2
Virginia Wade’s Greatest Comeback and Worst Blown Lead
4 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
This is the second installment of our new feature of asking tennis players their greatest comeback and worst blown lead. This week the 1977 Wimbledon champ Virginia Wade shares her memories…
“It’s easy to remember the ones that I lost…I can tell you that first. Well, I had lots of those but I had one in particular against Chris Evert where I was up a set and 5-3 40-15. I managed to lose it. I had a few of those against Chris, Albert Hall in London in Whiteman Cup. Had a perfect shot that I wanted – backhand volley – and sort of…oh, I think also my shoelace [smiles], I mean, it’s great, these excuses. But my shoelace came undone [smiles]. And I sort of lost concentration and never got it back again.”
“My greatest comeback…I had quite a few matches. I think I had one at Wimbledon in my latter years when I was playing. I can’t remember who it was but I wasn’t going to lose to them. I think it might have been my last year or second to last year at Wimbledon. I was losing the match and came back to win it.”
Next week: Vince Spadea
Scoop Malinowski · July 2, 2012 at 12:48 pm
What an inopportune time for a shoelace malfunction. During this fortnight, Evert said on ESPN that she lost to Wade at Wimbledon the year she won and took the loss so hard she stayed in her hotel room for three days.
Michael · July 6, 2012 at 6:50 am
I remember she had a very deep knee bend on her serve and a huge hitch, continental forehand also with a huge hitch and all around unattractive game. The anti-Goolagong as far as on-court style.
I think she also gave Renee Richards some grief (most players did) and she played Richards at the USO in 1977.
Now here is a tangent. I’m always up for a USO tangent. There was so much interest in that Wade-Richards match that they put it on the stadium court. And they put the #1 and #2 seeded men (Connors and Borg) on field courts at the same time.
I saw the Connors match. It was against a guy named Jasjit Singh.
So I googled Singh. (Assuming the web page accurate), turns out he is the only Sikh to have played in all the Grand Slam championships. He made it to #70 ranking. He settled down in NY. And became Tennis Director at Grossinger Hotel of all places.
Scoop Malinowski · July 7, 2012 at 2:31 am
Michael did you take photos all these years you attended the US Open? Even if you didn’t you strike me as a bona fide US Open historian, with a specialty on first week and outer court matches. The film “Renee” mentioned the Wade vs. RR match and showed some clips though they did not mention the score which suggests it might have been a blowout. Saw Wade play in old Team Tennis matches which MSG Network showed last year. A nice player to watch, big swooping, aggressive game, long arms and legs and a nice elegance.
Michael · July 7, 2012 at 5:04 am
Yes, I could tell you some crazy USO stories. Offline.
I didn’t get serious about the photos until many years later but one of the first players I ever took a photo of I think was Rosewall. I wasn’t much of a photographer though. It was the last year Rosewall played there. I would guess it was 76 but I may be off a year. The match was on the Grandstand which was the #2 court. It was really small compared to the Grandstand at Flushing Meadows. Even though like most kids I loved Borg (and Vilas), I always appreciated backhands so I liked Rosewall. (And Trey Walke. And Ramesh Krishnan. And Fibak was a favorite too. And Panatta. There were a lot of good looking backhands back then (many of them a slice or a flat shot) not the generally ugly two-handed thing almost universally in play today.
I never saw the R. Richards movie. I didn’t know about it but I’d like to see it because I remember that period. Did the movie mention Nastase ? Because I remember Nastase stepped up to the plate at that USO and played mixed doubles with her. And Nastase was maybe the only player I’d always watch in any match including mixed. Now I’m looking back with adult eyes but there must have been a lot of locker room noise to not deal with Richards. Nastase basically said F that.