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Hard To Believe Achievements In Tennis
38 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
There have been many acts of magic and wizardry on a tennis court. Here are a few that are forever etched in my mind…
Novak Djokovic somehow managing to beat the greatest player of all time Rafael Nadal seven times in a row, all in finals.
Mikhail Youzhny coming back from two sets down in France, in the final figth match of the final tie of France vs. Russia, against Paul Henri-Mathieu. Late in the third set the French box at courtside, led by Arnadu Clement, had practically already begun their celebrations, smiling and laughing. But Youzhny somehow won the third set, then the fourt and the fifth, and ultimately the Davis Cup for Russia. Poor Paulo and the French had to be in a state of shock.
The Isner-Mahut Wimbledon marathon.
Marcelo Rios falling on his backside and still hitting an overhead winner while seated on the court in the final of the ’98 Grand Slam Cup vs. Andre Agassi in Munich, Germany.
Jennifer Capriati beating Martina Hingis in the final of the Australian Open, saving four match points, actually Championship points, in a sweltering heat of over a hundred degrees.
Pete Sampras serving so hard that his serve actually blasted its way through the Prince racquet strings during their match in Cincinnati in the 90s.
The McEnroe-Borg Wimbledon tiebreaker.
All of Rafael Nadal’s total domination in clay court tennis.
Lukasz Rosol’s amazing, spectacular KO win over Nadal at last year’s Wimbledon. Now it seems almost every unproven or journeyman ATP player now believes he can beat the top names of tennis on any given day.
Pete Sampras fending off Alex Corretja in the fifth set tiebreaker of their US Open quarterfinal match back in the 90s, despite severe nerves, sickness and vomiting on the court.
The quality of doubles tennis that Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek play to beat the Bryan Brothers in a Grand Slam major or Masters Series tournament.
Jimmy Connors’ run at age 39 at the U.S. Open.
I’m sure I’m forgetting a few, maybe you can add some to this list…
Djokovic beat Rafa seven times in a row
Scoop Malinowski · September 16, 2013 at 11:32 am
How could I forget – Pete Sampras, six years in a row ATP Number One.
Dan markowitz · September 16, 2013 at 12:50 pm
How about Johnny Mac reaching 1977 Wimbledon semis as a qualifier and high school senior?
Or Spadea beating Agassi in 1999 Aussie O Rd of 16 after Agassi called him a journeyman.
bjk · September 16, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Sampras beating Chesnokov in five sets (before collapsing with cramps), then winning the doubles, then beating world #6 Kafelnikov in 3 sets, on clay, in Russia, to single-handedly win the Davis Cup in 1995.
bjk · September 16, 2013 at 1:13 pm
#6 Kafelnikov
Scoop Malinowski · September 16, 2013 at 1:45 pm
Now we’re talkin. Don’t know how I forgot to think of Pete’s Davis Cup heroics bjk. Also Goran eking into Wimbledon as a wildcard, then winning the event.
Scoop Malinowski · September 16, 2013 at 1:45 pm
Michael Chang winning the French Open, his only major title, at age seventeen also has got to go into this list.
Scoop Malinowski · September 16, 2013 at 1:47 pm
And to add Dan, Spadea coming back from that 20 plus first round losses in a row to be a top 40 player was also a remarkable achievement that even Johnny Mac was impressed by.
Scoop Malinowski · September 16, 2013 at 1:47 pm
Gotta add Gaudio coming back from two sets down and basically a laugher of a blowout final to shock Coria in the fifth set of the French Open final.
Scoop Malinowski · September 16, 2013 at 1:48 pm
Wait. I just remembered the biggest of them all. Nicolas Massu winning the OLY singles and doubles gold medals in Athens in 04 and the marathon manner in which he did it. This may be the top of the list.
Dan Markowitz · September 16, 2013 at 3:00 pm
Spades actually went from losing 21 in a row to No. 19. While we’re at it how about Noah winning French in 1984? Didn’t Connors win Wimby-Open double at 31? How about Sampras coming back to win 2002 Open when everyone thought he was washed up?
Or Murray becoming first Brit since Perry in 36 to win Wimby?
Harold · September 16, 2013 at 5:19 pm
Mats Wilander and Joakim Nystrom winning Wimby Doubs in 86
Scoop Malinowski · September 17, 2013 at 7:41 am
Why was Mats/Nystrom winning Wimbledon dubs so special Harold? Did they save a ton of MPs or something?
Scoop Malinowski · September 17, 2013 at 7:42 am
Can’t think of any Hard to believe achievements by Federer, which is odd. It’s like it’s all kind of been expected.
Dan Markowitz · September 17, 2013 at 8:31 am
How about Ken Rosewall reaching both the Wimby and US Open finals at the age of 38?
Mitch · September 17, 2013 at 11:37 am
Fed winning Wimbledon and returning to #1 was impressive. Also his slam semifinal and quarterfinal streaks.
Andrew Miller · September 17, 2013 at 12:23 pm
How about some hard to believe non achievements like the u.s. worst ever performances at Wimbledon and the US Open ?
Andrew Miller · September 17, 2013 at 12:29 pm
Why Mardy Fish lost that match I will never know. He had it in the bag. I wonder if that loss was ultimately the reason Fish rededicated himself. He has done much bigger things since the Massu match. But that dog of a performance must have messed with Fish for a whileml. Epic losses can be learning opportunities – Fish ultimately got top ten. If he were healthy he would be the legitimate top u.s. player. No small thing . I am glad mardy got his groove back. He has been unsung in his career but I think he was better ultimately than James Blake.
Another non achievement : pat McEnroe giving fish the nod vs spades in Seville. I think that was the beginning of the end of spadeas career.
Scoop Malinowski · September 17, 2013 at 12:40 pm
True Mitch, Fed making I think it’s 23 straight major SFs is just amazing. Some elite players haven’t even been able to play 23 consecutive majors – Safin, McEnroe, Moya, Guga, Agassi, Nadal.
Scoop Malinowski · September 17, 2013 at 12:51 pm
Andrew, Fish credited a reporter and I witnessed this, a journalist named Lloyd Carroll for the Queens Chronicle at the US Open asked Fish about being a journeyman after he lost/choked away a five setter to Robredo – it was 2007, and Fish seemd to get offended but also at the same time realized it was the cold hard truth. The next year Fish was a different player, his ranking shot up, and he made QF at US Open, F of OLY, and the same reporter told Fish that he felt he deserved some credit for his unintentional “journeyman” insult inspiring Fish to work harder and improve. And Fish actually smiled and said, “And so you should.”
Dan markowitz · September 17, 2013 at 3:51 pm
That snubbing of Spadea by PMac really did hurt Vince. He wrote a letter to Pat that we included in the book. The fact is he drubbed Mardy and was up 4-1 against Roddick in a practice match before Andy walked off the court. I think when your own Davis Cup coach doesn’t take notice of your achievements and playing level it’s demoralizing, but Spadea always said those slights by the so-called experts spurred him on.
Scoop Malinowski · September 17, 2013 at 4:23 pm
Vince made Roddick tap out )
CS3 · September 17, 2013 at 10:35 pm
Novak Djokovic defeating Rafa in consecutive Masters 1000 series Finals on Red Clay in ’11 (Madrid & Rome) as part of his 7 unprecedented before & after 7 match win streak over Rafa is among the most impressive feats in recent history… Rafa’s 59-1 lifetime record at Roland Garros is RIDICULOUS… Rafa defeating Federer in their ’09 Australian Open EPIC Final after surviving a 5 set, over 5 hour marathon with Fernando Verdasco in the semis 2 days before is 1 of the best displays of conditioning in history… Federer’s AMAZING streak of reaching 18 of 19 Grand Slam Finals likely won’t be surpassed or threatened… Steffi Graf’s INCREDIBLE & possibly once in a lifetime Golden Slam year of ’88… Boris Becker repeating as Wimbledon Champion in ’85 & ’86 at the age of 17 & 18 respectively.. All of these are all time great feats & there are so many more!!
Andrew Miller · September 18, 2013 at 12:37 am
Though it may be ridic to include : ivanisevic’ Wimbledon , agassis French open , even tj Aussie open. I would call the Davis cup victory of flopez and verdasco vs Argentina a huge one. While we are at it sabatinis 1990 us open victory. Of more recent note the two masters victories of nalbandian where he beat federer nasal two straight weeks. And I would also include the other two victories by Guillermo canas .
All those are ” did that really happen ? ” kind of stuff.
Andrew Miller · September 18, 2013 at 12:41 am
Spadea didn’t seem to have the same mojo after the Davis cup fiasco.
Fish should not have got the nod . I don’t know if spades would have done better but he was the right player to play. Yuri Tarpishev would have played him – one of best Davis cup strategists in history.
Andrew Miller · September 18, 2013 at 12:45 am
Maybe pat Mac felt obligated from Fish’s Olympics. But I think it was a mistake to play Fish. Pat Mac also made a mistake in choosing Blake over Ginepri in 2005 given that Ginepri was mere games away from the us open final. That decision also seemed to take a toll on Ginepri.
Both were mistakes based I think on bad hunches rather than favoritism . but they looked a lot like favoritism unfortunately and did no favors for us tennis.
Scoop Malinowski · September 18, 2013 at 8:11 am
Team chemistry is an important part of Davis Cup and Spadea was an outsider to Fish and Roddick, they didn’t like him. Spadea also was not known as a big match player. Practice sets don’t mean much. Federer lost a set to Scheuttler’s hitting partner at the Houston World Tour finals (Lu told me for my Federer book). Sampras used to lose a lot of practice sets at majors. So I can see why even though Spadea was doing well in practice sets during the week why Patrick McEnroe elected to sit Spadea and play Fish and Roddick instead. COmpletely understandable. Spadea was not known as a big match player and when he did ultimately get his singles opportunities in Davis Cup, he did not prevail.
Andrew Miller · September 18, 2013 at 3:34 pm
Scoop – Spadea only played 1 dead rubber in Davis Cup, a loss to JC Ferrero in 2000 (one of Ferrero’s good years), a dead rubber loss in three sets no less, on clay, with Spadea winning set one losing two and three, in Spain. He never played another Davis Cup match.
Ginepri was all of 2-0 in Davis Cup, and though named to a team in 2005 (following US Open semifinal) like Spadea in 2004 (following his best ever ranking), did not play.
As much as I like the idea of team dynamic etc., I think it’s up to the coach to create dynamic and have standards by putting up the best players. If the best players don’t want to play or are terrible on the surface, the coach needs to handle that situation. Even though Pat Mac probably made decisions that seemed logical, I think he made bad choices in not going on merit. I can see why it was a tough decision – Fish was after all the Olympics runner up and was not bad on clay.
But I think that match belonged to Spadea, win or lose. I don’t think Ginepri really recovered after the US Open semi – he was around 23 years old when he made it. You follow that up with a decision not to play him in Davis Cup (Ginepri was more consistent than Blake) and I think you can follow the trail of the confidence drop.
On the other hand – one guy who did recover despite the Davis Cup snub in 2004, JC Ferrero – the very guy who beat Spadea in his lone Davis Cup match. He had chicken pox, he paved the way literally for Nadal to be the next superhuman champ, and he crafted a nice comeback complete with slam quarterfinals from 2004 to his recent retirement. The game may have passed JC Ferrero by but he stayed good right up until the end.
Scoop Malinowski · September 18, 2013 at 3:46 pm
It always sorta seemed that JCF never fully recovered from that long year when he became number one and made US Open finals. Davis Cup. For a small guy he really put himself through the wringer. Then again Hewitt was on the small side and he’s still out there battling. It’s a tough call regarding Spadea and Fish and Rod, but like you say Pat Mac’s call was totally logical. Maybe Dan can tell us why Vince was distant with Fish and Roddick? Unity is very important in Davis Cup. Lack of unity – like Argentina’s Delpo and Nalbandian – can ruin a great team. Argentina absolutely should have won the Davis Cup at some point but team discord messed it up.
Scoop Malinowski · September 18, 2013 at 3:47 pm
Hewitt and Tomic had problems with each other in the past but they buried the hatchet and mended the fence, they even played doubles together this year in Miami (lost in two sets to Melo Dodig) and now Australia is back in World Group.
Harold · September 18, 2013 at 4:11 pm
Speaking of Tomic, anyone read the diary by the guy who got head-butted by Tomic’s father? Learned 2 things:
Tomic will never win a Major, not mentally tough enough
The father is insane and Mary Pierce’s dad might be Ward Cleaver(agecentric reference) compared to Papa Tomic
Scoop Malinowski · September 18, 2013 at 8:55 pm
They said Gaudio wasn’t tough enough but he won one. I would not rule out Tomic Harold. I like him a lot and he’s maturing and changing. Hewitt is a positive influence for him.
Scoop Malinowski · September 19, 2013 at 11:44 pm
I’m adding: Lleyton Hewitt at age fifteen and ranked around 500 got a WC into Adelaide and promptly won the event, beating Spadea, Agassi and then Stoltenberg 76 in the third in the final. Fifteen years old and he busts into the ATP and does that. We may never see that again.
Dan Markowitz · September 20, 2013 at 5:18 am
How about Borg winning the French-Wimby double 3 years running (1978-80). To me, that’s got to be the greatest achievement. What has Nadal done it only once.
Scoop Malinowski · September 20, 2013 at 8:07 am
Dan Borg probably has that record locked.
Dan Markowitz · September 20, 2013 at 3:25 pm
You don’t think Raonic will break it?
Andrew Miller · September 21, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Tomic appears to be like Dokic. He is not up for making good on his talent and simply doesn’t want to be out there. Dokic seemed to have a similar love hate relationship with tennis.
gustarhymes · September 22, 2013 at 3:36 pm
I’m impressed with all the incredible points everyone has made. Correction to Dan; Rafa won 2 French Wimbledon combos in 2008 and 2010, though Borg’s 3 consecutive is amazing and probably won’t be done again.
Also I will include Rafa’s record 9 consecutive years winning majors. Also Rafa is the only player to win 3 slams on 3 different surfaces in a single season in 2010. BTW, Scoop, though I’m the biggest Rafa fan, Rafa is not yet the GOAT. He is tied with Federer or #2, unless he wins either an extra Australian, Wimbledon or breaks 17. In fairness he has to have either quality or quantity to be considered the absolute GOAT. He’s very close though, and I believe he can do it.
Another, incredible achievement is Thomas Muster coming back from career threatening knee surgery in 1989 to win a French open in 1995. And, yes, he is the only player in tennis history to have major surgery and win a grand slam title. BTW, I would like everyone’s opinion if Andy Murray can come back strong after “minor” back surgery. I personally believe he will not win another major, though I like Andy.
Dr. gustarhymes
Scoop Malinowski · September 23, 2013 at 8:26 am
Well Gustarhymes, it’s pretty obvious where Rafa is heading and we know his ability to dominate and win majors is not going to suddenly stop anytime soon. He is going to win a lot more majors in the next 2-3 years. So though he hasn’t crossed the finish line yet, like Secretariat leading the race by about 30 lengths down the stretch, we pretty much know the outcome 🙂 No ATP player is suddenly going to turn into a Superman overnight. Rafa’s got everything under control.