2 Responses to wb79dupre_panatta.

1. Voo de Mar says:

   December 3, 2025 at 7:53 pm

   Points won by each set: | 30-37, 32-28, 37-43, 39-34, 31-22 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   27 % DuPre – 44 of 158
   30 % Panatta – 54 of 175

   What looked like a route victory for the more accomplished Panatta [19], turned into one of the most interesting matches of Wimbledon ’79, and his ultimate defeat despite a tremendous support of the Italian diaspora living in London, chanting “A-Dria-No!” throughout the quarterfinal. 25-year-old DuPre [37] had never played on Centre Court at Wimbledon, he’d never won a Grand Prix title (0-4 in finals, a few years later would be 0-9 before claiming his maiden title), his best major result? – only the third round at the US Open ’78, therefore at the beginning he seemed like he felt he didn’t belong, overcame by stress he committed six double faults in the opener, trailed 3-6, *0:4, but exactly after an hour of play, he broke for the first time (2:4) and took seven games in a row! A bit disoriented Panatta changed his strategy them, began to deliver faster 1st and 2nd serves which would give him more unreturned serves, but also caused many double faults. The Italian won the 3rd set in the 7/3 tie-break being two points away from losing that set at *4:5, but DuPre was already a different player after two hours, radiating with self-confidence because the English crowd started to cheer for him to counterbalance the Italians. DuPre saved two break points at 1:2 in the 4th set, broke in the following game, and quite shockingly he led 3:0 in the decider with two breaks against the man who was very experienced in playing super dramatic five-setters. Because of that Panatta didn’t show any signs of frustration, decreased the deficit to 3:4* (30/40) after DuPre’s 14th double fault (2 DFs in each set except the first one), but the American struck one of the fastest serves that day, got the fifth game, and converted his third match point in the next game to enjoy the biggest win of his life.

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   December 3, 2025 at 10:14 pm

   ☆ The sensational Wimbledon ’79 semifinalist was born in Belgium as Patrick Du Pré,
   but soon afterwards his family moved to the United States.
   Due to his French surname, throughout his career, three variations of it circulated on tour:
   – Du Pre
   – DuPre
   – Dupre

   He needed to play 23 sets to reach the Wimbledon semifinal (winning 3-2, 3-1, 3-1, 3-2, 3-2 his matches) – more sets than anyone before in the Open Era;
   it’d be equalled by Albert Costa at Roland Garros ’03 (respectively: 3-2, 3-2, 3-2, 3-0, 3-2)

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