WIMBLEDON : Germans Get Best of Two Worlds : Becker Wins Men’s Final With Sweeping Strokes

For the third time in the last five years, Boris Becker cast his spell over Wimbledon and established himself once again as the ruling monarch of tennis’ magic kingdom.

Becker, the red-haired king of the green courts, sent Mach-1 serves at Stefan Edberg and unceremoniously deposed the defending champion in stunning straight sets, 6-0, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, to claim his third Wimbledon title.

After Edberg returned his serve long on match point, Becker whirled and heaved his racket 20 rows up into the stands of Centre Court.

Becker did not mourn its loss.

“The racket is gone with the wind,” Becker said.

And the West German one-time boy wonder is very much with us. The 21-year-old Becker, who was forced to play Sunday’s final the day after finishing off Ivan Lendl in a grueling five-set semifinal, never allowed Edberg much of a chance.

Key to Becker’s victory was the 6-0 first set, a 21-minute masterpiece that left Edberg reeling.

“I didn’t get a great start,” Edberg said.

That was an understatement. In fact, it was the first time in 40 years that a player had won a set, 6-0, in the men’s singles final.

The worst was yet to come for Edberg. In the second set, he won the first point in the tiebreaker and lost the rest of them.

Becker was already two sets ahead after 78 minutes of tennis.

Edberg looked up at the dull gray sky and sighed deeply, but Becker cut his suffering short. With Edberg serving at 4-4 in the third set, he lost a 40-0 lead and was broken when he double-faulted at break point.

Serving for the championship, Becker calmly drilled Edberg into the sod. Becker’s second serve on the first match point was still too much for the Swede to handle.

Edberg returned the ball long and shook hands with Becker, who then decided to throw his racket with no fear of being fined.

Becker became the youngest male three-time Wimbledon champion at 21 years, 7 months. The fifth player in the post World War II era to win at least three Wimbledon titles, Becker joins Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe in that group.

A two-time champion by age 18, Becker said he appreciates this triumph more than the others, possibly because of his second-round Wimbledon loss in 1987.

“The early victories were more like a fairy tale,” he said. “It wasn’t true, really. I didn’t know what I was doing.

“But over the last two or three years, I had to work much harder than I ever, ever had,” he said. “And so I feel much more proud now than in my early years.

“Then, I didn’t know what it was like if you lose second round at Wimbledon, or what it was like if you suddenly are not going up every time and then you go down suddenly,” he said. “I had to go through those experiences. And that made me a little bit tougher.”

Becker won Wimbledon in his first try in 1985 when he was 17. He won again in 1986, but as a two-time defending champion, Becker lost to Peter Doohan of Australia in the second round of the 1987 tournament.

“Losing was very important,” Becker said. “There I had to realize that not everything is sunshine and not everything is good and sometimes you have a bad experience and you lose and you don’t know why.

“And then you have to dig deep down and find the answer. Then you have to work to come back. I’m glad it happened in 1987 when I was, you know, still a young boy. You know, now, I’m so much older.”

Richer, too. Becker earned $330,600 for his victory.

For Edberg, his defeat could be tied directly to the misdirection of his most reliable weapon, his volleys. They had always seemed to find the right location in his semifinal victory over McEnroe, but they failed him at a crucial moment Sunday.

Edberg broke Becker in the 11th game of the second set and was serving at 6-5 to even the match at one set all.

He led 40-0 and 40-15 but then dumped three consecutive volleys into the net.

At break point, Edberg’s lunged to hit a backhand first volley and popped it long. Edberg admitted that those missed volleys wounded him deeply.

“Losing that game hurt me quite a lot,” he said. “I mean, you have have 40-0, I think you can count on one hand as many times as I have lost in a situation like that. And really, this is the situation you really should stamp your authority.

“It would have been a different story if I had won that game,” Edberg said.

Becker’s backhand was a story in itself. Throughout the tournament, it was a dangerous weapon, never more so than the passing shot he sent cross-court for 0-30 with Edberg serving at 4-4 in the third set.

Knowing that if he broke Edberg here, he could serve for the match, Becker held three break points at 0-40. Edberg rallied to deuce, but then wilted with a volley error and the fatal double fault.

Edberg chose a poor time for his game to go flat. The victim of Michael Chang in the French Open final and now of Becker, Edberg is the unlucky loser of two consecutive Grand Slam finals.

“I made him look a lot better maybe than he was playing,” said Edberg, who was surprised Becker could play so well after slugging his way past Lendl the day before.

Bob Brett, Becker’s coach, said the Lendl match actually helped.

“For Boris, yesterday’s win was the key to today’s match because he was down and he had to fight really hard,” Brett said. “That carried him through at least the first two sets.”

Becker’s victory meant he is the dominant player at Wimbledon in the last half of the decade. Maybe that is what he was thinking about when Edberg was serving for the second set, only one point removed from putting Becker’s goal further away.

“Funny things happen when you’re in the final,” Becker said. “It’s almost unexplainable what sometimes happens, what sometimes you miss and what sometimes you hit good.”

And Becker it hit plenty good.

Tennis Notes

Boris Becker said it was a big day for West Germany with his victory and Steffi Graf’s. “For her to win today and for me, I thought it was just something,” Becker said. “It may not ever happen again, you know. Maybe. Hopefully. It depends more on me than on her. But it’s quite special.” Becker, from Leimen, and Graf, from Bruhl, grew up only six miles apart. “I used to be the best in the boys’ and she used to be the best in the girls’, so when I was maybe nine and she was seven, I all the time had to hit with her,” Becker said.

In their first Wimbledon doubles final, Rick Leach of Laguna Beach and Jim Pugh of Palos Verdes lost to John Fitzgerald of Australia and Anders Jarryd of Sweden, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). “They are very consistent doubles players, (but) we played well on the big points and I think maybe that was the difference,” Fitzgerald said. The women’s doubles title went to Helena Sukova and Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia, who defeated the team of Natalia Zvereva and Larissa Savchenko of the Soviet Union, 6-2, 6-1.

This was the first time since 1973 that both men’s and women’s singles finals were played on the same day. Jan Kodes of Czechoslovakia and Billie Jean King won their finals on the same day in 1973. . . . Becker’s $330,600 earnings Sunday made him the sixth male to pass $5 million in career prize money. He is sixth on the all-time prize money list behind Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg. . . . Becker’s 6-0 first set marked the first time since 1923 that the men’s final began with a love-set. That year, Americans William Johnson defeated Francis T. Hunter, 6-0, 6-3, 6-1. . . . Edberg did not have an ace in the match.

CONSECUTIVE WINNERS WOMEN SIX

Martina Navratilova, 1982-87

FIVE

Suzanne Lenglen, 1919-1923

FOUR

Helen Wills Moody, 1927-1930

THREE

Louise Brough, 1948-50; Maureen Connolly, 1952-54; Lottie Dod, 1891-93; Billie Jean King, 1966-68.

TWO

Blanche Bingley-Hillyard, 1899-1900; Maria Bueno, 1959-60; Dorothea Chambers, 1910-11, 1913-14; Charlotte Cooper, 1895-96; Lottie Dod, 1887-88; Dorothea Douglass, 1903-04.

Althea Gibson, 1957-58; STEFFI GRAF, 1988-89; Billie Jean King, 1972-73; Helen Wills Moody, 1932-33; Martina Navratilova, 1978-79; Maud Watson, 1884-85.

MEN

SIX

William Renshaw, 1881-1886.

FIVE

Bjorn Borg, 1976-1980; H. Laurie Doherty, 1902-1906.

FOUR

Reggie F. Doherty, 1897-1900; Anthony Wilding, 1910-1913.

THREE

Fred Perry, 1934-36.

TWO

Wilfred Baddeley, 1891-92; BORIS BECKER, 1985-86; Don Budge, 1937-38; Roy Emerson, 1964-65; Arthur Gore, 1908-09; John Hartley, 1879-80.

Lew Hoad, 1956-57; Rod Laver, 1961-62, 1968-69; John McEnroe, 1983-84; John Newcombe, 1970-71; Joshua Pim, 1893-94; Bill Tilden, 1920-21.

BECKER vs. EDBERG Meetings between Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg, with tournament, surface, round, winner and score. Becker leads, 11-7:

Year Event Surface Round Winner 1984 Cologne Hard First Edberg, 6-4, 6-4 1985 Philadelphia Carpet Second Edberg, 6-3, 6-1 1985 Las Vegas Hard Second Becker, 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 1985 Davis Cup Carpet Final Becker, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 8-6 1986 Dallas WCT Carpet Semifinal Becker, 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 1986 Toronto Hard Final Becker, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 1986 Tokyo Carpet Final Becker, 7-6, 6-1 1986 Masters Carpet Semifinal Becker, 6-4, 6-4 1987 Indian Wells Hard Final Becker, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 1987 Toronto Hard Semifinal Edberg, 6-2, 6-4 1987 Cincinnati Hard Final Edberg, 6-4, 6-1 1988 Dallas WCT Carpet Final Becker, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 1988 Queen’s Club Grass Final Becker, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 1988 Wimbledon Grass Final Edberg, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 1988 Master Carpet First Edberg, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 1988 Davis Cup Clay Final Becker, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 1989 French Clay Semifinal Edberg, 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2 1989 Wimbledon Grass Final Becker, 6-0, 7-6, 6-4