2 Responses to uo79mcenroe_gerulaitis

1. Voo de Mar says:

   August 3, 2020 at 10:24 am

   Points won by each set: | 44-34, 28-21, 35-25 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   20 % McEnroe – 17 of 81
   18 % Gerulaitis – 20 of 106

   The 20-year-old McEnroe won his first major title in his 51st main-level event (seventh major) easier than any other six major titles even though each player he overcame this way or another, made a good career. It’s remarkable that Big Mac got almost two walkovers, and the lone set he lost in the fortnight it was against a great player, but already ‘old’ and slowly leaving the main stage Nastase…
   McEnroe [3] broke Gerulaitis [5] early in every set of the night session encounter; lost his serve once, serving for the 1st set at 5:4 (30/15). “It isn’t every day that two players who live 10 minutes from the Open reach the final,” McEnroe had said. “New Yorkers should appreciate this. It may never happen again. This is the best feeling I ever had in tennis. I volleyed well in the clutch.” McEnroe became the youngest US Open champion at the time, dropping just 52 games under bizarre circumstances: he got one walkover, one player retired against him playing barely three games & one match was almost finished with a disqualification – Nastase was defaulted trailing 1:3 in the 4th set (he lost a penalty game at 1:2), but the tournament director Bill Talbert overruled that decision of the umpire after two minutes & the match was resumed!

   McEnroe’s route to his 12th (maiden major) title:
   1 Pavel Slozil 6-1, 6-2, 6-4
   2 Ilie Nastase 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
   3 John Lloyd w/o
   4 Tom Gorman 6-2, 6-4, 6-1
   Q Eddie Dibbs 2-1 ret.
   S Jimmy Connors 6-3, 6-3, 7-5
   W Vitas Gerulaitis 7-5, 6-3, 6-3

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   September 7, 2024 at 5:03 pm

   After four editions with “the best of three” format in the first three rounds, US Open returned in 1979 to the classical “best of five” format from the first to the last day of the tournament

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