World Championship Tennis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WCT (World Championship Tennis) used to be a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1967. A number of tennis tournaments around the world were affiliated to WCT and players were ranked in a special WCT ranking according to their results in those tournaments.
Founded by New Orleans sports visionary David Dixon and then-AFL owner Lamar Hunt, World Championship Tennis was the first major professional tennis tour in the world. It was also revolutionary, instituting a tie-breaking point system, colored clothing, and forcing such major tennis tournaments as Wimbledon to admit professional tennis players. WCT also strongly encouraged the audience to actually cheer for players, rather than politely applaud, as the more traditionally staid English audiences had done.
Starting from 1971, at the end of the WCT season the top eight players from the regular season were seeded according to their rankings and played a championship tournament to be played in May.
1989 was the last season of WCT.
The WCT final is also called Dallas WCT.
[edit] Men’s Singles WCT finals
| Year | Champion | Runner-up | Score in final |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | John McEnroe | Brad Gilbert | 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 |
| 1988 | Boris Becker | Stefan Edberg | 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 |
| 1987 | Miloslav Mecir | John McEnroe | 6-0, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 |
| 1986 | Anders Järryd | Boris Becker | 6-7, 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 |
| 1985 | Ivan Lendl | Tim Mayotte | 7-6, 6-4, 6-1 |
| 1984 | John McEnroe | Jimmy Connors | 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 |
| 1983 | John McEnroe | Ivan Lendl | 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 |
| 1982 | Ivan Lendl | John McEnroe | 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 |
| 1981 | John McEnroe | Johan Kriek | 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 |
| 1980 | Jimmy Connors | John McEnroe | 2-6, 7-6, 6-1, 6-2 |
| 1979 | John McEnroe | Björn Borg | 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 |
| 1978 | Vitas Gerulaitis | Eddie Dibbs | 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 |
| 1977 | Jimmy Connors | D. Stockton | 6-7, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 |
| 1976 | Björn Borg | Guillermo Vilas | 1-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-1 |
| 1975 | Arthur Ashe | Björn Borg | 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 |
| 1974 | John Newcombe | Björn Borg | 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 |
| 1973 | Stan Smith | Arthur Ashe | 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 |
| 1972 | Ken Rosewall | Rod Laver | 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 |
| 1971 | Ken Rosewall | Rod Laver | 6-4, 1-6, 7-6, 7-6 |
