This week’s highlights also include a corpsing
Tennis player, a grunting crowd and a bit of Bully on a Sunday night
1) The
French Open is at its business end, so let’s have a look back to 1989 when a 17-year-old Michael Chang won the men’s competition – the first
American so to do since Tony Trabert in 1955. In the fourth round, he faced the world No 1 and three-time champion Ivan Lendl, eventually prevailing in five sets but not before exhaustion forced him to serve underarm. Here he is looking back at that match, and beating Stefan Edberg in the final, thereby preventing the Swede from joining the small group of players to have won all four majors. More fun from elsewhere: the
Australian Open crowd are chastised by the umpire after mimicking Aryna Sabalenka’s grunting; an
Israeli doubles player struggles to serve, so busy is she laughing at her opponent’s missed smash; and Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi get passive-aggressive … in a charity match.
2) Now let’s enjoy the women’s final from 1989. In 1988, Steffi Graf won an unprecedented golden slam, taking in all four majors and Olympic gold, then added the 1989
Australian Open – here’s a doc detailing just how brilliant she was. But she was prevented from making it six titles in a row by Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, the
Barcelona Bumblebee, who nabbed the first of her three Roland-Garros titles.