Even Without McEnroe, It Turned Out to Be a Fab Final

They came to see John and came away talking about Paul.

Paul Annacone realized that fans might have been disappointed that they didn’t get to see John McEnroe in the Volvo tournament at the Los Angeles Tennis Center and acknowledged it after the final.

No apologies needed.

The 1985 final between Annacone and Swedish star Stefan Edberg is considered by many to have been one of the best of the Los Angeles events since it was moved to UCLA in 1984. Annacone, who took the chip-and-charge strategy and turned it into a fine art, won 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, in 2 hours 57 minutes. It was his first tour victory, and he advanced to the final when McEnroe was unable to play their semifinal match because of the flu.

“Everyone was really disappointed because I was supposed to play McEnroe in the semis,” Annacone said. “For Stefan and I to have such a good match really made me feel good. It was a great breakthrough because of what happened to me at the U.S. Open.”

Then, the Los Angeles tournament was played just after the U.S. Open and Annacone felt he had squandered a major opportunity against Mats Wilander in New York. And so, Annacone came to Los Angeles with a new resolve.

“I had lost in four sets to Wilander in the Open, and I had opportunities to go up two sets to one,” he said. “And I lost really badly, 6-1, in the fourth. I lost my concentration. I just made a vow, from now on I’m going to have to get dragged off the court every time I play.

“Basically, the match with Edberg, that’s about the way I felt. It was very emotional. It was so up and down, my first win. I had the match under control, then he had it under control. It kind of teeter-tottered. I did a really good job of maintaining concentration.”

Under tense conditions, Edberg showed extraordinary sportsmanship at 5-5 in the third set, giving away the point, and the game, after Annacone received a bad call when his overhead was called out by a line judge.

Annacone took the third-set tiebreaker, 7-4, after Edberg fought off three match points. “There wasn’t much between us,” Annacone said.

So what did Annacone do to celebrate?

“I flew to San Francisco to play in the next tournament,” he said.