One of the best occurred many years ago when Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith competed against each other in the final match of the men’s singles championship at the U.S. Open at lily-white Forest Hills Tennis Club. At that time, players were required to wear all-white, also. (Ashe was the only Afro-American in the entire tournament.) They were tied at two sets and 4 games each in the fifth and final set. Smith was serving to hold serve. He lost the game on a highly-controversial call and the court was immediately engulfed by shrill whistling for several minutes by the enraged fans.

Finally, play resumed, Ashe held serve and won the match. During the awarding of trophies later, announcer Bud Collins asked Smith about the call. Was it the turning point? “Yeh, probably.” Collins then noted how unpopular the call was. What did Smith think? “Arthur said my shot was out. If Arthur says it’s out, that’s good enough for me.”

Here’s another. Decades apart, golfers Bob Jones and Tom Kite both called penalties on themselves for violations that no one

else saw while playing the final hole of a major tournament. They lost the tournament by one stroke. When each was later asked why he called a penalty on himself for a violation no one else saw, each replied, “I saw it.”