Nicolas Escudé

Born: April 3, 1976 in Chartres (Centre-Val de Loire)
Height: 1.85 m
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)

The lowest-ranked player among those I decided to include in the list of the best players born between 1959 and 1989, yet despite never breaking into the Top 15, I have no doubt that, given his technical and mental skills, he had the potential to be a Top 10 player. A man for special occasions, a big talent – ultimately unfulfilled. From the very beginning of his career, he struggled with injuries.
The tennis world first took notice of him at just 17 years old when he received a wild card for the 1993 French Open and the honor of facing Boris Becker on Centre Court. Escudé was given a brutal lesson, managing to win only three games, and nearly disappeared from the main tour for the next four years. It wasn’t until 1997 that he made a breakthrough, reaching the third round twice in Paris as a “wild card” – first at Roland Garros, then in Bercy – results that allowed him to finish the year inside the Top 100 (a year before finished 413th).
The 1998 Australian Open was only the 11th main-draw event of his career, yet he made a stunning run to the semifinals, winning three matches from two sets down (Magnus Larsson in 1R, Richey Reneberg in 3R, and Nicolas Kiefer in the quarterfinal). No player had ever accomplished such a feat in the Open Era before him. Even more remarkable was the fact that he came within a few points of losing each of those five-setters. Instead of capitalizing on that momentum and breaking into the Top 20 within a year, injuries once again held him back, keeping him around the Top 100. Then came another shocker – at the 1999 US Open, he had to go through qualifying and barely survived his opening match, saving a match point in a near 0-3 defeat to Magnus Gustafsson. He went on to reach the quarterfinals, where he lost to eventual champion Andre Agassi in a competitive straight-set match.
His next Grand Slam quarterfinal came at Wimbledon 2001, once again ending at the hands of Agassi. That tournament was a turning point in Escudé’s career. Until then, he had been known as an offensive baseliner, comfortable approaching the net off either wing but using serve-and-volley mainly as an element of surprise. The early 2000s marked the decline of serve-and-volley dominance at Wimbledon, yet in 2001, the strategy was still effective. Despite modest grass-court results in previous seasons (his best being a runner-up finish in the Netherlands in 2000, benefiting from a favorable draw), Escudé decided to continue the classical grass-court strategy, and everything clicked at Wimbledon that year thus he kept this style for another few years of his career also on hardcourts. His victory over a young Lleyton Hewitt was particularly impressive – by then, the Australian had already made a name for himself as a specialist in dismantling ageing serve-and-volleyers. However, when faced with a different rhythm on his own service games, his passing shots weren’t as sharp. Not only did Escudé defeat Hewitt – the best player in the world at the time – at Wimbledon ’01, but he repeated the feat in the Davis Cup final that same year – both matches ending with strikingly similar scorelines (4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4) as well as the duration (3:26h and 3:23h).
France’s 2001 Davis Cup triumph was Escudé’s masterpiece abroad: in the quarterfinal against Switzerland (Neuchâtel), he saved a match point in the deciding fifth rubber against George Bastl; in the semifinal (Rotterdam), he endured an almost five-hour battle against Sjeng Schalken, coming within a few points of losing in both the fourth and fifth sets; when the final in Melbourne arrived, he didn’t blink. Facing Wayne Arthurs instead of Patrick Rafter in a clincher, Escudé was the slight favorite, and with his superb serving and a handful of crucial backhand passing shots, he secured victory in four sets.
Though he won only four ATP titles, two of them came in Rotterdam (overcoming Roger Federer on both occasions), one of the premier indoor events in the first half of the season. His second triumph there in 2002 was particularly extraordinary because he survived – as a defending champion – three consecutive matches where he was either one or two points away from a straight-sets defeat (!) – all against high-caliber opponents.
A persistent shoulder injury forced him into early retirement at just 28 years old.

Career record: 172-129 [ 129 events ]
Career titles: 4
Highest ranking: No. 17
Best GS results:
Australian Open (semifinal 1998)
Wimbledon (quarterfinal 2001)
US Open (quarterfinal 1999)
Davis Cup champion 2001