Julien Bennetau (FRA) is considered one of the best tennis players… that has never won an ATP tournament. Thus says Wikipedia. Well I don’t know about that but he certainly is one of the unluckiest. To lose ten finals in a row you’d think you’re jinxed or what…
Speaking of unlikely records, there is one very interesting tennis set of note. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) led Amy Frazier (USA) 5-0, 40-0 in the first set and she was on serve. Up until that point she had won every single ball in that set. She had won impossible 23 out of 23 points played by that fateful moment. In other words, she had won every single game 40-0.
Now, if you win all first 24 points in a set, you will have achieved what is called a golden set (technically, it is necessary to win at least 24 points to win a set). This had never been achieved in a WTA tournament before. Talking of pressure…
Did she waver in the decisive moment?
Yes.
When you atempt something that has never ever been done for the first time, it’s tough on your psyche. So, not unexpectedly, she double-faulted. Even worse, she lost the game.
Luckily, she rebounded and won the next game (even though not on serve) and with it, the whole set 6-1.
Or did she really?
Then it hit her full force. The chance passed up. She couldn’t cope anymore. So she buckled. She could not bear the burden of realization any longer. She collapsed. Big time.
She lost the match fast 6-1 0-6 0-6. It was cruel. She must have been furious. Or maybe she wasn’t. As if she had lost all the interest in the match past the opportunity missed.
Whatever the cause of her inexplicable breakdown, it is one of the most amazing comebacks in the history of sport. Or is it?
Speaking of unlikely comebacks, Lisa Raymond (USA) is one hell of a fighter. Certain Ľubomíra Kurhajcová (SVK) led her at 2004 French Open 6-0 5-0 and was on serve. No, she couldn’t possibly lose this one.
Well, at that moment Lisa herself didn’t think about winning. Her only goal was not to be served two embarrassing bagels on her way to a sure-fire early exit. So she dug deep at 30-30 and won the game. Just to make sure it was not going to be the worst loss possible.
Was it a sign of her recovery?
Not really. In the very next game, on serve, she double-faulted twice in a row to offer two match points to her opponent on a golden plate.
But then something happened. Something that often happens inside Federer‘s head when he suddenly starts toying with his opponents, crushing them with ease no matter who’s standing on the other side of the court.
Amy Frazier won the next 14 points, next 7 games, and next 2 sets to win the match in a grand fashion 0-6 7-5 6-3.
But remember… the history is more twisted than the minds of men.
Enter Yaroslava Shvedova again – yes, the very same Kazakh player who had missed an almost-theregolden-set-to-be. It’s the year 2012, Wimbledon, and on the other side of the court we have Sara Errani (ITA).
The God of tennis must have been in a very good mood that day, since Shvedova again won all first 23 points of that set! But wait… she’d been there before!
And that’s precisely why she clinched the set with the 24th point. She had the benefit of experience.
Shvedova must be a strange player. She can dominate matches like no-one else – it just doesn’t happen very often. And it’s not that Errani is a bad player. Nor did she have a bad day. In fact, during the whole set she hit only one unforced error!
An even though Shvedova wavered afterwards (lost the next point, the first of the next set, and got broken to trail 0-2) she swiftly recovered – after all, she’d been there all right – and from that point never lost her focus again, winning the whole match 6-0 6-2.
Though the mills of God grind slowly
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Yet they grind exceeding small…
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