four enjoyed for so many years. All 128 men participants were scrappy and talented players. 1976 was an interesting year. Manuel Orantes had won it the year before.
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