Manuel Orantes was an exception in the tennis circus of the 1970s. While his colleagues like Jimmy Connors, Guillermo Vilas or Björn Borg appeared more extravagant and sometimes moody, the Spaniard was known as always friendly, polite person and fair sports man.
He amazed the fans by clapping good blows from the opponents and voluntarily giving points when he thought the referee decided wrongly. And so Orantes mostly stayed in the background – until the US Open finally beat its big hour in 1975.
Today the Spaniard won the only major title in his career 51 years ago and also played a semi-finals for the history books.
Between 1975 and 1977, Forest Hills was not played on a hard court, but on sand. This was accommodated by Orantes, who was considered an all-court player. The then 26-year-old worked tennis, was actually able to all facets of the game, but was not special.
Spectators already leave the stadium
The Spaniard played a dominant tournament in New York and came to the semi -finals without any major problems. There he faced Vilas and he first rolled over his opponent like a steam roller.
The Argentinian quickly led 2-0 in the sentences and everything looked like the tournament was ending for Orantes. Although he was able to shorten to 1: 2, Vilas already led 5-0 in the fourth set and had his first match balls in the sixth game at 40:15.
At that time, the first spectators left the stadium because they assumed that the game would be over at any moment.
“One of the biggest comebacks in history”
But what happened then can hardly be understood to this day. The Spaniard fended off all match balls and made an endless comeback. He scored seven games in a row, equalizing in the sentences and ultimately won the fifth set with 6: 4. With his crazy catch -up, he managed a huge sensation.
In retrospect on their official web appearance, the US Open write about “one of the biggest comebacks in tournament history” and honor Orantes as one of the greatest fighters in sport, whose game “was shaped by determination, courage and bravery”.
According to this energy performance, all experts assumed that Orantes will run out of strength against Connor’s favorite. But everyone was wrong again, because the Spaniard played an outstanding final, which he won in three sets with 6: 4, 6: 3 and 6: 3.
Admission to the Hall of Fame
He crowned his career with a Grand Slam title. It should stay the only one.
As a result, Orantes in Spain was celebrated as the new hero of his country. He was honored by the ambassador of 200 members of the Spanish community in the Spanish consulate in New York and gained a level of awareness that he had never sought.
“I am usually a very calm person,” he said, while one passenger after another came up with him on the return flight home to shake his hand or to ask for an autograph. “But if you are a celebrity, you have to do things that you don’t like and I will do it as long as you don’t affect the game.”
In its entire career, Orantes won 33 titles in singles and 22 in doubles. In 2012 he was added to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Worth a look
