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Each week Andrew Jones will select a list of sports people united by some feature other than competence.
This week it is their ability to whip a top-class tennis-playing peer like a 10 year-old boy beating his 5 year-old brother. As always, Jonesy welcomes your alternative line-ups.
My Top 5 Tennis Nemeses
1. Rafael Nadal (c) – inspired this week’s list by crushing ‘The Guy Everyone Who Is Not From Rockhampton Thought Was About To Become The Greatest Tennis Player of All Time’. Thanks to Rafa’s clay pigeon shooting at Roland Garros, The Rocket is still king.
2. Brooke Shields – the Delilah of mid-‘90s tennis made Andre Agassi’s hair fall out, his game fade away and his ranking approach 6.2 billion. Surely it was worth every minute.
3. Jana Novotna’s throat – the best known choker this side of the ’91, ’95, ’99, ’03 and ’07 All Blacks, this Czech chick finally broke through – and then broke down – in her third Wimbledon final. Who did she beat? None other than Nathalie Tauziat – the Thinking Man’s Marion Bartoli.
4. Martina Navratilova – a genuine merit-based selection, this tennis legend beat Chris Evert in no fewer than 6 Wimbledon finals. Sure Chrissie won 3 Rosewater Dishes herself (including one against Our Evonne, shamefully), but that’s still gotta hurt.
5. Bjorn Borg – as the main Open-era contender for the Rocket’s crown, the Iceborg was obviously the nemesis for many dirt-trackers on the pro circuit. But none more than for former world No. 2 Vitas Gerulaitis, who lost 7 finals to him in a head-to-head career record of 0 wins, 16 losses. Shame they didn’t play one more game: carrying the same record into the 1979 Masters against Jimmy Connors, Gerulaitis triumphed, then peeled my favourite line in tennis history:
“No-one beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row”