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Open Tennis, Political Protest and 'Super Brat': 1970-1979 1970 South Africa were barred from Davis Cup competition because of apartheid and Rhodesia withdrew voluntarily. Germany were the surprise package as they played in the Challenge Round against America.
Gottfired von Cramm had never made it to the Challenge Round in the 1930s despite all his efforts, but when they were there they didn't do themselves justice. Ed Turville was US captain and elected Cliff Richey to partner Ashe in the singles matches. Richey didn't let the side down and America won 3-0. Mr Hopman was the referee. 1971 The Romanians proved the Cup true challengers to American dominance by beating Brazil in the Inter-Zone final with Nastase and Tiriac outwitting the opposition. Ashe and Lutz had made themselves ineligible by signing with Lamar Hunt's World Championship Tennis and Cliff Richey had stormed off the team after it was decided that the final should be played on grey clay at Charlotte, North Carolina.
The choice of court had meant Stan Smith and Frank Froehling had the duty of keeping the Cup for America. They did winning 3-1, as Smith beat Tiriac 6-0 in the fourth set of the fourth rubber. 1972 It had been decided in 1971 that the 1972 Challenge Round final would be the last of its kind and that the Champions would have to play through the various groups and zones like everybody else. With ties being played on a rotational home and away basis. This would help those countries that felt the 'old' Challenge Round system was intimidating and discriminating.
The final appearance overawed Ilie Nastase, this time in Bucharest's Progresul Club, but Tiriac began to stall, protest and grimace his way through his match against Tom Gorman. Gorman had been two sets and 3-2 up, but Tiriac using the crowds buoyant energy won the fifth set 6-2. Black September, famed for killing the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, three weeks earlier, threatened the USA team who, with two Jewish players - Brain Gottfried and Harold Solomon - in the side stayed locked in their 12th floor apartments guarded by 20 secret service agents between play each night. Smith and Erik Van Dillen thrashed Nastase and Tiriac the following day in the doubles, winning 6-2, 6-0, 6-3. Then on a cold Sunday morning Smith summoned every last ounce of energy within him and defeated Tiriac 6-0 in the fifth and won the Cup. 1973 With money coming into the game, national associations were now able to pay Davis Cup players, through sponsorship deals. This was the era of professionalism and money 'above' the table after all.
When Australia played Czechoslovakia in Melbourne, it hailed the return of Rod Laver, who was back playing Davis Cup tennis after a 12-year absence and Rosewall after 17 years. The 1973 Davis Cup final was the first to be played indoors in Cleveland, an atmosphere far removed from Kooyong or White City. Arthur Ashe had flown back from South Africa on a 33-hour flight the night before the tie began and American captain Dennis Ralston had a selection nightmare. Young Jimmy Connors had insisted that he wouldn't play the early rounds, but would make himself available for the final. Ralston didn't pick him and stuck with the team that had gotten America to the final. 'The Rockhampton Rocket' and 'Newk', Laver and John Newcombe produced tennis that was of a different kind ever seen over the first two days, beating Smith and Gorman. Smith and Van Dillon then played the doubles together and were blown away by the Australians brilliance. Neale Fraser had won the Cup in an era without Hopman and his decision to not play 39-year-old Ken Rosewall was the correct decision. 1974
1975 Chilean activists in their left-wing nation saw the opportunity to launch a protest against the right-wing junta that had ousted the socialist Allende regime a couple of years earlier. Jaime Fillol received a death threat and the Chilean team asked for the game in Bastad, Sweden, to be changed to a neutral ground. It was only a massive security operation that the tie went ahead as planned. Bjorn Borg was already a seasoned veteran of Davis Cup matches, having played and won his first match at the age of 15, against New Zealand's Onny Parun, at Bastad in 1972. Sweden reached the Davis Cup final, after Borg and unsung hero, Birger Andersson a farmer, won their way through to play Czechoslovakia, in the tight and compact 4,000-seater, Kungliga tennishallen. Sweden won, but Davis Cup was facing similar problems to the Olympic Games, at the time, as countries politicians were deciding who and who not to play, in the yearly game of political football. 1976
Adriano Panatta was the hero, claiming the Italian national title having saved 11 match points, then winning his only Grand Slam title the French Open. Italy conquered Poland and Yugoslavia, Sweden (without Borg), Great Britain and Australia in the Inter-Zone final. The Italians then travelled to Santiago and Chile for the final, who beat the resistance of Fillol and Patricio Cornejo, winning 3-0. The Cup had a new home for the third consecutive year, under the captaincy of Nicola Pietrangeli. 1977
America won with the big-serving Roscoe Tanner and travelled to Argentina, where Guillermo Vilas, was at the height of his powers, having won French and U.S. titles. Vilas was invincible on the clay and Argentina won 3-1. Italy played France in the Inter-Zone final for a place
in their second successive final, against the Australians Down Under.
But for the French it was too early. John Alexander, Tony
Roche, and Phil Dent proved to powerful for the Italians, as
Alexander was proving himself an all-court player. 1978 McEnroe made his singles debut against Great Britain in the Davis Cup Final, at the Mission Hill Country Club, Rancho Mirage California. For all his sublime talent, it was his temper that was the problem, but in time he proved to be the most loyal player to Cup and country.
His commitment was unconditional, never before had one player given themselves to the cause of Davis Cup tennis. Borg, Jimmy Connors, Vitas Gerulaitis, Ashe and Vilas never gained 100% attendance records, when their careers finished. McEnroe was different and he once said: "I'll go anywhere, any time to play Davis Cup for the United States." He kept his promise. Great Britain were the unlikely candidates for a Davis Cup final with Alexander and Roche, Bjorn Borg and Vilas playing such fine tennis. Britain however beat Australia in the Inter-Zone final, as Buster Mottram and John Lloyd surprised everyone. They were on their way to California. The Mission Hills Country Club in Palm Springs was the setting for the trans-Atlantic battle, but Britain failed to play to their potential as McEnroe embarrassed Lloyd 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Mottram then fought from two-sets to love down to defeat Brian Gottfried in five sets as the cold desert air set in. That was all Britain had to offer however, as Stan Smith and Lutz mopped up the doubles and McEnroe then tamed Mottram in the reverse singles.
1979 Italy mourned the death of their captain, Umberto Bergamo, who was killed in a car crash only a few weeks before the final against America at the cramped San Francisco civic auditorium. Smith and Lutz played the doubles, McEnroe and Gerulaitis the singles. Italy didn't win a set. Next:
Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg: 1980-1989
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