Players: Stan Smith and Ian Codes
- Stan Smith. American tennis player who was dismissed as a ball kid
Stan Smith was born in 1946 in Southern California. As a child, he applied for a job as a ball boy for the Davis Cup, but was turned down when organizers deemed him too clumsy for the job. However, Smith later played collegiate tennis at the University of Southern California, and in 1968 began playing on the tour. By September 1971, he had already claimed 11 singles titles, including the 1970 Stockholm Open, where he defeated Arthur Ashe (5-7, 6-4, 6-4), the 1970 Tokyo Masters, where he defeated Rod Lever (4-6, 6-3, 6-4), and the 1971 6-3). Three weeks after his victory at Queen’s Club, Newcombe finally got his revenge against Smith Wimbledon final (6-3, 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4). Smith was now chasing a Grand Slam title to become one of the elite players of his time.
- Ian Codes. The Czech, who was a two-time Roland Garros champion
Jan Kodes was born in 1946 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He started playing tennis around the world in 1966, but it wasn’t until 1970 that he recorded his greatest results. He won that year Roland Garros defeating Zeljko Franulović in the final for the first time (6-2, 6-4, 6-0), and successfully defended his title in Paris in 1971, defeating Ilie Nastase in the final (8-6, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5). With a game based on consistency, he had never had a great result on grass, and Kodes had never made it past the second round at Wimbledon or Forest Hills.
The placeFlushing Meadows, New York
The US Open (known as the US Nationals until 1968 and the start of the Open Era) was founded in 1881. Although it is the only Grand Slam tournament to have been played every year without interruption since its inception, it has moved several times over the course of 20 years.th century. First held in August 1881 on the grass courts of Newport, Rhode Island, the tournament moved to New York in 1915, where it was held at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills.
The factsKodes wins the first set but Smith breaks back
In the 1971 US Open, the final between Stan Smith and Ian Codes was considered an unlikely match. Both players battled through five sets in the semifinals, with Smith defeating 1968 runner-up Tom Ocker (7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3), while Kodes, not known as a great grass-court player, beat 1968 champion Arthur Ashe (6,4,3,6,7-6). 6-4).
In the final, Smith, wearing a floppy hat similar to that of Australian star Rod Lever, began using his usual serve-and-volley tactics, thinking the grass-court Codes wouldn’t be able to keep up with him from the start. But the American lost the first set, 6-3. Something was wrong.
“I changed strategy after the first set,” Smith explained in a later article by The New York Times. “In the first set I was serving hard and he was giving everything back. So I slowed it down and tried to bounce the ball onto the turf.”
Thanks to this adjustment, Smith won the next two sets, 6-3, 6-2, but in the fourth set Codes continued to fight back and was able to tie the score at 6-6. Back then, at the US Open, players who reached 6-6 in a set had to play a tiebreak, but not the tiebreak we know in 2020; instead, they played in a 9-point playoff with a first-to-five win. In this new format, Smith proved to be superior, and minutes later he smashed the final overhead that clinched his title. The American threw his racket in the air and braked the net in joy, losing his floppy hat in the process, while shaking hands with his opponent.
What happened next?? Smith and Kodes both go on to win Wimbledon
Stan Smith claimed his second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 1972, defeating Ili Nastase in the final (4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5). Smith would win nine tournaments that year and become the tour’s de facto world No. 1, although the ATP rankings wouldn’t officially exist until a year later. In total, Smith would win 37 titles during his career, and he would also claim five major doubles titles with partner Robert Lutz. Stan Smith will remain famous decades after his retirement thanks to the sneakers made by Adidas and bearing his name.
Jan Kodes would win another title at Wimbledon in 1973, defeating Alex Metrevelli (6-1, 8-6, 6-3). Cech would not get much credit for his victory at the All England Club, as many of the top players that year boycotted the event on political grounds. Kodes reached his last major final at Forest Hills in 1973, where he was defeated by John Newcomb (6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3).