Rude Awakening for Mac

In the first round of the 1985 US Open, the defending champion John McEnroe met the unheralded Shlomo Glickstein of Israel. The unseeded Glickstein was supposed to be a pushover for the choleric champion from Queens. As it turned out, Glickstein was far away from easily falling prey to a vulpine McEnroe. The crowd was regaled with a splendid display of tennis from both players. McEnroe swiftly won the first set 6-1. In the second set, Glickstein showed a lot of grit to take the set to a tiebreak. In the tiebreak, Glickstein swept the rug under McEnroe’s feet. Glickstein won the second set and leveled the match. Glickstein played the tennis of his life to capture the third set 6-2. At this point, Glickstein was ahead of the reigning champion by two sets to one. Glickstein was only a set away from tossing away the peerless McEnroe out of the US Open in the Big Apple, the latter’s backyard. It would indeed be humiliating for a wizard like McEnroe to beaten in his own backyard. Nonetheless, a spectacular upset was looking inevitable. Even the crowd was egging on Glickstein. The rambunctious crowd wanted Glickstein to vanquish McEnroe. The Center Court resembled the Gladiatorial arena of Rome. At this moment, the incomparable John McEnroe clawed his way back into the match to win the fourth set 6-3. The match was back on an even keel. As the match headed into the fifth set, the southpaw from Queens was the unequivocal favorite to win the match with his potent mix of incredible talent and tremendous experience. Glickstein served first in the fifth set. It was 1-1 when McEnroe broke Glickstein to go up 2-1. McEnroe held his serve to make it 3-1. It finally looked like Glickstein would unravel in the deciding set. Nevertheless, the Israeli refused to cave in. Glickstein held on to his serve and denied the defending champion a double break advantage in the final set. It was 3-2 with McEnroe to serve. The doughty Glickstein broke McEnroe for the first time in the fifth set and equalized the score to 3-3 in the fifth set. In the seventh game of the fifth and final set, Glickstein moved easily to 30-0. This is when McEnroe hit back to win four consecutive points in a row. McEnroe had broken back the Israeli athlete. The defending champion was now poised comfortably to win this titanic struggle. Everybody expected the unseeded guy from Israel to finally fold. This is when the impossible happened. Glickstein broke McEnroe’s serve nonchalantly again. In fact, McEnroe lost his service game at love to Glickstein. It was 4-4. Glickstein won his service game at love. It was now Glickstein who led 5-4. At 4-5, McEnroe would serve to stay in the match. McEnroe started the game badly. At 15-30 on serve, McEnroe was on the verge of being knocked out in the first round. The writing was on the wall. McEnroe was going to be eliminated by a pedestrian player. The media would have a field day. This is when McEnroe’s vaunted serve came to his rescue. McEnroe won his service game by a whisker. It was 5-5. Both players held their serves again to make the score 6-6. The fifth set would be decided in a tiebreaker. The match would go down to the wire. The tiebreaker was a seesaw contest. McEnroe jumped ahead to 3-1. He then lost the next two points to Glickstein as the latter took rearguard action. It was 3-3. McEnroe seized the initiative and won three successive points to ease to a 6-3 lead. At triple match point, McEnroe would serve out the match. McEnroe made a couple of unforced errors. It was now 6-5 in favor of McEnroe. But this time Glickstein would serve the next two points. Glickstein saved the third match point to make it 6-6 as McEnroe netted the ball. McEnroe won the next point on Glickstein’s serve courtesy of a good smash. McEnroe now had his fourth match point at 7-6. A great return of serve by Glickstein and an erroneous shot by McEnroe cost the champion his fourth match point. It was 7-7. McEnroe hits a service winner and climbs to a 8-7 lead. McEnroe gets his fifth matchpoint. Finally, on his fifth match point, a dogged McEnroe closes out the match. McEnroe wins the tiebreak 9-7. It is through sheer mental resolve that McEnroe won this grueling first round encounter. Nevertheless, a lionhearted performance by Glickstein endeared him to the New York crowd. Even in defeat, Glickstein emerged figuratively as the winner as he won the hearts and minds of the residents of the world’s greatest city.