Lenny Rider
Well-known member
- Sep 15, 2010
- 5,785
But did he?The biggest shock… for him it must have been Gus Poyet getting the sack on live TV
But did he?The biggest shock… for him it must have been Gus Poyet getting the sack on live TV
From memory of a history of the Globetrotters, the matches were played competitively and their regular opponents were allowed to win if they could, but part of the show was that the Globetrotters had about 10 "set piece" routines that had to be allowed to score. So the other lot were heavily handicapped.I Googled this, as I couldn't believe that they'd played each other that many times in their 100 year history. The hit did however suggest that it's 13,000 victories by the Globe Trotters and only 6 wins for Washington, so true odds 2167 - 1.
I'm struggling to see how they managed that many fixtures though. That's something like 2-3 games a week!
Not to decry the choice of Becker, but the reasoning is flawed. Becker in 1985 didn't play any of those players mentioned, in fact he didn't play anyone who ever won a grand slam singles. Kevin Curren was the best he played, and Curren reached just one other final in his career. Becker was 20th ranked in the world and had just won at Queens.A huge one that hasn't got a mention yet is 17-year old Boris Becker winning Wimbledon in 1985.
This is an era of tennis that included such greats as McEnroe, Lendl, Connors, Wilander, Cash and Edberg.
The kid came from nowhere, he was fresh and exciting but also - confusingly - German.
I would argue it was a bigger shock than Raducanu at the US Open because of the quality of the field he was facing. There, fellow finalise Leylah Fernandez has since only reached one Slam singles QF in 10 attempts.