Roland Garros 1983

The tournament of a great hope for the American tennis: Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe were seeded with two highest numbers, and one of them was expected to get the first title for the United States since 1955. Both left-handed Yankees had very bad day in quarterfinals (McEnroe actually was struggling the whole tournament with his temper), especially Connors’ loss to Christophe Roger-Vasselin (father of a current player – Edouard) was sensational. Roger-Vasselin has been since then one of very few players to get a major semifinal not winning a tournament during his career. After the elimination of the Americans, Mats Wilander (he was threatened of kidnap by an Armenian citizen in the first week of the tournament) was the main title contender but was stunned in the final by Yannick Noah, who became the first French champion in 37 years. Noah up to this day remains the last French Open champion who got the title with attacking attitude. Read more…