Memorable French Open moments: Ivan Lendl vs John McEnroe, 1984 final
Lendl def. McEnroe: 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5
Now tennis with numbers is a highly illusionist presentation. A cursory glance at merely the scoreline often misleads a reader, for it directly distills the various subplots, sweaty acrobatics, gritty nonchalance, oscillating momentum and intriguing drama that defines the romance of a live experience into plain numbers and a definite result. Perhaps that’s a reason why we’d never come to appreciate the past if not for any artistic eye that chose to capture the fading moment.
Thankfully, this match was recent enough, even if it was before my birth, to be captured on video. The match, arguably, wasn’t made up of the best of tennis that one would come to expect of a classic, but then, a match isn’t just tennis either. It had those occasional moments of heightened levels of mesmerizing play from either end, some unexpected twist in the plots midway that, coupled with some late resurgence, it demanded a place among the game’s elite unforgettable classics.
That this game was to soon acquire its folklore status was imminent even before the coin was tossed. It had the seemingly imperious McEnroe, coming of a no-loss season, who was already a 5 slam titles champion apart from being a two time losing finalist, pitted against a man he’d already played eighteen times and won ten, including the last five in a row, with the last two on clay.
On the other side was Ivan Lendl, a man who, at 24, was yet to pick his first slam. But this match was to mark his renaissance to begin a new saga of epic modern heroes. Fittingly, at the world’s romantic capital, and the famous setting of the French revolution, Lendl began his tale, staging a remarkable comeback from two sets down, to triumph over McEnroe.
The big battle
From the word go, McEnroe is on fire, given his clear advantage of experience while his opponent seems too bogged down, unsure and nervous on the big date with destiny. McEnroe breaks with little exertion for 4-2 in the first set and holds comfortably to take it. The 2nd set is further lopsided as McEnroe seems to be in a hurry, with great form in exhibition, imposing his power on the stroke and the game to pocket the second set 6-2 with two breaks of serve.
The day seems sealed in the American’s favor as he enters the 3rd set almost on top of his opponent, who has thus far shown little or no resistance to engage, leave alone deny the champion, a potential win. Two sets down, it seemed headed for a straight set affair, until the dramatic turn of events on McEnroe’s serve at 1-1, 0-30, against Lendl, McEnroe gets frustrated and upset with noise coming from the headset of a camera man, and approaches the man, screaming something into the headset.
From that moment, the remarkable way the game changed and history unfolded, it seemed like ‘the definition of camera as a device that captures a man and his moment’ was best appreciated!
Pretty soon, there was a palpable excitement in the crowd that stirred up expecting a twist in the tale at 2-2, when Lendl breaks McEnroe, only to be broken back a few games later. Eventually, a much better exhibition of wonderful games filled with absorbing tennis, albeit of see-saw fortunes, ends up with a 6-4 for Lendl. A set taken, the game is set for a minor delay of the inevitable expectations pinned on McEnroe and the proceedings so far.
The fourth has similar patterns of the first and pretty soon McEnroe finds himself a break up, taking a 4-2 lead. However, two games away from a win, the sudden drop in accuracy of his 1st serve denies him his advantage and Lendl gets back to 4-4. At 6-5, after an extended game of varying victors and rallies exchanged, Lendl manages to grab the 4th set.
Now the crowd’s on the edge, set for a thriller and the 5th set is as good as can be offered! McEnroe gets his nose ahead with few breakpoints against Lendl in the 6th game, and much to his discomfort and fate, fails to convert. Perhaps encouraged by this timely tide, Lendl turns the game head on, even as McEnroe seems closest to complete exhaustion. Eventually, it had to end, and unfortunately for McEnroe, serving at 5-6, he goes down 15-40. He saves the first match point, but fails on the second. Apparently an easy volley, he sends it just wide, handing a dramatic match and the championship to Lendl.
The impressions
In an otherwise spectacular year for McEnroe, when he won the Wimbledon and US Open, apart from the year end masters’ final and world championships, finishing as the World Number 1 for the last time, the French Open was the only sore point coming from his greatest rival. And therefore, perhaps it was the sum of events rather than the game itself that gave this match its special status in tennis folklore.
McEnroe’s apparent melt-down has been given too much importance over the years, though one could never really distill the match to a single moment. Perhaps, the compromised opportunity at 4-2 in the 4th set would’ve made the difference from where McEnroe seemed to have lost the energy to play his best.
In short, a dramatic plot, a set of accomplished actors, and the perfect action on a sunny afternoon for a tennis aficionado.