Quote:
Originally Posted by Don't Let It Bounce
A long time ago, Bud Collins published a collection of tennis essays called My Life With The Pros. One of the essays suggested that Tanner had saved Wimbledon by, if I remember correctly, taking Borg to five sets in what was supposed to be a cakewalk for BB, at a time when TV ratings had dropped because of Borg's dominance. The essay was called something like "How Roscoe Tanner Saved Breakfast At Wimbledon".
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I think I remember that article. That was the first live telecast of a Wimbledon final. I believe Wimbledon used to start the Men's Final precisely on the hour, making it more difficult for television intros. Roscoe helped NBC by purposely taking a long bathroom break to delay the start, thus helping the television intro. Taking Borg to 5 on the first live telecast was exciting and started the "Breakfast at Wimbledon" tradition on NBC.