1986 Roland Garros

Mandlikova In Ambush at 1986 Roland Garros

-Paris, Roland Garros Stadium, June 8, 1986

Hana Mandlikova has not won a tournament since the US Open, but she’s been a consistent performer, albeit marred by a shoulder injury at the start of the year. And Steffi Graf arrives to break into the top 4 with clear-cut victories over the last few months on clay against each of her rivals and elders, Evert, Navratilova … and Mandlikova.

Whereas only Hana Mandlikova seemed capable of upsetting Navratilova and Evert, Graf is now the clear favorite to win the Porte d’Auteuil title at 1986 Roland Garros.

But, to everyone’s surprise, it’s still Hana who’s going to be the spoilsport. However, an injury to her little finger prevented her from thwarting another Evert/Navratilova duel, won as in 1985 by Chrissie.

Round 1 : Hana Mandlikova vs Sabrina Goles at 1986 Roland Garros

Hana’s Hard-Fought Win Over Goles at Roland Garros

Mandlikova, the US Open champion last year, was down 5-1 in the first set to win 4 games in a row, before forcing a tiebreaker and looked erratic against Goles.

“It was a very tough match,” Mandlikova said. “She gets every ball back. I was very nervous and I didn’t play very good”

The winds on center court contributed to her troubles, Mandlikova said.

“The conditions were tough” she said “The wind was bad and I was serving badly. If I don’t serve well, it’s tough to put pressure on the other player!”

Round 2 : Hana Mandlikova vs Virginie Paquet at 1986 Roland Garros

Virginie Paquet (Arthur Rinderknecht’s mum) met Hana Mandlikova on court 2

Wednesday, children’s day at Roland Garros. On a packed Court 2, Hana Mandlikova meets Virginie Paquet of France.

Virginie, 17, trained at the “Pôle France” in Bouloris, is making her debut among the “grandes”. She won her wild card in a competition pitting the best French players against each other, who didn’t make the cut to enter the draw directly. And in the first round, after a hard-fought match, she eliminated Sweden’s Lindstrom, ranked around 100th in the world.

But on Wednesday, despite the noisy cheering from the children in the stands, reality set in:

The power and level of a top 5 player like Hana Mandlikova :

“It’s just another world : I’ve never played someone at this level”.

She declared after the match.

Only one game scored, but memories and a photo of that handshake she kept.

3rd round Hana Mandlikova vs Regina Marsikova at 1986 Roland Garros

“Regina Marsikova’s Return: A Story of Redemption and Resilience at Roland Garros”

Stepping onto the courts of Roland Garros again after 5 years of absence has a taste of rebirth for Regina Marsikova.

In the fall of 1981 she was found responsible for a car accident that resulted in the death of a person in Czechoslovakia.

Marsikova is imprisoned, then placed under house arrest for 4 years.

When in 1985 she is finally allowed to travel and resume her career, she starts again at the bottom of the ladder and eventually manages in a few months to re-enter the top 50.

But her game so effective on clay, which had allowed her to be at the gates of the top 10 in 1981 is no longer as hard-hitting against the best, she can do nothing in the second round against her friend and teammate Hana Mandlikova , who concedes her only 3 games.

4th round Hana Mandlikova vs Laura Arraya-Gildemeister at 1986 Roland Garros

Quarterfinal Showdown: Steffi Graf vs. Hana Mandlikova, and Chris Evert Lloyd Faces Off Against Carting Bassett

The only easy winners yesterday were No. 3 seed Steffi Graf and No. 5 seed Hana Mandlikova, who won hourlong matches,

Graf over Pam Casale, Mandlikova over Laura Gildemeister.

They will meet in Monday’s quarterfinals. Evert Lloyd will play Carling Bassett.

Quarterfinal : Hana Mandlikova vs Steffi Graf at 1986 Roland Garros

Underdog Triumph: Hana Mandlikova Shocks Tennis World by Upsetting Steffi Graf at Porte d’Auteuil

Winning streaks are made to be broken: Steffi Graf’s string of victories ended abruptly at 23 Monday when Hana Mandlikova beat the West German teen-ager 2-6 7-6 6-1 In the quarterfinals of the French Open.

Graf had a chance to make it 24 straight. She had match point at and was serving at 5-4 40-20 in the second set.

After returning Graf‘s second serve, Mandlikova charged the net. Graf, trying for the winner, sent a forehand long.

“It’s her game to come to the net. After that she started playing well,”
“I knew I had to get the first serve In”

After that key point Mandlikova tied the set at 6-all and eventually forced a tiebreaker.

The Czech won the second set by winning the tiebreaker 7-2.

Mandlikova breezed in the third set, breaking Graf twice, to take a 4-0 lead and winning on a service break as well.

Graf had won four tournaments in a row, including victories in Ihe finals at Hilton Head over Chris Evert Lloyd and over Martina Navratilova at West Berlin.

But the chance for the young West German to win a French Open title ended on the slow red clay of the center court at Roland Garros.

Mandlikova at 24 is a relative old-timer among the youngsters that had been making the news at the French Open.

But she thinks that may have helped her win.

“I think she was a little down after she lost the second set. In the third set I felt I had the advantage over her,” Mandlikova said. “When I was her age fur example I didn’t know how important winning the first game of the third set was”

“I had my chances After the match point she started playing better ,” Graf said.”I was confident Even at 5-5 (In the second set) I thought I still had a chance”

Despite ending the longest current winning streak in pro tennis Mandlikova said other victories have meant more.

Semifinal :Hana Mandlikova vs Chris Evert-Lloyd

“Courage Under Pressure: Hana Mandlikova’s Injury and Chris Evert Lloyd’s Dominance in the French Open Semifinal”

Defending champion Chris Evert Lloyd stormed into her fourth consecutive French Open tennis championship final Thursday with a 6-1, 6-1 semi-final victory over Hana Mandlikova.

Fifth-seeded Mandlikova had the misfortune to aggravate an injury to her right hand midway through the first set and, while she continued playing exciting tennis, it was unclear to what extent she was handicapped.

Women’s trainer Donna Pallulat told Mandlikova later that her injured finger would need X-rays before she could assess whether the Czechoslovak could play Wimbledon later this month.

Mandlikova‘s finger was badly bruised and scraped when she lunged to try to make a backhand save at game point, in the fourth game of the first set.

She had injured the same finger in her quarter-final match against West German teenager Steffi Graf.

“I couldn’t hold the racket for my forehands and serves. It was really painful. “The last few games I was holding the racket with four fingers, but that’s not an excuse.”

Evert Lloyd was in virtually complete command as she broke Mandlikova‘s serve in the first game and then cruised, before rain interrupted play for about 15 minutes.

“I was really psyched up for the match. Hana beat me the last two times we played and that gave me an incentive.”

When play resumed, she broke Mandlikova again and then held her own serve for a 5-1 lead in the first set.

After taking the next game to four deuces on the Czechoslovak’s serve, Evert Lloyd took the set with a blistering forehand drive away to the left of court. Evert Lloyd broke Mandlikova‘s serve again in the fourth game of the second set to take a 3-1 lead when the Czechoslovak put a forehand wide.

After holding her own serve, Evert Lloyd took Mandlikova to three deuces on the Czechoslovakia’s next service game before clinching a 5-1 lead with a powerful backhand return.

A whiplash forehand gave the American match point at 40-0 on her next service game and she wrapped up the tie with a backhand that the dispirited Mandlikova made little effort to chase.

Semifinal : Martina Navratilova vs Helena Sukova

Navratilova Battles Past Sukova: A Thrilling Match at the Center Court

Navratilova, who has lost only once in 13 meetings with sixth-seeded Sukova, made repeated errors in the first set and seemed unable to find her rhythm during most of the match, which was interrupted for 20 minutes by rain.

“I’m thrilled that I won because I could have lost that match very easily,”

said Navratilova after the two-hour contest, watched by a half-filled centre court. “I didn’t expect her to play as well and come in as much.

“She was not missing any shots and, on top of it, was hitting a lot of stretch drop volleys. She never has been that quick at the net.”

Final : Chris Evert-Lloyd vs Martina Navratilova

Evert defies tradition, tops Martina in Paris

Chris Evert Lloyd, playing nearly flawlessly in the final two sets, came from behind to defeat longtime rival Martina Navratilova 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, and captured the French Open women’s title for a record seventh time Saturday. “On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 played about an 8,” said Navratilova, who lost the women’s final to Evert Lloyd on the red clay court at Roland Garros stadium for the second straight year.

“She played a 10 the last two sets.”

The victory lifted Evert Lloyd past Bjorn Borg of Sweden and France’s Suzanne Lenglen, a star of the 1920s, both of whom won the French title six times.