Seeded 3, Hana went through the first week without losing a set. Her 3rd round match against French Hope, Catherine Tanvier, went on 2 tight sets , like in Roland Garros, but all went smoothly till the semis even versus Helena Sukova in the 4th round and local number One and top-tenner Jo Durie in the quarterfinals.
The media during this first week even started to buildup a possible final versur Martina Navratilova, downplaying the number 2 seed of the draw, Mrs Chris Evert-lloyd, that Hana was supposed to meet in semis before hypothetically making the finals.
The english tabloids started to display rumors, of non-existent declarations of Hana pretending Chris was not an obstacle.
We could assume it just fired up Chrissie, being downplayed she just went on the center court like a formula One and just played at her very best. Hana Mandlikova couldn’t cope with that, and the match was over before it even started.
But bad feelings and rumors not…
1st round : a formality against Elena Eliseenko. Hana starts The Championships like a storm_ Only one game for the Russian player. The most memorable moment of the match happens when Hana ends her race sitting on the knees of a Line judge. Both seems to find the situation not unconfortable!
2d round : HANA/LINDQVIST
Bunge upsets No. 8 Horvath WIMBLEDON, England (UPI) – West Germany’s Monaco-based Bettina Bunge dumped No. 8 seed Kathy Horvath, 6-0, 6-4, in the second round of the women’s singles today to score the first upset of the $2.2 million Wimbledon tennis championships. Hana Mandlikova, brilliant and brittle at the same time, mixed baseline precision with reluctant volleying and tentative approach play before dispatching Sweden’s Catari-na Lindqvist, 7-5, 6-3, in 70 minutes. The Prague-based Czech, seeded third, was broken twice in the second set as 20-year-old Lindqvist matched her shot for shot. But growing nervousness by the Swede and the Czech’s championship temperament finally settled the issue. “She played very well and and hit some good passing shots,” said Mandlikova, who has four career wins over top seed Martina Navratilova and still thinks she can beat her on the right day. “She (Navratilova) is stronger and quicker because the power in her legs but I have the better shots ».
3rd rd : Hana vs Catherine Tanvier
In one of the most skillful and exciting women’s matches of the tournament so far, Hana Mandlikova of Czechoslovakia, seeded No. 3, put out Catherine Tanvier of France in two close sets. The 19-year-old French Federation Cup player saved three match points before going down 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in an hour and 18 minutes. Both players attacked furiously throughout and kept the crowd enthralled with a display of high quality tennis. Mandlikova’s superior serve and slightly more controlled game Just gave her the edge but Tanvier, who lost to the Czech in three sets at the French championships earlier this month, put up a tremendous fight. After losing 14 straight points to traiIO-3 in the second set, Tanvier won her serve and then broke Mandlikova for the first time in the match. She then staved off three break points to level at 3-3,’ only to lose the next two games. , As the set see-sawed, both players dazzled the crowd with spectacular passing shots. Tanvier saved three match poihis two at 3- 5 and a third one game later and suddenly found herself serving for the set at 6 5. But Mandlikova broke with a pass down the line and then won the tiebreaker when a mistimed service return flew off her racket and over Tanvier’s head.
4th round : Hana / Helena Sukova.
Quick job for Hana, once again, she defeats Helena Sukova in straight sets. By reaching the last 16 here, Helena is winning a consistency in her results which leads her to top 20.
Quarterfinals : Hana / Jo Durie
David Irvine on the women’s quarter-finals : High-flying Hana has thai semi-final fizz
IT WAS Lord Byron, in gentle mockery of Shakespeare, who said that there is a tide in the affairs of women which, taken at the flood, leads God knows where. Watching Hana Mandlikova at play, it is easy to see what he meant. At the height of what was fast becoming a total annihilation of Britain’s last survivor in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles at Wimbledon yesterday, she suddenly let her thoughts drift off into space and all but lost control of the match.
Having weaved her magic to take eight of the first nine games, and gained two chances to break in the 10th, the 22-year-old Czech suddenly chose to vacate the packed Centre Court mentally if not bodily and only wholly reappeared when Jo Durie, recovering with commendable resolve, had transformed a 0-2 deficit into a 4-2 advantage.
Once back in one piece, however, the annihilation resumed. Mandlikova knocked off the next four games to win, as she was generally expected to, by 6-1, 64 and move forward to the semifinals along with Martina Navratilova and Kathy Jordan.
The Czechoslovak previously afflicted with patchy play seems to have turned the corner this year in which she has won five titles added a new coach and adopted a more persistent approach.
“Her talent is as fragile as it is nice to watch” said Jan Kukal a former Czechoslovak Davis Cup player who has joined Betty Stove in coaching her “Her rhythm used to go off like nothing”
“The main difference now is I fight every ball” Mandlikova said “Before sometimes I didn’t fight Things went click in my mind It was like something was saying ‘No matter let it go’ Perhaps it was nerves and perhaps it was that I had not worked on concentrating “Another thing is now I wake up every day ready”
“Her (Hana Mandlikova) talent is as fragile as it is nice to watch” ‘ —JanKukalformer Czechoslovakian Davis Cupper some days I woke up and said ‘Oh God hot today!’ Now if it’s sunshine or if it’s rain I know I have to be ready” Mandlikova ‘s semifinal opponent will be determined in the quarterfinal Wednesday between Lloyd and Carina Karlsson
Semifinals : Hana / Chris Evert-Lloyd
Martina Navratilova easily beat Kathy Jordan today to line up a fourth Wimbledon final against three-time champion Chris Evert Lloyd, who thrashed Hana Mandlikova. Navratilova, chasing her third successive title and her fifth overall win, took 68 minutes for a 6-3, 6-4 victory, extending her record over the sixth seed to 12-0 and scoring her 40th win of the year against one loss. Evert handed a 6-1, 6-2 drubbing to Mandlikova, who beat Navratilova in January, to make the final for the ninth time and repeat the 1978, 1979 and 1982 meetings, all of which Navratilova won. “IF CHRIS PLAYS on Sunday like she played today we are going to have a heck of a match,” said Navratilova.
Evert, who beat Mandlikova to win her last Wimbledon title in 1981, defused her opponent’s renowned serve and volley game wilh a barrage of fierce passing shots and teasing lobs which effectively pinned the Czech to the baseline.
The 29-year-old American raced to victory in 45 minutes, winning nine straight games to move from 0-1 in the first set to 3-0 up in the second and allowing Mandlikova only 13 points in a manner recalling the vintage davs of the No. 2 seed before she surrendered her crown to Navratilova.
But the 22-year-old Mandlikova never produced the form which powered her to the only defeat pinned on Navratilova this year and the brittle side of her often brilliant game was cruelly exposed. Mandlikova, who earlier in the tournament said she had the shots to beat Navratilova and seemed to have talked herself into the final, declined to give an interview after her defeat.
“SHE UNDERESTIMATED ME,” Evert said. “I was very sharp and every time she came to the net I passed her. My game is there. I have been searching for it all tournament. Hana put a lot of pressure on herself by talking about how she was playing well and would be in the final. “I thought Just let the tennis do the talking. When people write me off I always come through. “That would have to be one of my best matches. I really concentrated on every point. It all came together my serve and my passing shots.”
Extracts of “Hana”, by Hana Mandlikova with Malcolm Folley
“At Wimbledon matters spiralled out of control. I felt a coolness towards me in the locker room, especially from the top players and even representatives of the Women’s Tennis Association seemed distant. It was as if I had broken some unwritten code and I could do nothing about it. I was trying to be as normal as possible, but anything I said was misconstrued.
I know I had a bad public image at the time and the Press fed on anything I said, or anything said about me, like sharks at a shipwreck.It seemed to me that Martina and Chris Evert joined forces to oppose me.
When I reached the semifinals at Wimbledon I commented: ‘I don’t care who I play, right now I feel I can beat anyone. I don’t care anymore what people say about Martina and Chris. I just try to play the tennis, be happy and take the money and run.’
Almost inevitably, that little speech was interpreted as showing a lack of respect. In the semis I had to play Evert and on the day I did not serve very well, she played excellent tennis and I was blown away 6-1, 6-2. Perhaps I was guilty of trying too hard because beforehand I was playing well and I thought I had a chance, but I just could not put my game together.
After the match on the Centre Court I was packing my belongings into my tennis bag at what I can only describe as normal speed. I glanced over and saw Chris at her chair and I walked across and asked her. ‘Are you ready to go?’ Evert responded, coldly: ‘No, I am not.’
‘How long will it take you to get ready?’ ‘I don’t know.’
Then, Evert turned away and I thought to myself, do I really need this? It was as if she wanted to rub in my defeat, to make me fry in.
Well, I was not prepared for that. I had been comprehensively beaten and felt that was humiliation enough. My pride was bruised and I left the court without Chris, an action I believe she deliberately provoked.
Despite what some newspapers reported I did not forget to curtsy to the Royal Box, even so to leave the court without waiting for Evert was the worst thing I could have done. I hurried to the dressing room reserved for the top eight seeds and went to my cubicle, closed the curtain and sat there and cried. I knew I had just given the papers another big story and I felt unable to face going to the mandatory Press conference.
I felt so humiliated and, yes, misunderstood. A representative of the Women’s Tennis Association approached me and asked me to attend the Press conference. But I was afraid of myself, unsure that I might say something that would make matters worse and refused the invitation. I said I would pay a fine – and if the punishment had been $50,000 I would have still chosen to miss my interview – as all I wanted to do was leave as soon as possible.”
“Hana”, ed. Arthur Barker, London 1989
(Article compiled from : The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, Daily News, Inside Women’s Tennis, AP, UPI)
