I had the good fortune to spend time with Arthur Ashe while at UCLA, later when he was on the tour and after he was forced to retire in April 1980 because of continuing heart issues.
In 2011, I wrote a recollection of his epic 1975 Gentlemen’s Singles victory at The Championships. One story was titled “A Landmark Win” … and the same piece appeared online as “Gentleman Ashe Is Smoking Hot”.
In 1968, Ashe won the first US Open Men’s Singles as an amateur, the first African American to do so… Seven years later, he became the first and again the only African American male to claim the trophy at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. In recognition of the 50th Anniversary of his triumph on his July 5th, 1975, here is the feature…
Going into the match, Connors was the heavy favorite. He was at the top of his game and in the six matches leading to the meeting, he hadn’t lost a set. His closest encounter was in the second round when Vijay Amritraj pushed him 9-8, 6-0, 8-6. Ashe, though having played well that spring, was on the downside of his career. His path to the final was rougher than Connors’, dropping sets to Bob Hewitt in the first round; Graham Stilwell in the fourth and Bjorn Borg in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals, he survived a 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, 8-9, 6-4 test with the No. 16 seed, Tony Roche, who had upset Ken Rosewall, seeded second, earlier in The Championships.
The 1975 Gentlemen’s final pitted the brash, abrasive and sometimes uncouth defending champion and No.1 seed, Jimmy Connors, against Arthur Ashe, seeded sixth and tennis’ ultimate gentleman. It proved to be one of Wimbledon’s greatest finals.
In his book, “The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century”, Steve Flink recalls that at breakfast the morning of the Connors contest, Ashe told his friend, Dr. Doug Stein, that he had the feeling he couldn’t lose.
The reason was a strategy that had been refined at dinner the night before with Donald Dell, Charlie Pasarell, Marty Riessen and Fred McNair. Ashe had called former Davis Cup captain Dennis Ralston, and they made a list of things to concentrate on. At dinner, the list was amended and Ashe left with five or six key points written on a piece of paper that he looked at on the changeovers during the match.
For the first time in their career meetings, Ashe did not try to outhit Connors. He often hooked his serve wide to the two-handed backhand of the left-handed Connors on the deuce court. Ashe also took pace off his own pounding, often error-producing ground strokes. More importantly, Ashe exploited Connors’ weakness – the low forehand. Time and again he caressed a shot that forced Connors to dig a reply out of the turf.
“What was fascinating was there had been a gradual evolution in Arthur’s game over two to three years,” Flink notes. “Instead of going for broke on almost every shot, he returned to basics and became more selective. Still, the notion of Arthur poking, chipping returns, and hitting underspin forehands was startling.”
Ashe did not just create the game plan, he stuck to it superbly, winning the first two sets 6-1, 6-1. Connors, a player renowned for his never-say-die attitude was not prepared to give his title up easily and took the third set, 7-5.
Connors then went up an early break in the fourth to lead 3-0 and it looked as though the reigning champion would force a deciding set. However, as Fink recalls: “Arthur said at that point he questioned sticking with his plan or begin hitting with more pace. He decided to continue doing what had given him the first two sets. While it was worrisome to be down 3-0, it was only one service break. I think he made a wise choice. I also think he was very wise slicing his serve wide from the deuce court. (John) Newcombe had done it defeating Jimmy in the Australian Open that year. Arthur’s short, wide, hooking serve left Jimmy helpless.”
Ashe won six out of the next seven games, to take the final set 6-4 and become the first black male to win the Gentlemen’s Singles Championship at Wimbledon.
The photos accompanying this article have been added. Title photo of Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe by PA Images