Classic Tennis : Wimbledon 1977 - Borg Vs Connors (extended highlights)

[Vince Evert]

40th Anniversary edition. Good to see the official Wimbledon YT channel is giving the market longer highlight vid's and player interviews , particularly Wimbly 1977. The King winning his second Wimbledon was one of the most remarkable feats in sport because he was challenged BIG TIME - first in his SF vs Vitas Gerulaitis then in the final vs Connors.

 

[Vince Evert]

The extended highlights vs Gerulaitis sf is also there. We will never see grass court tennis of this standard again folks -

 

[Vince Evert]

Full match of the semifinal and final are also available -

Prior to the inception of YouTube, official releases of these classic games were few and far between and many fans like myself often had to rely on unofficial "bootlegs" material to quench our thirst on complete classic matches -

 

[Vince Evert]

 

[Vince Evert]

 

[britbox]

Cheers RZ. I like watching the old matches.

 

[Fiero425]

Full match of the semifinal and final are also available -

Prior to the inception of YouTube, official releases of these classic games were few and far between and many fans like myself often had to rely on unofficial "bootlegs" material to quench our thirst on complete classic matches -

I was lucky enough to catch the tape delay on NBC back in July of '77! I never thought Borg had a chance against Connors' attacking game on that choppy, slick grass! When Bjorn won Wimbledon the year before, it was only Nastase in the final and Borg took the tourney without the loss of a set! Everything just fell his way including his competition; Connors upset by Tanner in the Qtrs! In '77, Borg skipped the FO and went into private seclusion practicing! It obviously did the trick since he got to the final vs Jimmy barely getting past Vitas in the semis in 5 grueling sets! In the final Bjorn got up 2 sets to 1 and I thought he'd be ok! Then there was a sea-change and Connors stole the 4th set! IIRC, Borg went up 4-0 in the 5th, but Connors charged back to tie it up! Connors double faulted at 15-all and never won another point, Bjorn closing him out 6-4! IIRC, Bud Collins complimented Borg on returning all but 2 of Connors' serves and committed only 5 FH UFE's! In 5 sets on grass? I'm starting to think maybe I'm not remembering correctly and it may have been the following year where Borg annihilated Connors in straights! Anybody?

 

[britbox]

Yeah, Borg won the 78 match in straights - 6-2 6-2 6-3.

They played 13 times after that Wimbledon match in official matches - Borg winning 11 of them, including 9 straight after 78.

1981 US Open SF Hard Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 6-2 7-5 6-4
1981 Wimbledon SF Grass Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 0-6 4-6 6-3 6-0 6-4
1981 ATP World Tour Finals SF Carpet Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 6-4 6-7 6-3
1980 ATP World Tour Finals 10 Carpet Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 3-6 6-3 7-6
1979 WCT Challenge Cup F Carpet Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 6-4 6-2 2-6 6-4
1979 Tokyo Indoor F Carpet Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 6-2 6-2
1979 Wimbledon SF Grass Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 6-2 6-3 6-2
1979 Las Vegas F Hard Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 6-3 6-2
1979 Pepsi Grand Slam F Clay Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 6-2 6-3
1978 US Open F Hard Jimmy Connors Bjorn Borg 6-4 6-2 6-2
1978 Wimbledon F Grass Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 6-2 6-2 6-3
1978 Pepsi Grand Slam F Clay Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 7-6 3-6 6-1
1978 ATP World Tour Finals F Carpet Jimmy Connors Bjorn Borg 6-4 1-6 6-4
1977 Wimbledon F Grass Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 3-6 6-2 6-1 5-7 6-4
1977 Pepsi Grand Slam F Clay Bjorn Borg Jimmy Connors 6-4 5-7 6-3
1976 US Open F Clay Jimmy Connors Bjorn Borg 6-4 3-6 7-6 6-4
1976 Palm Springs SF Hard Jimmy Connors Bjorn Borg 6-4 6-1
1975 US Open SF Clay Jimmy Connors Bjorn Borg 7-5 7-5 7-5

 

[britbox]

Connors was much more successful against Borg in invitational events and exhibitions.

Invitational:

1976 Caracas Carpet RR Connors 6–4, 5–7, 6–3
1978 Suntory Cup, Tokyo Carpet F Borg 6–1, 6–2
1978 Buenos Aires Carpet F Connors 5–7, 6–3, 6–3
1979 Frankfurt Carpet F Borg 6–3, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
1980 Europe vs. USA, Copenhagen Carpet RR Connors 6–4, 6–2
1980 Molson Light Challenge, Toronto Carpet RR Connors 7–5, 6–3
1982 Michelob Light Cup, Industry Hills Hard F Connors 5–7, 6–2, 6–2, 6–7(5–7), 6–2
1982 Molson Light Challenge, Montreal Carpet F Connors 6–4, 6–3
1982 Challenge of Champions, Chicago Carpet RR Borg 6–4, 1–6, 6–2
1983 Suntory Cup, Tokyo Carpet F Connors 6–3, 6–4

Bear in mind, there was a huge money at some of these events. I mentioned in another thread that the prize pot for the Suntory Cup in Tokyo was $250,000 for a 4 man invitational. The Wimbledon winner got $66,000 in the same year. They weren't knock about hits - serious money, serious intentions.