A diving Becker tasted the turf in the final game and was ultimately force-fed a shocking upset by the 70th-ranked Doohan.
The German's bid to capture his third consecutive Wimbledon crown before the age of 20 was stopped by the assertive, shrewd serve-and-volley game of Doohan, dubbed the "Becker Wrecker" by fellow Aussies after his monumental victory. It was the earliest exit by a defending men's champion at the All England Club since Charlie Pasarell beat Manolo Santana in 1967.
"I was trying my best, I gave it my best and I lost. Sure, I’m very disappointed," Becker said. "It’s a big tournament and I’m defending champion. I cannot play every day good; if I could I would beat him. But I guess tomorrow morning when I wake up it’s going to feel even worse."
Empowered with increasing confidence as the match progressed, Doohan never flinched in the face of pressure on Court 1. The man whose strained serving shoulder saw him suffer through a winless, seven-match ATP season in 1986—he claimed just one set, only $12,000 in prize money, and saw his year-end ranking plummet to No. 301—took his shot at history by racing forward and taking the match to Becker, just weeks after the Newcastle native lost to him, 6-2, 6-4, at Queen’s Club. Doohan had never won a match at Wimbledon until he held off 111th-ranked Alex Antonitsch in the opening round, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 9-7—hardly an indication of the jaw-dropping result to follow.
Schooled in the Aussie lawn tradition of serve-and-volley tennis, Doohan’s grass-court skills were undeniable and his calm temperament ideal for the upset. He won his lone ATP singles title on grass at the 1984 Adelaide event, reached three other grass-court finals, and made the 1987 Australian Open doubles final (on grass) with Laurie Warder; the pair fell to Stefan Edberg and Anders Jarryd. Becker looked like a man waiting for the inevitable dip from his opponent, but Doohan’s level never dropped.
"What surprised Boris was that I kept it up for four sets,'' Doohan said. ''But to tell you the truth, I didn't look past Becker to see who I would play in the next round. I have to prove to everybody this is not a once-in-a-lifetime thing, that they would never hear from Peter Doohan again. I don't blame them for thinking that way.''
A rainy opening-week created heavy, soggy court conditions, which diminished some of the sting from Becker's booming serve and created complications when the 19-year-old, who had already won three titles in the ’87 season, tried to quickly change direction at net. Serving for the third set at 5-2, Doohan sliced his sixth ace out wide for set point, then seized the set when Becker whiffed on attempted backhand return.
Befuddling Becker with chip returns to keep the ball low—forcing the favorite to generate his own pace off the spongy turf—Doohan flicked successive soft backhand return winners to break serve for 4-3 in the fourth set. A diving Becker tossed up a desperation lob sliding on his stomach across the lawn, but Doohan was waiting and slugged a smash to earn triple match point. When Becker’s bold running backhand pass up the line narrowly missed the mark, Doohan had dethroned the two-time defending champion before a stunned crowd. Becker, who showed graciousness to his conqueror in the post-match hand-shake, was philosophical in defeat.
"Basically, I lost a tennis match. I didn’t lose a war, nobody died," Becker said. "I tried as hard as I could. I didn’t play well. He played very well. He didn’t miss many balls. I didn’t play my best. I was trying, but he was just the better player today."
No. 5: Dokic d. Hingis, 1999
No. 4: Karlovic d. Hewitt, 2003
No. 3: McNeil d. Graf, 1994
No. 2: Bastl d. Sampras, 2002
No. 1: Doohan d. Becker, 1987
