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Great Players Most Remembered For Losses
6 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles
By Scoop Malinowski
A strange quirk of tennis is how certain great players are not remembered for their finest triumphs but for an agonizing loss…
Alex Corretja won 17 ATP singles titles, two Masters Series titles (Indian Wells, Rome), played in two Roland Garros finals, beat Pete Sampras in Davis Cup on grass but the Spaniard is most remembered for a 1996 US Open QF fifth set tiebreaker loss to Sampras despite holding a match point.
Natasha Zvereva won four WTA singles titles and 80 in doubles, not to mention 19 Grand Slams but tennis fans most remember her 1988 Roland Garros final defeat 60 60 in 34 minutes to Steffi Graf when she was just 17.
Guillermo Coria was no. 3 in the world, won nine ATP singles titles and two Masters titles but the defining moment of his career was the 2004 Roland Garros final where he was cruising to an easy win vs Gaston Gaudio 6-0 6-3 before choking the third set 6-4 after being head 4-4 and 40-love on his serve,, tanking the fourth set 1-6 with a fake injury that magically disappeared at the start of the fifth set. Coria served for the title twice at 5-4 and 6-5 and had two championship points at 6-5, barely missing the line with attempted winners.
Paul Henri Mathieu won four ATP singles titles, beat John Inser at Roland Garros 18-16 in the fifth set, holds the distinction of being the last player to beat Pete Sampras before he retired, but the Frenchman’s entire career was overshadowed by one tragic loss – blowing a two set lead in the 2002 Davis Cup final fifth rubber vs Mikhail Youhzny.
Iron Mike Russell accomplished an eighteen year ATP career (1998-2015) but the highlight moment was a defeat – to world no. 1 and defending French Open champ Gustavo Kuerten in 2001. Russell led their fourth round match two sets and 5-3 with a match point in the third set but subsequently lost in five sets.
Marcos Baghdatis won four ATP singles titles, played the 2006 Australian Open final, beat Roger Federer in Indian Wells but the lasting memory of his career was the 2006 US Open five set loss 7-5 in the fifth to Andre Agassi, which was the last win of the iconic American’s illustrious career.
Irina Spirlea won four WTA singles titles and rose to no. 7 in the world but when you think of the Romanian’s career, only one match comes to mind – the 1997 US Open semifinal loss to Venus Williams 6-7 6-4 6-7, which included a controversial chest bumping incident at the net post during a changeover. Spirlea blew two match points in the third set tiebreaker. She never reached a Grand Slam QF after that and retired in 2000.
Alex Corretja · ATP · Guillermo Coria · Roland Garros · US Open · WTA
Facing Hewitt · February 12, 2022 at 10:10 am
Murray at the Australian Open.
Roddick at Wimbledon.
Scoop Malinowski · February 12, 2022 at 11:11 am
Facing Hewitt, good one, I don’t even remember if Roddick beat Nalbandian or Ferrero in US Open final, think it was Ferrero, very unmemorable match. Roddick vs Federer at Wimbledon yes that’s a good one. Murray at AO, which one? I don’t remember, Fed or Novak loss?
Bill McGill · February 14, 2022 at 6:14 pm
I think he means the one where Murray memorably quipped that he can cry like Roger, pity he can’t play like him. I don’t agree that that is his most memorable match, though. A lot of people are going to remember 2013 Wimbledon. Of course, more people are going to remember 2012 Wimbledon.
I think an even more interesting category is the category of players with multiple, high profile victories in careers where they struggled winning lesser tournaments. Do you know how many casual tennis fans think Stan Wawrinka and Murray have had comparable careers because they both won 3 GS? I mean, Murray has 48 titles, 14 Masters 1000 titles and an ATP Tour Final title and was a 6-time GS finalist. Wawrinka has 16 titles, counting those 3 majors. Apart from a single title at Monte Carlo, and three ATP 500s, all the rest of those titles are ATP 250s. Marat Safin has 15 titles and almost half of them are majors or Masters 1000s. It was like he couldn’t win the easy ones.
Scoop Malinowski · February 14, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Bill, I always remember for all Kafelnikov won, two Grand Slams, Olympics 2000, Davis Cup, he never could win a Masters Series title )
Scoop Malinowski · February 16, 2022 at 8:19 am
Ronnie Leitgeb died this morning so we will never know his secretsâŚ..he did well going from journalist to coach/manager of Thomas Muster, to ATP tournament director and marry the âeuropeanâ Paris Hilton. RIP Ronnie.
Scoop Malinowski · February 16, 2022 at 12:50 pm
Tommy Haas wife Sara Foster blasts California mask mandates! âAttn Los Angeles law makers: you guys are a f***ing joke. While 100,000 people enjoyed the super bowl unmasked in our city, our children will have a very different experience in school tomorrow. Tomorrow they will be masked ALL day: they will be masked while they run outside in 80 degrees sweating during PE,â Foster continued. âI am born and raised in la and have never been more disgusted and ashamed of this place and the MORONS running it. Very exciting, the Rams won, fantastic, great super bowl halftime show, loved every second, best halftime show Iâve ever seen,â Foster continued. âBut all I can think about is that our children will go to school tomorrow masked indoors, outdoors when they are running in PE sweating, having a hard time catching their breath. Theyâre masked. If they take it down, they get yelled at. Theyâve never seen their teachersâ faces. We as parents are not allowed to go on campus. Iâve never met the teachers of my kindergarten student. I donât know what her classroom looks like. I canât go there when she does her presentations. But we hosted a Super Bowl with a hundred thousand unmasked people. I didnât see anyone wearing a mask in Los Angeles. We are hosting a f***ing Super Bowl here in a state of emergency,â Foster concluded. âLift the state of emergency, get your s**t together and get the masks off our f***ing kids.â