The American Michael Chang made tennis history in 1989 against Ivan Lendl at Roland-Garros with a stroke of genius and a match that went down in history. All before winning the only Grand Slam of his career.
In the history of sport, there are gestures that have passed down to posterity. Among these is Michael Chang’s spoon service. For the youngest, it’s a few seconds of madness seen on YouTube with the backdrop of the image of Tom Thumb who humiliates his opponent, bigger, stronger. For the oldest, it is the memory of an extraordinary match (4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3), with this service under the spoon released on June 5, 1989 by the American Michael Chang, 17, against then-Czech world No. 1 Ivan Lendl in the round of 16 at Roland-Garros. The American, who is crippled by cramps, will use all the tactical possibilities to foil the Czech ogre: bombs that pass three meters above the net, a pace of play slowed down to its maximum and as a conclusion a return of service on match point expected inches from the service line. But the best thing about this story of the 1989 edition of Roland-Garros is that the teenager landed in Paris with his parents in a small hotel where his mother prepared his meals for him in the room with a rice cooker, is that Michael Chang will go after his dream by winning the title under the nose of another star of the circuit, the Swede Stefan Edberg (6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4 , 6-2). At the same time winning a record that is still valid, that of the youngest winner of a Grand Slam tournament at 17 years, three months and 18 days.
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