28 Junuary 2012
Australian Open Singles Finals Featuring Players from the Same Country (Men):
A Tennis Fan's Look
By Joe Dorish,
These are the men's singles finals at the Australian that featured two players from the same country since the Open Era began. Before the Open Era, professional tennis players could not compete at the Grand Slam events. The men's final at the 2012 Australian Open will not feature players from the same country.
I've been a tennis player and big time tennis fan since I was a kid in the early 1970s. I've seen all of these players play and remember all of them well. One of the players in the finals listed below was the last professional tennis player to use a wooden racket in a match.
I grew up learning to play with wooden tennis rackets. We had to screw them into presses when we were not using them so they would not warp. Once we started using aluminum rackets, we'd leave the wooden rackets out of the presses, and sure enough they warped so bad you could not use them anymore.
Australian Open Singles Finals Featuring Players from the Same Country (Men)
1. United States --- 3
Three times at the Australian Open in the Open Era players from the United States met in the men's singles final. The first time it happened was in 1982 when Johan Kriek defeated Steve Denton from Texas. Kriek was born in South Africa but became an American citizen in 1982 before he played in the Aussie Open.
Johan Kriek also defeated Steve Denton in the 1981 Australian Open final, but he was still a South African citizen for that win.
The second all-American men's final occurred in 1994, when Californian Pete Sampras defeated Illinois-born Todd Martin, 7-6, 6-4, 6-4. I remember watching that match, and even though Martin got the first set to a tiebreaker, I never thought he had any chance of winning the match.
The third all-American final occurred the next year in 1995, when Andre Agassi of Las Vegas, Nev., defeated Pete Sampras, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6, 6-4. Sampras and Agassi had a great tennis rivalry. They played each other in five Grand Slam finals, with Sampras beating Agassi in 1999 at Wimbledon, and in 1990, 1995, and 2002 at the U.S. Open.
So Agassi's win over Sampras at the Australian Open in 1995 was the only time he beat Pete in a Grand Slam final.
2. Australia --- 2
Prior to the Open Era, the vast majority of Australian Open finals featured two Australians. Since the Open Era though, Aussies have met twice in the men's singles final. The first time was in 1972, when Ken Rosewall defeated Malcolm Anderson, 7-6, 6-3, 7-5. The second all-Australian final happened in 1976, when Mark Edmondson defeated John Newcombe, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1.
T-3. Sweden --- 1
In 1985, the two great Swedish players --- Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg --- faced each other in the Australian Open final. Edberg defeated Wilander, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, to win his first Australian Open.
Edberg would go on to win in 1987 also. Wilander won the Aussie Open in 1983, 1984 and 1988. So the two Swedes won five Australian Opens over a six-year period (they actually won all five in a row, as the Australian Open was not played in 1986 due to the change to a January date from December).
As good as Wilander and Edberg were, Bjorn Borg was the best men's tennis player I've ever seen from Sweden. Borg only played the Australian Open once, which is a shame because he probably would have won it multiple times if had competed down under.
T-3. Czech Republic --- 1
The 1989 Australian Open men's final featured two Czech players, as Ivan Lendl defeated Miloslav Mecir, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. Mecir, nicknamed the Big Cat, was one of the best tennis players to never win a Grand Slam title. He was a deliberate player that used to drive his opponents nuts with his long rallies. Many players would complain whenever they had to face Mecir, and that was always fun to hear.
Though he never won a Grand Slam singles title, Miloslav Mecir won the Olympic gold medal in tennis in 1988, defeating Stefan Edberg along the way. Edberg and fellow Swede Mats Wilander hated playing Mecir, and he beat them a lot, earning another nickname "the Swede Killer". I always liked Mecir because he was the last pro tennis player to use a wooden racket.