Sunday, August 02, 2009

Bank of the West Classic - Part II

So I said I would try to dig up a few pics and I came up with two. Here's one I scanned a few years ago from Ted Tinling's book "Love and Faults". It's Martina with the trophy after winning the Virginia Slims Championships for the first time in Oakland in 1978. At that time, the French & Australian Opens did not hold the same prestige as the other two Grand Slams, so the Virginia Slims/Avon Championships and the year-ending Colgate/Toyota Championships were their de facto replacements on the "Big 4" stage. Of course, everyone forgets about that now, but it was a huge win for Martina back in 1978.



Here's what Martina said after that match against Evonne: "I just want to scream and jump and do crazy things. I feel a lot of pressure has been taken off me - forever." Evonne, herself, was impressed with Martina's new form: "I can't believe the difference in Martina over the last year. Now that she has won a major, she will know she can do it again. That should make it interesting at Wimbledon, this year."

Indeed, they would go on to play a memorable semifinal that summer, at Wimbledon , though it ended on an unfortunate note and Martina went on to win her first Grand Slam title beating Chris in the final.

Here's the other photo from Oakland. It's Martina after her shocking 7-6 3-6 6-4 loss to Hana in the 1984 final. Always gracious in defeat, she said: "I came down fighting. She (Hana) won the match; I didn't lose it... I gave it my best shot, she just blew me away."