1983 U S Open - Scanlon vs McEnroe #4

Part 3 and it's Scanlon leading McEnroe, 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 5-3.

[@vandrive5687]

Scanlon’s clever responses in his post-match on court interview were characteristic of his own brattiness. Nevertheless he had an impeccable work ethic and character of which he carried right into his post tennis business career where he also flourished and matured into a true gentleman. RIP Bill (1956-2021)!👊🙏😇🌅

[@Arturo-sm1tb]

I am so sorry for Bill's passing. Scanlon and Mac were long time, old rivals going back to juniors in the mid 70s..

[@theenglishalpinist5031]

i didn't see any brattiness from Scanlon, he was just honest, Mac had a bad day. It was interesting when asked 'can you beat anyone?' he was only able to say 'he was able to beat Mac today', a sign he lacked the belief to go all the way to win the tournament, which is probably why he was a top 20 player and an 'upsetter' but never near being a grand slam champion. Connors saw him off in this toujrnament i believe.

[@Arturo-sm1tb]

What a great find. How many people remember this upset? Mac had some interesting matches in 1983, Chris Lewis at Wimbledon another one. Great to see this after all these years. But lets remember, Billy was considered a better player than Mac in the juniors, more potential. He played Mac many, many times in juniors. and he had a better Juniors career. It must have been really diffucult for Scanlon to see Mac become World Number One, when for som many years he beat him consistently as a junior.

[@naysayer1238]

Wouldn't that be not that remarkable since he was more than two full years older than Mac?

[@user-jv9qz2bu1r]

I am happy for Scanlan - to play the match off his life before a sell-out crowd. Clutch performance from a "journeyman" player who had loads of talent.

[@americanpatriot7233]

i wouldnt call it the match of his life he had beaten mcenroe before this match so it wasnt the first time he had beaten mcenroe

[@user-jv9qz2bu1r]

@@americanpatriot7233 well he played a Golden Set where he lost not a single point which is a feat few have accomplished. But beating Mac in the US Open, before a packed crowd, on national TV ... why don't we ask Scanlon if this is the match of his life?

[@americanpatriot7233]

@@user-jv9qz2bu1r once again he had beaten mcenroe before this match so he knew how to playmcenroe it wasnt the match of his life since he had already beaten mcenroe before this you moron

[@americanpatriot7233]

@@vandrive5687 yeah thats why i wouldnt call this the match of his life, he beat the greats and he beat mccenroe more than once proving it wasnt a fluke

[@vandrive5687]

He also beat Borg, Lendl, Becker, Wilander, Agassi, Năstase, Cash, Vilas, Gerulaitis, and Stan Smith and peaked @ #9 in the world. “Journeyman?!?!” Hardly!

[@jeffrey3498]

I think I understand McEnroe’s game better. The looser strings allow Mac to expend much less effort producing his shots. It’s like he’s always holding back as much as possible and letting the racket/ loose string combo produce the power.

[@uncletony6210]

the looser strings also kept the ball on the strings a fraction of a second longer giving him more feel.

[@phadley78tube]

The day that David Hasselhoff stunned the tennis world beating John McEnroe at the 1983 U.S Open.

[@tedibair]

tenniscollector - Very enjoyable upload. Great to see SuperBrat beaten! Thanks for taking the time to edit these clips. I would like to take this opportunity to ask the Viewers a question... The Second clip only had 111 Views - The third 99... What happened to the 1188 and the 1206 Viewers who watched the first and fourth clips and whom stated how the modern tennis is boring and how great 'old' tennis was? Why didnt they watch clips 2 and 3? Just a question...

[@tenniscollector]

thanks. It's because Part 2 and 3 had been re-edited by me to put more of the tennis action. The upload date was September 30 (hence the changes) while Part 1 and 4 was September 6. The original Part 2 was removed by me. Hope that answers the question. OLD TIMES THEY R NOT FORGOTTEN...

[@GMiltown]

Thank you so much for this.

[@tenniscollector]

my pleasure. Hopefully some day someone out there will put up All of this match, all 3 hours and 44 mins and in 4:3 resolution please, LOL.

[@tenniscollector]

Anyone out there know what was Scanlon's beef with McEnroe or Mac's beef with Scanlon ?

[@benoit230867]

Jealousy

[@tenniscollector]

thanks. I wasn't aware Scanlon wrote a biography. If my memory serves me well, John was already in a foul mood going into this match with the tournament director because he had played a third round singles game on the first Sunday against Van Patten and found he was required to play again the next day - Labor Day Monday. Normally the players have a days rest up until the semifinals at the U S Open championship.

[@tenniscollector]

How long ago did he write his autobiography? Yeah Bill played some inspired and high quality tennis with his wins over McEnroe and Chris Lewis, both 1983 Wimbledon finalists and Pat Cash who won Wimbledon 1987, before he lost to Jimmy in the sf. I think John was also playing the doubles at the Open and therefore I can understand his dissatisfaction with tournament director and the scheduling (ie playing two singles on consecutive days).

[@juanjeremy2012]

i remember this . what a humiliating loss, he did it with a wood racket too

[@vandrive5687]

Likely didn’t surprise Mac though as Scanlon had beaten him before along with virtually all the other top players on tour in the ‘70’s & ‘80’s. Two months prior Mac squeaked by Scanlon 7-5, 7-6, 7-6 en route to his Wimbledon triumph.

[@LolaK]

Super thanks

[@GMiltown]

it is worth noting that after this match: 125-5 from the rest of 1983, all of 1984, until Chicago in 1985. I doubt any male player in history has won that matches to just 5 losses.

[@bonhamhouse1169]

And he simply pushed and chipped the backhand all day.

[@or31wa21]

That fact makes this loss all the more odd. Add to it the fact mcenroe had won Wimbledon fairly convincingly a couple months earlier. So he had been playing well. Also Connors destroyed scanlon in a later round. So it wasn't like Scanlon was playing out of his mind tennis.

[@fundhund62]

@@or31wa21 Scanlon just didn't suit Mac's game too well. He took time away from him at the net by going over the ball, something the power players would build on a couple of years later. And he couldn't stand McEnroe and layed his heart and soul on the line every time they played. He also had McEnroe down a couple of match points in Dallas 1982, but couldn't convert.

[@luckyluke3456]

Connors was a better player then Mac overall.

[@vandrive5687]

@@or31wa21: En route to his Wimbledon triumph 2mos earlier Mac narrowly beat Scanlon 7-5, 7-6, 7-6. Scanlon had been up a break in the first set and had set points in the following two sets.

[@antoniohernandez478]

So graceful tennis this legend can produce...today's goat are so boring to watch searing the backcourt with heavy groundstrokes for 30 plus rallies or one stroke aces...nothing else. These new breed don't play in attacking mode like Johnny Mac did.

[@Radnally]

Never understood johns strategy until i read "Winning Ugly" by Brad Gilbert.

[@rjwalker4153]

That was a good book. I couldn't put it down when I read it. He showed how important strategy was by beating lot's of players more talented than himself. He knew how to find a weakness in most players and would only play to that, then keep the ball away from their strength. It didn't work against though, because Lendl had no weakness.

[@lzv6990]

@@rjwalker4153 Gilbert wasn’t good enough or had enough power to exploit Lendl. He barely did vs McEnroe, as he beat him only once. You had to rush Lendl, eg. Pat Cash to beat him.

[@luckyluke3456]

Until 1987 hè couldn’t beat Connors.

[@vandrive5687]

@@rjwalker4153: Lendl didn’t volley as well as the other top players of his generation.

[@Logans3Run]

There are those that were surprised at this result but Bill was a great player and much more was expected of him, throughout his career. Being a very talented junior, with huge expectations for the seniors, only works out for a few, who go on to reach the top of the game. ...Like John...

[@travb705]

In some ways McEnroe became what Scanlon was expected to be. The next great American player after Connors. NCAA champ as a sophomore. Amazing hands. Always matched up well with McEnroe. Watched him in person a few times and his volleys and half volleys were so good. The match they played at Wimbledon earlier in 83 -- 75 76 76 for McEnroe -- was filled with great points.

[@DjangoThunders]

A class act for sure, I like when they ask if he could beat the best, and he says I beat Mac today!

[@jamesasali9233]

Who is the third guy in the booth with Newcombe and Summerall?

[@tyrone1544]

Me.

[@theoriginalthinker9199]

Scanlon certainly didn't come off as the most humble guy in the world after this interview

[@jakespivey3716]

no love lost here I guess

[@miguelbarahona6636]

I really liked the interview, Scanlon seems a funny guy.

[@jasonzaremba4551]

Thats because he KNEW McEnroes head games and what he would do to win a match ! As much as I loved and was a huge Mac fan ....the guy was the biggest prick in the game !!! Conceded , Arrogant , Punk !!! Worse than Connors !! Always acted very entitled

[@miguelbarahona6636]

@@jasonzaremba4551 Mac aimed directly at Scanlon 3 times, at least, while Bill was at the net, and hit him once. I love Mcenroe, but I loved Scanlon winning this match.

[@travb705]

@@jasonzaremba4551 McEnroe took shots at Scanlon in both of his books. His big objection was that Scanlon had the gall to talk to the chair umpire when Mac was complaining about calls. Like he was supposed to sit back and let McEnroe intimidate the chair!! Laughable. I loved this match. Great to see a former prodigy who had been written off raise his game in a big moment against a rival.

[@john-boy4283]

Everything smaller back then, the small heads on the racquets and the short shorts

[@stef1074]

Bill Scanlon fully deserved to win this match. Mc Enroe's behaviour is so arrogant and unberable. Scanlon had a lot of talent

[@73edg]

And yet, he won zero major tournaments….

[@WelshKnight1066]

You can still have talent and not win a major. In 1982, McEnroe finished #1 not having won a major that year.

[@stephenstephen1505]

No picture on this part of match - pity

[@ripperduck]

mcenroe had all of the muscle tone of a 14 year old girl....

[@sco3putt]

ripperduck except for his legs. They were big and powerful

[@theoparfin2219]

@@sco3putt muscles are overrated... u need flexibility, coordination and technique

[@americanpatriot7233]

too much muscle is bad in tennis, muscle takes away speed and flexibility which are important in tennis

[@vandrive5687]

...and the hand-eye coordination of God.

[@ceb7894]

Scanlon had wins over McEnroe - especially when he first came on tour.... that likely effected John some in this match and Scanlon had very solid volleys.... and good talent and mind to back it up. He should have done more with his tennis career. Also, they obviously did not like each other . McEnroe relies so much on his talent to win matches... not much technique on his ground strokes - mostly timing and hustle .... he knew he was better than virtually all the other players given enough time in a match his talent and his strong mind (he is very intelligent and gritty) would come through - he likely did not feel he would lose this match until the last point.

[@tenniscollector]

they did not say that McEnroe was disadvantaged by not having a days rest and played his third round the previous day McEnroe defeats Vince Van Patten 61 62 61.

[@bpm5403]

I went to and played high school tennis with Scanlon in Richardson, TX. He was the best player around but was always kind of a punk and a weasel. When I was watching this vid I thought maybe he'd changed but then the interview started and the old Bill came out again. Too bad because he had tons of talent.

[@chrismanteris9093]

do you know if he had a brother named 'flip' scanlon?

[@bpm5403]

Younger brother named John.

[@AlexanderGr8]

I’m a Mac fan but that interview at the end was a classic. I feel like I can beat McEnroe today was the cat that got the cream 🙂

[@rockwilliams457]

@@chrismanteris9093 Yes, he had an older half brother named Flip...from his dad's first marriage ...

[@chrismanteris9093]

@@rockwilliams457flip used to play at caswell in austin in the 80s . was a very good player but not pro caliber. he too had an interesting personality as i recall. i remember once i aced him in doubles

[@jean-lucbereda1155]

J'ai vu jouer Bill Scanlon. Il était tellement fauché qu'il ne lavait pas ses tee-shirts....

[@jrichman21]

Bill Scanlon RIP

[@tenniscollector]

sorry to read that.

[@tyrone1544]

He’s dead? Did he get murdered in prison?

[@SoSick1324]

Just found out i was related to him today…. Did some research on my last name.

[@tyrone1544]

What a shame you found out after turning 70. You’ll be dead really soon.

[@gturcott1]

No humility bill

[@carlosguillem5832]

Mac enroe dirty player

[@rafaelperezgarcia5969]

Iam surprise they drink Coke cola

[@tyrone1544]

Why?