1973 Wimbledon Championships

The 1973 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom.[1][2] The tournament was scheduled to be held from Monday 25 June until Saturday 7 July 1973 but rain on the final Friday meant that the women's singles final was postponed until Saturday and the mixed doubles final was rescheduled to Sunday 8 July.[3] It was the 87th staging of the Wimbledon Championships, and the third Grand Slam tennis event of 1973. Jan Kodeš and Billie Jean King won the singles titles. King became the first player in the open era to claim the triple crown, the second time in her career she won all three titles open to women players. Her three victories necessitated playing six matches on the final weekend of the tournament: The singles final, the doubles semi-final and final and the mixed doubles quarter-final, semi-final and final, which was played on the extended Sunday schedule. No player has won the triple crown since.

1973 Wimbledon Championships
Date25 June – 8 July
Edition87th
CategoryGrand Slam
Draw128S / 64D / 128X
Prize money£52,400
SurfaceGrass
LocationChurch Road
SW19, Wimbledon,
London, United Kingdom
VenueAll England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
Champions
Men's Singles
Jan Kodeš
Women's Singles
Billie Jean King
Men's Doubles
Jimmy Connors / Ilie Năstase
Women's Doubles
Rosie Casals / Billie Jean King
Mixed Doubles
Owen Davidson / Billie Jean King
Boys' Singles
Billy Martin
Girls' Singles
Ann Kiyomura

ATP boycott

In May 1973 Nikola Pilić, Yugoslavia's number one tennis player, was suspended by his national lawn tennis association, the Yugoslav Tennis Association, which claimed he had refused to play in a Davis Cup tie for his country against New Zealand earlier that month.[4] The initial suspension of nine months, supported by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), later was reduced by the ILTF to one month, which meant that Pilić would not be permitted to play at Wimbledon.[5] The recently formed men's players union, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) stated that none should compete if Pilić were not allowed to compete. As a result, 81 of the top players, including reigning champion Stan Smith, boycotted Wimbledon in 1973 to protest the suspension of Nikola Pilić. Twelve of the 16 men's seeds had withdrawn.[6] This resulted in a large number of qualifiers and lucky losers.[7]

Three ATP players, Ilie Năstase, Roger Taylor and Ray Keldie, defied the boycott and were fined by the ATP's disciplinary committee. Năstase unsuccessfully appealed the fine as he insisted that as a serving captain, he was under orders from the Romanian army and government to compete. Some contemporary press speculation and later biographies have suggested Năstase contrived to lose his fourth round match as he supported the ATP boycott, but to have lost any earlier to a considerably less able player would have been too obvious.[8][9] Năstase never has commented on this speculation. Despite the boycott, the attendance of 300,172 was the second highest in the championships' history to that date.[5]

Prize money

The total prize money for 1973 championships was £52,400. The winner of the men's title earned £5,000 while the women's singles champion earned £3,000.[3][10]

Event W F SF QF Round of 16 Round of 32 Round of 64 Round of 128
Men's Singles £5,000 £3,000 £1,000 £550 £300 £200 £125 £100
Women's Singles £3,000 £2,000 £700 £400 £250 £150 £100 £75
Men's Doubles * £1,000 £600 £400 £200 £0 £0 £0 N/A
Women's Doubles * £600 £400 £200 £100 £0 £0 £0 N/A
Mixed Doubles * £500 £350 £175 £100 £0 £0 £0 £0

* per team

Champions

Seniors

Men's Singles
Main article: 1973 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles

Jan Kodeš defeated Alex Metreveli, 6–1, 9–8(7–5), 6–3 [11]

Women's Singles
Main article: 1973 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Singles

Billie Jean King defeated Chris Evert, 6–0, 7–5 [12]

  • It was King's 10th career Grand Slam title (her 6th in the Open Era), and her 5th Wimbledon title.

Men's Doubles
Main article: 1973 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Doubles

Jimmy Connors / Ilie Năstase defeated John Cooper / Neale Fraser, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 8–9(3–7), 6–1 [13]

Women's Doubles
Main article: 1973 Wimbledon Championships – Women's Doubles

Rosemary Casals / Billie Jean King defeated Françoise Dürr / Betty Stöve, 6–1, 4–6, 7–5 [14]

Mixed Doubles
Main article: 1973 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed Doubles

Owen Davidson / Billie Jean King defeated Raúl Ramírez / Janet Newberry, 6–3, 6–2 [15]

  • King became the only player to win the 'triple crown' (Singles, Doubles & Mixed Doubles) twice in the post-war era, repeating her success of 1967.

Juniors

Boys' Singles
Main article: 1973 Wimbledon Championships – Boys' Singles

Billy Martin defeated Colin Dowdeswell, 6–2, 6–4 [16]

Girls' Singles
Main article: 1973 Wimbledon Championships – Girls' Singles

Ann Kiyomura defeated Martina Navrátilová, 6–4, 7–5 [17]

Singles seeds

References
  1. Collins, Bud (2010). The Bud Collins History of Tennis (2nd ed.). [New York]: New Chapter Press. pp. 421, 432. ISBN 978-0942257700.
  2. Barrett, John (2001). Wimbledon : The Official History of the Championships. London: CollinsWillow. pp. 374, 375. ISBN 0007117078.
  3. Little, Alan (2013). Wimbledon Compendium 2013 (23 ed.). London: All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. pp. 74, 129, 327–334. ISBN 978-1899039401.
  4. "Yugoslavia v New Zealand". daviscup.com. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  5. John Barrett, ed. (1974). World of Tennis '74. London: Queen Anne. pp. 15–17, 45–47. ISBN 978-0362001686.
  6. "Wimbledon faces 2004 boycott". BBC. 23 June 2004. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  7. "The History of the Championships". AELTC. Archived from the original on 27 June 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  8. Evans, Richard. 'Ilie Nastase' May 1978 Aidan Ellis Publishing. ISBN 978-0856280580
  9. Robertson, Max. 'Wimbledon: Centre Court of the Game' May 1984 Parkwest Publications. ISBN 978-0881864502
  10. "About Wimbledon – Prize Money and Finance". wimbledon.com. Wimbledon Championships. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  11. "Gentlemen's Singles Finals 1877-2017". wimbledon.com. Wimbledon Championships. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  12. "Ladies' Singles Finals 1884-2017". wimbledon.com. Wimbledon Championships. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  13. "Gentlemen's Doubles Finals 1884-2017". wimbledon.com. Wimbledon Championships. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  14. "Ladies' Doubles Finals 1913-2017". wimbledon.com. Wimbledon Championships. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  15. "Mixed Doubles Finals 1913-2017". wimbledon.com. Wimbledon Championships. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  16. "Boys' Singles Finals 1947-2017". wimbledon.com. Wimbledon Championships. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  17. "Girls' Singles Finals 1947-2017". wimbledon.com. Wimbledon Championships. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
Preceded by
1973 French Open		 Grand Slams Succeeded by
1973 US Open
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