The Seventh Man

While recalling the match, Gottfried said, “In football they call it the twelfth man, in tennis we play six on a team so we’d probably call it the seventh man,” (Gottfried Interview, March 26, 2018.) As the match progressed, the crowd got more involved and was drawn into the battle between the intense play between the two. With the three other matches still in play, because of the circumstances with McEnroe, all eyes were on on court one. As Gottfried won the first set 6,3, when switching sides of the court on the change over the crowd began to shout “Gott-fried, Gott-fried.” Coach McKinley got chills, and this is when Gottfried knew he was going to win the match (Price, “Tennis Tradition Carries On,” Trinitonian, March 3, 2018.) Going into the second set, the score was tied five all. Tensions were high and Gottfried knew that he needed to put two together by winning the next two games consecutively and secure the win.