Wimbledon 1985

There were three sensational under-age triumphs in Grand Slam tournaments in the Open era, all occurred in a span of seven years between 1982 and 1989. As I have recently mentioned in two Roland Garros stories, in Paris triumphed teenagers Mats Wilander and Michael Chang, in London it was Boris Becker [20]… Wilander and Chang stunned all spectators and pundits with a mix of extraordinary mental strength (for their age) and astonishing consistency from the back of the court. Becker was a different case on a different surface. The young tall West German (186 cm, grew 4 cm later on) like the Swede and the American, showed tremendous mental resistance, but in contrary to their counter-punch style, at rainy Wimbledon ’85 he demonstrated an uncompromising attacking game, based on strong serve and a unique net coverage – none player before him had been diving at the net with such an efficiency. He had a relatively lucky draw too, because didn’t face the biggest favorites during the fortnight, they were erased by his final opponent – Kevin Curren, who performed unbelievable tennis in back-to-back matches against champions of the previous four years.  Read more…

The four youngest major champions of the Open era:

1. Michael Chang – Roland Garros 1989 – 17 years 3 months 20 days (fifth major)
2. Boris Becker – Wimbledon 1985 – 17 years 7 months 15 days (fourth major)
3. Mats Wilander – Roland Garros 1982 – 17 years 9 months 15 days (third major)
4. Bjorn Borg – Roland Garros 1974 – 18 years 10 days (fifth major)