New York, United States, 1 September 2024 | Matt Trollope> 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 reminiscences 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 occasions less-fancied Australian gamers outplayed legends of the game at Grand Slam tournaments.
Under no circumstances is that this an exhaustive record; 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 an adolescent 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 Enviornment – a match, and end result, that helped increase 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 recreation, who might take it to the highest gamers, the Samprases, Beckers and Agassis, preventing hearth with hearth,” recalled tennis author and historian Suzi Petkovski.
Jelena Dokic d. Martina Hingis
– Wimbledon 1999
This primary-round end result was one of many best 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 outdoors the highest 100.
Dokic as an alternative humbled the five-time main champion, dropping simply two video games.
“I went on the market, and I used to be on a mission, and I knew precisely how I needed to play and what I wanted to do,” Dokic mirrored in an look on The Sit-Down podcast.
It was the primary large end in a powerful profession for Dokic, who went on to achieve the quarterfinals at Wimbledon that yr, and the semifinals the next yr, 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 last.
However he was nonetheless comparatively inexperienced on the high degree, was showing in his first main last, and confronting Sampras, then a 13-time Grand Slam champion who’d gained 4 US Opens.
Displaying 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 essentially 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 search for on the scoreboard a few occasions simply to test 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 just’d wish to play in a Grand Slam last, when you have been going to win, it was one of many best gamers ever to reside.”
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 Enviornment a modified participant, and was satisfied she might win.
“It’s proper up there,” Molik advised ausopen.com when requested if this end result was her profession spotlight.
“As a result of Venus was actually near being at her finest then. It was extremely important. 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 important.
The win propelled Molik into her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, and noticed her crack the world’s high 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, dropping within the first spherical for 5 consecutive years.
This match modified every little thing.
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 achieve 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 help 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 Enviornment, 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 high 40 later that yr.”
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 yr 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 profitable 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 exhilarating 6-2 6-7(2) 8-6 victory.
Till Ajla Tomljanovic beat Williams within the legendary American’s last 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 last 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 via 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 Courtroom, and dazzled each the Spaniard, and the tens of millions watching, together 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 overlook,” he stated on the time. “I’m going to attract a lot confidence out of that regardless of the place I play now. To have that beneath my belt, it’s huge.”
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 way in which to the 2022 last.
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 just a few years earlier.
Underneath 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 feel 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 once 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 last 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, when you have been to isolate one from the summer season, was an indicator of any individual who has gone to a different degree,” Aussie nice Todd Woodbridge noticed within the aftermath. “And it’s additionally an indicator of what’s to return.”
He was proper. Just some months later, Barty broke via 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 kind 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 high 10, to win the largest trophy of his profession.
Given Djokovic had proven indicators of patchy kind 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 yr in Australian Open and Wimbledon type 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 once I did it, it type of felt that type of proved me proper, proved what I used to be considering 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.
