Tennis history from the 238-tweets-fold-in perspective:
Within a week of 2013, I was tweeting my tennis-thoughts considering tennis history (the Open Era). I’ve collected them, rearranged, and mixed them up randomly – the result below (traditional, chronological time-line history here):
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# Martina Hingis (b. 1980) dated Julian Alonso (1977) & Magnus Norman (1976) – both deliver their last pro matches in 2003
# Among very experienced professionals, Peter Fleming plays the fewest 5-setters (1-5 record), the only win came from beating 5-set specialist Ilie Nastase, US Open ’83
# Head-To-Head: Andy Roddick overwhelms 11-0 Tommy Robredo (dropping just one set) but Robredo beat A-Rod in straight sets when they met as juniors Australia ’00
# Tomas Berdych in back-to-back tournaments (Montreal & Cincinnati ’09): loses 6-7 7-6 4-6 to Philipp Kohlschreiber (4 MPs/2nd set), beats 7-6 6-7 6-4 Philipp Petzschner (4MPs/2nd set)
# Best Nordic players by country: SWE – three Nos. 1 Bjorn Borg (b. 1956), Mats Wilander (’64) & Stefan Edberg (’66); FIN – Jarkko Nieminen (’81, No. 13); DEN – Kenneth Carlsen (’73, No. 41); NOR – Christian Ruud (’72, No. 39); ICE – Arnar Sigurdsson (’81, No. 703)
# In Dubai ’08 Roger Federer [1] & Andy Murray [11] meets as early as in the first round, the Scot wins 6-7(6) 6-3 6-4, one year later repeats in similar fashion 6-7(6) 6-2 6-2 in Doha (SF)
# Mikhail Youzhny loses to Germans twice leading *3:0 & 5:3* in 3rd sets: Tommy Haas 2-6 6-2 5-7 (Vienna ’02) & Rainer Schuettler 3-6 6-3 5-7 (Lyon ’03)
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# Nicklas Kulti loses in Stockholm to: Mats Wilander 6-0 4-6 1-6 in ’88 & Andre Agassi 6-0 5-7 3-6 in ’94, leading 3:1 in 2nd sets of both matches, huehue
# American Brad Gilbert & Frenchman Rodolphe Gilbert met twice, both matches won US-“ugly 
victor”: once in France, once in America
# Marcel Granollers‘ coach Fernando Vicente & already dead Frederico Luzzi also met twice & only tie-break sets were played: Luzzi 7-6 6-7 7-6 (Kitzbuhel ’00), Vicente 7-6 7-6 (Trani ’04-CH)
# South Africans born in 1958: Johan Kriek (two-time major champion) & Kevin Curren (two-time major runner-up) changed citizenships in the 80s -> USA
# Alex Calatrava notched just two career wins over Top 10ers (two weeks in a row in 2001): Andre Agassi 6-3 6-3 (Rome) & Pete Sampras 6-7 6-3 6-4 (Hamburg)!
# Born ’67 Christian Bergstrom plays just two finals (0-2), reaching three major QFs; in turn born ’68 – already dead – Horst Skoff takes part in 11 finals (4-7), never advancing beyond 2R at majors
# Rafael Nadal had his record 81-match winning streak on clay after losing 5-7 2-6 to Igor Andreev, in the meantime (Rome) two points away vs Guillermo Coria, double match point saved vs Roger Federer & 4-6 *1:4 vs Jarkko Nieminen (Barcelona)
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# Tricky Head-To-Head’s over Russians: Dominik Hrbaty 9-4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov & Fabrice Santoro 7-2 Marat Safin
# Sopot ’07: Stefan Koubek overcomes Agustin Calleri 0-6 7-6 7-5 from 0:4 in 2nd set, the Austrian snapped 21-game losing streak (4-6 0-6 to Daniel Koellerer a week before)
# Vince Spadea played the most tournaments (223) before won maiden title (Scottsdale ’04) breaks record of Tom Gullikson (204) Newport ’85
# Gilles Muller (b. 1983) of Luxembourg is known for his big serve, Gary Muller (b. 1964) of South Africa was also a big server – hit 54 aces once in three sets (Peter Lundgren)
# First players: with earring (Victor Pecci), with baseball cap wearing always backwards (Mark-Kevin Goellner), with visible tattoos (Janko Tipsarevic)
# Best South Americans by country: ARG – Guillermo Vilas (b. 1952, No.2); BRA – Gustavo Kuerten (’76, No.1); BOL – Mario Martinez (’61, No.35); CHI – Marcelo Rios (’75, No.1); COL – Santiago Giraldo (’87, No.39); ECU – Andres Gomez (’60, No.4); PAR – Victor Pecci (’55, No.9); PER – Jaime Yzaga (’67, No.18); URU – Marcelo Filippini (’67, No.30); VEN – Nicolas Pereira (’70, No.74)
# 6-7 7-6 6-0: with this scoreline Thierry Champion defeats Richard Fromberg in their only two matches (both USA 1992): San Francisco (153 min) & Indianapolis (142 min)
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# 2011: Canadian Frank Dancevic became the first player in Grand Slam history to qualify into all four majors in the one season
# Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo defeats superior but weak Deciding-3rd-Set-TB players: Marat Safin 0-6 7-6(6) 7-6(3) in Rome ’06 & James Blake 2-6 7-6(6) 7-6(4) in New Haven ’06
# Guys with height 200 cm (6’7”) or taller, and their highest ranking: Marc Rosset [9], John Isner [9], Ivo Karlovic [14], Jerzy Janowicz [14], Victor Amaya [15], Kevin Anderson [19]
# The Tsonga-Mahut current coach – Nicolas Escude wins last three matches Rotterdam ’02 being either one or two points away from losing 0-2 in sets: Roger Federer, Sebastien Grosjean & Tim Henman
# Jacco Eltingh wins 4 titles in total: grass (Manchester ’91) – clay (Atlanta ’93) – hard (Schenectady ’94) – carpet (Kuala Lumpur ’94)
# Jim Courier & Pete Sampras before became the best players in the world, as teenagers enjoyed good season teamed up in doubles (finished in Masters-London ’89)
# Longest… Deciding-3rd-Set-TB: Goran Ivanisevic d. Greg Rusedski 4-6 6-4 7-6(18) Queens Club ’97; Deciding-5th-Set-TB: Ken Flach d. Darren Cahill 1-6 6-4 3-6 6-1 7-6(15) US Open ’87
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# Deciding-3rd-Set-TB: Peter Fleming loses two consecutive matches (separated by a month) to the Mayer brothers in ’79: Gene 3-6 6-3 6-7 | Sandy 1-6 6-2 6-7… “Oh boy!”
# When Nikki Pilic is suspended by ITF, Wimbledon ’73 is boycotted by 81 players who could participate (including 13 out of 16 seeds)
# Davide Sanguinetti waited until the age of 29 (2002) for his first two titles, even sweeter in retrospect considering runner-ups: Roger Federer [13], Andy Roddick [13]
# The most tour tie-breaks in a row (18) wins Andy Roddick in ’07, the most loses (17) Robin Haase in ’12-13, during the streak Haase wins 1 in qualifying round though (Sergiy Stakhovsky)
# Ivo Karlovic holds the most service games in a row – 129 (2009) – broken by Roger Federer (third best in this regard) in the end at Wimbledon; second is Wayne Arthurs – 111 (1999) & 105 holds (2005); both including qualifying rounds, and both streaks finished by Andre Agassi
# Romanian Adrian Voinea survives back-to-back matches against Croats, saving two match points in both, Miami ’02: Mario Ancic (his debut) 6-7 6-3 7-5 & Ivan Ljubicic 4-6 7-6 7-6
# Nicolas Mahut doesn’t work on logical patterns, he has poor tie-break record 48-81, but in Deciding-3rd-Set-TB he managed somehow to eliminate guys possessing +60% records in those tie-breaks: Younes El Aynaoui, Fernando Gonzalez, Andy Murray & Juan Carlos Ferrero
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# Gabriel Markus was David Nalbandian‘s coach when he reached the final of Wimbledon ’02 and was coaching Nicolas Massu at the 2004 Athens Olympics
# Rainer Schuettler lost 6-2 5-7 5-7 in Kitzbuhel to the Austrian left-handed mini-goats: Stefan Koubek in 
2001 & Jurgen Melzer in 2008
# Cocaine friends: Karel Novacek & Mats Wilander, both finish their careers in 1996, Martin Damm is the man to beat them in their farewell ATP matches
# 1995: Thomas Enqvist & Goran Ivanisevic met four weeks in a row in North America (Montreal-Los Angeles-Cincinnati-Indianapolis) – the Swede won all matches, always 2-1
# Lleyton Hewitt claimed title at Queens Club ’00 with a perfect 10-0 in sets, nine of them won ‘6-4’ 🙂 seventh in order was ‘6-1’
# Miami: Aaron Krickstein in ’96 & Guy Forget in ’97 played their last career-matches; the former lost 12th match in a row, to Wojtek Kowalski (best Pole between Wojtek Fibak & Lukasz Kubot), the latter losing to Tommy Haas suffered 11th defeat in his last 12 matches
# Adriano Panatta wins two biggest clay-court events in 1976 (Rome, Roland Garros) saving match points on both occasions in first rounds, at Foro Italico as many as eleven – the Open era record
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# “Yugoslavian” Niki Pilic (b. 1939) wins Davis Cup with three different teams: Germany 1988-89, 93 & 
Croatia ’05 as captain; Serbia ’10 as advisor
# In the 90s just two tourneys were held with a two-game advantage instead of 3rd set decisive TB: Queens Club (till ’96) & Grand Slam Cup (till last edition in ’99)
# 22 y.o. Harel Levy qualifies to his first ‘Masters 1000’ & advances to the final (Toronto ’00) afterwards adds just one ATP final to his résumé
# the Fathers/Sons saga: Luis Bruguera beats Phil Dent 7-6 6-4 (Barcelona ’71), 30 years later Phil’s son Taylor takes a revenge defeating Luis’ son – Sergi 6-0 6-1 6-4 at Wimbledon; the funny thing is – Luis notched his only tour win then
# Juan Ignacio Chela never played a semifinal of a big event: three major quarterfinals, 8 ‘Masters 1000’ QFs too… he participated in the Davis Cup final though
# Michael Stich claims four titles ’91 & all of them on different surfaces: grass (Wimbledon) – clay (Stuttgart) – hard (Schenectady) – carpet (Vienna)
# Felix Mantilla played and lost the last two matches of his career against Robin Haase (Amersfoort-Umag ’07)
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# Andrei Stoliarov (b. 1977) of Russia, wins just five Slam matches, but all vs. notable guys: Wayne Ferreira, Cedric Pioline, Marc Rosset, Jonas Bjorkman & doubles specialist Martin Damm
# Among elite players Andy Murray loses set point-up sets with lowest frequency, yet he has lost four 
sets of this type to Roger Federer
# If you seek most stereotypical Scandinavians (pale blond hair | gray eyes), you’ll find it in Swede Kent Carlsson & Danish Kenneth Carlsen
# Albert Montanes won his first three ATP matches against former 10ers: Michael Chang, Karol Kucera & Goran Ivanisevic – April 2001
# David Wheaton loses the most consecutive tie-break sets – six in 1989, two years later when he surprisingly triumphs at Grand Slam Cup in Munich, notches a streak of winning five tight sets in a row (four tie-breaks + ‘7-5’ set)
# Mikael Pernfors had been struggling with injuries years 1990-92, then all of a sudden ranked 95 won Montreal ’93 as 30 y.o. defeating four Top 20’ers
# Germans: Carl-Uwe Steeb (b. 1967) & 23 years younger Cedrik-Marcel Stebe – both left-handed with double-handed backhand
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# Tie-Breaks: Martin Lee d. Sjeng Schalken 7-6(0) 7-6(0) in Rotterdam ’02; Bernd Karbacher d. Gabriel Markus 7-6(9) 7-6(9) in Florence ’94
# There were five “triple bagels” in the Open Era at Slams, three of them occurred in 1987: Karel Novacek, Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl – winners | losers – Eduardo Bengoechea, Stefan Eriksson, Barry Moir
# Richard Gasquet has beaten Fernando Verdasco twice being two points away from defeat (Monte Carlo 
’07, Nice ’10), Verdasco against Gasquet (and Janko Tipsarevic) won three times match point-down sets, finishing those matches as a loser twice
# Roland Garros ’09, semifinal: Robin Soderling outlasts Fernando Gonzalez in five sets erasing *1:4 in 5th; at 4-all (15-all) the Chilean displays bizarre inventiveness rubbing the line with his ass manifesting disa’pproval
# Roger Federer makes his ATP debut in 1998, Jurgen Melzer one year later, but they face each other for the first time in 2010 (Wimbledon)
# There’s ‘Hawk-Eye system’ but in Latin languages “Falcon” is mentioned: falco, halcón, faucon; in these three languages – CZE jestřáb, NED havik, GER Habicht – it’s ‘Hawk’, but ‘Falcon’ in POL – sokół
# Gilles Simon wins five consecutive matches 2-1 (including four in Deciding-3rd-Set-TB; withstanding match points in two) en route to the final in Madrid ’08
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# Players to finish their careers with a title in their last appearances: Pete Sampras (US Open ’02) & Robin Soderling (Bastad ’11) – on the assumption he won’t come back 🙂
# Slam winners to never win ATP title again: Marat Safin (Melbourne ’05), Pete Sampras (NewYork ’02) 
Albert Costa (Paris ’02), Goran Ivanisevic (London ’01), Petr Korda (Melbourne ’98)
# Lowest ranked Slam champions: Mark Edmondson [212, AustralianOpen ’76], Goran Ivanisevic [125, Wimbledon ’01], Gustavo Kuerten [66, RolandGarros ’97]
# April ’94: Jordi Arrese lost to Swiss players on clay blowing match points: Marc Rosset 4-6 6-3 6-7(6) | Nice, five MPs, 6:1 TB | & Jakob Hlasek 7-6(3) 6-7(4) 3-6 | Madrid, three MPs |
# Olympic silver medalist Jordi Arrese & Guy Forget met twice, both Barcelona (1991, 95) almost the same scoreline: Arrese wins 2-6 6-3 7-5 | 2-6 6-2 7-5
# Highest rank of double-handed players off both wings: Gene Mayer [4], Hans Gildemeister [12], Jan-Michael Gambill [14], Fabrice Santoro [17], Byron Black [22], Reamon Sluiter [46]
# 1986: ‘Bobo’ Zivojinovic within three weeks loses twice with the same scoreline 3-6 7-6 8-10 (Tim Mayotte, Jakob Hlasek) – there were many tournaments with two-game ad. instead of the deciding set TB until the 90s
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# Austrian tale: Markus Hipfl & Werner Eschauer notched career best wins over Yevgeny Kafelnikov (their only wins over a Top 10 player), it occurred two consecutive weeks in 2001 (Monte 
Carlo & Munich); Hipfl also beat Kafelnikov in Monte Carlo ’02
# John Isner‘s coach Mike Sell‘s highlight: beat Nicolas Escude 0-6 7-6(7) 6-1 in 1R Auckland ’00 saving six match points
# Thomas Enqvist twice in his career came back from 0:6 to 6-all in tie-breaks only to lose them: against Andre Agassi (Scottsdale ’03) & Andy Roddick (San Jose ’05)
# Current German Davis Cup captain Carsten Arriens was known for mental instability, in years 1993-95 defaulted four times at different levels
# The most meetings between two players within a calendar year: 8 – twice – in both cases Roger Federer 6-2: over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2011) & Juan Martin del Potro (2012)
# Ivan Ljubicic in 2002 & John Isner in 2011 suffer six match-point-up defeats, the former wasted 18 MPs in total, the latter 13
# 2008: Frederico Gil & Jeremy Chardy meet in three consecutive Slams in 1R, Chardy wins all (3-0 Paris, 3-2 London & 3-1 New York)
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# Out of nowhere 24 y.o. Swede Henrik Holm wins ~1/4 of his ATP matches in ’92 including trashing 6-1 6-2 Boris Becker [7] and 6-4 6-3 Jim Courier [1] indoors
# Two Open era Grand Slam champions passed away thus far: Arthur Ashe (’93; AIDS-related pneumonia) and Vitas Gerulaitis (’94, carbon poisoning)
# Yevgeny Kafelnikov & Fernando Vicente meet thrice in 2000 on three different surfaces: Russian wins all after tight matches: 5-7 6-3 5-7 7-6 8-6 | 6-7 7-6 6-4 | 6-4 3-6 7-6
# Russian-French ATP Head-To-Heads in the 90s: Andrei Chesnokov vs Andrei Cherkasov 3-1… Guillaume Raoux vs. Lionel Roux 3-0
# the Vicente twins (b. 8 March 1977): Fernando (Marcel Granollers coach) won 157 matches 3 titles, high rank 29; Jose Maria won nothing, high rank 321
# South Africa obtained Davis Cup in 1974: India boycotted the final on the orders of its government due to South Africa’s apartheid policies
# Masters 1972 Barcelona: Tom Gorman retires holding match point (!) vs Stan Smith at 7-6 6-7 7-5 5-4 (shoulder injury, fear of giving walkover in the final)
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# Franco Davin – current Del Potro / former Gaudio – coach, is the youngest one to win a tour match (15 
years 1 month – Buenos Aires ’85)
# Sergiy Stakhovsky became the first ‘lucky loser’ to win a tour title (Zagreb ’08) since Argentinian Christian Miniussi (Sao Paulo ’91)
# Frank Dancevic loses the only two ATP finals he plays, both to Dmitry Tursunov (’07 Indianapolis, ’09 Eastbourne)
# Funny 5-set threesome: Lukas Dlouhy – Teymuraz Gabashvili –Philipp Kohlschreiber. Australian Open ’07: Dlouhy d. Gabashvili 6-3 6-1 6-7(5) 6-7(5) 16-14; Roland Garros ’07: Kohlschreiber d. Dlouhy 6-2 3-6 7-5 4-6 17-15 (extremely fast-paced match – just 3:55 hrs); Wimbledon ’10: Kohlschreiber d. Gabashvili 7-6(6) 5-7 2-6 7-6(5) 9-7
# There was a period when Dirk Hordorff coached four players at the same time: Rainer Schuettler, Lars Burgsmuller, Janko Tipsarevic & Yen-Hsun Lu
# Italian lefty Diego Nargiso plays pro-tennis in years 1987-2001 but peaks at age 18 – his highest rank [66] in 1988
# Head-To-Head: Former No. 1 Jim Courier was 0-5 vs. Andrei Chesnokov before beat him for the first time
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# The most painful injuries during matches in the 90s suffered: Michael Stich (Vienna ’95) & Andrei Chesnokov (Philadelphia ’97) both facing Todd Woodbridge
# Marcel Granollers‘ doubles partner Marc Lopez beats periodic clay-court goats (Guillermo Coria & Sergi Bruguera) as 18 y.o. boy in his ATP debut (Stuttgart ’01)
# Scottsdale ’99, 3R qualies of Ernests Gulbis & Milos Raonic former coaches: Hernan Gumy d. Galo Blanco 6-4 1-6 7-6(16) – the longest decisive set TB of two baseliners
# Carl-Uwe Steeb = Mr. Balance 😉 212-212 Win/Loss record, 7-7 in 5-setters, 8-8 in Deciding-3rd-Set-TB
# Doubles specialist Leos Friedl reaches QF in singles at Vina del Mar ’06 being unranked – his career-best result at age 29
# Mark Philippoussis is the only player to win Hopman-, World Team- & Davis Cup in a calendar year (1999): back-up Jelena Dokic, Patrick Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt & the Woodies
# Former Top 10er Wayne Ferreira (b. 1971) was lucky enough to face legends in 1992: beats Bjorn Borg (1956) in Monte Carlo, then loses to Jimmy Connors (1952) in Indianapolis
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# Son-in-law of the omnipotent Polish football-goat Zbigniew Boniek, obscure Italian Vincenzo Santopadre 
defeats in years 1998-99 on clay Magnus Norman & Gustavo Kuerten – undoubtedly the best players on clay in 2000
# Wayne Arthurs debuted at Slams at age 27, qualifying on 17th attempt US Open ’98
# Andre Agassi was three times (three mutual meetings) destroyed by much more inferior player Ronald Agenor of Haiti 1-6 4-6 Basel ’87 | 3-6 1-6 Rome ’88 | 0-6 3-6 Tokyo ’89
# Kent Carlsson (b. 1968) finishes his career at age 21 having won nine titles & exceptionally good 160-54 (.74) record, never played on grass
# Born in 1970: Diego Nargiso & Fred Stolle‘s son – Sandon – both won 100 tour matches, met once & the Australian won easily
# Henrik Holm (b. 1968) is 1 out of 3 Top 20ers to never win an ATP tournament, others two are US-guys: Steve Denton (1956) & Chip Hooper (1958)
# Deciding-3rd-Set-TB: 28-15 John Isner, 7-14 Xavier Malisse, however, when they played against each other under these circumstances twice, Malisse won both encounters
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# Only a few players experience during their careers, winning two straight matches from MP-down, Jarkko Nieminen experienced it twice (Basel ’07 & Montpellier ’11)
# Szczecin ’04 (Challenger): Richard Gasquet loses 1R to Tomas Tenconi 6-7 7-6 1-6 blowing a 5:0 lead in the two opening sets 😀
# Philipp Kohlschreiber as opposed to his obscure coach (Markus Wislsperger), never beat Roger Federer (0-7); Wislsperger did it against 15 y.o. Federer 3-6 6-4 6-1 in his 1st Satellite match, Flawil ’96
# Best Euro-Latin players by country: ESP – three Nos. 1 – Carlos Moya (b. 1976), Juan Carlos Ferrero (’80) & Rafael Nadal (’86); FRA – Yannick Noah (’60 – No. 3); ITA – Adriano Panatta (’50 – No. 4); ROM – Ilie Nastase (’46 – No. 1); POR – Joao Sousa (’89 – No. 47)
# Deciding-3rd-Set-TB: 33 y.o. Tom Gullikson loses six ‘6-7’ decisive 3rd sets in ’84; in turn Ivan Ljubicic (2002) & John Isner (2011) lose six MP-up matches
# Four Argentinians reach the Hamburg semifinals 2003: Agustin Calleri, Guillermo Coria, Gaston Gaudio & David Nalbandian, one year later three of them plays in the Roland Garros semifinals
# First pair of players who have faced each other at all four majors: Henri Leconte & Amos Mansdorf (1985-1987) – another twenty-two pairs since then
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# Obscure grass-court specialist Bryan Shelton beat at Wimbledon in straight sets former|future WB champs Michael Stich ’94 | Richard Krajicek ’95
# Albert Costa was 0-15 indoors before won his first match: 7-5 2-6 6-3 over golden left-hander Hicham Arazi in Stuttgart ’99
# In 2005 Scott Draper was simultaneously ranked as professional tennis player & golfer, I think he’s the only one, whose wife died (1999)
# Nordic tale: best Norwegian in history Christian Ruud & best Finn Jarkko Nieminen, both played first their ATP finals in Sweden (Bastad ’95 & Stockholm ’01)
# Head-To-Head mystery: Dutch Mark Koevermans, who won just one match at Roland Garros, 6-2 on clay (1 CH) over two-time Roland Garros champion Sergi Bruguera!
# South African Christo Van Rensburg won ATP title in Johannesburg ’89 beating Nos: 1035-133-216-132-83 respectively
# 5 hours 11 minutes lasted longest Australian Open match (until ’09) Boris Becker beat Omar Camporese 14-12 in 5th in 1991, two weeks later Becker beat him in 5 again (Davis Cup)
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# Fast-surface specialist Richard Krajicek beat clay-court specialist Sergi Bruguera three times on clay, Bruguera took revenge twice on carpet-indoor 🙂
# US Todd Martin & Czech Martin Damm met twice: Todd won both encounters; Czech Jiri Novak & Serb Novak Djokovic never met (2 years on tour together)
# Czech guy David Skoch & Fabrice Santoro met twice at the main-level: first time in Prague ’93, second in Chennai ’07 (14-year difference!)… 1-1
# Horst Skoff‘s weight: 160 lbs (~70 kg) – when he was a successful p
rofessional in the 80s… 285 lbs (~130 kg) when he died in 2008
# 3R at US Open ’83: 5-set specialist Johan Kriek beat Roscoe Tanner 6-7(5) 3-6 7-6(4) 7-6(3) 7-6(2) – the only case a player loses two sets, then wins another three in tie-breaks
# One of the best 80s players – Yannick Noah, despite powerful serve & acrobatic skills never played a grass-court final, Wimbledon best: 3R (twice)
# Pete Sampras became “Masters” champion three times when he lost round-robin matches to Boris Becker, the irony is: when SamPe beat Becker in RR twice – lost the semifinals
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# Andre Agassi had participated in 70 tournaments before played his first decisive 3rd set TB (Frankfurt ’90), fellow American John Isner played five in his second tournament (Washington ’07)
# Miami: Thomas Muster wins his biggest hardcourt title (1997) in the same city where suffers worst injury (1989) – struck by a drunk driver
# Christophe RogerVasselin achieves career-best result reaching the Roland Garros SF in ’83, six months later his son Edouard was born – the future player, arguably with Basel ’13 semifinal as the best result
# Spanish Felix Mantilla fights off nine match points to win matches twice, vs compatriots: Alberto Berasategui (Hamburg ’98) & Albert Portas (Palermo ’01)
# 1984: 17 y.o. Patrick McEnroe wins his 1st doubles title in debut (Richmond, p/BigMac), fellow junior 16 y.o. Boris Becker wins his 1st one too, p/Wojtek Fibak (Munich)
# Arguably the most unheralded Grand Slam champion – Mark Edmondson – is the last one (at least thus far) with a mustache AustralianOpen ’76
# Chennai ’04: Paradorn Srichaphan beats Tommy Robredo saving six match points, five days later Robredo takes his revenge on the Thai saving two MPs in Sydney
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# Alberto Mancini wins just three titles, but two (Monte Carlo & Rome) are ‘Masters 1000’ events – no 
such a terminology when it happens in 1989
# Miami ’93: Boris Becker gets ‘bye’ 1R, receives walkover from Gianluca Pozzi 2R, later on gives walkover to Nicklas Kulti 3R: not hit a ball – $8,400 in the pocket
# In the YEC history (singles/doubles) only once player/pair lost two matches at the round-robin stage to get the title: Grant Connell & Patrick Galbraith (Eindhoven ’95)
# Left-handed Austrian goat Thomas Muster as a Top 10 player notches nine defeats in a row (1990-91), wakes up in the Top 40
# Darren Cahill defeats in 1994 (coming back after a two-year break) three fastest servers at the time: Goran Ivanisevic, Marc Rosset & Richard Krajicek… 7-6(5) last set always
# Tim Gullikson dies due to brain tumor being Pete Sampras‘ coach in 1996, six months before USA won Davis Cup with his twin Tom as a team captain and Sampras as the main force
# Yevgeny Kafelnikov becomes the best player in the world (1999) having lost seven consecutive tournament matches
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# Daniel Gimeno-Traver is 0-8 in Deciding-3rd-Set-TB, Markus Hiplf 0-9 in 5-setters, the former still may improve, the latter not
# Olympics: boxer Emmanuel Aghassian
(later known as Agassi) took part in ’52, hockey-player Vece Paes in ’72; their sons (Leander & Andre) got Olympic medals in tennis ’96
# Brit Greg Rusedski wins 15 titles, first two (Newport ’93, Seoul ’95) as Canadian
# Martin Verkerk plays his first two Grand Slam matches on Centre Courts (US Open ’02 – Andy Roddick, Australian Open ’03 – Mark Philippoussis), his third Slam also finishes on CC, but in the final (Paris)
# Arthur Ashe isn’t the only former player who died due to complications from AIDS, also Michael Westphal (1965-91), different causes of HIV though
# Deciding-3rd-Set-TB: most wins (34) Ivo Karlovic, most defeats (31) Marat Safin
# Former Top 10er Jiri Novak loses his first two ATP matches to Sergi Bruguera, both in Prague: 16 26 in 1993 and 76(0) 16 16 in 1994
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# Head-To-Head: Vitas Gerulaitis was 0-15 (years 1974-79) when he finally overcame Jimmy Connors in Roland Garros SF ’80 – Jimbo never played final there
# Head-To-Head: David Ferrer is 14-0 vs Nicolas Almagro, but 0-14 vs Roger Federer; Al Magro was very close to beat Ferrer four times
# Bjorn Borg (16-0 H2H over Gerulaitis) wins 37 of 40 singles matches in Davis Cup – one loss to Frantisek Pala, father of Petr, who won 206 doubles matches, 0 in singles:]
# Boris Becker never wins clay-court title as the only great player, he couldn’t do this even holding double match point vs dehydrated Thomas Muster (Monte Carlo ’95)
# Thomas Blake (older bro of James) wins just two ATP matches, just like Mashiska Washington (younger bro of MaliVai)
# Tim Henman loses at three different Slams to: Guillermo Canas (NewYork-Paris-Melbourne) & Dmitry Tursunov (London-Melbourne-Paris)
# Serb Slobodan Zivojinovic (Yugoslavian as a player) captures only two tour titles, but reaches two Slam semifinals (Australian Open ’85, Wimbledon ’86)
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# the US Open roller-coaster: Patrick Rafter loses 1995 in 2R, the following year in 1R, then captures two titles in years 1997-98, and lost 1R in 1999…
# In 1997 Marcelo Rios beat Petr Korda in 1R of Australian Open 7-6 6-3 6-3, one year later they meet in the same tournament in the final and Korda devastates his opponent 3x ‘6-2’
# Julien Benneteau (b. 1981) is 0-9 in ATP finals, Cerdic Pioline (b. 1969) was 0-9 as well, but 
finished career with 5-12, the Frenchmen never met on tour; Benneteau loses his ninth final (2013) squandering MP against a Portuguese underdog (Portugal without an ATP title before)
# Thomas Johansson claims his maiden title in Copenhagen ’97 & another title the following week in St. Petersburg, beating Alexander Volkov 2R & 1R respectively
# 20 y.o. Roberto Carretero [143] triumphs in Hamburg ’96, then can’t win a tour-match 12 months until he opens his title defense in Hamburg ’97 with a win; during the 12-month drought Carretero advances to 2R US Open ’96 thanks to retirement of Jordi Burillo who wins a Challenger-Segovia ’97 obtaining four retirements!
# Wimbledon quarter-finalists: Guy Forget in 1994 [ranked 1130], Richard Krajicek in 2002 [ranked 1093]… protected ranking
# Dutchman Robin Haase & German Tommy Haas meet for the first time in Vienna ’13 (the final); one of advertisements in der Halle ist: “Haare statt Glatze” – ‘Haare’ in German means ‘hair’, in turn ‘hare’ in Dutch is ‘haas’, in German ‘Hase’ (funny reverse of the runners-up nationalities); if they were magically transformed into Pole & Czech, it’d be a Zając vs Zajíc clash; in the Spanish-Portuguese case: Liebre vs Lebre 😀
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# Andre Agassi loses his last two matches to Darren Cahill & Brad Gilbert before they meet in San Francisco ’91 final; afterwards they both coach Agassi in different periods… today @darren_cahill & @bgtennisnation have avatars on Twitter with dark baseball caps and work together for ESPN
# Stan Smith produces the most contributions to the Davis Cup triumphs – seven (1968-1972 & 1978-79), wins six clinchers altogether (singles or doubles)!
# Carlos Moya loses to Sebastien Grosjean in Miami ’99 & Indian Wells ’01 having match points, then he beats the Frenchman in Paris ’02 & Sydney ’06 saving MPs
# Before Feliciano Lopez‘ emergence Martina Hingis‘ boy Julian Alonso was the fastest Spanish server, faster even than Goran Ivanisevic & Richard Krajicek, yet behind Greg Rusedski & Mark Philippoussis
# Bitter weekend in St. Gallen ’86 (Davis Cup, Switzerland vs. Israel) for Jakob Hlasek: loses ’10-12′ in 5th to Amos Mansdorf, two days later ‘9-11’ in 5th to Shlomo Glickstein
# Thomas Johansson advances twice to the ATP quarterfinals being unranked: Bolzano ’93 as 18 y.o. boy & Adelaide ’04 as a former Aussie Open champ
# “Russian Rios” Alexander Volkov knows how to beat the American golden boys in the 90s (Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Michael Chang)… SamPe on Volk: “He would be the best” after losing to him 5-7 4-6 at Indian Wells ’93
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# Daniel Nestor will be remembered as great doubles player, but in singles he beat a few Nos. 1: Stefan Edberg, Patrick Rafter, Andre Agassi (AA defaulted leading, but a win is a win), Thomas Muster, Marcelo Rios, Gustavo Kuerten & Juan C. Ferrero (qualifying match)
# Both Richard Krajicek & Sergi Bruguera win maiden titles on the same day – April 7, 1991, (Hong Kong & Estoril) respectively
# Brit Jamie Delgado & Paraguayan Ramon Delgado meet once (Wimbledon ’99), Rafael Nadal won his first ATP match defeating Ramon, never faced Jamie
# Marcelo Rios met the Black brothers (Byron & Wayne) twice within three days, beat them in 5-setters in Paris ’97, lost to them in 4-setters in their hometown Harare ’99
# 2002: David Ferrer was beaten in back-to-back tournaments by James Blake & his brother – Thomas – actually known only for being James’ bro
# Russia advances to the 1995 Davis Cup final beating Germany in unbelievable circumstances: in the decisive rubber Andrei Chesnokov overcomes Michael Stich 6-4 1-6 1-6 6-3 14-12 saving nine match points in one game on return!
# Brits born on the same day (6 September) Greg Rusedski (1973) & Tim Henman (1974) didn’t make their ATP debuts in Great Britain, it was Asia
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# Yugoslavian Goran Prpic & Czechoslovak Miloslav Mecir Sr. meet in Stuttgart ’89, Swede Filip Prpic (not Goran son) & Slovak Miloslav Mecir Jr. (24 years younger than Senior the Father) in Rhodes-CH ’10
# One of doubles goats – Mark Woodforde – only man double bageled thrice: (Barcelona ’91 by Sergi Bruguera, Vienna ’94 by Andre Agassi & Newport ’97 by Brett Steven)
# Dutchman Jacco Eltingh snapped Pete Sampras‘ two winning streaks: 19 in Atlanta ’93, 12 in Philadelphia ’94 – both times with the same 7-6 6-4 scoreline
# 17-year-old Andrei Medvedev had a period w/18-2 record in 1992 (3 ATP titles), two defeats to unknown: German Stephan Rhode [340] & Slovak Branislav Stankovic [264]
# Belgian Filip Dewulf notches two best result of his career as a qualifier: triumphs in Vienna ’95, reaches Roland Garros semifinal ’97
# Yahiya Doumbia of Senegal wins just 24 main-level matches, yet captures two titles (Lyon ’88 as No. 453 & Bordeaux ’95 as No. 282)
# In Bogota ’95, Nicolas Lapentti [258] outsmarts Miguel Tobon [281] in the final; the former played his first ATP tournament, the latter second
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# Albert Costa in his first 15 main-level tournaments has already played against Carlos Costa, the Sanchez brothers and unrelated Sanchez… Federico
# Jim Courier‘s two funny defeats: Barry Moir 6-0 1-6 0-6 (Boston ’87 – Courier’s debut at age 17) Andrei Chesnokov 6-1 0-6 1-6 (Itaparica ’88)
# Before Guillermo Garcia-Lopez there was a Spaniard called German Lopez, his highlight: match point-up defeat vs. Pete Sampras in Kitzbuhel ’92
# Boris Becker wins 38 out of 41 singles matches in Davis Cup – twice loses to doubles specialist Sergio Casal of Spain (1985 & 1987)
# the Open era best Peruvian Jaime Yzaga beats Pete Sampras twice at the US Open in 5-setters, ’88 as a favorite, six years later as a total underdog
# Russian Andrei ChesnOKOv, Serb Novak DjOKOvic: ‘oko’ means ‘eye’ in Slavic languages; Germanic – Auge, öga, oog, øje, øye; Latin – œil, ochi, occhio, ojo, olho
# 1995: 27-year-old German, Martin Sinner had just won nine main-level matches, and all of a sudden won two titles within a month (Copenhagen, Johannesburg)
***
# “Unorthodox” 26 y.o. Russian Alexander Volkov beats two out of three best 70s players saving match points: 40 y.o. Guillermo Vilas (Atlanta ’92) & 37 y.o. Bjorn Borg (Moscow ’93)
# Czech-German David Prinosil has negative tie-break career-record (45%), yet he won 11 tie-breaks in a row at Roland Garros on his least favorite surface
# Spanish former players & brothers: Jose Clavet & Emilio Sanchez both born in 1965, Francisco Clavet & Javier Sanchez – both born in 1968
# South African Bob Hewitt (b. 1940) participates in the ’72 Masters in Barcelona – unrelated to 41 years younger Australian Lleyton Hewitt
# Scott Draper‘s three years older brother Mark, wins only 1 tour match – and it happens on Centre Court at Wimbledon ’98 – Greg Rusedski retires at one set apiece
# Russian Alexander Volkov uses Völkl racquets (manufactured in Germany); also Petr Korda, Felix Mantilla, Radek Stepanek among prominent names
# Vasek Pospisil‘s coach Frederic Fontang wins 28 tour matches, ~1/3 of them in 1991 (that year wins his only ATP tournament Palermo)
***
# Former Nos. 1: Patrick Rafter starts his career with a 0-7 record (1991-93), Bjorn Borg finishes with 0-14 (1983-93, yes!, it lasted ten years)
# Petr Pala‘s father – Frantisek – plays two finals being destroyed in both by Ilie Nastase, both in 1972 (Monte Carlo 1-6 0-6 3-6 & Madrid 0-6 0-6 1-6)
# German Alexander Popp (two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist: 2000 & 2003) won 45 main-level matches, ~half of them on grass
# Vince Spadea loses 21 consecutive matches in 1999-2000 overcoming the infamous record of the ’80s journeyman Gary Donnelly – 20 defeats in succession (1987)
# Miami 2006: Carlos Berlocq beats 6-0 6-0 Donald Young then loses next match 0-6 0-6 to James Blake – less than 2 hours on courts – $10,350 in the pocket
# Wojtek Fibak almost wins YEC (Houston ’76, eventually loses to Manuel Orantes) – the event was deprived of three best players: Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg & Ilie Nastase
# Head-To-Head: German Florian Mayer vs. Argentinian Leonardo Mayer 1-1; Belgian Dick Norman vs. Swede Magnus Norman 0-0 (eleven years on tour together)
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# Roland Garros champions of years 2003-04: Juan Carlos Ferrero & Gaston Gaudio debut in the same tournament: Casablanca ’99
# Martin Damm & fellow Czech, Daniel Vacek, both 0-5 in the ATP finals, yet both Grand Slam champions in doubles: Damm – 1, Vacek – 3
# Poland, almost 40 million country with nice tennis tradition since World War II, was deprived of a Top 100 player 23 years: Wojtek Fibak 1986-2009 Lukasz Kubot
# Magnus Larsson as a 50 Top player, beat in 1991 two best players at the time: Boris Becker 6-4 3-6 7-6(2) in Adelaide & Stefan Edberg 5-7 6-3 7-6(3) in Monte Carlo
# The most 14-12 in 5th in successful twins (Tim & Tom Gullikson) had very similar careers, Tim was slightly better, dies at age 44 in 1996, Tom is still alive
# Boris Becker wins three matches saving triple MPs on return (!): Mikael Pernfors (Indianapolis ’85), Luiz Mattar (Davis Cup ’92), Karsten Braasch (Los Angeles ’94)
# Manuel Orantes struggles past Guillermo Vilas twice saving match points in 5-setters (Roland Garros ’74 & US Open ’75), I don’t know any other similar case
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# Poor Carsten Arriens possesses one ATP record – shortest defeat – “double bagel” in 29 minutes to Greg Rusedski in Sydney ’96
# Romanian-German Alex Radulescu never claimed ATP title, albeit he celebrated his maiden in Chennai ’97 thinking he won the match point against Mikael Tillstrom, the point was overruled and Alex lost!
# Highest rank of obscure French guy Thierry Guardiola was 106, yet he won an Exhibition event in Ruen ’95 defeating Pete Sampras & Andre Agassi 🙂
# Daniel Nestor wins the longest qualifying match to Roland Garros 4-6 6-3 22-20 over Thierry Guardiola – 1996
# Juan Ignacio Chela begins his career w/0-3 record; Mexico City ’00 is his 4th tournament – enters as qualifier and gets the title
# Classy Aussie Jason Stoltenberg finishes career w/10-17 in Deciding-3rd-Set-TB, began w/2-0 thanks to beating obscure New Zealander Steve Guy
# Former pro basketball player Alvils Gulbis (Ernests‘ grandfather) is six years younger than Andre Agassi‘s boxing father, Ernests debuted on ATP one month after Andre’s retirement, they could theoretically face each other at the US Open ’06 – it’s the only reasonable possibility
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# Pete Sampras was beaten at Wimbledon twice in straight sets: by Christo Van Rensburg 6-7(4) 5-7 6-7(3) in ’90 & Richard Krajicek 5-7 6-7(3) 4-6 six years later
# Thomas Enqvist‘s way to beat the hardest servers of two different generations: lose 2nd set squandering match point(s), then win 3rd saving MP (!):
Mark Philippoussis 6-3 6-7(6) 7-6(8) Indian Wells ’00, Andy Roddick 6-3 6-7(6) 7-6(5) Stuttgart ’01
# Argentinian players born in 60s-70s were weak on grass, not born in ’66 Javier Frana: 40-31 on grasscourts, equally efficient on clay %-wise
# My favorite player over a decade Richard Krajicek collected 17 titles, Nos. 12-13 over Frenchmen in ’97: Lionel Roux in Tokyo & Guillaume Raoux in Rosmalen
# Obscure ESP Jose Imaz-Ruiz played just 9 ATP matches yet 2 very long tie-breaks in ’98: (15/13) over Marzio Martelli, (14/16) to Carlos Moya – the Roland Garros record
# Peruvian Luis Horna never advanced beyond 3R at Slams despite respectable 10-14 record vs Top 10ers, including 7-6 6-2 7-6 over Roger Federer [5]
# Challengers: Ivo Karlovic & Arvind Parmar meet twice and play six tie-breaks: Ivo 7-6(5) 6-7(4) 7-6(7) – Bristol ’01, Arvind 6-7(2) 7-6(6) 7-6(9) – Surbiton ’02
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# Non-majors: Rafael Nadal won eight times in a row in Monte Carlo, 6 – Guillermo Vilas (Buenos Aires); 5 – Balazs Taroczy (Hilversum), Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Moscow) & Nadal
Barcelona
# Marcelo Rios never won a tournament in Chile, lost four finals out there, one of them to Martina Hingis‘ boy – Julian Alonso (2-6 1-6 in Santiago ’97)
# Fast-surface specialist Max Mirnyi beats clay-courter Mariano Zabaleta all four times they meet on clay, paradoxically Zabalata avenges it hard-indoors…
# the Mayer brothers: Gene vs Sandy 3-0, McEnroe bros: John vs Patrick 3-0, Sanchez bros: Emilio vs Javier 10-2, Rochus bros: Olivier vs Christophe 2-0
# Before the tie-break introduction, the tightest 4-setter at Roland Garros manufactured in 1972 Frantisek Pala & Brian Gottfried, Pala won 10-8 10-8 9-11 8-6
# Nicolas Massu comes to Athens ’04 (where gets the gold medal), having lost eight matches in a row on hardcourts outdoors
# Deciding-5th-Set-TB: most wins (4) Marat Safin & Aaron Krickstein, most defeats (4) Ivan Lendl
VdM, 30.10.2013
Tricky & Martina TB – Overcome