The golden era of carpet and the golden era of tennis

[kiki]

One of the basics of the Golden Era was the preeminence of the fast indoor carpet (Supreme court) that was the successor of the wood surface that was so common in the 50´6 and 60´s pro tour.

to the point that both combine and mix.

Mitical names longtime gone created a very special atmosphere , specially in big cities AND NIGHT PLAY.MSG hosted the Masters Tournament , featuring the top 8 players at the end of the Gran Prix Circuit and the Cobb/Reunion Arena at Dallas hosted the WCT Finals, which gathered the top 8 players of the Hunt´s circuit.

But there is more, much more than those " indoor slams" as they were considered during the 70´s and 80´s ( and the ATP Finals at Frankfurt were also huge in the first half of the 90´s as the successor of the Masters)

US Pro Indoors at Philadelphia, with Connors,Mac and Laver winnning it 4 times each during their careers at the Philadelphia Spectrum with its two side to side blue courts

US National Indoor at Memphis

Seiko Superchallenge at Tokyo, which was the highest prize money event as far as regular tour events are concerned

Transam Open at San Francisco

WCT Richmond,Sant Louis,Birmingham and, for a while, New Orleans
WCT european stops at Brussels,Milan,Rotterdam
and the very prestigious Stockholm Open and Benson&Hedges tournament at Wembley, one of the classics of the indoor tour ( formerly known as the Wembley pro, one of the pro slams of the 60´s)

Of course, almost all special events or exhibitions ( bar Miami Pepsi GS Cup) were hosted on Supreme, allowing late night play and TV coverage.For many hard working people it was great.

Milan Brooklyn Masters,Antwerp Gold and Diamonds Racket,Toronto Moolson Cup,Barcelona´s Europe vs America,Chicago Michelob Superchallenge, The Sidney and Melbourne indoor exhos as well as the WCT Superchallenges at Las Vegas and the WCT Exhibitional at Salisbury...and many Davis Cup ties, like those legendary USA vs Sweden and USA vs Germany of the late 80´s.

And matches like Laver vs Rosewall and Borg, Laver vs Newcombe, Nastase vs Smith,Mc Enroe vs Connors,Borg,Lendl,Ashe; Lendl vs Gerulaitis,Borg vs Connors, Mc Enroe vs Gerulaitis, Lendl vs Becker, Becker vs Edberg and closing up the circle the great Sampras vs Becker rivalry ending up with the sensational ATP Fian in 1996...

Golden Era end and Carpet preeminence end go hand on hand

Any comments on why it happened? why indoor tennis was just a consequence or a detonator of the Golden years of the Game? why it had such sociological impact?

 

[kiki]

The big question is...is carpet the real successor to wood? There were some carpet tournaments back in the old pros days as well.Wood was considered to be the fastest ever surface.

 

[Xavier G]

Great memories, kiki!

The Grand Prix Masters back in the 70's and 80's seemed much greater than the ATP World Tour Finals of today, for instance.

One funny thing is that Borg never won the US Pro Indoors in Philadelphia though he played there each year from 1974-1978, I think. One can say a young Borg most years, but still. Similar luck at the US Open!!

I loved looking forward to the indoor tennis tournaments back then, kiki.
Brussels, Rotterdam and Milan in the spring, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Stockholm and Wembley later in the year.

 

[Bartelby]

The reality is that with the ATP controlling almost everything there has been a large measure of homogenisation.

The money also seems to have shifted to Europe and Asia and they have done this in a way that fits in with seasonality.

The days of bringing tennis directly to the people in rock concert like stadia seem to be over even though London has tried to recreate the vibe.

And then there's court technologies which mean they can recreate all sorts of outdoor courts indoors and make outdoor courts with roofs.

 

[kiki]

Great memories, kiki!

The Grand Prix Masters back in the 70's and 80's seemed much greater than the ATP World Tour Finals of today, for instance.

One funny thing is that Borg never won the US Pro Indoors in Philadelphia though he played there each year from 1974-1978, I think. One can say a young Borg most years, but still. Similar luck at the US Open!!

I loved looking forward to the indoor tennis tournaments back then, kiki.
Brussels, Rotterdam and Milan in the spring, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, Stockholm and Wembley later in the year.

Yeah, that´s my recolection and I´d also add the much coveted and expected invitational tournaments that we could no longer wait for, specially those with years of tradition (like Chicago or Milano among others).

As for Bjorn never winning Phily, even in his best years, well Connors was very strong there.he also lost one year to the big serve of Roscoe Tanner, a player with a great record at the Spectrum ( one win, one final, one semifinal)

 

[Xavier G]

Yeah, kiki.
I think Ray Moore beat Bjorn in an early round in 1977 and Roscoe beat him in, I think, a quarter final in 1978. Philadelphia was a very strong event back then.

I used to have all these results, but I gave a lot of reference books away.

 

[kiki]

Yeah, kiki.
I think Ray Moore beat Bjorn in an early round in 1977 and Roscoe beat him in, I think, a quarter final in 1978. Philadelphia was a very strong event back then.

I used to have all these results, but I gave a lot of reference books away.

Good on you XavierG

Yes, Borg played only Phily and MC of all the tournaments of the WCT tour in 77.Stockton won a star studded event at Philadelphia and beat Connors in five exhilarating sets.Jimmy would get sweet revenge later on at Dallas.

Moore was ocasionally dangerous but always seemed to promise more than deliver.He was, nonetheless, a DC champion in 1974.

Tanner also beat Mc Enroe in the 1979 QF before Connors ousted him in the semifinals, in 4 sets.He´d win the 81 title,though ( his last great win on the pro tour)

 

[kiki]

The indoor tour, boosted by WCT separate chore of around 30 tournaments + Philadelphia+Dallas + WCT Invitational/Tournament of Champions made indoor tennis worldwide popular.It also helped TV broadcast late night matches and whole day merry go round events which helped launch tennis as a mass market sport.That starting with the famous Laver-Rosewall clash at Dallas in 1971 and 1972.

For younger posters, the indoor tour was as big or even bigger as the current hard court ( today even indoor events are hard courters).Clay and grass were also more prominent than nowadays but not as much.

we had indoor tennis starting with the Former´s season Masters, which moved from late December to early January.Dallas WCT Finals marked the end of the winter/spring indoor season which again was back after the US Open at Forest Hills and later on Flushing Meadows.The autumn/winter section ended up with the Wembley and Stockholm Open and went through LA, SF,Tokyo,Sydney as well as many indoor exos or non official tourneys, such as Frankfurt,Montreal,Milano and Chicago.

A great concept that is responsible for the boom tennis lived in the 70´s and 80´s.Producing exhilarating matches enhanced by the great diversity of styles, and in that sense, the Golden Era of Indoor Tennis remains so much unique.