2 Responses to daviscup80smid_panatta

1. Voo de Mar says:

   September 29, 2025 at 3:52 pm

   Points won by each set: | 21-30, 22-31, 32-25, 32-27, 29-26 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   26 % Smid – 36 of 134… at 69% of 1st serves in
   26 % Panatta – 38 of 141… at 67% of 1st serves in

   The Czechoslovaks (Czechs in fact) won the trophy already on Saturday, but on paper that tie didn’t have a clear favorite. Admittedly the Czechoslovaks were playing at home, 20-year-old Lendl was becoming the fourth best player in the world beside multiple Slam champions (Borg, McEnroe, Connors), but the Italians brought a huge contingent of supporters to the Czechoslovakian capital, had won the trophy in 1976, and their leader Panatta, having an enormous Davis Cup experience, enjoyed a winning record against Smid (4:3) and Lendl (2:1) before the final, including a Davis Cup ’79 rubber when Lendl lost against him as many successive games as never in his long career after that contest… 24-year-old Smid [23] became a hero of the weekend, surviving very similar five-setters against Panatta [32]; first in singles, then in doubles. The beginning of his classical serve-and-volley clash against Panatta absolutely didn’t indicate it’d be such a successful weekend for Smid, who had suffered stomach cramps a night before – he lost the first two sets rather easily, but as he led 2:1* in the 3rd set, he finally broke his Italian opponent despite 0/40, and from that moment onwards, he began serving much better, not being pushed to ‘deuce’ over two sets as a server. The atmosphere was very tense, there were controversial decisions throughout, one of them occurred at 3-all in the decider: a stretching Smid passed Panatta in the opening point, but the Italians were furious claiming it happened after the second bounce. A six-minute break was required to calm down the Italian team and their vocal supporters in the stands. Panatta lost his timing afterwards, and there were three breaks in a row, ultimately Smid delivered a firm service game, and converted his second match point with an overhead after 3 hours 27 minutes. Kodes, the best Czechoslovak of the 70s, said after the tie about the Italians: “They are crying too much. They didn’t have it so bad. Our big mistake was letting them have 2,000 tickets, because that insured there would be trouble. If we played in Italy, we’d get 25 tickets, period, and that is what we should have given them.”

   CZECHOSLOVAKIA d. ITALY 4-1 in Sportovní Hala, Praha, Czechoslovakia: Carpet (Indoor)
   Tomas Smid (CZE) d. Adriano Panatta (ITA) 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
   Ivan Lendl (CZE) d. Corrado Barazzutti (ITA) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2
   Ivan Lendl / Tomas Smid (CZE) d. Paolo Bertolucci / Adriano Panatta (ITA) 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
   Corrado Barazzutti (ITA) d. Tomas Smid (CZE) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
   Ivan Lendl (CZE) d. Gianni Ocleppo (ITA) 6-3, 6-3

   

   From left: Pavel Složil, Tomáš Šmíd, Antonin Bolardt (captain), Ivan Lendl & Jan Kodeš

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   September 29, 2025 at 3:57 pm

   Czechoslovakian’s route to the title: France 5-0, Romania 4-1, Argentina 3-2, Italy 4-1

   Points:
   7.5 – Ivan Lendl
   4 – Tomáš Šmíd
   2 – Pavel Složil
   0.5 – Jan Kodeš
   0 – Stanislas Birner

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