Lunch Break Video: Highlights from one of the greatest US Opens in history which took place 20 years ago

No matter what happens at this year’s US Open, scheduled to start today weather permitting, I’m quite certain it will not be able to live up to the two weeks of tennis that took place during the 1991 tournament.

The tournament that year is best remembered for Jimmy Connors, at the age of 39, making it all the way to the semifinals in extremely dramatic fashion. The five-time champion provided many thrills starting with his first round match against Patrick McEnroe when he came back from two sets to love down.

But there was so much more: Martina Navratilova, 34 years old and being sued by her ex-girlfriend, made it to her eighth final in Flushing Meadows by upsetting top-ranked and reigning Wimbledon champion Steffi Graf in the semifinals. The other semi featured a classic match-up between teenagers Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati with Seles edging by 7-6 in the third. She would go on to win the title.

Even though Connors got most of the attention that year, the men’s title actually went to Swedish heartthrob Stefan Edberg who beat Jim Courier in the final. (Courier finally stopped Connors in the semis).

Andre Agassi, a finalist the year before, crashed out in the first round that year but it was a brilliant tournament that also had past men’s champions John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Ivan Lendl, and Boris Becker still very much in the mix on the men’s side and Gabriela Sabatini trying to defend the only grand slam crown she ever won.

Here are some highlights from that remarkable year: