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Originally Posted by Moose Malloy
Yeah, its interesting that Connors & Mac are considered such jerks, yet I saw them both display some sportsmanship that would be unfathomable by anyone today.
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Connors was really what you might call a good sport in this match. He was chumming it up with Newcombe (not exactly reciprocated, was my impression) and the linesmen; the announcers said that all week long he'd won many friends in Australia. It was almost weird for me, seeing Connors this jovial. Newcombe was much more serious -- at least on the surface.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moose Malloy
Its been a while since I've watched this, I assume the commentators mentioned this? I wonder what the schedule of slams was like in the 70s, as I watch more old matches, I see that it was different, & maybe not just cause of the weather. It seems like Wimbledon didn't have finals on Sunday until the mid-70s, I wonder if it was always a 2 week event? urban?
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The announcers said that Newk had just played two five-setters in two days, so I went to the Times archives to look at the whole tournament (since Wikipedia makes it look like just a five-round tournament, starting with the second round and marking it incorrectly as "First Round").
The final took place on New Year’s Day, a Wednesday. Connors and Newcombe played their first-round matches on December 26, a Thursday. (All of these are the dates in Australia, not the day that it was reported in the States). Newk had Friday off but played all the other days.