The ABN/AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam has always been one of the most prestigious indoor stops on the ATP Tour, dating back to 1972, when the great Arthur Ashe beat the flying Dutchman, Tom Okker, in the inaugural final. Its honor roll reads like a who’s who of men’s tennis; from Ashe to Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors; from Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker to Roger Federer, Jannik Sinner, and, last year, Carlos Alcaraz.

But Rotterdam’s Ahoy Arena is also the venue for one of the more bizarre moments in ATP Tour history and one of the great stories (and myths). In the 1984 final, Ivan Lendl was leading Jimmy Connors 6–0, 1–0, seemingly cruising to another title, when the match was interrupted. “Don’t panic,” came the voice of Nico Dijkhuizen over the loudspeaker, explaining that there was a bomb threat. “Leave the hall calmly and quietly.” The same words were carried on the scoreboard.

The threat had reportedly come from an anti-capitalist, but after a quick check, it was clear it was a hoax, and the green light was given for the match to resume. The fans filed back into the stadium, maybe hoping for a famous Connors comeback, while probably expecting Lendl to complete the demolition job. But the match never restarted.

“By the time the spectators were allowed back in, Connors and Lendl were already together on a private jet at the nearby Zestienhoven Airport,” former pro Marcella Mesker told The Second Serve this week. “They were taking off for the United States, where they were scheduled to play their next tournament.”

According to a New York Times report at the time, Connors had been willing to resume, but Lendl felt it unsafe. The pair were each awarded runners-up ranking points, but Lendl asked that the prize money—$50,000 for the winner and $25,000 for the runner-up—be put into a vault until the match could be completed. Mesker, a top singles and doubles player and now a leading commentator for Dutch broadcaster NOS, confirmed this week that Lendl did make that request but said Connors did not agree. “Lendl did like his money,” she said. “It’s a bit unknown what happened. But the story here is that they split it.”

Considering that Connors still holds the record for the most titles won on the ATP Tour, with 109, and that Lendl sits fourth on the list with 94, giving up the chance to win another title would doubtless not have come easy to either man. Years later, Peter Fleming, half of one of the greatest doubles teams in history alongside John McEnroe, told the story of the final on Sky TV and had a unique take on the incident. “If you ask Lendl, even to this day, he still thinks someone from Jimmy’s team made the phone call,” he said, tongue, perhaps, firmly in cheek. 

If Lendl does still believe that, though, he is not saying so in public. “I remember the match,” he told The Second Serve this week. “It seemed like a serious situation, so we didn’t have any choice about continuing the match. But I would not have minded [doing so], since at the time, I was up a set and a break. We never finished the match, and I don’t know if they were ever able to determine what happened.” Connors did not respond.

Deprived of watching the completion of the final, the spectators were later given 15 guilders (about $6) as compensation. “And they did have the doubles to watch,” Mesker said. For the record, Kevin Curren and Wojtek Fibak won that one.

“It’s an iconic part of the history of the tournament,” Mesker said of the story. “It seems funny to us [that it comes up every now and again], because we all know it well.”

Lendl was, of course, one of the most ruthless players around, and being denied a double-bagel win over one of his greatest rivals would surely have rankled. However, his disappointment didn’t last long; a couple of months later, he beat Connors 6–0, 6–0 in Forest Hills and went on to win his first Grand Slam title that summer, at Roland-Garros, when he came from two sets down to beat McEnroe in the final.