As Wimbledon comes to a close, we're counting down the 10 most memorable matches at the All England Club over the last 50 years.
“Wild enthusiasm,” “carnival atmosphere,” “immense noise,” “unfettered joy”: These are not terms you normally hear used to describe a match on Centre Court. But the 2001 Wimbledon men’s final wasn’t just any match on Centre Court.
It was, for one thing, one of the few ever to be played on the Monday after the tournament had been scheduled to end; an especially rainy fortnight that year had pushed the still-roofless tournament past its Sunday finish. That meant the men’s final was played in front of fans—10,000 of them—who had lined up to buy tickets, first-come, first-served. Many were partisan supporters of either Ivanisevic or Rafter, and they had waited through the night for the chance to watch these two veteran stars, both of whom was pushing 30, try to win their first Wimbledon. Hallowed lawn or no hallowed lawn, they weren’t about to stay quiet for the occasion. “The People’s Final,” it was called, and the two players put on a show that no one inside or outside of Centre Court would ever forget.
Coming in, Ivanisevic and Rafter may have been the two best grass-courters never to have won the sport’s biggest grass-court title. The Croat had lost three finals at Wimbledon, two of them in fifth-set heartbreakers, to Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. By 2001, the 29-year-old Ivanisevic’s lifelong quest appeared to be over. Ranked No. 125, with a shoulder that needed surgery, and having won just nine matches all season, he was granted a wild card. Few believed he would do much with it.
This time, though, it was Goran’s turn to dish out some heartbreak to the locals, and make Wimbledon officials rue their decision to allow him into the draw. In the fourth round, Ivanisevic eliminated one British hopeful, Greg Rusedski; then, in the semis, in a five-setter played over three days, in a match where he was two points from defeat, Ivanisevic eliminated another Brit, Tim Henman.
As for Rafter, he had also suffered anguish at the hands of Sampras at Wimbledon; the previous year, he had lost the final to the American after nearly taking a two sets to love lead. But in 2001, Rafter had knocked off Sampras’s countryman, Agassi, in a classic semifinal, 8-6 in the fifth set. Even better, Sampras himself wasn’t waiting for Rafter in the final. The seven-time champion had been upset in the fourth round by a 19-year-old named Roger Federer. The future was on its way. For Rafter and Ivanisevic, it was now or never.
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