Best of Jimmy Connors vs John McEnroe at the US Open

Jimmy Connors in the near court against John McEnroe. Connors won the first set 6-2. He leads this, the second set 3-2. Great point for McEnroe. Thompson offensive lob. Connors hits a two-handed volley. McEnroe got there in time to catch it out in front. In a moment you'll see a very good attempt at a backhand passing shot by McEnroe. Connors both feet off the ground, stretched out. Super match that was. Down, he's alright. He's reaching up so I'm still going to try to smash it. He was just fooled. Serve in. All you can do with that kind of thing is just salute. Nice shot. Pays off for McEnroe. 13-15. Straight at him. This ball is hit with a lot of toss and a lot of pace. And you see Connors wasn't 15 feet away. He couldn't flinch to get to that one. Take another look and you see that right here. Now instead of going for the down the line, McEnroe waits for the cross court and just blocked it into the open court. You feel he should attack. Let's have another look. This volley is very deep. Connors stretched out. Now watch where this thing goes. McEnroe can't reach it. And it lands about six inches inside the baseline. Let's take another look. Stretched out both feet off the ground. And that one-hander just blistered up the line. Now that was a darn good serve by McEnroe. He is not hurt. We'll take another look and you see right here John McEnroe did not do much with the ball at all. It was short, had no pace on it. And he was close to the net. Connors had his choice. He does not have to pump him up. Now they're starting to take sides. I guess there's always a first time, huh Pat? Here we go. The winner will play Vito Scarolaitis who made a miraculous comeback against Roscoe Tanner to get into the finals. It's a good shot but that's going to be a pretty tough temper. We'll take another look at part of that point. Watch this approach now. Connors gets roundhouse cross court. Fully stretched out. McEnroe just makes a drop volley. Jimmy's starting to get into it a little bit now. That was a good volley by McEnroe. It really was. He's going to serve straight back and then hit the hell out of everything. Not enough variation in Connors' play. McEnroe doesn't believe it. Pire backs up the call by the baseline. Advantage. Connors. Jimmy Connors. 3-2 in the second set. 15-love. Take another look and see. Connors stretched out and flicked that wrist to get that ball back up in the air but wasn't deep enough. McEnroe made a good smash. Connors arguing about the ball. He says it's out on the sideline. Now you going to over roll this one or not? You got to look at both sides of the net. You got to look at both sides of the net not just one or get out of there and do somebody else do the job. Correct. Good shot by Connors. Made a couple of good returns. McEnroe's had to make defensive volleys. Absolutely cutting Connors up at this stage. We watch again. Low approach shot. Stays down. McEnroe looking for the ball to come cross court. Now Connors way out of position. Smashed by Connors but he came down holding his back. Very fortunate stab volley by McEnroe. We'll take another look and Connors rips his cross court. You see McEnroe looking for it to come up the line. He ends up with a drop volley for a winner. Good shot by Connors. McEnroe mad at himself for not getting more juice on the volley. I think Connors outsmarted McEnroe by coming in behind that second serve. McEnroe wasn't expecting that. He just stayed back. That was crucial. Really was. It was an aggressive point that he played and that's the only way to play the points when the going's really coming at you like that. Not a deep enough approach. 30-40. I think all he was thinking Tony I gotta get to that net and make this guy make a shot. Rush him, do anything. Don't make me have to hit the best shot. Still match point. Mr. and Mrs. McEnroe very intent. McEnroe advances to the finals against Vita Skerlatos. It'll be a subway series tomorrow. Big smash by Connors. That was a smash. A miss it here by McEnroe. Jimmy closes in real close so he makes sure no way he can miss it. Service ace number two by McEnroe. Time to bring that one out. Oh yeah. Another break point for Connors. Not an aggressive volley but it was a tough situation. Now watch Jimmy get it ready and really nail it whip it cross court. I guess I didn't look at that one too well. You barely made contact. 40 McEnroe He did the same thing. Sure did. McEnroe will be serving for the match when we come back. Connors did a great job to get to the ball. As a sitter as you'll see here Jimmy really has to work just to get to it. McEnroe takes a little bit too big a swing. Connors was a play pigeon. He was so close. A huge serve by McEnroe. He's been fighting a long time to get down to this. Off the top of the net and good. Break point for Connors. Oh Connors is broken. It's five all. You can smell tiebreaker. There's Mr. McEnroe upper left. Zero McEnroe Connors goes down. He's going to go down blazing. That you can count on. 2-6 One more serve for Connors. If he wins this point then McEnroe has the next two serves if required. Be a tougher one. John McEnroe advances to the finals to play Bjorn Borg tomorrow at 4 o'clock. 6-4 5-7. Love 6. 6-3 7-6 Pick up this early in the match. That's what I was thinking. This kind of light. McEnroe gets his break. He leads two games to love. McEnroe leads to love. Big matches already today. Now they're at their break and they start to get back in this one. Great stretch and shot by Connors. Shot hits the top of the net so that took all the stuff off of that one. Good racket preparation. Good return. Love 30. Set it up. Get the racket ready and just rip it. I think he liked it. Super shot because he completely missed time this first one. Just a miss hit. Didn't see the ball properly. Connors went right at the body. Well played. That was a pretty good rally for McEnroe because he was going at Connors strength which is the rallies from the baseline. That's not going to win for McEnroe I don't think. Here's another look. Volley is deep. McEnroe makes a great cross court shot on the dead run and that's it. McEnroe could have gone across court on this. Connors leads 3-1. You can't criticize his volley. I think he thought he could go any place where it was going to work. Let's listen now. Boomerang. Read that one. Super shot. The approach shot was a little short. Connors also served for the set at 5-2. Here's another look. Good stab volley here. Didn't think Jimmy was even going to get to it. And he did that one handed on the normal two handed side and Yes. All sorts of trouble from that first court. Here's the return. He went to the forehand that time on the serve. Now look at this one. Speed. This may just about put us into the fifth set for sure. Not a bad shot. Great shot. No place else he could have gone with it. That's right. He sort of held it didn't he and sensed that McEnroe was going to start. He's white moving across to the left. 3-2. Connors leads in the fourth set. Jimmy thought he could do it with the speed of shot. Watch McEnroe wait, wait, wait and then go. It's the way to do it isn't it. Fifteen aces now for McEnroe. Connors taking a little extra time getting thoughts together. Yep. Doesn't want to let this one get away. Wants to go to set five. Seems only right. That we should go to five. You got a ticket today. You got a bargain. Has to be certainly one of the most memorable days ever in the history of tennis in the United States certainly. Still got some spring left in those legs. He's tugging the ball so well. You talk about rapid. Here's another look at it. Eyeball to eyeball. Guns it straight at him. Hands, hands. Little late. Little miss hit. Gets the top of the net. Well that's two in a row at the net. Love fifteen. Here they come. Letcord gets McEnroe in trouble. One, two. Two-handed volley that time. Thirty. Fifteen. Good lob. Super shot. Thirty almost got knocked down with a serve. Wasn't this a great lob though. He's well back behind the baseline. Controlled across court and a one-hander from Jimmy. Break point for Connors. Some battle. That's a bad break for Connors. Fifteen lob. A great one for McEnroe. Three match points. Thank you. Lasted three hours and forty-six minutes. McEnroe advances to the final. Defeats Jimmy Connors. Six-four. Four-six. Seven-five. Four-six. Six-three. Great match.