Aaron Krickstein (Finally) Beats Jimmy Connors

Wall Street Journal ^ | February 10, 2015 | Tom Perrotta

[C19fan]

Last summer, nearly 23 years after he lost one of the most famous tennis matches in history to Jimmy Connors, Aaron Krickstein finally made the phone call he had always been too nervous to make.

He and Connors hadn’t spoken since Labor Day 1991, when Connors beat Krickstein in five raucous sets at the U.S. Open. The match has lived longer than any other in tennis, with annual rain-delay reruns and a recent ESPN documentary. Krickstein decided the time had come for a rematch—and a new beginning to a friendship that went kaput when Connors won.

On Tuesday here, Krickstein, 47, beat Connors, 62, for the first time, 8-5 in a pro set that Connors said would be his last public tennis match. It happened in front of about 800 people at the St. Andrews Country Club, where Krickstein, the club’s director of tennis, puts on annual exhibitions for his members.

[C19fan]

I remember that match. That was the Golden Days of Tennis. You had all these personality and different styles of play to choose from. If you loved the anti-hero there was Connors and McEnroe. If you loved the quiet hard worker there was Lendl. You can root for the serve and volley guy or someone like Lendl who played the baseline game. Today the game seems so homogeneous.

[babble-on]

They need to go back to wooden racquets. Watching 6’9” slav with a synthetic racquet strung to 8 million pounds per square inch isn’t watching tennis.

[babble-on]

They need to go back to wooden racquets. Watching 6’9” slav with a synthetic racquet strung to 8 million pounds per square inch isn’t watching tennis.

[C19fan]

The racket technology really destroyed the diversity of styles in the game.

[Puppage]

[Moonman62]

Connors has had three hip replacements.

[newfreep]

IIRC, Conners looked into the camera and said, “This is what they wanted”. Great TV moment...

[raybbr]

I can’t believe it was 23 years ago. I remember watching that match live. It was one of the best tennis matches on history. Not g fur just the tennis but the drama and the excitement.

[MHGinTN]

Well, I loved that era, too. But my memories go even further back, to Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Margaret Court, John Newcombe, and Arthur Ahse. Tennis was interesting back then, too.

[EQAndyBuzz]

Don’t forget Bjon Borg and Michael Chang.

The Chang vs Lendl match goes down as one of the best.

[1Old Pro]

I once watched Lendl play McEnroe at the Volvo Tournament at Stratton VT. Probably around 1978-80. They played there right before the open because the courts were similar and it was a good warm up. Lendl used to play golf there when not competing - same course the LPGA had a few tournaments.