Boris Becker will be long remembered for his astonishing
victory in 1985 when he won the Gentlemen's Singles Championship
as an unseeded seventeen-year-old. However, his first Championships
began with the most painful of starts. In 1984, during the
fourth set of his third round match with Bill Scanlon, he
had to be carried from the court with a severe ankle injury
that kept him off court for three months.
When he recovered, Becker quickly re-established himself.
The German was a quarter-finalist in his next Grand Slam
event at the Australian Open, won the Young Masters in January
1985, and at the age of 17 was clearly promising much. His
powerful game, based on a colossal serve, a shuddering overhead
and formidable ground strokes was obviously going to pay
rich dividends on grass. Yet in the French Open in 1985
he defeated the American Vitas Gerulaitis in the first round,
a victory which showed he deserved respect wherever he chose
to play.
Despite winning the title at Queen's Club prior to the
1985 Championships, Becker went into the draw unseeded because
he was ranked just 20th in the world at the time. This did
not reflect his abilities that summer and there was no question
that he deserved a seeded place above quite a number of
those who were afforded that ranking. The only solution
was for Becker to go out and prove it himself in a field
headed by John McEnroe as top seed and the Czech Ivan Lendl
in second place.
Bad weather affected the first week to such an extent that
only one match - won by Lendl - was completed on the first
day and by the sixth day just five men and four women had
advanced to the last 16. When Becker came to that stage,
he played a seed for the second time in the shape of sixteenth
seed, Tim Mayotte of the USA. The German had already beaten
the seventh placed Swede Joakim Nystrom in the second round
but it had been an immense struggle and Becker came through
9-7 in the fifth set after Nystrom had served for the match.
Mayotte, equally, gave him a demanding contest, leading
by two sets to one and holding two match points in the fourth
set tie break. In the third set, Becker had twisted an ankle
and contemplated retiring but, after treatment, was able
to play on and he won in five sets. Becker did not have
to go the full distance again.
The quarter-final saw Becker beat the French left hander
Henri Leconte in four sets and in the Semi-Final he needed
another four sets to beat another Swede, Anders Jarryd.
In the other half of the draw, McEnroe was dismissed in
the quarter finals by Kevin Curren of the USA, the eighth
seed. It would be the the first time since 1978 McEnroe
did not appear anywhere on the roll of champions and did
not play in a final. Curren kept up the pressure to beat
another former champion Jimmy Connors for the loss of only
five games in the semi-final and so the final was produced--Curren,
27, against the 17-year-old Becker.
Boris Becker defeated the South-African born Curren in
the same way he beat other players on the way to the Final.
His powerful serve, his mid-air volleys, and his tireless
chasing all underlined the ambition of the German teenager.
He was too quick, too strong for Curren and won 6-3 6-7
7-6 6-4. His victory meant that a catalogue of records had
been established.
First, Becker was the youngest champion at 17 years, 227
days. Secondly, he was the first German winner, and thirdly
he was the first unseeded player to win. Becker had played
292 games in his seven matches and four times had played
four set matches and twice had five set contests. The fact
that Becker had dropped eight sets on the way had been equalled
only once before by Ted Schroeder in 1949.
Wimbledon had gone to an amazing finale--indeed two days
before the finish there was a memorable thunderstorm in
which one and a half inches of rain fell in 20 minutes.
But the total attendance was the highest ever at 397,983.
The Becker of 1985, standing 6 ft 1 ½ inches and
weighing 173lbs, was to go on to retain the Wimbledon title
in 1986 and win again in 1989. He was runner-up on four
other occasions and played for the 15th and final time in
1999 to complete a career record at the All England Club
of 71 matches won and 12 lost.
Written by Barry Newcombe
