By Randy Walker
@TennsPublisher
In Italian tennis, Adriano Pannata is the “OG” – the original gangster!
Other than Jannik Sinner, Panatta is the only living Italian man who has won a major singles title, (the late great Nicola Pietrangeli, a two-time singles winner in Paris, is the other.)
As documented – and excerpted below – in my “On This Day In Tennis History” book (for sale and download here: https://a.co/d/0cU20nVv) Panatta won the title at Roland Garros in 1976, beating American Harold Solomon in the final, while, en route, also achieving a distinct achievement of being the only player to beat Bjorn Borg in Paris, as he did in the quarterfinals – for a second time, in fact, beating the Swede also in the fourth round in 1973.
June 13, 1976 – With on-court temperatures reported at 124 degrees, Adriano Panatta of Italy wins the men’s singles title at the French Open, defeating Harold Solomon of the United States in the final 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3). Solomon makes a run in the third and fourth sets and is two points from taking the match to a fifth-set before the Italian snuffs out the rally. Panatta leads 5-2 in the fourth set, before Solomon rallies, winning at one point 12 points in a row. Says Panatta, “I was very nervous with victory in my grasp.” Panatta wins the title after escaping from match point down in the first round against Czech Pavel Hutka and after registering a quarterfinal win over Bjorn Borg.
Bud Collins described the Panatta run to Paris glory as such from his “Bud Collins History of Tennis” book (for sale and download here: https://a.co/d/017zBeEm) as excerpted below.
Panatta, the handsome and dashing Italian No. 1, won the French during a dazzling 16-match winning streak that established him as the king of European clay for the year. Panatta was superb, dispatching Borg, 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2) in the quarterfinals, Eddie Dibbs in the semifinals, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and the “Human Grindstone,” Solomon, 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), in the sweltering final. However, Adriano was nearly a dead duck from the start, facing a match point in the first round against Czech Pavel Hutka, and rescuing it with a stretching volley in the fifth set to win, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, 0-6, 12-10.
Incidentally, Panatta and Solomon’s final was their second noteworthy confrontation of the Spring clay-court season as their match in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open weeks earlier made headlines for other reasons, as excerpted below again from “The Bud Collins History of Tennis” and from “On This Day In Tennis History”
At the Italian Open, Panatta withstood 11 match points against Aussie Kim Warwick in the first round, winning, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, then went on to win the title before his adoring hometown fans in Rome, beating Vilas in the final, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 7-6 (7-1). He got a big break in the quarterfinals when gutsy little Solomon was beating him, 2-6, 7-5, 5-4 with serve. At 0-15 Panatta lobbed—clearly long—but the line judge signaled the ball to be good in an ordinary display of patriotism. But Solly blew up, losing his temper and the match by walking away.
May 28, 1976 – Harold Solomon walks off the court in disgust, forfeiting his quarterfinal match at the Italian Open in Rome against Adriano Panatta after questioning the call of a linesman and the chair umpire, despite serving for the match leading 5-4 in the third set. Trailing 0-15 in the 10th game of the final set, Solomon questions the call of Panatta’s backhand return, which is called good by the linesman and the chair umpire. Says Solomon, who loses the match by a 6-2, 5-7, 4-5, default, scoreline, “I pointed to the mark where the ball landed and told Adriano I’d show him where it hit, but the referee stopped him from coming around the net and told me to continue the match or get off. I was disqualified and for no reason. The referee told me the crowd was going crazy and to play or get off, but he wouldn’t let me explain so I said something a little stronger than “good-bye” and left.”
