Abi Smith - Wimbledons Greatest Games: The All England Clubs Fifty Finest Matches

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2021

Pitch Publishing

A2 Yeoman Gate

Yeoman Way

Durrington

BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

Abi Smith, 2021

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Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.

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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library

Print ISBN 9781785318443

eBook ISBN 9781785319464

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To Lily, Henry & Tommy.
The court is all yours.

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.

MY FIRST memory of watching Wimbledon is viewing the mens 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 mens 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

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 cant 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, Pimms 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 its the first game in the book. There is no number one seeded match, no top three, no out-and-out winner, nada. I wont 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 havent included, well, it doesnt mean they still cant 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.

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.