Roland Garros 1989
The ill-treatment of Chang
Ivan the Terrible rubbed his eyes in disbelief. How could this 17 year old kid from nowhere do this to him. No, really, that was no way to treat a world No. 1! That year, 1989, good manners had collapsed at the same time as the Berlin Wall. And the quarter finals were poised to go into history. The Czechoslovakian Ivan Lendl nevertheless believed he was having a hard enough time against the impetuous Michael Chang. He took the first two sets almost coasting. Easy. Too easy. The American had resources. His leg movements created a sensation and Lendl’s beautiful mechanism was jamming up remorselessly. His expression becoming every more haggard, the Czechoslovakian was going through agonies. Chang was no longer a tennis player. He was an impregnable barrier. Annoying. Exhausting. However much Ivan Lendl was making him run from one side of the court to the other. Nothing changed. The young American, the son of Chinese immigrants, tirelessly returned the little yellow ball. The Lendl cool for which he is famous slipped away on the hard court at Roland Garros. As for Michael Chang, he was flying over the court. He took the third and fourth sets. Lendl’s lovely certainties were shaken in the face of youthful arrogance. And it wasn’t over. The last set entered the fifth dimension. Suddenly Michael Chang seemed less frisky. He was paying for his overpowering comeback. Shaken by bad cramps, he could barely move. His steps were hesitant, faltering. The few metres that separated him from his chair seemed like the long Way of the Cross. But resurrection was not far away. Leading 4-3 and 15-30 on his service, the teenager crucified Ivan Lendl. Running out of strength, Chang bounced the ball eight times and served a slicing shot. The spectators at Porte d’Auteuil were dumbfounded, no longer knowing what to think. Genius or utter madness? Lendl was flabbergasted. And thrown off kilter. Known for his play from the back of the court, he ran up to the net. Chang replied with a masterful passing shot. Lendl shook his head as if in a bad dream. His nerves of steel were cracking up. The nightmare continued. Match point for Chang. Lendl - tense as never before missed his first service. Chang tried a final intimidating manoeuvre. He moved forward one metre from the service rectangles. A double fault for the Czechoslovakian. Lendl, livid with rage, hesitated before shaking his opponent’s hand: “I hope you never in your career meet an opponent like yourself “, he raged. Chang listened to him with only half an ear. Glory was already calling out to him. At 17, he became the youngest winner at Roland Garros, beating the Swede, Stefan Edberg, in the final.
