July 7th is considered “German Day” at Wimbledon. On this date, two tennis stars from Germany won titles on the sacred turf, which will remain unforgotten.
It all started on July 7, 1985 with Boris Becker’s first win at the Wimbledon Championships. The then only 17-year-old secured himself an entry in the history books after an incredible tournament.
At his second start in London’s southwest, Becker showed a roller coaster tournament of extremes right from the start. At the latest, the third round match against the Swede Joakim Nyström pointed the way for the redhead on the way to later winning the title.
After a rain break, he had three match points against him on the second day of the duel. It was only thanks to his mental strength and his irrepressible will, which made him an international pop star, that the young Leimener scored all the decisive points for himself. After four aces at the end, he won the fifth set 9:7.
“It was the best grass game of my career. And it still wasn’t enough,” said opponent Nyström later about this legendary game.
Boris Becker becomes the youngest champion of all time
More crazy games against Tim Mayotte, Henri Leconte and Anders Järryd followed for Becker. These matches also lasted at least four sets, Becker was temporarily faced with the task due to a ligament injury. But he made it to the finals – no one had done that before him at that age.
The duel with the South African Kevin Curren then wrote its own story. The world ranking night had previously thrown the top stars Stefan Edberg, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors at the tournament, each requiring only three sets.
Against the clearly favored Curren, teenager Becker then threw exactly those strengths into the balance that had allowed him to win six times in the previous days: powerful serves, tireless running performance, spectacular pike jumps and a fighting spirit that set new standards in this sport.
Boris Becker: “A soul that is unshakable”
Becker managed to play his opponent in the course of more than four hours of play. He robbed Curren of his most important weapon, the service game.
In the fifth and decisive set, Becker had already relieved his opponent of the service and served to win the match at a score of 6:3, 6:7, 7:6, 5:4 and 40:15. It was the second match ball that made the 17-year-old high-flyer the youngest Grand Slam winner of all time.
A world career in tennis took its course. Boris himself saw special powers at work: “An instinct that lets me do the right thing at the crucial moment. A heart that doesn’t allow defeat, although I can’t always win. And a soul that is unshakable, even if the body sometimes is weak.”
Stich’s greatest victory, Becker’s worst defeat
Exactly six years later to the day, the signs were completely different. Becker had meanwhile matured into a world star, had added two more victories (1986 and 1989) and two final appearances (1988 and 1990) to his first title in Wimbledon.
Second-seeded Becker made it into the final on Church Road for the sixth time in his career in a largely sovereign manner. The opponent was Michael Stich, who was a year younger and had not gotten past the third round in Wimbledon – a blatant outsider.
But what a surprise: The first German-German final in Grand Slam history on July 7, 1991 was the greatest sporting humiliation for Becker. In Becker’s living room, the Elmhorner showed the nerves of steel that the opponent had always been told before.
Right from the start, Stich showed great precision in his shots, a highly concentrated and balanced demeanor and a clear line in the game idea.
Strategist triumphs over combat machine
The challenger could not serve with emotional outbursts or spectacular dives, with which Becker became king of Wimbledon. But Stich convinced with merciless baseline play and a shot security that was too good for the popular opponent that day.
Even during the final, Becker quarreled loudly with himself: “I’m playing shit together, I’m playing my worst match in the Wimbledon final.”
On this day, the “strategist” triumphed over the “fighting machine,” as Becker put it. Stich won 6: 4, 7: 6 and 6: 4 and thus secured the first and only Grand Slam title of his career – at the same time the highlight of his career.
“I think I was simply better that day. I only really understood the importance of this victory after my career,” the surprise champion summed it up soberly.
Stich continues the tradition to this day and spends a day on Church Road during the Wimbledon Championships.
For Becker, on the other hand, since this final, July 7th is not only the day of the greatest triumph in his tennis life, but also that of his most painful sporting defeat.
About this he later said: “I cried for the first time after a match.”
Mats Yannick Roth