During the long history of the French Open, there have been so many amazing matches, including extraordinary comebacks and upsets. Let’s highlight some of our favorites!
Andre Agassi’s Comeback in the 1999 Finals
Andre Agassi, whose nickname was “The Punisher” made a big comeback against Andrea Medvedev in the 1999 French Open final.
He was two sets behind, and the Ukrainian player, who at that moment was only ranked #100 in the ATP rankings, easily defeated the American in the first two sets. Medvedev won the first set 6-1 after only 19 minutes. Medvedev continued his dominance in the second set, winning 6-2.
The key moment for the big turnaround happened in the ninth game of the third set when Medvedev had a chance to break after a double fault by Agassi at 15-30. Agassi managed to save himself and win the game, and then break Medvedev in the next game and thus win the third set.
The missed opportunity obviously demoralized Medvedev and Agassi eventually won 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Before the tournament itself, it was questionable whether Agassi would even play in Paris because he had a problem with his shoulder. Instead, Agassi returned to the big stage after not winning a Grand Slam tournament for four years.
In 1996, he was ranked #1 in the world, and a year later he was only ranked #141. He arrived at the mentioned French Open only as the 13th seed. Medvedev missed the chance to win the first major trophy of his career, and Agassi was overjoyed after the incredible turnaround.
Horvath Inflicted Navratilova’s Only Defeat of the Season
Martina Navratilova is one of the best players in the history of tennis, and she was incredibly dominant during the 1980s. During that period, she was as unbeatable as any player ever in the open era. From December 1982 to December 1984, she had only two losses and a record of 167-2.
In 1983, she achieved a record of 86-1. You could be forgiven for assuming that she recorded that defeat against one of the other stars of that era, such as Chris Evert, Tracy Austin, or Hana Mandlikova, but that was not the case.
Navratilova’s only defeat that season was in the fourth round of the French Open, and her executioner was a seventeen-year-old player, Kathy Horvath.
Horvath came to Paris as an unseeded player, as she was only the #45 player in the world, and defeated Martina in three sets, 6-4, 0-6, 6-3. Until that moment, Horvath had three losses against Navratilova without ever winning a set.
After this huge victory, Horvath played seven more times against the legendary Martina Navratilova and again failed to win a single set. She ended her career at the age of 24 and devoted herself to an academic and business career.
Lendl Inflicted a Painful Defeat on McEnroe
Another match that entered the annals of the French Open was in the final of this Grand Slam in 1984, when Ivan Lendl defeated John McEnroe 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5. Lendl lost the first 2 sets and then came back to win the final three sets. The match lasted more than four hours.
The defeat experienced by the American player was especially painful, especially in hindsight, because this was the only French Open final that he made and was the closest he ever got to winning this Grand Slam. That year, McEnroe played one of the best seasons of his career and did later win both Wimbledon and the US Open.
He had a record of 84-3 and had a 42-game winning streak before the match with Lendl. Up to that moment, he had defeated Lendl all four times they played each other, and it seemed that after the dominant play in the first two sets, Lendl had no chance of winning this time either.
One of the watershed moments of the match came in the third set when McEnroe became enraged over the noise made by a cameraman’s headphones. McEnroe grabbed the headphones, threw them away, and shouted: Shut up! At that moment, the crowd also turned against him and Lendl used it to fuel his sensational comeback.
17-Year-Old Chang Made History
Lendl was part of another memorable match, but in the end, he left the field as a loser. The #1 player in the world at that time suffered a defeat against Michael Chang, who later set a record as the youngest Grand Slam winner in the open era.
Chang was only 17 years old at that time. Lendl and Chang squared off in the fourth round of the 1989 French Open. Lendl played brilliantly in this tournament as he did not lose a single set in the first three rounds and it seemed that this trend would continue once Lendl won the first two sets against Chang.
However, Chang, despite huge problems with cramps, made an incredible turnaround and won the match 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
At one point, Chang was barely able to stand and often was only able to send high-arching balls to the other side of the net. He came very close to giving up at one point but held on until the end to pull off a shock victory. His underhand serve in key moments of the match is especially memorable.
Graf Made a Comeback as Did Her Future Husband
In 1999, the same year that her future husband, Andre Agassi, had his big comeback against Medvedev, Graf played an extraordinary match against world #1 Martina Hingis in the French Open finals.
Despite the fact that the Swiss player won the first set, Graf, from Germany, turned the match around and achieved a great victory with a final score of 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. ”This is by far the biggest, the most unexpected win I’ve ever had,” Graf said. Hingis was in control of the match after winning the first set and taking a 2-0 lead in the second set. At that moment, began her comeback.
At one point, with Hingis up 2-0 in the second set, Hingis hit a deep forehand and the referee called the ball out, and the chair umpire confirmed the ball was out. Hingis, who was only 18-years-old at the time, was outraged and believed her shot was not out of bounds.
She had a complete meltdown and even went to the other side of the net to look at the ball mark and show the referee that the ball was in the court. Crossing over to the other side of the court is against the rules and she received a penalty point.
At this moment, the crowd turned against her and booed her for the remainder of the match. The Swiss player later used an underarm serve, which was out of bounds, on the first serve of her opponent’s match point and again received loud boos from the crowd. Graf won the next point and won the match. Martina Hingis was heartbroken and broke down in tears.
