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The greatest fighter in tennis history is not Nadal or Hewitt, it’s Barbie Bramblett
44 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Scoop
Bramblett was born in Jacksonville, Florida on September 14, 1964 She won the Orange Bowl 16s in 1980 and later attended Duchesne Academy and University of Houston.
Barbie’s pro tennis career spanned from 1982-85. She competed in seven Grand Slams but did not win a match. Her highest ranking was no. 60 in the world in 1983. Her most notable career wins came against Lori McNeil, Diane Fromholtz, and Helena Sukova.
In 1982 she was the first Recipient of WTA Tour’s Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award.
Barbie’s most sensational tennis match happened in a second round qualifying match at the 1983 US Open against Ann Hulbert where she lost the first set 0-6 and was behind 0-5, love-40 in the second set. Bramblett somehow managed to come back and win the match, saving EIGHTEEN match points.
The miraculous win against Hulbert advanced her into the US Open main draw, where she lost to Jean Hepner after a marathon match lasting 3 hrs 49 minutes.
In 1984 Bramblett even eclipsed her astonishing achievement of saving eighteen match points when she produced another magical, impossible comeback. Trailing 1-6 0-5 to Kathy Holton in the qualifying tournament in Nashville, Tennessee, Bramblett saved 20 match points in her victory, a record number of match points saved. She won 1-6 7-5 6-0.
After concluding her professional tennis career in 1985, Bramblett has worked in Houston, Texas as a tennis instructor, painter, author and website designer. She published a book in 2013 titled “Tennis Strategies.”
Even Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt, Roger Federer and Serena Williams never managed to save eighteen and twenty match points in any of their matches. And for the rest of history, it’s highly unlikely any pro play ever will again.
Hat’s off to you Barbie Bramblett.
Dan Markowitz · April 11, 2019 at 12:56 pm
Ah, Scoop, I’m sorry to tell you this, but a player who never won a slam match cannot the greatest fighter of all time. That’s like saying Andre Agassi had the greatest hair of all tennis players or Tom Okker had the greatest up’s of all-time because his nickname was “The Flying Dutchman.”
By any chance, is this Barbie a distant relative of yours?
Now what do you make of this clay court event in Houston?? 11 Americans started in the draw and only two remain, Steve Johnson who hasn’t played a match yet and Sam Querrey. Eeg! No wonder why tennis tournaments are leaving the U.S.
Doug Day · April 11, 2019 at 8:52 pm
She’s up there with Scanlon’s golden set (I know a wta player repeated that feat about 10 years ago) To save 20 match points in sanctioned play is crazy. The woman was tennis’ Harry Houdini. Call Ripleys, Scoop.
catherine · April 12, 2019 at 1:50 am
What’s happening to Zverev – loses again and looked pretty mediocre. Is Lendl still around ?
German tennis is in the tank.
catherine · April 12, 2019 at 3:58 am
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/apr/11/tara-moore-astonishing-tennis-comeback-enormous-boost-to-career
And here’s another recent comeback 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · April 12, 2019 at 8:34 am
Wonder who was counting all those match points saved. Wonder how many the opponent saved? Fascinating magical Isner Mahut extended moment in tennis history.
Dan Markowitz · April 12, 2019 at 8:36 am
Catherine,
Your bringing up Tara Moore and her comeback, it’s pretty cool. But this is an unknown player, highest rank #145 in 2017, which reminds me of Jeff Salzenstein, the former Stanford #1 and long-time ATP player who got to #100, when I asked him if he was going to announce his retirement after 13 years of playing on the tour after going to Stanford for four years, (and he only retired because he lost to Scott Lipsky in singles and had vertigo), Jeff said, “Boris Becker retires. Jeff Salzenstein just leaves the tour.”
By the way, Salzenstein’s new charge, Stefan Kozlov, another fallen American, or maybe THE fallen American, lost in the second round of a Futures this week even though he was the no. 1 seed.
Scoop Malinowski · April 12, 2019 at 8:37 am
Wow, incredible that it just happened again this week Catherine. Thanks for sharing.
Scoop Malinowski · April 12, 2019 at 8:40 am
Dan, that is great one liner by Jeff. He has a lot of them. Kozlov is mainly coached by Brian Baker and Jeff is part of the team. Kozlov is struggling mightily, he is working hard but can’t get over the hump, losing to guys ranked outside 500 and college players. He won three Challengers but now he can’t even win Futures.
Dan Markowitz · April 12, 2019 at 1:18 pm
I would find of interest a story about Kozlov. You’re right, when he won those two Challengers when he was 18, I thought and a lot of other people did too, that this kid was on his way to top 50 and fast. But his collapse is one of the biggest surprises for any player who was supposedly on the fast track to the top of the game.
I mean, obviously, he doesn’t have the physical gifts of a Shapovalov, but he seemed to be on the same track.
Scoop Malinowski · April 12, 2019 at 7:56 pm
Dan I still remember sitting with you in Newport and watching Kozlov absolutely dismantle Becker who is a proficient grass court player. You even said he could contend for future Newport and Wimbledon titles with his game of variety and intelligence. But Kozlov got hit with a lot of losses, bad losses on hard courts and never really established himself as a hard court player, he still has not won an ATP main tour match on hard court. His confidence was depleted, the losses continued and then players he used to beat – Sandgren, McDonald, Klahn, etc – passed by him. Then he started to lose to college players. And that’s where he’s at now, mentally he’s not proven in his own mind that he belongs in the ATP.
Dan Markowitz · April 13, 2019 at 2:55 am
Indeed, it’s been a hard road for Kozlov after that win against Becker at Newport and the other grass court win he had against Johnson.
Good win for Querrey against Tipsarevic in Houston. Sam had his back to the wall in first set breaker, but prevailed and he looks fit and of course his first-strike capabilities on serve and forehand are formidable. I don’t know why Querrey doesn’t seem to do better. He’s dropped to no. 71 but maybe at 31 he’s still game for another run like he had a couple of years ago.
This Casper Ruud is killing it in Houston reaching semis and easily blitzing Granollers 1 and 0. He might be a player at only 20 to watch climb in the rankings. Do you know that besides Isner and Tiafoe, Johnson is the only other American in the top 50, and at 39 losing all his Houston points from last year, he will be outside top 50 after next week.
catherine · April 13, 2019 at 8:47 am
Swiatek bts Kr Pliskova 0/1 in Lugano. Swiatek still only 17 I think so will be interesting to see how far she goes this year.
Scoop Malinowski · April 13, 2019 at 9:22 am
Swiatek is the real deal. Does anybody remember I first wrote about her about 9 months ago? She lost to Vickery in a tough battle in Miami Open but she is on fire since.
Scoop Malinowski · April 13, 2019 at 9:27 am
Ruud has always been better on clay and he struggle on hard courts to even get wins but he figured it out late last year and early this year and now his clay results are accelerating too. He wasn’t winning anything on hard courts a year ago, two years ago. Like Felix and Shap he had that slow progress period but now he’s exploding. Querrey will always be an enigma, so much firepower, so much potential, but his career is always spotted with mediocre, head scratching results. Tipsarevic is a wonder, a former top ten player, seven surgeries and still competing at the highest level. Another one of those small, under 5-11 guys who has achieved an excellent career. Incredible player. Tipsarevic just told Richard Pagliaro this week that Djokovic is the GOAT without a doubt. http://www.tennisnow.com/News/2019/April/TN-Interview-Janko-Tipsarevic.aspx
catherine · April 13, 2019 at 9:41 am
Scoop – I first noticed Swiatek when she was 15 or so and the Poles were very excited about her – and then she went on to win the W’don junior title which is sometimes a good indicator for the future and sometimes not. I’ve only seen highlights in recent matches but she’s showing steady improvement. Looking good on the clay.
catherine · April 13, 2019 at 11:27 am
Pliskova was very poor – Iga may find Hercog a little more difficult. WTA highlights are beyond awful – you see more shots of players sitting down and towelling off etc than actually hitting the ball. Don’t know why they bother.
Dan Markowitz · April 13, 2019 at 2:25 pm
I wouldn’t say Ruud is “exploding.” Is exploding beating Opelka on clay and Granollers? But he bares watching. This guy who’s locked in a tough quarterfinals match with Thompson, the Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan, is pretty amazing. He’s no. 241 in the world. But that’s what Houston and Newport do now. They don’t attract many top players so you’ll usually see a second or third-tier player like Ebden make a move.
Dan Markowitz · April 13, 2019 at 2:32 pm
Galan just beat Thompson and he’s the first Qualis wild card player in 10 years to reach a tour-level semis as a Quali WC. Until this tournament, he’d made $182,000 in his career.
Hartt · April 14, 2019 at 7:18 am
So Christian Garin and Casper Ruud will play the Houston final. According to ubitennis.net Ruud is the youngest finalist there since Roddick.
As Scoop said, Ruud had a period of slow progress, so it is great to see him do well at this tourney. And he will be looking forward to the European clay season. Casper is on one of my promising youngsters lists, and I was wondering why he seemed to be stalled.
Scoop Malinowski · April 14, 2019 at 8:23 am
The stall was due to failure to win on hard courts and some heartbreak losses, like to Paul at Citi Open two years ago. I did a NEXTGEN Focus on Casper with his dad two years ago and it explains his progress and stall. https://www.tennis-prose.com/articles/christian-ruud-analyzes-son-casper-ruuds-atp-ascent/
catherine · April 14, 2019 at 9:25 am
As predicted Swiatek did find Hercog tougher than Pliskova in Lugano – she lost 3-6 6-3 3-6, too many unforced errors and sloppy play. Iga’s very talented but she needs to mature – a game like hers, mixing aggression with Hsieh-type of shotmaking, needs a lot of confidence and control. Polona can now afford a few more trips to the tattoo parlour. What is the clothing brand with the skull logo ? Fognini used to wear it – maybe still does.
Scoop Malinowski · April 14, 2019 at 9:35 am
Hercog is a tough veteran player, the expected outcome happened. Good experience for the teen. Seiatek will surely have the better career. Brand is called Hydrogen, Fognini now endorses Armani Exchange’s new tennis apparel, AE7 to be exact.
Hartt · April 14, 2019 at 5:59 pm
Christian Garin won the Houston final against Casper Ruud in 3 sets. I saw a few games in the first and third sets, and Garin was definitely the better player then. Making the final was a huge boost to each player’s rankings. Garin jumped 26 spots to No. 47 in the live rankings, and Ruud moved up 27 spots to No. 68.
Scoop Malinowski · April 14, 2019 at 7:05 pm
Garin looks exactly facially like Richard Gasquet, they are the most similar lookalikes in tennis ever. Same face, eyes and expression but different color hair and different styles of play. Anyone else see the similarity? Big win for Garin who won Roland Garros juniors. He’s breaking out this year.
Dan Markowitz · April 15, 2019 at 7:48 am
Now that you mention it I see a little of the similarity, but Gasket is much lighter complexion than Garin, who’s what Chilean? I’d say Garin looks more like Bellucci than Gasquet. I can’t give a lot of attention to Houston. It’s such a funky tournament and like Newport, does not draw a top group (although Newport in the past two years has been worse). Will Garin and Ruud use this as a platform to go higher? Maybe, but when you’re beating players like Granollers and Giraldo and even Querrey on clay, it’s not that big of a deal.
Scoop Malinowski · April 15, 2019 at 8:30 am
Ruud is going straight into Sarasota which is looking very good with Sandgren, Rubin, Lorenzi, Paul and I’m really curious to see Zane Khan go for his first ATP points, he got a last minute WC into qualies and will face German Benjamin Hassan at 10. Stacked draw, they changed the grounds configuration with a new stadium, looks really nice.
catherine · April 15, 2019 at 9:43 am
Not a happy birthday for Shapo who loses in Monte Carlo to Struff. Not sure how happy Denis is on clay – Hartt would know.
Looking ahead a lot of WTA action in Fed Cup at the end of the week which I’ll follow through many time zones as it happens. Belarus play Australia which will be interesting (Sabalenka v Barty) and Germany push the boat out with Kerber and Georges, Petko and Anne Lena Groenefeld v Latvia in Riga. Hard court. Then Roumania v France, in France.
The British team is playing Kazakhstan at a place in London called the Copper Box Arena. Something left over from the Olympics. The team is Johanna Konta + ……
Will this be the last Fed Cup in its present form ?
catherine · April 15, 2019 at 12:29 pm
It’s official – Sascha B is now with Kiki M. I’m glad he has a new job and that this works out for both of them.
catherine · April 15, 2019 at 12:38 pm
Good wishes comment on Instagram from Naomi 🙂
Mending fences ?
Hartt · April 15, 2019 at 1:53 pm
Yes, not a good day for Denis’ 20th birthday. Not just that he lost, but that he played so poorly.
Generally, clay is not a good surface for Denis. He had a very poor start on clay last season, but then made the SF in Madrid and did OK in Rome. So you don’t know what to expect.
On a happier note, Tennis Canada showed the complete 2017 Rogers Cup when Denis beat Rafa in Montreal in honour of his birthday. Denis was a relatively unknown 18-year-old at the time, so this was a huge win. He had already won against Delpo in that tourney and went on to beat Mannarino in the QFs, so got to his first Masters SF, losing to Sascha.
Hartt · April 16, 2019 at 7:36 am
Félix Auger-Aliassime just won his MC match over Londero 7-5, 7-6. As the score indicates, it was a close match. Londero won his first ATP tourney in Feb., and played well today when he was in jeopardy. FAA is still having problems with nerves when serving for a set or the match, but he was the superior player overall, and prevailed in the end.
There is lots of excitement about FAA’s next match, which is against Sascha Zverev.
Scoop Malinowski · April 16, 2019 at 8:16 am
Londero is a tough match for Felix, scrappy desperate semi veteran who does not want to lose to a kid, yet the star kid is expected to win vs the no name semi vet. Solid strong win vs Felix. In some ways it’s a better sign than beating a name player.
Scoop Malinowski · April 16, 2019 at 8:18 am
Maybe Osaka is having second thoughts about firing Bajin and is reconsidering. Anything is possible especially when her results have gone south since the dubious decision to dismiss Bajin which on the surface made zero sense.
catherine · April 16, 2019 at 10:27 am
Noami maybe is realising just how shabbily she, and those around her, came out of the whole business and wants to put any bad feelings behind her. Which is a mature decision. It was right up there with Kerber/Fisette as a fumbled coaching change. (I’ve come to the conclusion that Angie’s coaching choices are supremely irrelevant now – she goes her own way).
FAA will beat Sascha. I said earlier that German tennis was in the tank, men and women, and I’ll say it again – Zverev isn’t getting good results and who’s behind him ? Molleker is still ‘promising’. And Kerber,Georges, Petko are around the same age and will stop playing around the same time. Whatever happened to Carina Withoeft ? Won Luxembourg two years ago and is now in the 200s and couldn’t qualify for AO. Lisicki is playing Challengers which must be depressing. What on earth is the point ?
Hartt · April 16, 2019 at 1:04 pm
Obviously I hope that Félix will win against Sascha. Tomorrow is my birthday and that would make a great present! But I have no idea which player will win. Sascha likes clay, even if he hasn’t had great results over the last few weeks (on hard courts and then the clay of Marrakech). FAA is still new to the main tour. This won’t be an easy match for the youngster.
catherine · April 16, 2019 at 1:19 pm
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/sports/tennis/american-tennis-tournaments.html
Interesting article for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
Hartt – here’s hoping you have a great birthday 🙂
Hartt · April 16, 2019 at 3:08 pm
Catherine, thanks so much.
Am now going to have a look at the NY Times article.
Scoop Malinowski · April 16, 2019 at 10:49 pm
Happy birthday Hartt. I see Felix upsetting AZ too.
Hartt · April 17, 2019 at 8:46 am
Unfortunately, a FAA upset was not in the cards today. Félix was well below par, and Sascha played well. No way was he going to lose to a kid. But FAA did play better in the 2nd set than he did in the first. At least at this point in Félix’s career everything is a learning experience.
catherine · April 17, 2019 at 8:49 am
Well – got that one wrong didn’t I ? Don’t ever take notice of my ‘predictions’. Looks as if Sascha felt he had something to prove. Maybe he reads T-P 🙂
catherine · April 17, 2019 at 8:53 am
Hartt – you just got in there before me. Perhaps Felix was a bit overcome by expectations. As you say, a learning experience. Now off to enjoy your birthday cake !
Scoop Malinowski · April 17, 2019 at 9:09 am
Zverev had to be extra motivated to put the kid in his place. losing to Tsitsipas was enough of a humiliation. Big win for AZ. he had everything to lose.
catherine · April 17, 2019 at 12:12 pm
Naomi Osaka on TIMES’ list of the 100 curently most influential people – how, and why ?
Seriously. I just hope Naomi survives all this.
Scoop Malinowski · April 17, 2019 at 8:04 pm
Catherine, it’s nonsense to elevate Osaka to a savior or whatever they are trying to elevate her to. Pete Sampras said at his Hall of Fame speech I’m just a tennis player. Wish the media would apply the same label for Osaka instead of trying to make her into something a whole lot more.