1973 Wimbledon Championships

1973 Wimbledon Championships
Date	25 June – 8 July
Edition	87th
Category	Grand Slam (ITF)
Draw	128S/64D/128XD
Prize money	£52,400
Surface	Grass
Location	Church Road SW19, Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom
Champions
Men's Singles
Jan Kodeš
Women's Singles
Billie Jean King
Men's Doubles
Jimmy Connors / Ilie Năstase
Women's Doubles
Rosemary Casals / Billie Jean King
Mixed Doubles
Billie Jean King / Owen Davidson

The 1973 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament ran from 25 June until 8 July. It was the 87th staging of the Wimbledon Championships, and the second Grand Slam tennis event of 1973.

Boycott

In May 1973 Nikola Pilić, Yugoslavia's number one tennis player, was suspended by his national lawn tennis association, who claimed he had refused to play in a Davis Cup tie for his country against New Zealand earlier that month.^[1] The initial suspension of nine months, supported by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), was later reduced by the ILTF to one month which meant that Pilić would not be permitted to play at Wimbledon.^[2] The recently formed men's players union, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) stated that if Pilic was not allowed to compete none should. As a result 81 of the top players, including reigning champion Stan Smith, boycotted Wimbledon in 1973 to protest against the suspension of Nikola Pilić. Twelve of the 16 men's seeds had withdrawn.^[3] This resulted in a large number of qualifiers and lucky losers.^[4] Three ATP players, Ilie Năstase, Roger Taylor and Ray Keldie defied the boycott and were fined by the ATP's disciplinary committee. Despite the boycott the attendance of 300,172 was the second highest in the championships' history to that date.^[2]

Prize money

The total prize money for 1973 championships was £52,400. The winner of the men's title earned £5,000 while the women's singles champion earned £3,000.^[5]

Event	W	F	SF	QF	Round of 16	Round of 32	Round of 64	Round of 128
Men's Singles	£5,000	£3,000	£1,000	£550	£300	£200	£125	£100
Women's Singles	£3,000	£2,000	£700	£400	£250	£150	£100	£75
Men's Doubles *	£1,000	£600	£400	£200	£0	£0	£0	N/A
Women's Doubles *	£600	£400	£200	£100	£0	£0	£0	N/A
Mixed Doubles *	£500	£350	£175	£100	£0	£0	£0	£0

_{* per team}

Champions

Men's singles

Jan Kodeš defeated Alex Metreveli, 6–1, 9–8^(7–5), 6–3

Women's singles

Billie Jean King defeated Chris Evert, 6–0, 7–5

• It was King's 10th career Grand Slam title (her 6th in the Open Era), and her 5th Wimbledon title.

Men's doubles

Jimmy Connors / Ilie Năstase defeated John Cooper / Neale Fraser, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 8–9^(3–7), 6–1

Women's doubles

Rosemary Casals / Billie Jean King defeated Françoise Dürr / Betty Stöve, 6–1, 4–6, 7–5

Mixed doubles

Billie Jean King / Owen Davidson defeated Janet Newberry / Raúl Ramírez, 6–3, 6–2

King became the only player to win the 'triple crown' (Singles, Doubles & Mixed Doubles) twice in the post-war era, repeating her success of 1967.

Juniors Champions

Boys' singles

Billy Martin defeated Colin Dowdeswell, 6–2, 6–4

Girls' singles

Ann Kiyomura defeated Martina Navratilova,^[6] 6–4, 7–5

References

1. "Davis Cup Results". ITF. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
2. John Barrett, ed. (1974). World of Tennis '74. London: Queen Anne. pp. 15–17, 45–47. ISBN 978-0362001686.
3. "Wimbledon faces 2004 boycott". BBC. 23 June 2004. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
4. "The History of the Championships". AELTC. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
5. Little, Alan (2013). Wimbledon Compendium 2013 (23 ed.). London: All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. p. 327–334. ISBN 978-1899039401.
6. Navratilova won the Wimbledon women's singles crown 9 times. That is an all-time record.

External links

• Official Website Wimbledon Championships