1985: When Becker stunned the world

By tvnz.co.nz's Michael Burgess

Published: 3:37PM Monday June 29, 2009 Source: ONE Sport

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The 1985 decider at Wimbledon was one of the more unlikely in recent memory as it pitched the unseeded German Boris Becker against eighth seed Kevin Curren of South Africa.

Becker was only 17-years-old and his bowl cut would have made many a teenager of the time very proud.

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But there was nothing unfashionable about his play as he brought a thunderous serve, brutal groundstrokes and acrobatic play at the net.

During the tournament the German had been predicted to fall as each hurdle became larger but made it all the way through the draw, fighting his way through a couple of five set matches.

In this exclusive video Becker says he was far from nervous the night before the biggest match of his life.

He claims that all he thought about was the presentation of the trophy, winning the final and playing the biggest match of his life.

Tougher road

The 28-year-old Curren had endured a much tougher road to the final.

He overcome Swede Stefan Edberg in the round of 16, defending champion and world number one John McEnroe in the quarter-finals and then took down double Wimbledon champion and world number three Jimmy Connors in the last four.

Indeed Curren became the only player in history to beat Connors and McEnroe in the same Grand Slam tournament.

The final was a beauty.

After the German claimed the first set 6-3, Curren fought back to take the second set in a tiebreak.

In the balance

With the match hanging in the balance, Becker claimed the third set in another tiebreak and kept up his barrage of big serves to take the fourth and final set 6-4.

Becker became the youngest-ever man to lift the coveted trophy and and also the first German and the first unseeded player to reign supreme at the All England club.

He would go on to be champion on two further occasions (1986 vs and 1989 vs Edberg) and was also a four-time runner-up (1988 vs Edberg, 1990 vs Edberg, 1991 vs Michael Stich and 1995 vs Pete Sampras).

The vanquished Curren would never reach another Grand Slam final but will always have a special place in tennis history.

TVNZ is bringing you the biggest tennis tournament in the world LIVE on air and online. Wimbledon 2009 will be broadcast live from London on TV ONE and streamed live on www.tvnz.co.nz .

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