Arthur Ashe Discusses The Tactics Used to Beat Jimmy Connors At Wimbledon | The Dick Cavett Show

Arthur Ashe discusses some of the tactics he used when playing Jimmy Connors at the 1975 Wimbledon mens singles final.
Date aired - December 3rd 1980 - Arthur Ashe
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Dick Cavett has been nominated for eleven Emmy awards (the most recent in 2012 for the HBO special, Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again), and won three. Spanning five decades, Dick Cavett’s television career has defined excellence in the interview format. He started at ABC in 1968, and also enjoyed success on PBS, USA, and CNBC.

His most recent television successes were the September 2014 PBS special, Dick Cavett’s Watergate, followed April 2015 by Dick Cavett’s Vietnam. He has appeared in movies, tv specials, tv commercials, and several Broadway plays. He starred in an off-Broadway production ofHellman v. McCarthy in 2014 and reprised the role at Theatre 40 in LA February 2015.

Cavett has published four books beginning with Cavett (1974) and Eye on Cavett (1983), co-authored with Christopher Porterfield. His two recent books -- Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, and Off-Screen Secrets (2010) and Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic moments, and Assorted Hijinks(October 2014) are both collections of his online opinion column, written for The New York Times since 2007. Additionally, he has written for The New Yorker, TV Guide, Vanity Fair, and elsewhere.
#thedickcavettshow #ArthurAshe #tennis #Wimbledon

[@TheDickCavettShow]

Want to see more of Arthur Ashe on the Dick Cavett Show? Here he discusses the importance of knowing your dominant hand, leg and eyes when playing tennis! kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHucop19fZaBoaM

[@bh5606]

Arthur Ashe was/is probably the classiest guy who ever played any professional sport. I cried when I heard he passed away.

[@antonboludo8886]

Yes, he died in a most unfortunate manner.

[@garywright9715]

An amazing man, could listen to him being interviewed for hours. I do remember a quote he said about Jimmy Connors as they had differences about the tour. It went something like this, Connors is an asshole, but he’s my favorite asshole.

[@noelelikemnicodemus8039]

I only discovered him 3 months ago , and boy do I love him.

[@iaindunworth3008]

Met Arthur Ashe @ Wimbledon whilst in the British Army working as a steward on the centre court stadium. He was asking what regiment I was in, how long I had been in the army etc etc. A truly class guy!!!....I did tell him Connors was my idol though...he let out a big laugh and said " and I thought you were a good guy!!!". Still remember it after all these years....a topman & legend.

[@brachiator1]

I am not a big tennis fan, but this was one of the most interesting discussions about tactics that I have ever heard. You rarely hear tennis analysts talking with such insight during matches. I also liked how he compared tennis tactics to other sports, which helps the viewer to follow what he is saying.

[@sibengerard1856]

his intelligence is outstanding.

[@Gardosunron]

Tennis in it's purist form is all about tactics.It's just that you run out of energy executing those tactics.

[@laurischlesinger6326]

You rarely hear an Arthur Ashe.

[@wreckanchor]

Total class. We miss you Arthur

[@TrevorHoneyball]

I have never heard the tactics of tennis discussed in this way 👏👏

[@jeffreymacintyre2711]

as a 14 yr old in 1979, I loved watching Eddie Dibbs and Harold Solomon due to their shorter height and playing style. As a freshman in HS, I played varsity and was only 5 foot 1 inch. My opponents would smirk when they saw me, but soon realized they were about to get beat. they weren't laughing after they lost

[@willminkorea2010]

Early-mid 1970's were a great time for men's tennis with Ashe, Connors, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Bjorn Borg and others providing star power.

[@mirazusta2002]

Yes! You are absolutelt right, and among those other stars you mention it was Ilie Nastase too, another great tennis player from that era, he played Arthur Ashe at Forest Hills, WoW!! they both played at an unbelievable pace, and hitting the ball real hard. I strongly recommend you to have a look at the highlights of that match on KZbin, the way they play, going back and forth from the baseline to the net is out of this world, simply outstanding.

[@elvisparker4691]

Along with Tull, Skynyrd, Kiss, Rush, Neil Young ...

[@thewholecity]

Arthur Ashe was a completely straight up chilled and solid man and this interview proves it.

[@lucypearl9216]

One of the greatest who ever lived!!

[@sonnymacklin5269]

Great guy, Mr Ashe. Favorite line I once read he said about Connors was when he was retired and rooting for Coonors. His friend says, 'I thought you said he was an A-hole.' Arthur calmly retorts, 'He is but he's my favorite A-hole.... Arthur= CLASS

[@chowchichang2922]

What an intriguing person Arthur was . Really intelligent !

[@mikemcneeley1580]

Arthur Ash was a Great man in so many ways. He treated everyone as an equal.

[@Archer335]

Brilliant guy. Makes me want to start watching tennis tournaments.

[@MrLive2win]

Mr. Ashe shows us that Tennis is a cerebral game as much as a physical one. So important to win down the middle, as he said.

[@vgr112261]

It used to be.

[@shantelafia4462]

Such an intelligent person. He literally studies every aspect of his craft.

[@nataliedelagrandiere4022]

I remember seeing him play in the French Open in Paris. He was an elegant player.

[@jacobthompson1097]

That's amazing. How did he compare to today's players?

[@txmetalhead82xk]

Arthur Ashe moved very gracefully on the court. He mostly served and volleyed, however, his ground strokes could beat a player, too. His backhand was sensational.

[@zingzangspillip1]

A great tennis player, and a great man. He could have done so much more had he lived longer.

[@DonQuickZote]

Him and Carl Sagan who passed a few years later. Both in my top 10 heroes.

[@jazz19101]

Great interview. Too bad there are no more talks shows like Dick Cavett! He was brilliant and Arthur Ashe was brilliant. Just shows you that you can beat someone who has better technique and can hit the ball much harder than you if you outsmart them.

[@Autism101]

Such a pleasure to hear thoughtful tennis questions, and Arthur's brilliant mind giving us an inside look at how he thinks about the game. Great stuff! 💛

[@dm1927]

We lost this man to soon 🙏

[@namastemcl]

He was a brilliant tennis player and a gentleman who left us way too soon.

[@ericfreeman5795]

With all do respect to today's top players, it's so refreshing to see an interview with such an intelligent and articulate athlete. With all fairness, though, Ashe is 37 at this interview, having a lot more maturity on his side. Sometimes we demand to much of a young 18 or 20 year old phenom, demanding they be as engaging during their post-match interviews. But Ashe was always a class act, as was Stan Smith, Rod Laver, and Ken Rosewall, and so many others from back then.

[@txmetalhead82xk]

Top greatest tennis champion in the world, Arthur Ashe. Brilliant tactician, intelligence and deadly accuracy. RIP

[@terencewinters2154]

AA was an intellectual athlete and a military officer. He is also right about controling the center. Including in chess.

[@terencewinters2154]

@Yurt Dweller ashes career started in 1961 he won 3 major slams in singles some reasons his career suffered were 1 military service and not a very strong frame. He won 76 singles titles led the davis cup team and entered an aussie dominant era. As for Connors - Connors hit with more pace on his ground strokes used passing shots the were overpowering to most people of the era. And he kept ashe off his ace and seldom lobbed where ashes height at net could dominate. So while the ashe interview has a correct strategic value for a bigger serve and volleyer it did not work against Connors return of service. Additionally by the time connors showed up in the mid 70s Ashe was past prime. They were two ships passing in the night of ashes career and connors macenroes gerulaitus dawn.. furthermore the 1983 bypass surgery showed a certain weakness there . Unfortunately it killed him by the aids transfusion. Ashe was an intelligent gentleman player who wrote books for which he maybe better known . Great champion greater human being.

[@jerryoshea3116]

Arthur Ashe was a tremendous Tennis player and a fascinating and charismatic man..He also got involved with ",Civil rights"but for the right reasons and maintained his fairness and integrity..

[@flyingfrogofdeath9616]

You say that like there's a wrong way to get involved with '"Civil rights"'

[@jerryoshea3116]

@@flyingfrogofdeath9616 Well I think he did it because he cared about "Human rights" &not about establishing a specific Political platform for himself&to further his Political career& ambitions !.Because this is what many of these Politicians do&are after,and the same can be said for the Celebs,if their Acting Career is lagging&slipping away,let's attend some kind of Political Rally to remind the"Paying Public" we're still around&are for hire!

[@alberts2208]

That was Ashe's 1 win against Connors in 7 tries. Not an easy to pull off. Ashe lost the next 3 matches against Connors after that win. That was Wimbledon. That 1 win meant more than those other losses.

[@johnconway3834]

I'm pretty sure a win ALWAYS means more than a loss!

[@vgr112261]

Great man. RIP.

[@OnochieAfigbo]

Great interview!!!

[@AndrewJohnson-on7oh]

The first Wimbledon final that I remember watching. Ash v Connors. The best man won. Totally dignified in victory, and in interviews afterwards. Lots of modern sportspeople could learn a lot from listening to Arthur Ash.

[@lonewave1]

Being a Connors fan and watching this match was at first frustrating and then a lesson about the game and strategy. Arthur does a fine job explaining his approach to Connors and I don't disagree at all with what he said. The main thing I realize that was important that Arthur was doing was varying the pace and using much more slicing of the ball and slowing the tempo down. Connors like many after him were guys who loved the pace being fast. If you thought you were gonna beat him or them with a harder pace, you were sorely mistaken. Arthur knew this and like I said was a master at throwing Jimbo off his game and therefore winning the match. Now it would be up to Jimmy to figure out if another guy might do the same to him and what should his tactic now be. One last thing Arthur Ashe was one heckuv a player and a classy guy. Always loved to hear him talk about tennis and other issues as well. What a fantastic human being!

[@ianperry8860]

Very intelligent man.

[@KingCast65]

Thanks so much for this. I've met Arthur and Mac but not Jimmy or Bjorn.

[@jaefox2792]

Pure Genius

[@sivabala5232]

Very interesting indeed

[@garygill9322]

This is the first time I heard Mr Arthur Ashe speak, I did not know he was this intelligent. But I am sure my nemesis on the tennis court heard him before because he gave me no pace and had the perfect counter to my big game. He gave me junk and had a 90% win rate against me. On my perfect day he had no answer because he could not handle my game, but tennis is a game of percentages...high risk does not pay off consistently.

[@tracyclark7560]

love Dick Cavett Show. Was on my way out of mall, and had done great (no shopping) until passed bin of old TV dvds. Could not resist Ray Charles on Dick Cavett, mayor from NYC, excellent in my trove of fine historicals.

[@antonmarino6568]

Ashe a highly respected player. Surely missed.

[@simonvds4429]

very interesting tennis strategy lesson by a great champion

[@antonboludo8886]

"Controlling the middle" applies to chess as well.

[@ahill9477]

What an intelligent guy….

[@joshuagonzalez2676]

Ashe is saying here the weakness of the double handed backhand used by everyone today.

[@glennfriedman9507]

He finally answers the question at 6:06.

[@tonyrowe4701]

- "Come on Jimmy !!" - "I'm trying, for Chrissakes !!!"

[@willminkorea2010]

IMHO many sports are the same, or better, on TV, but tennis is better live. It's exciting, it's easy to follow along, they take breaks, and you can hear everything because people are quiet during play.

[@egdowney1]

You learn something new everyday 🤗

[@Shellz386]

The hate this man had to endure Great American hero, rising in the face of adversity to rise to the top

[@nataliacaetano6326]

I wish that I could see him playing while he's alive ...but I wasn't even born yet....😄

[@hasselett]

😄 so funny!

[@jerryoshea3116]

Arthur Ashe oozed class on the court and off it..

[@jaimealvarez8896]

I like your pic Ms.Caetano😁

[@nataliacaetano6326]

@@jaimealvarez8896 thanks...🙋🏻‍♀️

[@jaimealvarez8896]

Uhhh... No, thank U!🙋

[@brianarbenz7206]

Arthur Ashe was a pure genius at strategy. I remember that 1975 match and the commentators calling it a foregone conclusion that Connors would win easily. Ashe's best hope, they figured, was to hang in there as long as he could before folding. Arthur had other ideas. I loved him. And I miss him.

[@DonQuickZote]

Oh for these intelligent conversations today instead of celebrity nonsense;)

[@tomsd8656]

You most likely won't hear today players talk about tactics like Arthur Ash did.

[@Gannooch]

i have nothing against the other celebs that were on this show but is this channel ever going to show the Dick Cavett shows where he interviews Jackie Gleason or Art Carney? How about any Honeymooners actors that were a part of the main cast?

[@michaelbarlow6610]

Arthur Ashe did make an error in something he said in this interview on "The Dick Cavett Show" when he erroneously stated that at Wimbledon on the Center Court if a player is left-handed, that it doesn't matter which side of the court the left-hander serves from because the sun is never in that player's eyes. Not true Arthur! Late in the afternoon at Wimbledon , the sun as it gets lower in the sky, points diagonally across the Center Court from behind the TV broadcast booth and if a left-handed player like McEnroe or Connors is serving from the deuce court on the TV broadcast booth side of the court to the opposing player's deuce court the sun is in the left-handed server's eyes!

[@SMSJSC]

I did think that Arthur's statement was too straightforward to be right.

[@michaelbarlow6610]

It has always amazed me that when Wimbledon moved it's facilities from Church Road to Worple Road (I believe in 1922) when they built the Center Court, they layed out the court wrong because a tennis court is supposed to be layed down with the baselines facing north and south , so that the sun as it moves across the sky, crosses over the court perpendicular to the court, so that when the sun is low in the sky in summertime, the sun won't be directly in the players' eyes. On the Center Court at Wimbledon in summertime, the sun moves across the court diagonally across the court from corner-to-corner not horizontally from sideline-to-sideline. Probably the reason that they layed down the Center Court as it is is because of the configuration of the grounds/property at Wimbledon.

[@txmetalhead82xk]

I’m left handed, yes, this is true.

[@michaelbarlow6610]

@@txmetalhead82xk . "Yes this is true" regarding what I said in my posted comment about the angle of the sun on the Wimbledon Center Court for a left-handed server or "Yes this is true" regarding what Arthur Ashe said to Dick Cavett about the angle of the sun on the Wimbledon Center Court for a left-handed server?

[@tomschmitz261]

the only time ashe ever beat connors, connors prevailed over him before and after the 75 wimbledon..

[@alessandroalessandro6771]

the only victory he had against Jimmy, although he always behaved much better

[@brainsareus]

gr8 man and athlete, but he looked like yo grandma at this time.

[@kelliebrooks9094]

If i guy has that weakness if he knew u were gonna exploit them hes not gonna fix them...in a day...so hes kinda S O L

[@theoriginalthinker9199]

No disrespect to Arthur, he's one of my favorite players, but that was the only time he beat Connors out of about 7 meetings, and I think he won mostly because Connors had a horrible day at the office.

[@garyspence2128]

I think that still counts as a victory, dont you??

[@theoriginalthinker9199]

@@garyspence2128 You must have a dreadfully boring life, to take the time to type out a question like that.

[@robertjones8598]

@@garyspence2128 the biggest victory in tennis. I’m sure Connors would trade any 6 wins for the one Wimbledon they played.

[@haroldsmyth6685]

Doctor told him dont play and risk permanent injury and he wont use it as an excuse. Knowing jimmy?

[@theoriginalthinker9199]

@@FunkyShotsProduction First I've heard of an injury, but one thing's for sure: That is one of the worst matches Connors ever played. The first two sets 6-1, 6-1?? In a Wimbledon final??

[@hendrik19601]

his tactics never worked, they played seven times in official matches and this is the only one he won. And the reason is that Connors played bad. End of the story

[@123Rockchild]

I wonder if Arthur was successful in getting Jimmy to play Davis Cup after telling a national tv audience how he beat Jimmy at Wimbledon?

[@garyspence2128]

Yes, Arthur coached at least one Davis Cup team with both Connors and McEnroe as team members. Think that they won it that year as well.

[@kingarthurusatenniscoach1415]

Jimmy Connors book Outsider Connors was injured and should never have played Ashe

[@nataliedelagrandiere4022]

It's not fair to say that. If you are injured, you don't play.

[@kingarthurusatenniscoach1415]

@@nataliedelagrandiere4022 There are many athletes who play injured injections pills he was injured and I spoke to Mr Connors and read his book. The most honest drug free athlete Ive met and he came from a very good Mother who never pushed him

[@kingarthurusatenniscoach1415]

@@nataliedelagrandiere4022 His manager Bill Riodan backed Ashe to defeat Connors knowing Connors was injured with a damaged leg

[@benjaminpremkumar2416]

If you are injured,don't play.If you play,you are not injured.Connors played and lost a high stakes match.There was a history behind the match.Connors knew he had to win and he was expected to win easily but lost.Infact Jimmy lost in 3 grand slam finals in 1975.

[@kingarthurusatenniscoach1415]

@@benjaminpremkumar2416 He was injured and a doctor can testify to that, Its a typical cliche in the world of sport and coaches.