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Discussion Starter · #1 · (Edited)
A revitalized Martina Navratilova was taking the game by storm in early 1982. Though she had finished #3 for 1981 by most accounts the ex-Czech, now an American citizen, had taken the 1981 Australian Open-then the last grand slam of the year.

Was she ready to win the French? Red clay figured to be her toughest challenge, but ironically Martina won in Paris in 1982 and had to wait until 1983 to grab her initial US Open.
 

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Discussion Starter · #2 ·
Here is the Sports Illustrated summary by Curry Kirpatrick:



June 14, 1982
An Astonishing Net Result

With his string of stunning upsets, Swedish prodigy Mats Wilander won the French Open in Borglike style


....
Andrea Jaeger, the little churl with the curl, wasn't exactly angelic following her 7-6, 6-1 loss to Navratilova in the women's final. She accused the winner of breaking the rules by receiving voice and hand signals from two buddies in the stands, Renee Richards and Nancy Lieberman. "Mentally-wise I'm stronger than Martina, and that's how you come back against her," said Jaeger, who squandered a set point at 6-5 in the first-set tiebreaker, to which she must have arrived by stealing the bunt sign. "But I can't keep concentration when it's three against one."
Jaeger and her father, Roland, a former boxer whom some people have accused of contributing a pugilistic aspect to his daughter's attitude, were wrong on two counts. Signals aren't against the rules, and even if they were, observers sitting nearby said neither Richards, who was silently taking notes, nor Lieberman, who was simply shouting encouragement like the basketball player she is, was giving any signals.
"Jesus Christ, I win this great title finally and I have to hear this," said an angry Navratilova, who had hit a brave backhand approach winner on Jaeger's set point and so deserved more than a crybaby's tantrum at the end. "Thank you, Andrea. I could decide in my sleep what to do against Jaeger. The players know I am as fair as they come. I'm also a good loser. If she can't be a gracious loser, that's tough. If she's getting this stuff from her father, Mr. Jaeger is a louse."
Actually, Navratilova, who now has won eight of nine tournaments, 42 of 43 matches and 85 of 96 sets this year in a rousing start toward the Grand Slam, might have thanked Jaeger for beating Chris Evert Lloyd 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals. It was as desultory a clay-court performance as Evert Lloyd has ever been party to. Maybe she wanted to concentrate on rooting her husband, John, home in the mixed. (He reached the final with Wendy Turnbull.) Or perhaps, after so many years at the top, Evert Lloyd needs more than a steady diet of Palooka-ettes in preparation for her matches against the three or four women capable of winning a major tournament. In one span against Jaeger, Evert Lloyd lost 30 of 39 points, 25 of them on unforced errors.

Meanwhile, Hana Mandlikova, the defending champion, gave less than her best in her semi against Navratilova, a match she lost 6-0, 6-2 in approximately 62 seconds. Mandlikova had defeated a rusty Tracy Austin 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 in an error-plagued quarterfinal match, and Mandlikova should have been primed for the defense. Instead, she nailed several balls into the back fences and then obviously quit. Afterward, Navratilova said of Mandlikova, "I wish she had tried harder." Tanka? Handitova?
 

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Hana's poor showing in the SF was as bad as Kirkpatrick described it. That French Open was the beginning of a two year fued between Hana and Martina. And Martina got the better of it plus a shot in the post match presser.

But I never understood his description of Hana's win over Tracy. Their matches were often lauded for their closeness and outstanding points. The only thing that was different in this match was that Hana held on for the win.

Was Tracy razor sharp? No but she played well for having been off the tour. Its odd that he only pointed out Tracy's layoff from a back injury, but Hana had also been out for 5 months with a back injury that one doctor told her would end her career and another doctor told her she needed to sit out 1982 (possibly should have).

American tennis journalism was pretty narrow in scope as a whole back in those days.

As for the 1982 French, Martina and Andrea were pleasant surprises. I remember Martina wrote in her book that Roland Jaeger told Andrea to complain about Renee and Nancy coaching Martina during the match.
 

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Here is the Sports Illustrated summary by Curry Kirpatrick:



June 14, 1982
An Astonishing Net Result

With his string of stunning upsets, Swedish prodigy Mats Wilander won the French Open in Borglike style


....
Andrea Jaeger, the little churl with the curl, wasn't exactly angelic following her 7-6, 6-1 loss to Navratilova in the women's final. She accused the winner of breaking the rules by receiving voice and hand signals from two buddies in the stands, Renee Richards and Nancy Lieberman. "Mentally-wise I'm stronger than Martina, and that's how you come back against her," said Jaeger, who squandered a set point at 6-5 in the first-set tiebreaker, to which she must have arrived by stealing the bunt sign. "But I can't keep concentration when it's three against one."
Jaeger and her father, Roland, a former boxer whom some people have accused of contributing a pugilistic aspect to his daughter's attitude, were wrong on two counts. Signals aren't against the rules, and even if they were, observers sitting nearby said neither Richards, who was silently taking notes, nor Lieberman, who was simply shouting encouragement like the basketball player she is, was giving any signals.
"Jesus Christ, I win this great title finally and I have to hear this," said an angry Navratilova, who had hit a brave backhand approach winner on Jaeger's set point and so deserved more than a crybaby's tantrum at the end. "Thank you, Andrea. I could decide in my sleep what to do against Jaeger. The players know I am as fair as they come. I'm also a good loser. If she can't be a gracious loser, that's tough. If she's getting this stuff from her father, Mr. Jaeger is a louse."
Actually, Navratilova, who now has won eight of nine tournaments, 42 of 43 matches and 85 of 96 sets this year in a rousing start toward the Grand Slam, might have thanked Jaeger for beating Chris Evert Lloyd 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals. It was as desultory a clay-court performance as Evert Lloyd has ever been party to. Maybe she wanted to concentrate on rooting her husband, John, home in the mixed. (He reached the final with Wendy Turnbull.) Or perhaps, after so many years at the top, Evert Lloyd needs more than a steady diet of Palooka-ettes in preparation for her matches against the three or four women capable of winning a major tournament. In one span against Jaeger, Evert Lloyd lost 30 of 39 points, 25 of them on unforced errors.

Meanwhile, Hana Mandlikova, the defending champion, gave less than her best in her semi against Navratilova, a match she lost 6-0, 6-2 in approximately 62 seconds. Mandlikova had defeated a rusty Tracy Austin 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 in an error-plagued quarterfinal match, and Mandlikova should have been primed for the defense. Instead, she nailed several balls into the back fences and then obviously quit. Afterward, Navratilova said of Mandlikova, "I wish she had tried harder." Tanka? Handitova?
Classic Martina! :worship:
 

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GREAT reading stuff! And girls could be really catty back then, couldn't they Sis Andrea?
 

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Classic Martina! :worship:
:lol:at Martina calling herself a "gracious loser"! She is the absolute Queen of the Kingdom of Sour Grapes. We all know how Team Navratilova has, throughout the second half of Martina's career, provided a never-ending stream of signals and illegal coaching from the stands to help her win. I always thought it was very disingenuous and honestly, cheating. Navratilova's always amazed me. You'd think she'd have neck trouble supporting that over-sized swollen head/ego over so many years. I much prefer her post-career commentary, and really look forward to the insight, because I always learn something about the game when I listen to her.
 

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:lol:at Martina calling herself a "gracious loser"! She is the absolute Queen of the Kingdom of Sour Grapes. We all know how Team Navratilova has, throughout the second half of Martina's career, provided a never-ending stream of signals and illegal coaching from the stands to help her win. I always thought it was very disingenuous and honestly, cheating. Navratilova's always amazed me. You'd think she'd have neck trouble supporting that over-sized swollen head/ego over so many years. I much prefer her post-career commentary, and really look forward to the insight, because I always learn something about the game when I listen to her.
Martina called herself a "good loser" and she was. Perhaps you are thinking of Steffi (who always had an excuse ready when she lost) or Chrissie (who was always throwing shade on opponents with bitchy, pontificating remarks).

As for the illegal coaching allegations, post some evidence or desist from your delusional ravings.
 

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Martina called herself a "good loser" and she was. Perhaps you are thinking of Steffi (who always had an excuse ready when she lost) or Chrissie (who was always throwing shade on opponents with bitchy, pontificating remarks).

As for the illegal coaching allegations, post some evidence.
And I love you too.
 

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Discussion Starter · #11 ·
We all know how Team Navratilova has, throughout the second half of Martina's career, provided a never-ending stream of signals and illegal coaching from the stands to help her win.
I don't know enough about other cases-I recall Evert making some comments later and some questions around Martina's 1983 loss to Horvath in Paris.

But at least in this case it sounds like sour grapes on Andre'a part-or even more likely per Martina, on Roland's part. Curry Kirkpatrick was downright acid at times towards Martina, and it's hard to imagine him missing a chance if there had been coaching.

Ayt any rate this is the closest Andrea ever got to a grand slam. When the crisis point came-set point for Andrea, it was Abdrea who folded and Martina who held firm.
 

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Discussion Starter · #14 · (Edited)
Evert lost to Jaeger a couple of times in 1982. Was it the end of Chrissie? Not by a longshot. By the end of the year she was the clear #2 with 2 slams under her belt, just not the one she was expected to win.



At the time though this was a shocking upset. Not only the defeat, but the score itself. Andrea won 6-2 6-1.

Jaeger briefly alludes to this match in her book First Service on page 81. "Overhearing a conversation in the locker room about how I wouldn't be able to stop Chris's long match streak worked in my favor. I was energized by the challange. I took it on with ferocity and won the match easily 6-0 6-3." [Actually the score was 6-2 6-1].
 

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Evert lost to Jaeger a couple of times in 1982. Was it the end of Chrissie? Not by a longshot. By the end of the year she was the clear #2 with 2 slams under her belt, just not the one she was expected to win.



At the time though this was a shocking upset. Not only the defeat, but the score itself. Andrea won 6-2 6-1.

Jaeger briefly alludes to this match in her book First Service on page 81. "Overhearing a conversation in the locker room about how I wouldn't be able to stop Chris's long match streak worked in my favor. I was energized by the challange. I took it on with ferocity and won the match easily 6-0 6-3." [Actually the score was 6-2 6-1].
I sometimes think it's actually harder for an established champion to play and up-and-coming new kid on the block. The kid has the advantage of having watched and studied the older player's game, and many times and can go into their first few matches with an advantage.
 

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Discussion Starter · #16 ·
I sometimes think it's actually harder for an established champion to play and up-and-coming new kid on the block. The kid has the advantage of having watched and studied the older player's game, and many times and can go into their first few matches with an advantage.
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I'll agree with that. And from Austin on Chris had issues with her doppelgangers. 1982 was espeically tough early on vis a vis Andrea.

First Andrea won at Oakland and then she took out Chris in 3 sets at the Family Circle Cup. This was Evert's first defeat EVER at the FCC. Hilton Head was a perfect prelude to the FCC that year, as Martina beat Andrea in straight sets in the final.

Evert turned the tables by the end of the year. She god smacked Andrea 6-1 6-0 in the semis at Australia and ended 1982 7-3 vs Jaeger.

I found out more regarding the "coaching" controversy. For one thing coaching per se was not illegal in 1982. WTA rules at the time stated that a player had to complain about it during the match. Only then could the umpire take action. Andrea complained only after the match, and only after her Dad mentioned it to her, so clearly it had no affect on her performance.
 

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