FULL VERSION Lendl vs McEnroe 1984 French Open

1984 is remembered for mostly one thing: John McEnroe’s magical 82-3 match record, which stands the test of time as the highest winning percentage for a season in tennis history, which saw McEnroe feature his traditionally jaw-dropping serve and volley game, the game that had toppled Bjorn Borg from his perch atop the tennis mountain.

Graphite racquets had also helped Mac improve his serve and groundstrokes, and the end result was a whirling tornado of shotmaking from all areas of the court that was virtually unbeatable. However, he did still lose thrice that year. Once was to Vijay Amritraj in Cincinnati. Another was to Henrik Sundstrom in Davis Cup. And that leaves just one loss, one of far greater magnitude – the French Open final to Ivan Lendl.

While one may look back and think that an eventual three time Roland Garros champion in Lendl beating a single time runner up in McEnroe would be no surprise, this match was a stunner. Yes, Lendl had previously beaten McEnroe in Paris quite comfortably in 1981, the year McEnroe won two majors and forced Bjorn Borg into early retirement. However, 1984 was different.

Armed with his now-potent baseline game and laser-sharp intensity, McEnroe had not lost on clay, or at all, thus far that year. In fact, he’d lost just two sets in fifteen prior matches on clay. This included a 6-4 6-2 beating of Lendl in the finals of the prestigious Forest Hills tournament on Har-Tru as well as relatively comprehensive dismissals of quality clay courter Jose Higueras and fellow legend Jimmy Connors leading up to his finals date with Lendl. Add to this that Lendl had still not tasted grand slam glory and seemed to shrink from the occasion in every one of his previous four grand slam finals, and McEnroe had to be a firm favorite heading into this clash. However, it seems that the terre battue of Paris has a penchant for stopping historic winning streaks.