| Wimbledon 1992 + 2002 |

Those Wimbledon tournaments are connected to themselves somehow. In 1992  Andre Agassi became the first baseline player since Jimmy Connors in 1982 to win the title at the All-England Club whilst Lleyton Hewitt was the first champion of this type since Agassi. Moreover finals in 1992 & 2002 were played between the youngest pairs, 22-20 & 21-20 years-olds.

At Wimbledon ’92 Andre Agassi and Goran Ivanisevic took their best shots to another level: the passing-shot and the serve respectively. They met in the final and thanks to their contrasting styles, one of the most memorable Grand Slam finals was made, in which passing-shots triumphed over serves by a small margin. 33-year-old John McEnroe, 15 years after his sensational Wimbledon semifinal, advanced to the last 4 once again (triumphed in doubles) and it was his swan-song at majors; in turn fellow American, Pete Sampras, the future seven-time Wimbledon champion, reached his first Grand Slam semifinal on grass; he never had been past the second round at Wimbledon in three previous attempts! Other future champion, Richard Krajicek made his controversial remarks considering women’s tennis. Read more…
Ten years later…
…a shift of paradigm in men’s tennis occurred: it’s a tournament that ended an era of serve-and-volley specialists. Prior to Wimbledon 2002, baseliners were always in minority as far as quarterfinals are concerned, that time there were as many as six baseline players in the last eight, and two of them advanced to the final making the first duel at that stage based on ground-strokes since 1978… Actually it was almost a surreal event: 8 out of 10 highest seeded guys dropped before the third round including an inexplicable Pete Sampras’ loss to George Bastl; three South Americans went through to the quarterfinals; David Nalbandian secured a place in the final playing his first main-level tournament on grass, not having played a match on Centre Court before the final! Under those bizarre circumstances 21-year-old Lleyton Hewitt was unstoppable – he won 6 out of 7 matches easily, and rather no-one had expected it would have been his last major triumph. Read more…