1976 US Open Highlights

[@ag358]

Connors,having won the most singles titles of any man in the open era with 109, also won the most matches of any man with a 92% win percentage. He also was the only man to win the US. Open on 3 different surfaces grass,clay,hard court( they changed surfaces to 3 surfaces in the late 70s.

[@Picklejam08]

Actually, Connors win percentage is 81.8% and not 92 as you claim. His most matches record will fall.... Federer only needs 30 some more match wins to pass Connors 1274. However, Connors will probably keep tourney victories record with 109. Federer has 103, and I doubt he can win 7 more as he is 39 years old.

[@zelmoziggy]

@@Picklejam08I am here from the future to inform you that Federer didn’t win another match.

[@Summon256]

@@zelmoziggy And the man aiming at Connors' record now is Novak Djokovic instead...LOL

[@zelmoziggy]

@@Summon256 And then he can go after Laver's all-time record of 198.

[@MrBjorn6]

​@@zelmoziggythat's going to be tough. After Connors maybe Chris Evert at 155!!

[@hangarby10]

Interesting video that captured profesional tennis during that era. Noticed how during Borg’s press interview that he didn’t even mention the “Australian Open” as one of the important tournaments for him.

[@sentimentalbloke185]

Borg only played once at the AO when he was 17 & had an on court meltdown, losing in an early round. At that time the tournament had lost some prestige as many of the high-ranked players shunned it; it was usually played at Xmas-New Year when players wanted to be home with family. This situation wasn't altered until the mid 1980s when they were threatened with losing the GS status.

[@purplebondsaiyan2987]

love these Highlights 70s classic in Particular in Clay which started the Year Prior in 1975 at Forest Hills only 2 more years before they moved it to Flushing Medows and Chrissie and Evonne at their Best and Ilie Crazy as he can be and Connors at his Best and Borg at

[@christianalzmann4327]

Nastase at 11:55 threw a ball at an official. Crazy how fast he’d be ejected for that today.

[@TheVerbalVolley]

Evonne, although a tremendous and popular champion, could be a mobile disaster as well. Some of her losses in the Grand Slam finals were among the worst in Grand Slam history. Her 1975 loss to Billie Jean King in the Wimbledon final by the score of 6/0, 6/1 was one of the 3 worst performances in the long history of the women's tournament. And her loss to Chrissie at the 1976 US Open by the score of 6/3, 6/0, was one of the three most lop-sided matches in US Championship history. And yet she also played some of the most exciting finals ever at Grand Slams as well. Her 3/6,6/3,7/5 loss to Billie Jean in the US Open in 1974 was among the five greatest women's matches in history, and her 6/3,4/6,8/6 loss to Chrissie at the 1976 Wimbledon final was a classic as well. How lucky we all are to have seen Evonne play during our lifetime.

[@Dbdbe1]

And a lovely person as well.

[@TheVerbalVolley]

+Dbdbe1 - Amen to that! My Uncle was a NYC police detective, assigned to protect the players as they walked to the court back in the 1970s, when the Open was still at Forest Hills. He said that Evonne Goolagong was not only the most beautiful tennis player he had ever seen, but the most beautiful woman he had ever met...PERIOD. And he said that she was extremely friendly. She would talk to him, smile and laugh as he escorted her to the court.

[@Dbdbe1]

Ah, I'm so happy to hear that. My impression was formed simply from the way she conducted herself on the court, and through her commentary. So it's excellent to hear that this is actually true in real life. The most famous Aussie I've got to meet up close was Kylie Minogue, and I have to say she was very gracious.

[@denisecasalino9295]

1975 Wimbledon. She just eloped and Mr Edwards was an ass about it. 1976 US Open mr Edwards served her with papers and she was pregnant.

[@johnhughes8466]

She was a world class tennis player who won many grand slam events! You just cant win em all! And her demeanor was beautiful too! A superb tennis player!

[@mr.limbismusic970]

What Nastase does at the 11:55 mark on this video is WAY worse than what Djokovic did at the US Open this year and I don’t think he even received a warning.

[@robertedwardn]

I don’t know about that. The lines woman was hit in the throat and collapsed to the court. Nastase just bounced a ball off the linesman’s chest.

[@Arturo-sm1tb]

way worse? The woman got hit in the eye from a hard volley. Yes, he should have received a warning. A different era. They were afraid of defaulting players drawing the fans...

[@tomloft2000]

next time call him MISTER Nastase.

[@mr.limbismusic970]

@@tomloft2000 moving forward he is Mister:) is Djokovic also a Mister? Want to stay consistent.

[@suatkayatennis]

Amazing video

[@mikem9252]

vilas was ripped -- crap! connors was a hawk and very motivated - chip on his shoulder - was unstoppable these 2 weeks

[@paulrogers7067]

The champ should have won at least 10 grand slams. He knows it to

[@martyn26.2]

Notice Borg said this is the only one I haven't won. A lot of players by then were not classing the Australian as a big one. And to prove it many didn't play it by then.

[@kinomusic9110]

....and the big champions all regret it when they look at their grand slam count today

[@martyn26.2]

@@kinomusic9110 Well, Borg was stating the truth to the big players as it was then. The Australian was not rated as a biggie. I don't think the big players regret it now. After all is it their fault that 'tennis experts' in the media don't know the history of their own sport? Furthermore, some of these people should know better, like here in the UK with Andrew Castle.

[@kinomusic9110]

@@martyn26.2 I know. With hindsight they wished they had played the Aussie. Connors certainly does.

[@martyn26.2]

@@kinomusic9110 Do you know about Borg and Mac on this?

[@kinomusic9110]

@@martyn26.2 don't know about Borg, but McEnroe has said several times he wished he started playing the Aussie Open earlier.

[@BTURNER1961]

Here are Evert's scores. 2R def. Greer Stevens 6-1, 6-0; 3R def. Glynis Coles 6-0, 6-0; 4R def. Sue Barker [9] 6-1, 6-0; QF def. Natasha Chmyreva 6-1, 6-2; SF def. Mima Jausovec 6-3, 6-1; F def. Evonne Goolagong Cawley [2] 6-3, 6-0. In 12 sets played, only three times did Chris lose more than one game.

[@zeddeka]

Interesting that Borg says the US Open is the only major tournament he hasn't won. Of course, he never won the Australian open either - but up until around 1982 or so, the Australian Open really was the poor relation. Very few of the major players took part

[@dansmith9724]

1983 the elite players came out, Mac, Lendl, Connors etc. Wilander won the last grass aussie open.

[@Picklejam08]

Australian open was a dump of a tournament back in those days. It was also scheduled as the last grand slam of the year back then, and it was also a very loooong trip to take at the end of a grueling tennis year. The cost was a lot, for players who didn’t make big money then, and the marquee names only went if they would be going for a Grand Slam year (all four) and their arch rivals would go to stop them. But annual GS season are rare... so nobody went to Australia.

[@dansmith9724]

@@Picklejam08 agree, it was a good move changing dates and venue/surface. I think 1977 the Aus open was played in Jan and again in dec 1977 to change it to the end of the year which is why there is 2 winners in 1977. December 86 they had no open but jan 87 was when it recommenced at the beginning of the year. I always thought it would be good to have a grass court season in Australia as there werent many grass tournaments left. It left grass court specialists struggling compared to clay courters who could just play clay all year and get ranked in the top20 without ever playing on another surface. Do you remember Australia had an indoor series that attracted better players than the grass season. Usually around October they had the Brisbane indoor followed by Sydney Indoor and occassionally a 3rd tournament in Melbourne.

[@iliastsouktakos604]

@@dansmith9724 I agree, Australian Open should be played on grass..... nowadays it even would be more human and natural given the extreme temperatures on synthetic surfaces

[@petermcgill1315]

I was torn because I was a Connors fan, but knew Borg wouldn’t return to Oz unless he was going to put a Grand Slam together. We were the last one of the year. Not much in the way of prize money and a bit of a trip, as we say. Back in the day, my mates and I used to sneak into the Oz Open; get off at the railway station and then cross the lines into the practice courts... Ah, those were the days. Hank Pfister booming them down on the outside courts. The wonderful Billy Scanlon and the Swedish team with Elizabeth Ekblom... wonderful times.

[@andrewbaroch2141]

I remember lending Connors my steel racquet in exchange for a date with Chrissie.

[@aglom69]

I was there!

[@michaelhegyan7464]

I once hit with that racquet..when I was in the competitive program..and I still don't know how, Connors was able to keep a heavy pace on the ball, let alone..keep in play..

[@hardsam68]

same with Connors

[@mikem9252]

brilliant shot @ 20:16

[@sheezamann2724]

so....if chris evert won the US open on clay 3 times and the french 7 times...she actually has 10 clay court grand slam titles.......matches nadal????

[@Arturo-sm1tb]

not any more!

[@hardsam68]

The Ugliest Court ever, On Clay tailor made for Evert

[@Arturo-sm1tb]

Borg should have won this one for sure. He was so young and made key mistakes. Too tentative, not aggressive enough against Jimmy in these years. Just watch his swansong match in 1981 at Flushing Meadows against Jimmy and note the 180 in Borg's attitude and aggression. 1981 saw Bjorn destroy Jimmy like no one else had done for many years.

[@Ruda-n4h]

Yes that should have been his year - playing on clay and set points for a 2 sets to 1 lead.

[@6u4p0AR]

GUILLERMO VILAS

[@briangottfried8533]

Oui demi finaliste face à Connors,24 ans tout les deux, à l'époque

[@ADAMSIXTIES]

23:46 "You're $30,000 richer". Big wow!

[@gregoryphillips3969]

In 1976 30 000 dollars was a big deal

[@marianpalko2531]

14:37

[@briangottfried8533]

Roscoe Tanner

[@hardsam68]

evonne was pregnant

[@maxipazz8214]

Chris has said that evonne was pregnant

[@TheVerbalVolley]

The tennis surface (Har-Tru) was the ugliest color and surface for a court in tennis history. It showed every slide of the players, and was not "smoothed out". Thankfully, it was only the official surface of the US Open for three years (1975-1977).

[@andrewbaroch2141]

Chrissie and I were dating at the time. I remember her binging on sauerkraut.

[@hardsam68]

that would have to be the ugliest Grand Slam Tennis court in thew history of the game

[@ヒデ-y2d]

ふ

[@bim-ska-la-bim4433]

It's unreal to see how little pace these players hit with - serves, groundstrokes - they'd get eaten alive today.

[@robertedwardn]

You’re wrong. It only appears like that. The fact is they had overpowering shot making.

[@johnhughes8466]

Talkin shite!

[@JGldmn333]

Jimmy Conners did NOT hit lightly. On the contrary ..he had a lot of power. It's just nullified a lot on clay. You are stupid.