It is extremely risky to bet on someone who is a wildcard entry to go past the first round at Wimbledon. Goran however, ranked 125 that year, went all the way, and in doing so, became the first and only wildcard entrant to win at Wimbledon. He beat Patrick Rafter in an emotional final in five sets, and thus finished a tale of heartbreak with the sweet success of victory.
Losing a final is never easy. Losing the final at the same event is never easy. Goran had lost Wimbledon thrice. In 1992, to Andre Agassi, in 1994 and 1998 to Pete Sampras. Being undoubtedly talented with a bazooka of a serve, the lanky (and cranky) Ivanisevic always came with a self destruct button. In a game like tennis, which perennially requires the highest amounts of mental strength, patience and calm, Goran would always be an example of how you could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Breaking racquets, abusing oneself, following odd superstitions, looking like a bunch of nerves when in pressure, none of them helped. They cost him 3 titles.
Which is why, during that final in Wimbledon, even though Goran had taken out Britain’s own son Tim Henman, (who never made a final) most of the neutrals rooted for him. They couldn’t bear to see him heartbroken again. They just wanted him to win it this time. I’m sure somewhere deep down, Pat Rafter too shared the same emotions.
And when Ivanisevic went down on his knees after finally winning it, there were just two emotions Wimbledon was going through, joy and relief.
2) Roger Federer’s record equalling 14th title – French Open (2009)
Roger Federer was already, arguably the best tennis player ever. But after the French Open in 2009, there was no argument. He had conquered clay, and in doing so, became just the sixth man in history to complete a career grand slam. He also equalled Pete Sampras’ record of 14 slams, and Ivan Lendl’s record of 19 slam finals.
But setting statistics aside, Roger’s game itself is so compulsive, flawless, mesmerising and addictive (that was a lot of adjectives!), that it just oozes class. Apart from this, he has a head as cool as that of an eskimo, that it just seems unfair to his opponents. For more than a couple of years, between 2004 and 2008, until Nadal’s emergence, Federer was the record breaking machine, the epitome of consistency, and the pinnacle of excellence. Again, as I like to put it, the Federer script too did a full circle, and he won that elusive clay title at Paris. By doing so, he had something the Sampras story didn’t have (winning the French). And this dispelled any doubts of who the greatest ever player in the history of the game was.
A mere detail that Roger is still going strong at 16 slams, and has over a truckload of records to show for his efforts. Here’s the link for the ridiculous number of records that he’s set and broken: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_career_achievements_by_Roger_Federer
1) Liverpool v/s AC Milan – Istanbul (2005)
It was the mother (and baap) of all comebacks. Liverpool and AC Milan squared off on that historic night in Istanbul, ahead of what was the biggest match in Europe that season, and played their part in a classic.
Destiny said it would be Liverpool’s year. They barely managed to get past the group stage, courtesy of a Steven Gerrard wonder goal against Olympiakos in the dying seconds of the match. Then came the semi-final, where they pipped Chelsea (who under the charismatic Jose Mourinho, were firm favourites to progress) by virtue of the infamous Luis Garcia ghost goal. And now they were within touching distance. They however had to overhaul a strong Milan side with the terrific trio of Kaka, Crespo and Shevchenko, and as with all the legendary Milan sides, this one was as mean in defence as ever.
Right from the word go, Liverpool was put to the sword. Milan were 3-0 up at halftime. It was getting embarrassing. All the Kop hoped for, was damage limitation. Fans were already planning the long trip home.
Enter Steven Gerrard. The man, who time and again had resurrected lost causes, popped up with a brilliant header in the 54th minute to restore same parity. Then the turnaround. Six crazy minutes had passed. The scoreline was 3-3. Suddenly, as it happens so often, the tide had turned. Liverpool genuinely started to believe that this was going to be their year. Probably Milan did too. After the otherwise erratic Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek miraculously denied Andriy Shevchenko twice in extra time (and people still don’t know how Shevchenko didn’t score), the game went to penalties.
Luckily for the faint of heart, there wasn’t the drama of a sudden death and Liverpool won the shootout 3-2.
It was one of those moments when everyone wished he was a Liverpool fan. The lucky ones said they didn’t have words to describe the feeling. To win is one thing, but to win when the chips (and everything else possible) are down, when you have no hope whatsoever, at the biggest stage of them all, is obviously and entirely a whole other thing. Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez summed it up well by saying “My problem is that I don't have words to express the things that I feel at this moment”.
As for Milan, the loss would have knocked the stuffing out of them. It would have taken a long time to recover. Defeats like this can be extremely painful. And to perhaps ease some of that pain, this story once again did the full circle.
Two years later, once again, in the champions league final, Milan faced Liverpool. They went on to win the far less dramatic match 2-1.
Here are a few more scripts that just missed the cut:
Usain Bolt took the world by storm, sprinting his way to break the world record for the 100m race, clocking in at 9.69 seconds, consequently becoming the fastest man on the planet.
He later bettered his feat, and his record time stands unmatched at a staggering 9.58seconds.
The Sampras- Agassi rivalry- One of tennis’ greatest rivalries, until a certain Swiss maestro and a ruthless warrior from Spain came along, concluded in an epic match at the 2002 US open, where Sampras defeated Agassi and put paid to the long lasting rivalry by bowing out of tennis and having had the last laugh.
Sampras leads Agassi in their 34 meetings, 20-14.
P.S. If and when Sachin Tendulkar made it to a hundred centuries, most of the occupants of the list would move down a rung.
No comments:
Post a Comment