Flashback US Open: Arthur Ashe edges Tom Okker to write US Open history

The Open era kicked off in 1968 when the professionals and amateurs finally united to play together, with the US Open standing as the third Major tournament following Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The crowd at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills had the opportunity to see some of the tennis world's most prominent names for the first time in many years. Rod Laver, Tony Roche, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe, Pancho Gonzales (won his first Major here 20 years ago), Roy Emerson and other professionals were all there, battling against amateurs in the unknown territory for them, on the outdoor courts with heavier balls than they were used to play. Like Wimbledon, amateurs gave them a hard time and defeated the pro players in 13 encounters. Also, Arthur Ashe and Tom Okker reached the final, and none was a pro competitor. Okker defeated three pros alone en route to the final as a so-called registered player, an amateur who was allowed to take the prize money in certain events.

The draw was powerful, with 20 players sharing 52 Wimbledon or US Open crowns and the last year's finalists who were set to play in the quarter-final. The organizers rigged the draw, allowing the top pro players to battle against each other only from the fourth round. As in every other aspect of life, the beginning of the Open era was anything but easy in those chaotic times, with Arthur Ashe earning only $15 per day in New York and Okker who went home with an "immense" $14,000! Things weren't perfect in that first edition of the Open era's US Open, certainly not with three groups in charge of running the event: USLTA (the letter L will later be expelled), the West Side Tennis Club and Madison Square Garden Attractions Inc., all independent to each other. Nonetheless, this was also the unique opportunity for the crowd to see the current and former legends in one place, including the names like Don Budge, Frank Parker, Bobby Riggs and Pancho Segura, who came to attend the matches.

Among them all, Pancho Gonzales was the one who gathered the most attention, considered as the greatest player of all-time at that point. The 40-year-old giant still had the fire and heat in his strokes, reaching the quarter-final where he lost to Tom Okker 14-16, 6-3, 10-8, 6-3 after taking down the 2nd seed Tony Roche in the previous round. The top seed Rod Laver was also eliminated before the quarter-final, struggling with an injured wrist that summer and coming to New York without enough preparations. Thus, for the first time at Forest Hills, none of the first two seeds managed to reach the last eight, leaving the door wide open for the rest of the field and with a chance for the amateur players as well. Arthur Ashe took down Clark Graebner 4-6, 8-6, 7-5, 6-2 while Tom Okker ousted Ken Rosewall 8-6, 6-4, 6-8, 6-1 to set up a historic first US Open final with all relevant players kicking off the draw after many years.

In 1968, Arthur Ashe became the first champion of the opened US Open. 

The 25-year-old soldier Ashe proved to be victorious in the end, writing a golden page of the American tennis history and making the black people proud. It was the most notable result for black players in the men's tennis, happening only five months after Martin Luther King had been killed, which adds additional importance to the Ashe's triumph. Only a few weeks earlier, Arthur was victorious in the US Amateur Championships at Longwood, Massachusetts, coming to the Forest Hills in amazing form, not dropping a match in almost two months after winning the Pennsylvania Grass Court championship, US Amateur title, four Davis Cup rubbers and an Army tournament. Some 7000 people attended the title clash, which had to be postponed due to rain, with Ashe celebrating a 14-12, 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 triumph in two hours and 40 minutes in a memorable match worth the first opened US Championship.

Besides, Arthur became the first American champion since 1955 and Tony Trabert, setting up the path for the Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe who would soon emerge. It was an open battle right from the first point, with Ashe taking the opening set 14-12 in just over an hour despite 26 games on the scoreboard, firing 15 aces. Okker got back in contention when he took the second set 7-5, losing ground again the third to push the American in front for the second time. Okker refused to surrender without giving his 100%, taking the fourth set to send the encounter into a decider, giving the crowd a first-class tennis show. In the final set, Arthur made a crucial break in the second game and kept the lead until the end for the 25th consecutive victory that summer and the most significant one. Ashe became the only amateur who held some of the six biggest national championships: Laver won Wimbledon, Rosewall Roland Garros, Newcombe Hamburg, Drysdale Gstaad and Okker, as a registered player, the Irish Open in Dublin.

It is important to remember the tremendous importance of the Davis Cup in those chaotic tennis times, with Arthur Ashe as an instructor of the computer programming at the West Point Academy and also a member of the USA Davis Cup team in the matches against Ecuador and Spain (both at home in the USA) that summer. The USA won both ties and were about to play in the Interzone final against West Germany, Japan or India in November, allowing Ashe to use the US Open to prepare for that important tie! If it were the other way around, Ashe would have been forced to go back to West Point and skip the home Major, the decision that would have had a massive impact on his career and the American tennis in general! Besides his singles duties, Ashe had to dig deep in the doubles draw as well, having no time to celebrate the title and stepping on the court again to complete the doubles semi-final that he and Andres Gimeno won 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 20-18, 15-13 against Clark Graebner and Charlie Pasarell. In the title match, Bob Lutz and Stan Smith toppled them 11-9, 6-1, 7-5, with Ashe having nothing left in the tank after contesting in 162 games in less than 24 hours! 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3ipCIRi