The Becker bounce back!
QUESTION Did Boris Becker win Wimbledon at 17 after saving a match point in an earlier round?
IN 1985, Boris Becker became the youngest male champion in Wimbledon’s history. He did not save any match points along the way, but the unseeded German did come close to being knocked out in the third and fourth rounds.
In round three, Becker faced seventh seed Joakim Nystrom of Sweden. The match entered a tense fifth set with Nystrom serving for the match twice at 5-4 and 6-5. Becker battled past Nystrom, clinching a 3-6, 7-6, 6-1, 4-6, 9-7 victory.
‘He won’t win Wimbledon, not this year,’ Nystrom famously insisted afterwards.
In round four, Becker was down 2-1 sets to American Tim Mayotte. He twisted his ankle badly enough in the fourth to want to shake hands, but his coaching team refused to allow this.
He recovered to take the set into a tiebreaker. At 5-5, Becker fluked a framed half-volley to win the point. He took the tie break and went on to win in five sets.
Becker had a charmed road to the final, avoiding all the major seeds, McEnroe, Lendl, Connors and Wilander.
American Kevin Curren, whom he defeated in four sets in the final, put out John McEnroe in the quarters and Jimmy Connors in the semis without dropping a set, but couldn’t defeat the teenager.
Becker has won a Grand Slam title after saving two match points. His 1989 U.S. Open triumph included a hard-fought victory over American Derrick Rostagno in the second round.
Becker battled back from two sets down, saving two match points, before beating Rostagno 1-6 6-7 6-3 7-6 6-3.
He went on to claim his only U.S. Open title with a four-set win over Ivan Lendl.
Just 23 men have won Grand Slams having survived match points. The highest number of match points saved was six, by Henri Cochet against Jean Barotra in the 1927 Wimbledon final.
Roger Federer squandered match points to eventual Grand slam winners at the 2005 Australian Open semi-final, when he lost in five sets to Russian Marat Safin; the 2011 U.S. Open semi, when he lost to Serbian Novak Djokovic in five sets; and at last year’s Wimbledon final, when he lead Djokovic 40-15 and 8-7 in the deciding set, but failed to close out.
Dee Rogers, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
QUESTION Are there any flying boats operating in Britain?
FLyING boats are a type of aircraft that can only take off from water as they have a boat-shaped hull, plus floats mounted near the wingtips.
An amphibian plane has a wheeled retractable undercarriage, enabling them to also operate from hard runways.
The two most significant flying boats in aviation history are the British Short Sunderland and the American Consolidated PBy Catalina. They played an important role in the Battle of the Atlantic by sinking many U-boats.
The last airworthy Sunderland G-BJHS was often flown in Britain in the Eighties before being sold to American collector Kermit Weeks. It is no longer airworthy.
An amphibian variant PBy Catalina GPByA operated from Duxford by Plane Sailing Air Displays Ltd is the only airworthy flying boat in Britain.
Dr Colin M. Barron, Dunblane, Perthshire.