Arthur Ashe (USA) v Jimmy Connors (USA)
Men's Singles Final - 1975
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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.
Going into the match, Connors was the heavy favourite. He
was at the top of his game and in the six matches leading
to the meeting, he hadn't lost a set. Ashe, though having
played well that spring, was on the downside of his career.
For the first time in their career meetings, Ashe did not
try to hit with Connors. He hooked his serve wide to the two-handed
backhand of his left-handed opponent and he took pace off
his 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.
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.
The fourth set found Connors with an early break-up 3-0 and
at that stage it looked as though the reigning Champion was
clawing his way back into the match and would take the match
into a final set. 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 Men's Singles Championship at Wimbledon.
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