Category Archives: History

It was an end of some period – the time of emphatic Jim Courier‘s dominance. The American at the time was an undisputed king of clay, who had won the last four biggest tournaments on this surface (Roland Garros 1991-92 … Continue reading →

It was wide open tournament, the long-time No. 1 in the world – Ivan Lendl was gradually declining, and withdrew from the competition in Paris for the first time since his debut in 1978, Chang’s second miracle in a row … Continue reading →

1984… it was a year of John McEnroe‘s total dominance. The American prior to the US Open ’84 had lost just two matches of the season (!), and confirmed his supremacy over the tennis elite outplaying Ivan Lendl in the … Continue reading →

There were three sensational under-age triumphs in Grand Slam tournaments in the Open era, all occurred in a span of seven years between 1982 and 1989. As I have recently mentioned in two Roland Garros stories, in Paris triumphed teenagers … Continue reading →

It was the third and last by far, miracle in Paris – the tournament was captured by a player who theoretically hadn’t any basis to win the event before it started. In some respects Gustavo Kuerten‘s triumph was more astonishing … Continue reading →

Ivan Lendl [2], with Roland Garros and US Open titles captured in the mid 80s, dreamed about winning Australian Open and Wimbledon. After several unsuccessful attempts (three consecutive semi-final defeats), he finally won the coveted Australian Open title in his … Continue reading →

The eighth and last major title for Jimmy Connors, who beat Ivan Lendl second straight year in a 4-set final. It was a tournament which made a “Bollettieri” name famous. Two young pupils of his tennis academy (he’d opened it … Continue reading →

Arguably it was a tournament featured the best opportunity for Tim Henman to end a 62-year title drought for the British tennis at Wimbledon. The local favorite had already a solid experience obtained in two previous Wimbledons as he reached quarter-finals … Continue reading →

It is an Olympic year so it’s a good occasion to look at all Olympic events of the modern history of tennis. Winning the Olympic gold medal is arguably the fifth biggest achievement in tennis behind four Grand Slam tournaments, … Continue reading →

Seven years after an astonishing triumph of 17-year-old Mats Wilander, the Parisian crowd witnessed another miracle fortnight with a 17-year-old boy as a main protagonist. A short USA-citizen of Chinese origin (170 cm, he grew 5 cm later on), Michael … Continue reading →