Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Boris Becker are among Wimbledon’s three most dominating players. Yet relative unknowns Sergiy Stakhovsky, George Bastl and Peter Doohan are the unlikely trio who had shock wins over these fearsome champions at the All England Club.
Peter Doohan
Aussie Peter Doohan had a highest ranking of world number 43 and reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam only twice – once each at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. At the French Open he never progressed beyond the first round and even at the US he only reached the second round.
However, in the second round of the 1987 Wimbledon, Doohan defeated two-time defending champion Becker in one of the tournament’s biggest ever upsets.
Doohan’s win came in handy for compatriot Pat Cash, who went on to win the only Slam of his career. Cash, who was world number 413 a year prior due to injuries, put in a tremendous performance against reigning US Open and French Open Champion Ivan Lendl, who had lost to Becker in ’86.
George Bastl
Bastl’s highest ranking was 71 and he only reached the second round of US Open twice, and the third round of Wimbledon once.
Yet, at Wimbledon in 2002, Bastl defeated none other than seven-time champion Pete Sampras in the second round. That year, Lleyton Hewitt became champion, lifting his second Major, after the 2001 US Open. Hewitt lost in the first round the next year to an unknown Ivo Karlovic.
Sampras lost his last two matches at Wimbledon to Swiss players, namely Bastl in 2002 and Federer a year earlier.
Sergiy Stakhovsky
Stakhovsky, currently ranked No.99, had a top ranking of 31 and has won four ATP titles. However, his biggest claim to fame will always be defeating Federer in the 2013 Wimbledon championships, while the Ukrainian was ranked 116.
This was Federer’s earliest loss since the 2003 French Open – the Swiss had entered at least the quarter-finals of Grand Slams a record 36 times.
Rafa’s wretched run
Rafael Nadal won the title in 2008 to prevent Federer from six in a row, claimed a second title in 2010, and was runnerup to Novak Djokovic the next year.
Yet almost inexplicably, from 2012 to 2015, Rafa lost to players ranked below 100 – Lukas Rosol in 2012, Steve Darcis in 2013, Nick Kyrgios in 2014, and Dustin Brown in 2015.
Even more astonishingly, Brown has a 2-0 career head-to-head against Rafa, with both wins coming on grass.
Qualifier Jelena Dokic defeating Martina Hingis in 1999, Lori Mcneil defeating Steffi Graf in 1993, and Roger Taylor defeating Rod Laver in 1970 are other famous first-round upsets at Wimbledon.
Any more upsets you can think of, either at Wimbledon or the other Grand Slams?
Johnno
Guest
Good points, the difference between underdog and champions is the consistency and regulary. A less talented player can not play of his skin every game it's just impossible for someone to exceed there ability every game...
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
Thanks a lot Johnno for the appreciation and encouragement. You have correctly pointed out the key word "occasionally". I feel that this is what separates a chaMpion from others. the Champ wins regularly. Further , the underdog will find it difficult to repeat the performance after a huge upset as mentally he may be feeling he has already done more that what was expected. Hence he often loses the very next match after a huge upset. excellent points with examples like Bubka about favorites under pressure
Johnno
Guest
Good article Ritesh. I like that you have given the underdog some spotlight. Every dog has it's day, and it's nice that an underdog sometimes will get recognition and win occasionally, I stress the word occasionally as the superior players or teams invariably win most of the time. But sometimes the wind changes and the underdog can get up in sport. Tennis probably has less upsets than say soccer as soccer is a sport where it can be hard to score a goal if the other weaker side has a good goalie. But tennis sometimes a player can step up and win, and spoil the party for the star players. What's interesting is the "bound effect" an upset has in tennis on the rest of the draw, it really opens the draw up. Cash certainly benefited by avoiding Becker in his prime on wimbeldon 87, it would have given him a huge leg up in confidence and hope... Nice article, as underdogs have there role in sport and are always and interesting and enjoyable variable in sport... And upsets in tennis have been happening for ages in all eras and generations of the game.. Serena Williams failing flat and having her grand slam run ended at the US open semi in 2015 by a player who had never beaten her was interesting. Sergi Bubka in pole vault won at the olympic games only once when he was expected to win gold most olympics he went in, Dan Jansen struggled for year in winter olympics to get a gold then finally got one. Sometimes being favourite beings about pressure..