WCT Finals

The WCT Finals was a men's tennis tournament that served as the season-ending championship for the World Championship Tennis circuit. From 1971–1989 the event was held annually in Texas on indoor carpet courts. The 1971 quarterfinals and semifinals were played in Houston, and final played at Moody Coliseum in Dallas.^[1] The 1972–1979 editions were played at Moody Coliseum, and the 1980–1989 tournaments at Reunion Arena in Dallas.^[2] The 1974 edition was the first tennis tournament to experiment with electronic line calling.

The first edition of the WCT Finals was in November 1971, just a few days before the equivalent event of the rival Grand Prix circuit. But the second edition occurred just six months later to accommodate NBC's new tennis coverage; the tournament final between Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver is credited as "the match that made tennis in the United States" because its unprecedented domestic television audience of 23 million fueled a massive increase in the sport's popularity.^[3][4] The ensuing editions were also held in the spring. John McEnroe had the most overall success, winning a record five titles.

Because of the popularity of the 1972 final, another edition, less important and with half the prize money, was held in November in Rome. The prize money offered to the winner, Arthur Ashe, was US$25,000 compared to the US$50,000 won by Ken Rosewall for the main edition in May. A decade later there were three editions of the WCT Finals; the most important one in Dallas, and the others in autumn in Naples, Italy, and in winter (in January 1983) in Detroit.

Sponsorship

Between 1985 and 1986 this event was sponsored by Buick, a brand of General Motors, and was called the Buick WCT Finals

Records

• Most titles: John McEnroe 5.
• Most finals: John McEnroe 8.
• Most consecutive titles John McEnroe and Ken Rosewall 2.
• Most consecutive finals John McEnroe 6.

Results

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1971	Ken Rosewall	Rod Laver	6–4, 1–6, 7–6(7–3), 7–6(7–4)
1972	Ken Rosewall	Rod Laver	4–6, 6–0, 6–3, 6–7(3–7), 7–6(7–5)
1973	Stan Smith	Arthur Ashe	6–3, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4
1974	John Newcombe	Björn Borg	4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 6–2
1975	Arthur Ashe	Björn Borg	3–6, 6–4, 6–4, 6–0
1976	Björn Borg	Guillermo Vilas	1–6, 6–1, 7–5, 6–1
1977	Jimmy Connors	Dick Stockton	6–7(5–7), 6–1, 6–4, 6–3
1978	Vitas Gerulaitis	Eddie Dibbs	6–3, 6–2, 6–1
1979	John McEnroe	Björn Borg	7–5, 4–6, 6–2, 7–6(7–5)
1980	Jimmy Connors	John McEnroe	2–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–1, 6–2
1981	John McEnroe	Johan Kriek	6–1, 6–2, 6–4
1982	Ivan Lendl	John McEnroe	6–2, 3–6, 6–3, 6–3
1983	John McEnroe	Ivan Lendl	6–2, 4–6, 6–3, 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–0)
1984	John McEnroe	Jimmy Connors	6–1, 6–2, 6–3
1985	Ivan Lendl	Tim Mayotte	7–6, 6–4, 6–1
1986	Anders Järryd	Boris Becker	6–7, 6–1, 6–1, 6–4
1987	Miloslav Mečíř	John McEnroe	6–0, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2
1988	Boris Becker	Stefan Edberg	6–4, 1–6, 7–5, 6–2
1989	John McEnroe	Brad Gilbert	6–3, 6–3, 7–6

Seasonal finals events

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1972 winter (Rome)	Arthur Ashe	Bob Lutz	6–2, 3–6, 6–3, 3–6, 7–6
1982 fall (Naples)	Ivan Lendl	Wojciech Fibak	6–4, 6–2, 6–1
1982 winter (Detroit)[5]	Ivan Lendl	Guillermo Vilas	7–5, 6–2, 2–6, 6–4

See also

• WCT World Doubles

References

External links

• ATP tournament archive