Top 10 best wins by players in Wimbledon history

The Wimbledon championship is one of the most coveted Grand Slam competitions and has a rich history of producing some of the greatest matches. There are a lot of tennis greats who have shown their excellence and brilliance in Wimbledon both at a young age and after attaining the tag of ‘greatness’ to their name. 

Let us take a look at the 10 best individual wins by a player in the history of Wimbledon:

10. Rafael Nadal won the all-time classic final against Roger Federer – Wimbledon 2008 final

Even after more than one and a half decades, the match is still ranked as the greatest match ever played in the entire history. It was the final of Wimbledon 2008 between two great rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at the Centre Court in July 2008. 

Nadal took the initial after winning the first two sets but everybody present in the Centre Court was left stunned after Federer made a stunning comeback by winning the third and fourth sets. The final and fifth set was a do-or-die for both the stars and Nadal held his nerves to clinch the Wimbledon 2008 title to dethrone the then reigning champion Roger Federer. 

9. Bjorn Borg’s iconic title win against John McEnroe – Wimbledon 1980 Final 

The historic and iconic title clash of Wimbledon 1980 was played between two greatest rivals of that era, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe. Both the greats gave a tough fight to each other in the first set of the match. But later, it became Borg’s match to lose owing to his amazing brilliance on the court. 

Eventually, Borg won his 5th straight Wimbledon, beating McEnroe by 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16-18), and 8-6. Borg’s ecstatic celebration after this iconic win also attracted the headlines. 

8. An unforgettable two-day clash in the first round – Wimbledon 1969

Pancho Gonzales won this one of the longest-running clashes in the history of Wimbledon. Gonzales took on Charlie Pasarell in this match of the first round. The 41-year-old Gonzales emerged victorious against Pasarell in this match by 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, and 11-9. 

The total time taken in this match between Gonzales and Pasarella, was 5 hours and 12 minutes, which is quite nearly impossible for the current generation of players to make happen 

7. No Tie-break win of Billie Jean King – Wimbledon 1970, Women’s Final 

It was the time in tennis when tie breaks weren’t introduced and sets were supposed to be played till the difference came to two. In that ‘no tie-break’ era, Margaret Court and the legend of all-time Billie Jean Kings played one of the most thrilling finals in women’s tennis history. 

Bille won this match by winning the long first and second sets by the margins of 14-12 and 11-9, respectively to clinch the title of the Wimbledon 1970 Women’s competition. 

6. Jimmy Connors’ winning fourth match against young Mikael Pernfors – Wimbledon 1987 

The fourth-round match was being played between the then-veteran Jimmy Connors against the young Mikael Pernfors in the Wimbledon 1987. 35-year-old Connors was 10 years older than his 25-year-old opponent Mikael Pernfors. 

Pernfors stunned everyone by winning the first two sets by 6-1, 6-1 but the fans also saw the iconic comeback of Connors’ experience and he won the third and fourth set by 7-5 and 6-4 to come up victorious in fifth set by 6-2. 

5. The Return of Ivanisevic – Wimbledon 2001 Final 

The runner-up of Wimbledon 1992, 1993 and 1998 was ranked 125th in the World. He took a wild card entry at Wimbledon in 2001; Goran Ivanisevic made a stunning return in this edition of the prestigious Grand Slam. Notably, he was also coming after recovering from an injury in his shoulder. 

Goran lived a fairy tale as he won the final against Pat Rafter in a three-long clash to clinch the title at in Wimbledon 2001.

4. Steffi Graf left Novotna stunned in tears – Wimbledon 1993 Final 

One of the crowd-favourites Steffi Grad was a part of the memorable Wimbledon 1993 Women’s final. She took against Jona Novotna and the latter took a lead after winning the first set in a tie-break by a margin of 7-6. The crowd was left shocked to see Graf being defeated in the first et. 

But Graf came back strongly and lived up to her calibre in the later sets of the match; eventually, she won the match and clinched the Wimbledon 1993 women’s title to leave Novotna teary-eyed. 

3. Federer overcoming the excellence and experience of Pete Sampras – Wimbledon 2001 4th round

The then 19-year-old youngster Roger Federer took on one of the all-time tennis greats Pete Sampras in the fourth round of the Wimbledon 2001 men’s competition. It was the match when the world saw the rise of a new tennis sensation Roger Federer who outplayed the legendary Pete Sampras. 

The reigning champion Sampras was dethroned by young Federer. He also took the two sets to tie-breaks and 5-5 in the final set. Following this defeat against Federer, the ‘great’ Sampras could win only one Grand Slam title before his retirement. 

2. Martina Navratilova won against Chris Evert – Wimbledon 1978 Women’s Final 

The two all-time greats in the history of women’s tennis are Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who took on each other in the Women’s final of Wimbledon 1978. Notably, the two great rivals took on each other in the title clashes of the women’s tennis competitions. 

However, the final of the 1978 Wimbledon edition was one of the most iconic finals played between Evert and Navratilova. Evert shocked Martina in the first set as the former won by 6-2 but the latter made a stunning comeback in the second set with a 6-4 win followed by a 7-5 win in the third set to clinch her first Grand Slam title. 

1. The memorable Roger-Roddick clash – Wimbledon 2009 Men’s Final

After the withdrawal of the defending champion Rafael Nadal from Wimbledon 2009 owing to his knee tendonitis, most of the tennis experts backed Roger Federer to be the hot favourite to win the title. The iconic title clash of the Wimbledon 2009 was played between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. 

Earlier, Federer had already emerged victorious against Andy Roddick in the finals of the Wimbledon 2004 and Wimbledon 2005. The final of Wimbledon 2009 lasted 30 games and the match was played for 4 hours and 196 minutes, including a marathon 5th set for 95 minutes. Eventually, Federer came out victorious in this classic battle against Roddick and the latter was left in tears during the post-match presentation.