New York, United States, 1 September 2024 | Matt Trollope
Plainly each few years, an Australian participant scores a surprising end result on the Grand Slam stage.
We noticed it once more on Friday evening on the US Open, when Alexei Popyrin produced one of many greatest outcomes of his profession to upstage the legendary Novak Djokovic.
> READ: Popyrin stuns Djokovic as profession highs proceed at US Open
Djokovic, the defending champion, current Olympic gold medallist and enjoying for a report twenty fifth Grand Slam title, was described by Popyrin as the best of all time.
The Aussie beat him in 4 units to advance to the fourth spherical at a Grand Slam for the primary time.
The efficiency evoked recollections of when a similarly-powerful Mark Philippoussis shocked world No.1 Pete Sampras on the Australian Open nearly 30 years in the past, additionally in a characteristic third-round evening match.
And that’s the place we start this retrospective, revisiting 10 instances less-fancied Australian gamers outplayed legends of the game at Grand Slam tournaments.
Under no circumstances is that this an exhaustive checklist; what different Aussie upset wins have you ever loved at Grand Slam tournaments through the years?
Mark Philippoussis d. Pete Sampras
– Australian Open 1996
Philippoussis was a youngster ranked fortieth, developing in opposition to the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion.
And the younger Aussie beat the world No.1 in straight units beneath lights at Rod Laver Area – a match, and end result, that helped enhance the recognition of Australian Open evening classes.
It had been nearly a decade since an Australian man had crushed a world No.1 at a Grand Slam match, and Philippoussis accomplished the upset with unbelievable explosiveness, overpowering Sampras and sealing the victory with an ace.
“There was pleasure that we lastly had an enormous man, enjoying an enormous man’s sport, who might take it to the highest gamers, the Samprases, Beckers and Agassis, combating fireplace with fireplace,” recalled tennis author and historian Suzi Petkovski.
Jelena Dokic d. Martina Hingis
– Wimbledon 1999
This primary-round end result was one of many biggest upsets in Grand Slam historical past.
World No.1 Martina Hingis – the reigning Australian Open champion and up to date Roland Garros finalist – was anticipated to comfortably deal with Dokic, a 16-year-old qualifier ranked exterior the highest 100.
Dokic as an alternative humbled the five-time main champion, shedding simply two video games.
“I went on the market, and I used to be on a mission, and I knew precisely how I wished to play and what I wanted to do,” Dokic mirrored in an look on The Sit-Down podcast.
It was the primary huge lead to an impressive profession for Dokic, who went on to succeed in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon that 12 months, and the semifinals the next 12 months, and peaked at world No.4 in 2002.
Lleyton Hewitt d. Pete Sampras
– US Open 2001
Hewitt was already earmarked as an unbelievable expertise by the point he superior to the 2001 US Open remaining.
However he was nonetheless comparatively inexperienced on the prime stage, was showing in his first main remaining, and confronting Sampras, then a 13-time Grand Slam champion who’d gained 4 US Opens.
Exhibiting nearly no signal of nerves, Hewitt dissected the nice American in straight units.
> FLASHBACK: Lleyton Hewitt wins 2001 US Open
Regardless of Sampras possessing maybe probably the most dominant serve the game had seen, Hewitt’s return was deadly, and he gained the second and third units 6-1 6-1.
“I even needed to lookup on the scoreboard a few instances simply to examine what the rating was. It actually hadn’t sunk in that I used to be that far forward,” Hewitt recalled.
“If there’s ever anybody that you simply’d wish to play in a Grand Slam remaining, should you have been going to win, it was one of many biggest gamers ever to dwell.”
Alicia Molik d. Venus Williams
– Australian Open 2005
Alicia Molik had by no means taken a set off Venus Williams in three earlier losses to the American, then a four-time Grand Slam champion.
However she entered this fourth-round evening match at Rod Laver Area a modified participant, and was satisfied she might win.
“It’s proper up there,” Molik informed ausopen.com when requested if this end result was her profession spotlight.
“As a result of Venus was actually near being at her greatest then. It was extremely vital. Not simply (beating) Venus; it was the spherical of 16 on the Australian Open. It additionally meant a lot, as a result of it’s on residence soil.”
Certainly, Williams went on to win Wimbledon simply six months later, making this end result all of the extra vital.
The win propelled Molik into her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, and noticed her crack the world’s prime 10.
Casey Dellacqua d. Amelie Mauresmo
– Australian Open 2008
Previous to AO 2008, Casey Dellacqua had by no means gained a main-draw match at Melbourne Park, shedding within the first spherical for 5 consecutive years.
This match modified the whole lot.
She survived Karin Knapp 8-6 within the third set to finish that streak, then upset fifteenth seed Patty Schnyder by the identical scoreline to succeed in the third spherical.
There awaited two-time main champion Amelie Mauresmo, the previous world No.1 who’d gained the AO title simply two years earlier.
But Dellacqua rode a wave of electrifying assist to upstage the Frenchwoman in three units in a night basic.
As reported on tennis.com.au, “Dellacqua’s thrilling 3-6 6-4 6-4 win lifted the roof on Rod Laver Area, with the victory establishing her as Australia’s No.1 feminine participant, shifting her into the fourth spherical of a Grand Slam for the primary time, and sparking the run that may see her crack the world’s prime 40 later that 12 months.”
Sam Stosur d. Justine Henin & Serena Williams
– Roland Garros 2010
There have been indicators Stosur was changing into a formidable clay-courter when she upset No.4 seed Elena Dementieva en path to the Roland Garros semis in 2009.
However she was on the peak of her powers on the floor in 2010.
Within the fourth spherical that 12 months in Paris she confronted the nice Justine Henin, a four-time Roland Garros champion who had not misplaced on the match since 2004.
Stosur overpowered Henin in three units, ending the Belgian’s 24-match successful streak at Roland Garros.
The end result arrange a quarterfinal in opposition to world No.1 Serena Williams, and Stosur beat her too, surviving a match level to clinch an exciting 6-2 6-7(2) 8-6 victory.
Till Ajla Tomljanovic beat Williams within the legendary American’s remaining match on the 2022 US Open, Stosur had been the one Australian lady to ever beat Serena in a singles match since Williams debuted on tour within the Nineties.
Stosur repeated the feat over Serena within the 2011 US Open remaining to win her first main singles title.
Nick Kyrgios d. Rafael Nadal
– Wimbledon 2014
This end result catapulted Nick Kyrgios to superstardom.
On the time he was a teenaged wildcard ranked 144th, and it was already spectacular sufficient he had gained by means of to the fourth spherical of a Grand Slam for the primary time.
There he walked out to play world No.1 Rafael Nadal on Centre Court docket, and dazzled each the Spaniard, and the thousands and thousands watching, along with his energy, daring shot-making and swagger.
Wanting proper at residence on the game’s grandest stage, Kyrgios accomplished a memorable 7-6(5) 5-7 7-6(5) 6-3 triumph.
“That’s one thing I’m by no means going to neglect,” he stated on the time. “I’m going to attract a lot confidence out of that irrespective of the place I play now. To have that beneath my belt, it’s large.”
He would go on to beat Nadal on one other two events, and eight years after that preliminary Wimbledon quarterfinal run, he went all the best way to the 2022 remaining.
John Millman d. Roger Federer
– US Open 2018
John Millman had a behavior of pushing Roger Federer to the restrict.
On the 2018 US Open, the Queenslander reached the final 16 of a significant for the primary time and got here face-to-face with Federer, whom he’d stretched to 3 units in Brisbane a number of years earlier.
Below lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Millman admitted he felt like a “deer within the headlights” initially, earlier than he settled.
And in oppressively thick, humid situations in New York, Millman floor Federer down in an impressively bodily show, overcoming the No.2 seed 3-6 7-5 7-6(7) 7-6(3).
“I’ll clearly keep in mind this for an extended, very long time. I hope the people who find themselves watching right here and again residence keep in mind it, too,” Millman stated after beating the reigning AO champion. “I believe that’s all a part of tennis, sharing the experiences with these near you. It’s extraordinarily particular.”
Millman nearly beat Federer for a second time at a significant, in the end falling in a fifth-set tiebreak at AO 2020.
Ash Barty d. Maria Sharapova
– Australian Open 2019
Ash Barty may need been ranked larger than Maria Sharapova after they met within the fourth spherical at AO 2019, however this was unchartered territory for the rising Aussie.
She’d by no means earlier than crushed Sharapova – a five-time Grand Slam champion – and she or he’d by no means earlier than appeared within the second week at her residence main.
She was additionally concentrating on her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, and was struggling to place the dogged Sharapova away in an more and more tense remaining set.
Barty in the end held her nerve, slotting an ace up the T to finish a 4-6 6-1 6-4 victory.
“That match, should you have been to isolate one from the summer season, was an indicator of someone who has gone to a different stage,” Aussie nice Todd Woodbridge noticed within the aftermath. “And it’s additionally an indicator of what’s to return.”
He was proper. Only a few months later, Barty broke by means of for her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, and two weeks after that rose to world No.1.
Alexei Popyrin d. Novak Djokovic
– US Open 2024
You bought the sense this upset was coming, given Popyrin’s type and confidence.
He’d prolonged Djokovic to 4 units of their two earlier Slam conferences in 2024 – on the Australian Open and Wimbledon – and was hovering with confidence following his Montreal Masters triumph. There, he beat 5 top-20 gamers in a row, together with three within the prime 10, to win the most important trophy of his profession.
Given Djokovic had proven indicators of patchy type in his first two rounds in New York, Popyrin knew this could possibly be his time.
“My two experiences in opposition to him earlier this 12 months in Australian Open and Wimbledon sort of gave me the boldness to go on the market tonight and consider that I might win and truly do it and consider it,” Popyrin revealed. “So after I did it, it sort of felt that sort of proved me proper, proved what I used to be pondering proper.”
It marked Djokovic’s earliest exit from the US Open since 2006, and vaulted Popyrin into the fourth spherical of a Grand Slam match for the primary time.
