1979 Borg df. Roscoe Tanner, was it a good match?

[Connors109]

Hi everyone,

I am not familiar with Roscoe Tanner except the match, his recent news being arrested(?), his big serve. Is it true he destroyed the net in that match? Overall, was it a good match? Was he a good player (against Borg)? S&V or baseliner?

Thnx!

It was a great match I was rooting for Roscoe ...I actually got up that early to watch it.

 

[Tshooter]

It was a great match I was rooting for Roscoe ...I actually got up that early to watch it.

Nice bump. We rooted against Borg. The feeling was if he didn’t win the USO maybe he would keep playing.

 

[WCT]

First breakfast at Wimbledon match on NBC. Up 2 sets to 1 my money was on Tanner.

 

[Mustard]

It was an excellent match. I'd even say it's unfairly forgotten compared to the 1980 Wimbledon final.

 

[jrepac]

The first Wimbledon final I watched...it was VERY good! I was rooting for Tanner since he was the underdog. He got close....

 

[Gizo]

Given how Borg ruled Wimbledon at the time, and even more so following his crushing win over Connors in the semis, an easy, one sided win for him in the final was widely expected. Yes he had a huge scare vs. Amritraj in the 2nd round, but early round scares at Wimbledon (vs. Edmondson in 1977 and Amaya in 1978) were common for him, before he noticeably improved and looked a lot more assured during the business end of the tournament. I think there were pre-match odds of 1/7 in the UK for Borg to win, which highlights that.

So the fact that we instead got a 5 setter, was a very pleasant surprise.

Tanner serve-volleyed behind almost all of his 2nd serves, and also frequently charged in on Borg's serve, as threw all that he could at him. Borg admitted that when he served for the match in the final set, and saw 3 championship points come and go from 40-0 up to deuce, he was incredibly nervous.

 

[NedStark]

The first Wimbledon final I watched...it was VERY good! I was rooting for Tanner since he was the underdog. He got close....

If he had better volleying skills he would have won. He fumbled on too many chest-level or higher volleys in that match.

 

[LOBALOT]

I watched the Wimbly match on TV as it happened. Unfortunately those cells were cooked long ago by single malt.