Legends of the Game
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Roland, Roland, Roland, keep them Germans foldin', Roland!
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Of the four Grand Slam tournaments, only one is known interchangeably by two names: The French Open aka Roland Garros.
The stadium which holds the clay court Grand Slam by the same designation bears the name of a man famous for two things that had absolutely nothing to do with tennis.
 Born in 1888, Garros was a legendary aviator by the time he turned 24, having visited both the United States and South America to compete in races and exhibitions. He also became the first person to fly non-stop across the Mediterranean Sea.
When war broke out across Europe, he did not hesitate, joining the French army as an airman. His knowledge of aircraft was not limited to flying them, however. He was a engineer as well and helped build and mount the first forward-firing machine gun onto an airplane.
In April of 1915, Garros became the first man in the history of the world to shoot down another aircraft. He shot down two more German aircraft two weeks later.
After the third kill, he himself crash landed behind enemy lines and he was taken prisoner by the German army, eventually sent to a POW camp.
Never giving up hope of rejoining the fight and seeing his country again, Garros finally escaped the camp in February of 1918 and rejoined the army, taking to the skies to take down two more German fighters that October.
Just one month shy of his 30th birthday, and also one month short of the end of the first world war, Garros was shot down and killed by a German pilot in October of 1918.
Because of his youth, his boldness and his success in the skies, Garros became a legend among the French. During his youth, he had spent a massive amount of time at a local tennis centre.
 In 1928, Le Stade de Roland Garros was built to host France’s first defense of the Davis Cup. It now is a 21-acre complex with 20 courts, three stadiums, a restaurant and bar, media and VIP areas, France’s National Training Centre and the Tenniseum, a museum on the history of tennis.
As a further tribute, the airfield at Sainte-Marie on Reunion is named Roland Garros Airport.
Posted to Legends of the Game by
Nick on 5/10/2011 4:56:59 PM | with 0 comments
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Prepare to be blinded by science
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Unless you're past the age of 50 and own your own private jet and large fortune, it's unlikely you can say you've seen every single great male player of the Open Era in his prime.
 Therefore, it's tough to say who's the greatest player of all time (GOAT) - because no one can truly know how legends of yesterday would stack up against the top players of the modern game.
But science and technology can attempt to bridge the gap, as they do on a new app hosted by aneki.com, which allows you to compare the male tennis champions of the modern era based on all the particulars, including Weeks at No. 1, Career Titles, Career record and Head-to-head record, if applicable.
Based on how the players do in those categories, as well as their career records, career winning percentages, tournament wins and major titles, the application gives one player the advantage over another in head-to-head format. It's a great way to compare legends of the game, and also find out neat little bits of trivia about them.
For instance, did you know that Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg won the exact same number of tournaments (64) in their careers? Of course, Sampras spent almost triple the amount of weeks ranked No. 1 as Bjorg, and had 144 more career wins.
To his credit, Borg had 95 fewer losses and a better overall winning percentage. Pitting the two players head to head, the machine spits out Sampras as the better.
In fact, Big Pete has the advantage on every one of the other 23 players listed in the roster with one notable but not surprising exception - Roger Federer, who in addition to winning his one and only match against Sampras, also has 64 titles, a better winning percentage (81 to 77 percent) and two more majors.
While determining the overall GOAT is a bit formulaic, seeing the program's take on other combinations is more interesting, particularly between heated rivals. The aneki.com app prefers John McEnroe to Borg by the slightest of the margins, but prefers Jimmy Connors to Big Mac. Mac also takes second fiddle to his successor, Ivan Lendl, while current champ Rafael Nadal has bypassed the career accomplishments of Stefan Edberg or Andre Agassi, but is still a considerable distance behind the Fed, despite a 14-7 head-to-head advantage.
Posted to Legends of the Game by
Nick on 11/9/2010 12:48:19 PM | with 2 comments
 The news came out today, legendary men’s tennis coach for Notre Dame University, Tom Fallon, has died at the age of 93.
Passing away due to natural causes on Tuesday at his home in South Bend, Ind. Fallon will be remembered for a great deal of accomplishments during his time as coach, holding 579 wins as tennis and wrestling coach giving him the most victories for a Notre Dame coach. In 1959, Fallon brought the Irish to their 1959 NCAA title.
That same year, the team proved to be one of the strongest in Notre Dame’s tennis history, winning all 14 of their dual matches during that season. Under his tutelage, Fallon's squad remained undefeated in 1966. In 1987, Fallon stepped down as tennis coach to be succeeded by Bobby Bayliss. Before his retirement, Fallon was able to lead eight teams to the Eastern Intercollegiate Championships 11 times.
On the opposite side of sports, Fallon will also be remembered as the founder of the Irish’s wrestling team in 1952. From its start, Fallon coached the team for 15 years, leading it with a 65-74-4 record.
Visitation will be held on Sunday at Kaniewski Funeral Home. The funeral mass will be held on Monday at 9:30 a.m. at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus. Fallon is survived by his wife and three children.
Posted to Legends of the Game by
kimberly douglass on 10/20/2010 12:14:24 PM | with 1 comments
 September 24 is known for an epic event in the history of men’s tennis.
The year was 1938 and there was no one better in the sport than Don Budge, then 23 years old and in the midst of a five-year reign as the No. 1 player in the world.
A native of Oakland, Budge’s father was a former Scottish soccer player. Budge attended Cal-Berkley briefly, leaving to play for the US Davis Cup auxiliary team.
In 1937, he took the tennis world by storm, winning the singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles crown at Wimbledon. He won the singles and mixed doubles at the US Open later that year. Turns out, he was just getting warmed up.
In 1938, he defeated John Bromwich in the Australian Open final, Roderick Menzel for the French Open title and Henry “Bunny” Austin for the crown at Wimbledon.
To cap it all, 72 years ago to the day, he defeated Gene Mako to take the crown at the US Open, becoming the first person ever to win the Grand Slam. 
He turned pro in 1939, and took on the two biggest players on that circuit, defeating Ellsworth Vines 22 matches to 17, and Fred Perry 28-8. He continued to dominate pro tennis through the early 1940s, then joined the U.S. Air Force to serve in the second World War.
While on an obstacle course in training in 1943, he tore a muscle in his shoulder, an injury that he would never recover from fully.
Post-WWII, Bobby Riggs took over as the best player in the country, although Budge continued to play into the 1950s, beating World No. 1 Pancho Gonzales in Los Angeles in 1954 at age 41.
Budge, who died in 2000, has been ranked anywhere from first to fifth among various tennis magazines and experts, among the greatest players of all time.
Posted to Legends of the Game by
Nick on 9/24/2010 3:39:16 PM | with 0 comments
John McEnroe def. Bjorn Borg
7-6(4), 6-1, 6-7(5), 5-7, 6-4
Love him or hate him, that day in 1980 John McEnroe was the sole reason Bjorn Borg never achieved the career Grand Slam.
The pair had already clashed at Wimbledon that summer, with Borg taking a five-set epic for his 10th Slam. But the US Open was McEnroe’s turf, having won the title the year before, and he had already escaped one noose in the semifinals, losing the third set to Jimmy Connors 6-0 to go down 2-1 before rallying to the win.
McEnroe took the first two sets over Borg in the final, only to see the seasoned veteran take the next two.
“When I lost the fourth set, I thought my body was going to fall off,” McEnroe quipped later. In the seventh game of the fifth set,
Borg double faulted twice and couldn’t recover, as McEnroe won the four-hour, 13-minute marathon.
Posted to Legends of the Game by
Nick on 9/12/2010 8:51:02 AM | with 0 comments
Steffi Graf def. Monica Seles
7-6(6), 0-6, 6-3
In 1993, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles had the hottest rivalry in tennis, but it was cut short when psychopath Gunter Parche stabbed Seles in the back at a match, costing her two years of her career.
Seles returned to the tour in 1995 and reached the final by eliminating Jana Novotna and Conchita Martinez. After winning just one Slam in 1994, Graf had re-established her dominance in the sport with wins at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Seles led the first set 6-5 and was convinced she had scored an ace for the lead but it was called a fault and she squandered the lead.
Believing her opponent done mentally, Graf relaxed and was destroyed 6-0 in the second set.
Graf fell behind 0-30 in the first game and at break point in the third set, but overcame both deficits to take the 6-3 win.
Posted to Legends of the Game by
Nick on 9/11/2010 8:30:18 AM | with 0 comments
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Arthur Ashe didn't just break a few records, he broke the darn jukebox.
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Arthur Ashe def. Tom Okker
14-12, 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Walls were torn down and history written as the Open Era began.
Ashe fought his way to the final with a four-set win over Clark Graebner that became the subject of John McPhee’s “Levels of the Game.”
In the final, Ashe racked up 26 aces and won an exhaustive first set to survive Okker, becoming the first native-born champion in 14 years.
Ashe also set a mark that can never be equaled.
Two weeks before the Open, Ashe had won the U.S. Amateur final, thus becoming the only amateur to ever win that title and the US Open.
As an amateur, Ashe was unable to collect the $14,000 prize money, instead receiving $20 a day in expenses.
He also served a mean alphabet game.
Posted to Legends of the Game by
Nick on 9/10/2010 10:37:54 AM | with 0 comments
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“It’s just not enough to play a good match against her anymore.”
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Martina Navratilova def. Chris Evert Lloyd
4-6, 6-4, 6-4
From 1975 to 1984, Evert, under one name or another, won six US Opens and made the finals of four others.
But in 1983, Martina Navratilova had taken the title from her in a quick 6-1, 6-3 decision and was poised to begin her own run of dominance.
At the time of the 1984 title match, neither Loyd nor Navratilova had lost a set in the tournament, and their all-time rivalry stood tied 30-30.
Navratilova was on a 54-match win streak, one short of Evert’s Open Era record. Evert took first blood, but Navratilova overwhelmed her to take the crown.
Evert, perhaps realizing her time was growing short atop the hill, lamented, “It’s just not enough to play a good match against her anymore.”
Posted to Legends of the Game by
Public Anonymous User on 9/9/2010 10:30:26 AM | with 0 comments
Steffi Graf def. Martina Navratilova
3-6, 7-5, 6-1
The guard changed again, this time with the 20-year-old German upstaging the 33-year old Czech turned American citizen.
Graf was never better than in ’89, compiling an 86-2 record and winning 14 of the 16 tournament she entered.
She met Navratilova in three finals, including the US where she dropped the opening set before wearing out Martina in the end.
The video clip below is a bittersweet one, and not just because Navratilova appears to have stolen one of Andre Agassi's mullet wigs to wear for the final.
As beautifully played as the tennis is between these two all-time legends, the opening shot of the southern end of Manhattan Island, with the World Trade Center towers gleaming in the late summer sunshine, remains a grim reminder of what thoughts will forever turn to come early September in New York City.
Posted to Legends of the Game by
Nick on 9/8/2010 11:03:53 AM | with 0 comments
Juan Martin del Potro def. Roger Federer
3-6, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2
Federer was impossible to stop, having won five straight titles at the US Open and the crowns at the French Open and Wimbledon already in 2009.
Del Potro was not yet 21 years old, and had taken Federer five sets at the French Open, then tuned up for the US by winning the title at Washington DC and reaching the finals at Montreal.
He took out Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, only to fall behind Federer 2-1 in the final. He fought back with incredible tenacity, winning the fourth set 7-6(4) and wiping out the King 6-2 in the fifth to become the first Argentine to take the US Open in 32 years, and the first player ever to beat Federer and Nadal in the same Grand Slam event.
del Potro's overwhelming outpouring of emotion at having won the major makes it all the more enjoyable to watch. Plus, it got him three minutes with Charlie Rose.
Posted to Legends of the Game by
Nick on 9/7/2010 10:34:35 AM | with 0 comments
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