Wimbledon 1975 Poem by Michael Walker

I was near center court with its glittering grass surface
mown in strips where the twenty-two-year-old Jimmy Connors
would play Arthur Ashe, thirty-two and six-foot two in the final.
Connors was the odds-on favorite, having won Wimbledon in 1974.
Ashe had won the US and Australian Open singles before.
I noticed Connors bounced the ball a lot before his practice serves.

Connors, a left-hander, hit his ground shots from the baseline,
as did Ashe, so there were long rallies and frequent volleys.
Ashe soon took the lead through his big serve- and- volley,
while continually breaking Connors less powerful service.
Connors hit the ball on the rise to speed up the game:
For Ashe, ahead 6-1,6-1, slowing it down was the name of the game.

Connors did not look too flustered to me and, using
his two-handed backhand more, won the third set 7-5.
Impassive, like 'Ice-Borg, ' Ashe won the fourth set and the match.
Arthur Ashe now has a stadium named after him at Flushing Meadows.
Jimmy Connors won eight Grand Slams in a glittering career,
and is one of the highest peaks in the whole range.

- Feb.,2013.