Once Wimbledon winner, always Wimbledon winner.According to Goran Ivanisevic, no one remembers the final losers.
Pat Rafter, the great Australian who won the US Open twice in his career, said he was tired and tired of being a part of history when he lost in the 2000 Wimbledon Final.And that’s the part that serves another player to write history.Once again, Rafter had lost an important match against Pete Sampras, the American had scored his seventh victory on the Church Road.
Of course, Rafter had no idea at the time that he was going to be on the wrong side of the trophy presentation almost exactly twelve months later, at an event that hadn’t gone unnoticed in sports history: Goran Ivanisevic’s first and only Wimbledon triumph.Who had not believed in this triumph any more.Especially thanks to Pete Sampras.
“Sampras has ruined my life,”Ivanisevic told an Italian magazine these days,”I like Pete: he is a great champion and a good guy.But I lost so many finals and semi-finals against him!In fact, it was Sampras who defeated Ivanisevic in the 1994 and 1998 Wimbledon finals, once in three sets, once in five.
But the Croatians must have been hit particularly hard by the surprising defeat against Andre Agassi in the final in 1992, at a time when the balls and conditions in Wimbledon clearly put players such as the American baseline specialist at a disadvantage.
The victory over Rafter would have changed everything,”said Goran Ivanisevic, adding that it was the most important thing in the sport to just play,” but that’s not true.Does anyone remember who lost the finals?Until that Monday I was the eternal runner-up, with three silver plates.Even I don’t even remember these fucking finals when I played in them.”