Former Stadiums and tournaments you miss

Warriorroger

Hall of Fame
I am interested if tennisfans have the sentiments I do with missing some tournaments from the past and stadiums.

I really enjoyed watching the tennis at the former court no 1 at Wimbledon. Does anyone remember? The crowd at one side was on the same level as the player in some sort of dugout (which was part of Centre court). Can'tfind pics of the old court.

I enjoyed the Boca Raton event for women and the Berlin open.
 

gpt

Professional
I miss the Sydney indoor at the Horden Pavilion. In the 70's and 80's it better quality draws than the Australian Open did.
 
P

PERL

Guest
Wembley indoor, Milan indoor, Forest Hills, the Masters at the Madison Square Garden (men).
 

timnz

Legend
Yes, indoor tournaments in general

Where are they now?

Sydney Indoor

Madison Square Garden's Masters.

Milan Indoor.

There used to be an indoor season between the Australian Open and the Indian Wells etc. Milan was one of the main tournaments.

Then there used to be an indoor carpet season after the US Open. These days if it is indoor, it is indoor hard not indoor carpet.

All of this moving around of the Masters end of year event I think diminishes its prestige. It had a lot more prestige when it was every year at Madison Square Gardens. (Lendl making 9 in a row finals there - 1980 to 1988).
 
P

PERL

Guest
Where are they now?

Sydney Indoor

Madison Square Garden's Masters.

Milan Indoor.

I guess it translates the popularity of the sport. Milan was replaced by Zagreb since italian tennis did not have a tennis star for years and croatian tennis won the DC. For instance Spain now has a Masters Series event and a few tournies due to the success in mens singles and Germany lost Stuttgart, Hamburg, the year end Masters Cup even in the meantime. Becker and Graf were the reasons for the tennis boom in Germany in the mid eighties, they have no leader in the game anymore.
Giving up the Madison Square Garden relates to the decline of tennis in the US, so the organizers of the sport try to get outside markets, Asia, etc. You are right on the true carpet missing.
 
The Pathmark Classic (previously A&P Classic) held at the Sheraton Hotel in Mahwah, NJ. This challenger event went bust about 10 years ago for lack of a sponsor but always featured two or three well-known female pros waiting for the winner of the challenger portion. The last time I was there, hardly anyone was watching the match because everyone was over at the practice court where Kournikova was practicing in what looked like her underwear.
 

Warriorroger

Hall of Fame
Totally forgot about MSG, those matches were like small mvies, was something magic watching it. IMO Seles-Graf played their best match there in 1998.
 

joe sch

Legend
I miss the Indian Wells tourney played at the Hyatt Grand Champions Hotel. Lots of smaller courts for great match viewing with players strolling all over the grounds. This tournament is now at La Quinta Tennis Garden which is a fantastic facility but just does not have that close appeal unless you can afford court side box seats.
 

suwanee4712

Professional
I also miss old Court 1 at Wimbledon and the Polo Club at Boca Raton. I also miss the shadow that moved across the Grandstand at the US Open when Louis Armstrong had its upper deck.

I also liked Stratton Mountain in Vermont for the men. And one of the best courts to watch a match in person or on t.v. was the Sea Pines Plantation center court on Hilton Head for the ladies. That is until the expansion messed up the camera angles in the early 90's anyway.

I suppose because of tradition, I have missed Australia's Kooyong Stadium. It didn't look so great. And some players like Becker hated the center court. But each of the finalists in the mens and womens 1987 events said they would miss it.
 

Warriorroger

Hall of Fame
I really miss the YEC for the men and women at Madison Square Garden. Those were the days...

Did it use to be both men and women? When was that? I only remember it from the women's matches.

Ps anyone has a pic of the old nr one court at Wimbledon?
 
Last edited:
I miss the Sydney indoor at the Horden Pavilion. In the 70's and 80's it better quality draws than the Australian Open did.

Wasn't it at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in Darling Habour? *confused*

Edit: Never mind.. it was both.
 
Last edited:

suwanee4712

Professional
Did it used to be both men and women? When was that? I only remember it from the women's matches.

Ps anyone has a pic of the old nr one court at Wimbledon?


We need to find you a Graf match played on old Court 1. I'll see what I have. At one time or another I have either seen or actually owned a copy of several Graf matches on that court. A few that I can think of are the 1987 1R win over Villagran, an early round win over Kelesi in 1993, another early round win over Gorrechategui in 1995, and a win over Baudone in 1996 (I think). The 1996 match would've been Steffi's last time on Court 1 most likely.

I also used to have a 1992 mixed doubles match on that court featuring Leconte and Graf vs. Benjamin and some guy. But I think that one is long gone from my collection.

The court had a slope in the deuce court serving towards the champions box. Right handers used to could really hurt opponents with a wide serve into that box.

Some great ladies matches that I remember on that court:

1980 Evert vs. Jaeger
1983 K. Jordan vs. Evert
1987 Shriver vs. Sukova (great duel that ended 8-6 in the 3rd)
1989 Navratilova vs. Mandlikova
1989 Evert vs. Golarsa (Evert's last W win)
1990 Sabatini vs. Zvereva (great shotmaking)
1990 Garrison vs. Seles

The Monday mens doubles final that McEnroe and Stich won was also played on that court. As were many other doubles and mixed doubles finals that were forced off Center by weather/time.
 

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
TC is showing Doohan-Becker this week, it was on Court 1.

While it had a nice appearance, I don't think it was a great court for the players - court noise from Center spilled over on it(& vice versa - I have the '92 W match between Agassi & Becker. The crowd on Court 1 - for Mac-Forget - was so loud that Agassi went up to the chair, grabbed his mike & said, "what's going on on Court 1?")

The '92 Sampras-Goran semi was also held there.
 

Warriorroger

Hall of Fame
We need to find you a Graf match played on old Court 1. I'll see what I have. At one time or another I have either seen or actually owned a copy of several Graf matches on that court. A few that I can think of are the 1987 1R win over Villagran, an early round win over Kelesi in 1993, another early round win over Gorrechategui in 1995, and a win over Baudone in 1996 (I think). The 1996 match would've been Steffi's last time on Court 1 most likely.

I also used to have a 1992 mixed doubles match on that court featuring Leconte and Graf vs. Benjamin and some guy. But I think that one is long gone from my collection.

The court had a slope in the deuce court serving towards the champions box. Right handers used to could really hurt opponents with a wide serve into that box.

Some great ladies matches that I remember on that court:

1980 Evert vs. Jaeger
1983 K. Jordan vs. Evert
1987 Shriver vs. Sukova (great duel that ended 8-6 in the 3rd)
1989 Navratilova vs. Mandlikova
1989 Evert vs. Golarsa (Evert's last W win)
1990 Sabatini vs. Zvereva (great shotmaking)
1990 Garrison vs. Seles

The Monday mens doubles final that McEnroe and Stich won was also played on that court. As were many other doubles and mixed doubles finals that were forced off Center by weather/time.

So nice of you, the match I remember was when she played Claudia Kohde Kilsch in 1990. I don't remember seeing Steffi playing there ever again in singles. I just loved it when you saw the spectators from the side and the sound coming from Centre court. I also remembered the Golarsa-Evert match, what a thriller that was.
 

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
I agree with everyone regarding Madison Square Garden.

Also, I miss the expanded Louis Armstrong Stadium at the US Open. Ashe Stadium has nowhere near the atmosphere, nor does the reduced capacity Armstrong stadium.

Related to that, the Grandstand is not as great as it once was when Armstrong Stadium was bigger. I would have loved to see a match there, even with the ever encroaching shadow across the court.
 

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
I also miss old Court 1 at Wimbledon and the Polo Club at Boca Raton. I also miss the shadow that moved across the Grandstand at the US Open when Louis Armstrong had its upper deck.

I also liked Stratton Mountain in Vermont for the men. And one of the best courts to watch a match in person or on t.v. was the Sea Pines Plantation center court on Hilton Head for the ladies. That is until the expansion messed up the camera angles in the early 90's anyway.

I suppose because of tradition, I have missed Australia's Kooyong Stadium. It didn't look so great. And some players like Becker hated the center court. But each of the finalists in the mens and womens 1987 events said they would miss it.

I agree with Hilton Head. Isn't that the tournament that moved to Charleston? I remember there being a conflict with a golf tournament, so the tourney moved.

I remember fondly a couple of great Graf-Sabatini matches at Hilton Head.
 

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
I remember watching a great indoor match from a venue in San Francisco called "Cow Palace" or something like that. I always got a kick out of that.
 

CEvertFan

Hall of Fame
Did it used to be both men and women? When was that? I only remember it from the women's matches.

Ps anyone has a pic of the old nr one court at Wimbledon?

The men played at MSG too. That was when the YEC for the men was called the Masters. The YEC for the women and men were different weeks of course. The men's was always a RR format whereas the old women's Virginia Slims Championships used to feature the top 16 women in a single elimination tournament, but have since gone to the 8 player RR format like the men.
 

mrw

Semi-Pro
Being from Philadelphia, I miss the tournament that was held here each winter.

Of course I also miss the city Philadelphia was prior to becoming known for murder and corruption.
 
FOREST HILLS

I was at the West Side Tennis Club recently and the old stadium is still there YET they really have not kept up the maintenance or appearance on the place. It looks like it is about to colapse.
 

EdSchwank

New User
Men's events

U.S. Pro Championships in Boston at the Longwood Cricket Club
North Conway, New Hampshire
Bordeaux Passing Shot, Bordeaux, France
 
Top