2 Responses to wimbledon88mecir_wilander

1. Voo de Mar says:

   December 25, 2020 at 8:13 am

   Points won by each set: | 45-41, 29-16, 34-21 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   21 % Mecir – 21 of 100
   15 % Wilander – 13 of 86

   More interesting match in retrospect because Wilander [2], who had won Aus Open & French Open that season, after Wimbledon also added US Open to his titles, so finished the best year of his career, and one of the best seasons of the Open Era with a 25-1 record at majors; three matches separated him from the achievement no-one has accomplished since Rod Laver in 1969 – given the 80s & 90s, the Swede was the closest to make a special story… On paper it was a very open quarterfinal; Wilander wasn’t a grass court specialist, neither was Mecir, but Wilander had claimed two Australian Open titles when the event was held at Kooyong, so certainly it was a basis to perceive him as a more probable Wimbledon champion than the Czechoslovak. For the first 65 minutes, up to 1-all (deuce) in the 2nd set, it seemed like a potential epic. Mecir [7] needed as many as 16 deuces in his four service games (saved BPs in three) to avoid being broken in the opener, the 2nd set began with an exchange of breaks. Then Mecir finally found a way to hold easily while Wilander couldn’t hold in five successive games. Just like in the 1st set, Mecir got the only break of the 3rd set leading 4:3. It was their last meeting, Mecir edged 7-4 (adding ECC Antwerp it’s 8-4) dismantling Wilander for the second time in the ‘best of five’ format, previously he had done it in Dallas ’87, winning 6-1, 6-1, 6-3. “He’s just too good for me,” said Wilander after that match. “You never feel like you’re controlling the match. It feels like you’re doing everything you can and it’s still all up to him.”

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   April 17, 2024 at 9:33 pm

   Wilander never won the Wimbledon title in singles, but paradoxically his only major title in doubles was captured there, in 1986 along with Joakim Nystrom (in the quarterfinal they survived an amazing match against K.Flach/Seguso withstanding six match points – 4 in 3rd and 2 in 5th set)

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