2014 US Open has just ended with two major upsets, but today we are going to discuss about top 5 biggest upsets at the US Open ever!! You may differ with our choice but then it is natural to have opposite views.
Top 5 Biggest Upsets at the US Open Ever
The US Open has a history of over a 100 years now and it is really difficult to find 5 biggest upsets in this really large amount of time but still we have tried our best to furnish them.
5. Julie Colin defeating Ana Ivanovic (Round 2, 2008)
Ana Ivanovic was at her peak in 2008. She even won the French Open that year and that helped her to gain No. 1 spot in the WTA rankings. But she tasted defeat almost immediately at the Wimbledon when world number 133 and a wildcard entrant Zheng Jie defeated her in the second round itself. Despite this she was still a world No.1 when she entered in the US Open of 2008. Since Billie Jean King’s defeat in R3 in the 1973 tournament there was no such upset and Julie Colin the world No. 188 defeated Ana Ivanovic by 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the R2. The impact was so huge that Ana even talked about quitting tennis completely.
4. Jan Kodes defeating John Nowcombe (Round 1, 1971)
John Newcombe was world No. 1 at that moment and he was also given the 1st seed at the US Open that year. It is not that because Jan Kodes was unseeded that year he was not a good enough player. He already won the French Open twice before this, but he was not expected to do well against Newcombe on the grass as in those days US Open used to play on the grass. Making the pundits right Newcombe won the first set easily by 6-2 but then the next two sets were won by Kodes via tie breakers. In the fourth and crucial set Newcombe just didn’t got much chance and was out of the US Open in the first round itself. Although he took his revenge in the 1973 US Open final when he defeated Kodes in a five set epic.
3. Juan Martin Del Potro defeating Roger Federer (Finals, 2009)
Roger Federer had completed his career slam in that year by winning his first French Open. Then he went on to win Wimbledon too, and came to US Open as No. 1 seed. He dropped only two sets before reaching the final where he met Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina. Roger Federer was 5 time US Open Champion at that point of time. Federer won the first set 3-6 against del Potro, who had defeated Nadal in the semis. But then with unprecedented 12 double faults in entire match by Federer turned the game in del Potro’s favor and he won his first Grand Slam title by 3-6, 7-5(5), 4-6. 7-6(4), 6-2.
2. Bill Scanlon defeating John McEnroe (4th Round, 1983)
John McEnroe was on the top of his game in 1983 and he was playing at his home turf in the US Open. Although he was tested by the unseeded player Tery Waltke in a five set game in the first round but since then McEnroe was not tested. He dominated the first two sets in the 4th round game against the 16th seed Bill Scanlon but lost the second set by 7-6 and then lost two more sets to get knocked out of the tournament. One of the biggest upsets at the US Open ever.
1. Alexander Volkov defeating Stefan Edberg (1st Round, 1990)
We have seen a top seed got defeated in the first round in the Newcombe example then why this match is different and why it is at the top? Well the answer is that Stefan Edberg was the dominant player during those days and was two time Australian Open champion before that and he was the winner of the Wimbledon that year too. But this defeat against world No. 52 at that time in that time came not only in the first round, but also it came in three straight sets where Edberg won only 5 games in two of those sets! Incredible isn’t it?