Lendl’s dramatic win
NZPA-Reuter Barcelona Czechoslovakia’s Ivan Lendl made a startling midmatch recovery to beat the American, John McEnroe, 26, 7-5, 6-2, and give Europe a 7-5 win in the Europe v. America challenge in Barcelona. Lendl, aged 22, was 0-5 down in the second set and made a dramatic seven-gapies-in-a-row run to take fhe set despite a painful elbow which drastically restricted his powerful serves. McEnroe had complete control of the first set and carried confidently on in the second set until the determined Czech won his serve, broke McEnroe’s and went on to win. The unruly crowd started to jeer the 23-year-old American half-way through
the last set when it was clear something was affecting his play. The whistling stopped play for about four minutes and McEnroe lobbed a ball into the crowd in exasperation. He later refused to make any comment about the game. Lendl said after the match that McEnroe had realised Lendl was in pain and had asked him if he wanted to Stop. Lendl refused but the American’s rhythm was broken. "It is difficult for John to play if the other player is injured and this threw his play off,” he said. Lendl said he carried on playing because his ground play was unaffected by the pain and said he was not aware that Europe would still have carried off the competition even if he had lost.
Even a two sets to nil win by McEnroe would have left Europe with an unbeatable lead in the number of games won in the six-match, 16-set tie.
In a stark contrast to the final upset was the cool, assured and rapid victory of the brilliant 18-year-old Swede, Mats Wilander, when he beat Vincent van Patten, aged 25, of the United States, 6-0, 6-3. “I played some of the best tennis I have played for a long time in the first set,” he said. In a calm, confident style he took just 20 minutes to wrap up the first set and 30 minutes later the match was over.
Van Patten later said of the consistently excellent young Swede: “That guy has got to be one of the top four in the world.”
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Press, 3 December 1982, Page 32
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365Lendl’s dramatic win Press, 3 December 1982, Page 32
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