By Raymond Lee | Friday, December 15, 2023

 

Rafael Nadal blew away the field, including rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, at the 2008 Roland Garros.

Photo credit: Yan Caradec/Wikimedia Commons

Novak Djokovic’s rise to a record seventh ATP Finals championship last month solidified his status as the sport’s premier champion.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion lost just one match en route to his 98th career title.

More: Why Novak Djokovic Will Win 30 Grand Slam Titles

Since the ATP Finals pits the best against the best, it seems to me that in many ways winning this tournament with an undefeated record is perhaps in many ways even more impressive than winning a major tournament.

In many majors the champion may get lucky and not face any strong competition at all. However in the ATP Finals that is impossible. Every player is a top-notch player. While I always prefer the final to be best-of-five-sets, you could argue that because the ATP Finals is strictly a best-of-three-set event, that makes it even tougher for the favorite to win.

Watching Novak Djokovic’s title triumph in Turin, prompted a question: What are the most incredible performances for one event in tennis history?

I’ve reviewed some of the most astounding single event performances—including Grand Slams, ATP and WTA Finals, Masters 1000 tournaments and top events from the old pro tour that existed in the pre-Open Era prior to 1968.

By “ astounding”, I mean it can be a dominating performance, a super high level of play or some almost superhuman type or magical comeback under untenable circumstances.

Here are my top choices based on five decades of watching the tour. You can email us at [email protected] or post your picks on any of our social media channels.

Rod Laver in 1971 Tennis Champions Classic

Possibly the greatest performance in one individual tournament was that of Rod Laver in 1971 in the Tennis Champions Classic. It was the early days of the Open Era, Laver was going to be 33 that year and past his prime despite the fact that most still considered him to be the best player in the world.

The field in this tournament, aside from Laver, featured all-time greats. All of them were at the worst one of the top players in the world. The tournament had John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Arthur Ashe, Tom Okker, Roy Emerson, Tony Roche, Roger Taylor, and Dennis Ralston. It was thought to be impossible for anyone to win this tournament without at least one loss.

To make it even tougher, Laver played a number of these greats like Ashe, Ralston and Okker several times!

To show the level that Laver was able to reach, even at 33, I will quote from the Fireside Book of Tennis in describing one of the later matches in the tournament against the super talented Tom Okker; “I feel I’m better prepared for this match than I was for our first,” said Tom Okker as he went out on the court to challenge Laver once again.

And Okker was right. The young Dutchman played perhaps the finest tennis of his life. He had every shot, every move-but Laver had the answer to every shot, every move. It was, to that date, the greatest tennis Laver had played, and it was after this match that the grizzled veteran observer had said that maybe, just maybe, Tilden might have a chance.

At one point, Okker caught Rod flat footed in the forecourt but Laver, in desperation, raced backwards, caught up with the ball, ran around it and put it away. Okker dropped his racket in astonishment and the spectators, even the umpire in the chair, howled in disbelief and admiration.

In the locker room, Okker declared flatly that he had played as well as he had ever played, perhaps better than he had ever played, “but I was never even in the match. I couldn’t believe some of those shots. He couldn’t believe them himself,” Okker moaned.

Laver won this match against Okker 6-1 6-4 6-3.

The final match was also against Okker and again I will quote from the Fireside Book of Tennis: “Okker walked onto the court and like Don Quixote tilted his lance and charged. The first set was a bristling one, with the young Dutchman standing up to serves, the lobs, the drops, the dinks, the impossible retrieves and losing the set in sudden death. And then the tide was inexorable. For Laver the golden dream was about to become a reality, and he was not to be denied that reality.

The applause began to grow at the end of the second set. Applause in a special way-applause as a salute to what the fans saw happening as game after game dropped into Laver’s column, bringing him to the ultimate victory. When it was over, applause and awe surrounded Laver as he accepted the final check.

The date was March 19 in Madison Square Garden, and the score was 7-5 6-2 6-1. Laver’s earnings stood at $160,000.

“At the very outset,” Laver said, “I totally agreed with everyone that it was virtually impossible for any one player to go through this Classic undefeated. I have just done that and I don’t believe it either.”

When you look at the percentage stats on Laver for his career it’s not superficially as great as Novak Djokovic for example. However when you factor in the fact that Laver played on the Old Pro Tour from 1963 to 1967, which were his peak years, you realize how much of a juggernaut he was at his best. Every week he was playing legends of the game like Gonzalez, Rosewall, Sedgman, Segura, Trabert, Buchholz, Hoad, Olmedo among others it is truly incredible.

Click here to see a small clip from the Laver vs. Okker final.

Pancho Gonzalez in the 1960 World Championship Tour

Another sustained performance of Tennis Greatness was the 1960 Tour of the great champion and number one player in the world at the time of Pancho Gonzalez.

This was another World Championship Tour that Gonzalez played and he had won them all except for his first entry into the Pro Ranks, losing to Jack Kramer in 1950.

Gonzalez had possibly gotten himself in better shape than he ever had been in preparation for this long tour. Pancho was to turn 32 in 1960 and possibly past his peak as a player! The competition was extremely tough with Rosewall, who would be 26 that year and at his absolute best, Tony Trabert, Alex Olmedo, Pancho Segura. All tennis legends and all still super strong players.

Against this tremendous opposition Gonzalez won his first six matches, lost one to Olmedo and then embarked on an 18-match winning streak to have his record on the tour at this point at an astounding 24 wins and 1 loss! Gonzalez eased up a bit but still finished the World Championship Tour with a 49-8 record including, according to some sources, a 20-4 record against Rosewall.

These World Championship Tours were of the utmost importance in those days. The winner of these tours were considered to be the best player in the world for the year. By winning this tour again Gonzalez proved that he was head and shoulders above the competition in those days. Gonzalez would be the top player again the next year in 1961. That would mark the eighth time he was No. 1 although it could easily be argued that he was the best player in the world for a decade or more.



Pancho Gonzalez is perhaps the most underrated player in tennis history! He was number one in the world many, many times. He was winning tournaments for over 20 years. He won over 100 tournaments in his career including many tournaments that are the equivalent of majors in the Old Pro Tour ranks. Yet many rank players like Rosewall who didn’t become No. 1 until Gonzalez retired the first time over him. Often Gonzalez isn’t ranked in the top 20 of all time which is utterly ridiculous.

The problem is, and I’m written this ad infinitum is that many tend to look at players using the easy and superficial method of just counting majors, forgetting that the Professionals in the past couldn’t play the majors like they do today. Even in the early days of the Open Era many top pros chose to skip or were not allowed to play the classic majors for various reasons. For example, Jimmy Connors and Evonne Goolagong weren’t allowed to play the French Open in 1974 because they played World Team Tennis.

Chris Evert in the 1976 US Open

Chris Evert is in my opinion very underrated historically despite the overwhelming respect people have for her game, record and personality. She is worthy of being in any discussion when it comes to the GOAT in women’s tennis history.

Chris Evert won 157 tournaments in her career and she is one of the few players in tennis history to win 90% of her matches in a career.

One of Evert’s greatest tournaments was the 1976 US Open which was played on a Har-tru surface. The surface was a bit faster than red clay and it fit perfectly in Evert’s precision power baseline game with touch. Evert, after a bye in the first round lost only 12 games in 6 matches against the likes of Greer Stevens, Glynis Coles, Sue Barker (who was the French Open champion that year), Natasha Chmyreva, Mimi Jousovec and inevitably it seemed in those days, in the final Evonne Goolagong. Evert defeated Goolagong in clinical fashion 6-3 6-0. Evert on clay or any clay like surfaces was invincible in those days. Evert from 1973 to 1979 won 125 consecutive matches on clay, then after losing to Tracy Austin, won another 64 consecutive matches on this surface.

In the 1976 US Open Evert, at least judging by total games lost, reached an even higher level of play than normal for her. It was clearly one of the great performances in women’s tennis history for one tournament.



It’s a shame Evert did not play the 1976 to 1978 French Open since it’s very probable that she would have added three more majors to her great resume.

Bjorn Borg in the 1978 Roland Garros

Bjorn Borg at the 1978 Roland Garros was of course the overwhelming favorite to win the tournament.

Borg was absent from the French Open the previous year due to his commitment to World Team Tennis and at that time World Team Tennis players weren’t allowed to play the French. So in 1977 Guillermo Vilas, the great lefty Argentine player won it with the loss of only one set. Vilas annihilated Brian Gottfried in the final with a loss of only three games 6-0 6-3 6-0.

Borg was able to enter the French Open in 1978 and was the top seed with Vilas the No. 2 seed. As expected, both Borg and Vilas were in the final. While Borg was the clear favorite it was thought by some that Vilas had some chance and at least make it a tough match for Borg.

Well Vilas was beaten almost as badly as he defeated Gottfried in 1977 in the final. Borg won easily 6-1 6-1 6-3. Bjorn Borg lost only 33 games in the entire tournament, still a record.

Vilas was probably the second-best clay court player in the world, yet he never stood a chance against the Borg juggernaut!



Borg had all the perfect tools to play on clay. He had punishing powerful consistent groundstrokes He had heavy topspin on both sides so he had safety margin, great speed, and incredible stamina. I believe Borg recently said he never tired in a match! That is an incredible statement.

Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Roland Garros

The problem with discussing Rafa Nadal dominating Roland Garros is he always seems to dominate Paris’ red clay.

Still, the 2008 French Open was fantastic even by Nadal’s lofty standards. Rafa won every set with his toughest match against a not quite in his prime Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Nadal defeated Djokovic by a score of 6-4, 6-2, 7-6.

Nadal faced the great Federer in the final. Roger Federer always seemed to be in a major final in those days. Federer was the top seed but the majority of people thought Nadal was the clear favorite to win the match. Everyone was hoping for another one of those super Nadal against Federer matches with a great level quality of play.

It was not to be. Nadal played one of the most devastating matches in French Open final history. He seemed to be everywhere and no matter how powerfully and how far away from Nadal that Federer hit the ball, Nadal seemed to return the ball even more powerfully and with interest! Nadal won 6-1 6-3 6-0.



For the entire tournament Nadal just lost 41 games in 7 matches. This is just behind Borg in 1978 who lost just 33 games in 7 matches.



To show Federer against Nadal on clay in a much more competitive match, here is Roger vs. Rafa in the 2006 Rome final.

Ivan Lendl in the 1986 Nabisco Masters

Ivan Lendl is one of those champions who doesn’t get the credit he deserves for being such a great player.

In 1986 Lendl was at the peak of his powers. Perhaps the best performance in a top tournament that Lendl had was at the 1986 Nabisco Masters. Lendl won every set against the best players in the world. Lendl defeated Noah, Gomez, Edberg, Wilander and in the final Boris Becker, all in straight sets.



Lendl was one of the strongest players in the world in the Open Era on indoor courts. This event was played at New York’s Madison Square Garden on carpet where Lendl could blast his powerful groundstrokes.


Ellsworth Vines in the 1932 Wimbledon

The story of Ellsworth Vines has always fascinated me. Here is a man who has been called by many experts, like Jack Kramer, Bobby Riggs, Paul Metzer and seemingly a zillion others who had seem him as the player who was unbeatable once he reached his peak form!

Vines was about 6’2.5” tall and immensely strong. Much of that was due to the fact he broke his left arm when young and did everything with only his right arm for years. His right arm seemed to be twice the size of his left arm! This perhaps somewhat accounts for the colossal power that Vines had off every shot.

The thing that makes Vines’ 1932 Wimbledon victory so astonishing was how everyone at Wimbledon was in awe of the raw power coming off the Vines’ racquet.

Here’s a quote from Paul Metzler’s superb book Tennis Styles and Stylists:

“Vines was only nineteen when, in 1931, he swept the board in U.S. major tournaments to such effect that his American ranking rose from tenth to first and he became the logical successor to Tilden. The following year he descended upon Wimbledon, laying the opposition waste with his “violent” game, smashing some lobs so hard that the ball bounced from mid-court into the royal box itself. In the quarterfinals he was expected to be well tested by the powerful serving and all-round hard hitting of the Spanish player Enrique Maier. But a strong opponent only caused Vines to hit even harder. He won in quick time, 6-2 6-3 6-2, making the Spanish’s service seem almost innocuous compared to his own. Next he faced Crawford, victor over fourth-seeded Fred Perry, and hit him off the court in so devastating a display that Henri Cochet, watching from the stand, was heard to observe: “Pretty good. Wonderful. Never saw anything like it.”

Later in the book:

“Austin was allowed to show a little more of his art than Crawford had been, but only a little. Vines began uncertainly, and the score reached 4-all in the first set. Veteran onlookers described the match from then on as the greatest display of intense speed ever seen on a tennis court. Vines swept over Austin like a heavy surf gaining force with each wave. The score was 6-4 6-2 6-0. In his twelve service games Vines served thirty aces, the last one ending the match. The third set took only ten minutes. Some of Vines’ drives beat Austin by half the width of the court.”

Apparently Bunny Austin played well in the final but Vines hit a level that he could not touch. Some newsboards as they called it in London then called it Murder on the Centre Court. One Davis Cup player described Vines play as terrifying!

It is possible that at least with a wood racquet that Vines’ play in the last few rounds of Wimbledon that year may have been the highest level ever. Frankly it may be possible that Vines’ average level of play overall was the highest ever along with a few others.

It’s hard to get an idea of the pure power of Vines in the old videos, but here’s an example of some of his power against Henri Cochet at the 1932 US Nationals final.

This is from the same match but the end shows Vines’ famous serve acing Cochet.



Henri Cochet and his Thrilling Adventures at the 1927 Wimbledon

Henri Cochet is another one of those players who I would have loved to have seen in person. He was not a particularly tall man but due to his great ability to take the ball early he was able to control the course of the match. He was a volleyer of the highest magnitude with an excellent overhead. He also had great touch and the ability to hit sharp angles.

As the 1927 Wimbledon started, the top seed was Cochet’s countryman from France, Rene LaCoste followed by Bill Tilden and another countryman of Cochet, Jean Borotra.

All top four seeds reached the semifinal although Cochet suffered a major scare in losing the first two sets against Francis Hunter in the quarterfinals before rallying to win the last three sets.

So in one semifinal it was Bill Tilden, who are still a super player despite being imo at this point slightly past his best against Henri Cochet and the other semifinal had the top seed Rene LaCoste against Jean Borotra.

Borotra was nicknamed the Bounding Basque for his great ability to volley at the net. LaCoste was nicknamed the Crocodile by American Journalists for his determination on the court. There was a great contrast of styles in this matchup with the volleyer Borotra versus the great baseliner in LaCoste. Borotra upset LaCoste in five sets 6-3 6-4 1-6 1-6 6-2 to reach the final.

So in this semifinal in 1927 you have Bill Tilden, already a legend and considered perhaps the greatest player of all time. A player with no real weaknesses. And you have the Henri Cochet, a young gifted player who they said could play difficult shots with ease. Cochet was a player who took the ball very early and on the rise.

Cochet was a super dangerous opponent for Tilden. He had already ended Tilden’s streak of winning six straight US National Titles in 1926 which is now called the US Open. So clearly Tilden did not take Cochet lightly as an opponent.

Tilden started off on fire winning the first two sets 6-2 6-4. He continued on in the third set leading 5-1 with Cochet’s serve to come. Tilden had perhaps the best serve in the world and frankly he was Bill Tilden. How could any player have any sort of chance in this situation?

Cochet as it turns out held serve at 15 but what did it matter considering that Tilden was about to serve next. Cochet had won only two points against Tilden’s serve in the entire set.

Well Tilden started missing his first serve and overhitting. Cochet broke at love and incredibly Cochet won 17 straight points to 30-0 at 5 all in the fifth. Cochet won the set 7-5.

Cochet, the younger man at age 25 won the fourth set also at 6-4 and it seemed inevitable that the relentless Cochet would win the fifth set.

Still Tilden led 3-2, a break up in the fifth but despite this Cochet was not to be stopped. Cochet rallied miraculously to win the match in five set 6-3 in the fifth.

Still this was just the semifinal, there was still the final to be played against his French Davis Cup Teammate and a member of the French Mousquetaires as they called the French Team in those days with Cochet, Borotra, LaCoste and Brugnon.

Borotra was the third seed and promptly won the first two sets by 6-4 6-4. And of course as you would expect Cochet rallied to win the next two sets by 6-3 6-4. So the French player Henri Cochet continued his Indiana Jones type act in surviving from the blink of disaster for another set.

And that final set was perhaps more exciting than a Indiana Jones movie. Cochet was down 3-5 in the final set and at 40-30 match point for Borotra! So in the ninth game Borotra served and rushed the net. Cochet returned on that same point and also approached the net. These two were perhaps the two best volleyers in the world so a lightning exchange of volleys ensued.

Cochet hit a winner off this exchange but many in the stands thought he had a double hit on his racquet which in those days the point would be awarded the opponent. So the match point saved by Cochet was controversial because many thought it was a double hit and Borotra should have won the match.

It was not ruled a double hit however so play continued. Borotra served and had three more match points in that game! Cochet saved them all with one point being saved on a net cord.

Eventually as in all Indiana Jones type stories, the hero must eventually win. Cochet won in the fifth set 7-5 after saving six match points and was the 1927 Wimbledon Champion. He was the first champion to win a major after losing the first two sets in his last three matches.

Truly an astounding tennis accomplishment by the almost magical Henri Cochet.

There are a lot of other great choices for astounding and dramatic tournaments with cliffhanger endings, a few of which I’ve discussed in the past so I decided NOT to discuss them.

A few of them have Rafael Nadal involved, including:

Tears and Cheers 

Nadal's 2009 Australian Open Title Run

Jack Kramer in his 1948 Tours

Jack Kramer is another one of those players who are not thought of much today. Fact is, Kramer headed many of the old Pro Tours and was the Godfather of the ATP and Open Era tennis.

What is not mentioned much nowadays is that Kramer was the best player in the world and an all time great who was far superior to some of those that some current tennis ranking lists have ahead of him. A large number of experts who have seen Kramer play at his peak rank him as the best or among the best ever.

Perhaps one of his most incredible feats as a tennis player was in 1948 when he won by huge margins on two consecutive tours, one on clay and one on grass, against greats like Bobby Riggs, Pancho Segura and Dinny Pails.



Kramer swept the clay court tour 11 wins to 0 and won the grass court tour 24 wins to 5 for a total of 35 wins and only 5 losses against three of the greatest players in the world!

Roger Federer in the 2007 Australian Open

This was Federer at his peak.

Federer won the Australian without losing a set. In those days Federer seemed to have a bye directly into the finals of any major.

Federer won every match in straight sets. He was particularly impressive against Andy Roddick who had perhaps the best serve in tennis. Federer blitzed him 6-4 6-0 6-2.



And of course he defeated the red-hot Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets.

Guillermo Vilas in the 1974 Grand Prix Masters

This is Vilas in perhaps his best result ever on grass considering the field in the 1974 Grand Prix Finals which is now the World Tour Finals.

Vilas defeated Borg, Newcombe, Parun, Ramirez and Nastase to win the grass court tournament. That’s an extremely tough field.



Not bad for a player known for his great clay court play.

Suzanne Lenglen in the 1925 Wimbledon

I could have titled this part of the article Suzanne Lenglen and her entire career!

To call Suzanne Lenglen just a tennis player is an understatement. Lenglen was a massive world renown celebrity. Lenglen was perhaps as famous as anyone in the world. She was a sports icon and of course a fashion icon.

Suzanne Lenglen was without a doubt the most dominating player in the history of tennis. She was so much ahead of her competition that players wouldn’t believe they had a chance to defeat her but hoped not to be totally humiliated and win a number of games!

Lenglen won a number of tournaments without losing a game! There was at least seven tournaments in which she won without losing one game. That’s ridiculously great.

However despite this I would say her performance at the 1925 Wimbledon was perhaps her most awesome performance and that’s saying a lot.

Lenglen lost a total of five games in six matches! The final had Lenglen defeating Joan Fry 6-2 6-0. In looking at Lenglen’s career you would think you were playing a video game in which Lenglen was the overpowered boss that was unbeatable.

Lenglen, according to some sources, only lost seven matches in her entire career while winning 341. She apparently won her last 171 matches. A number of her losses were when she was just starting out. She was also almost unbeatable in Mixed and Women’s doubles.



I would be remiss not to mention other impressive feats like Grigor Dimitrov’s surprising win at the 2017 World Tour Finals, Djokovic winning three World Tour Finals unbeaten, Sampras’ incredible victory over Boris Becker in 1996 in the World Tour Final, Sampras’ performance against Russia in the Davis Cup.

There are many other great performances in top tennis events which can be categorized as astounding but if I wrote about them all this article would never be done and I’m sure after this article is finished, I will think of many I failed to put in.

Raymond Lee is a Tennis Now contributing writer and tennis historian who lives in New York. He has written about tennis for decades serving as a contributing writer for Tennis Week Magazine and TennisWeek.com.

Check out Raymond Lee's Articles: One for One: Who is the GOAT for One Match? Celebrating 50th Anniversary of John Newcombe's 1973 US Open Win, Why Novak Djokovic Can Win 30 Slams and Holy Grail: Why Winning the Calendar Grand Slam is Toughest Task in Sport.