After winning eight consecutive matches from qualifying to collect his third ATP Challenger Tour title of the year in Nottingham, Nick Kyrgios walked through the gates of the All England Club for the first time in 2014 with plenty of confidence.

The 19-year-old wild card picked up his first Wimbledon victory against Stephane Robert in four sets to book a second-round clash with World No. 14 Richard Gasquet. It was in that match, on No. 2 Court, that Kyrgios claimed his maiden Top 50 victory in dramatic fashion.

Gasquet, a semi-finalist at SW19 in 2007, also entered the contest in impressive form. In the previous week, the Frenchman finished as a runner-up in Eastbourne. To reach the second round at Wimbledon, Gasquet had to recover from two-sets-to-one down against James Duckworth.

After dropping the opening two sets, Kyrgios saved four match points with powerful serving and bravery on his forehand side to frustrate his opponent. When facing his fifth match point, the Australian appeared to have lost the match after serving a double fault. Fortunately for Kyrgios, his Hawk-Eye challenge proved his daring second serve had clipped the back of the line.

”Obviously the challenge kept me in it,” said Kyrgios. ”The serve was in. It was a bit unlucky to be called out.”

After saving a total of nine match points, Kyrgios fought his way to a 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5, 10-8 triumph after three hours and 53 minutes. The World No. 144 completed the upset with a love service hold, firing his 21st ace of the match to reach the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time.

“I played some unbelievable tennis today… I think it’s a massive stepping stone for me to finally reach the third round of a Grand Slam. It can be a bridge for more things to come,” said Kyrgios.

Following his win against Gasquet, Kyrgios continued to prove his talent to his growing fanbase at the grass-court Grand Slam championship. The Canberra native recovered from a set down to beat Jiri Vesely in the third round, before stunning two-time champion Rafael Nadal in four sets to book his place in the quarter-finals. At that stage, the Aussie was beaten by World No. 9 Milos Raonic in a fourth-set tie-break.

One year later, Gasquet gained his revenge against Kyrgios at Wimbledon. The pair met in the Round of 16, with Gasquet claiming a 7-5, 6-1, 6-7(7), 7-6(6) win. The Frenchman went on to reach his second Wimbledon semi-final, where he fell to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

When Dustin Brown stepped onto Centre Court for the first time in 2015, the German was aiming to record his second victory against a former champion at the event in three years.

Two years after beating 2002 winner Lleyton Hewitt in the second round, Brown met two-time champion Rafael Nadal at the same stage. Brown entered the contest with confidence, having beaten Nadal on grass in their only previous ATP Head2Head meeting at the 2014 NOVENTI OPEN. But if the World No. 102 wanted to repeat that victory, he would have to maintain his best level for longer than his 60-minute win in Halle.

For the first time in his career, Nadal arrived at Wimbledon in 2015 after appearances at two grass-court tournaments. Taking advantage of the newly-extended grass-court season, the Spaniard clinched his fourth title on the surface in Stuttgart before a first-round defeat to Alexandr Dolgopolov at The Queen’s Club.

That Stuttgart success and an extra week to adjust to the surface gave fans a reason to believe that 2015 could be the year that Nadal reversed his fortunes at SW19. After reaching the final in five straight Wimbledon appearances from 2006 to 2011, Nadal suffered early losses to players ranked outside the Top 100 in three straight visits to the All England Club from 2012 to 2014.

After splitting the opening two sets on Centre Court, Brown fully committed to his brand of attacking tennis to complete a stunning victory. The 6’5” right-hander enjoyed success with his serve-and-volley tactics and attacked Nadal’s second serve to keep points short and disrupt the Spaniard’s rhythm. After two hours and 33 minutes, Brown fired his 11th ace of the match to confirm his spot in the third round.

“I’m happy I got to play him on that court win or lose,” said Brown. “All the kids that play tennis dream about being able to play on that Centre Court. Playing against him there is special.”

With his second victory in as many matches against Nadal, Brown became only the second player after Alex Corretja to hold a 100 per cent record against the left-hander after two ATP Head2Head matches.

“Obviously he’s one of the best players of the sport, and for me, being able to play against him twice, obviously on my favourite surface, is probably my luck,” said Brown.

Nadal’s loss to Brown marked the end of a disappointing four-year streak at the grass-court Grand Slam championship. Since that defeat, the 19-time Grand Slam champion has claimed 13 wins from 16 matches at SW19, with his only losses coming against Gilles Muller, — in a dramatic 15-13 fifth set — Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

“On this court especially, you meet players that don’t want to play from the baseline sometimes. [Brown] is one of these ones,” said Nadal.

Following his milestone victory against Nadal, Brown struggled to replicate his form in the next round. Backed by an enthusiastic crowd on No. 3 Court, the German was broken on four occasions during a four-set loss to Viktor Troicki.

On a recent episode of Tennis United, co-host Vasek Pospisil revealed that he enjoys maple syrup on his pizza crust. Reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas was firm in his disagreement.

“That’s a double fault!” 

Tsitsipas and WTA star Naomi Osaka answered a series of questions during the segment, including: Does pineapple belong on pizza?

“I personally think it’s a no-no,” Tsitsipas added.

“I’m going to disagree. I’m going to say yes and the only reason I think yes is because people love it,” Pospisil said.

Tsitsipas and Osaka answered various questions throughout the segment, including: If you’re bored, are you boring? If your food is bad at a restaurant, would you say something? What are you most likely to stay up all night thinking about?

“It’s all about tennis,” Tsitsipas said. “Just thinking about tennis. If I lose that day, I might stay up. I’ve had nights where I stayed up all night and I was just overthinking and processing what happened out there.”

I’m done being shy. It’s really a waste of my time. I could’ve shared so many ideas by now, I could’ve had convos with so many different people. All the things I could’ve learned ??‍♀️ but no I’m over here actually putting my own limiter on myself.

— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@naomiosaka) May 5, 2020

Tsitsipas also explained why something Osaka tweeted in May — “I’m done being shy” — inspired him.

“I get it, and I saw a lot of realism and pragmatism to that. I thought to myself, ‘That’s really pure. That’s real,’” Tsitsipas said. “I would like to retweet it for the world to see because coming out of your shell and expressing yourself and just sharing your ideas and whatever you feel in that given moment, I found it quite inspiring, to be honest.”

Editor’s Note: But for the COVID-19 pandemic, Wimbledon would now be underway. During the next two weeks, ATPTour.com will look back on memorable matches and happenings at the grass-court Grand Slam.

At the start of June 2016, Marcus Willis was giving tennis lessons at the Warwick Boat Club in Great Britain for £30 an hour. Four weeks later, he found himself facing Roger Federer in a second-round clash on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

”I’ve had to cancel a few lessons,” Willis joked. “Everyone’s been really understanding and just said, ‘Don’t be silly. Get on with it and good luck.’”

The 25-year-old was a former Top 15 player in the ITF junior rankings, but a lack of discipline prevented him from making inroads at the pro level. After Willis brought a candy bar and soda on court during one of his ATP Challenger Tour matches, commentator Mike Cation nicknamed him Cartman, a reference to the rotund character on “South Park”.

When Willis finally found the motivation to maximise his potential, a series of injuries limited him to one tournament in the first five months of 2016 as his FedEx ATP Ranking dropped to No. 772. He continued to train in the morning and taught clinics in the afternoon, but considered ending his playing career to take a coaching job in Philadelphia. 

But after a last-minute withdrawal allowed him to sneak into the pre-qualifying draw for Wimbledon, the Brit seized his opportunity and produced the best tennis of his career. He won three matches to earn a wild card into the qualifying draw, then earned another three victories to qualify for his maiden Grand Slam main draw.

Willis took an immediate liking to the attention and local support as his unlikely story generated headlines. In his debut tour-level match, he stunned World No. 54 Ricardas Berankis in straight-sets to set up an improbable clash with Federer, rushing into a courtside pile of eager friends and family.

”I was overweight. I was [drinking] pints. I was just a loser. I looked at myself in the mirror and thought that I’m better than this,” Willis said after the win. “I’ve been behind the scenes working very hard… Ridiculous times in the morning. Ran myself into the ground, but it’s worth it now.”

Even Federer became a fan and called the unlikely run “one of the best stories in a long time in our sport.” Although the Swiss swiftly ended Willis’ Hollywood tale with a convincing straight-sets win, he made sure to make the moment about his opponent. Federer let Willis walk out ahead of him onto Centre Court and kept his post-match celebration brief, giving the Brit a chance to wave to the crowd and soak in their cheers.

”Not my standard Wednesday,” Willis said, smiling. “It was all just a blur. It was amazing. I did enjoy myself even though I was getting duffed up. I loved every bit of it… Just the whole experience was incredible.”

Although he wasn’t able to recapture his Wimbledon magic when he returned to the ATP Challenger Tour, Willis’ moment of magic remains one of the popular storylines in recent history at the All England Club.

Nobody will soon forget the first-round battle between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut at 2010 Wimbledon. The epic, which remains the longest match in tennis history, lasted 11 hours and five minutes over three days, from 22-24 June. The chair umpire was Sweden’s Mohamed Lahyani.

“The first day when I started was nothing special. It was like a normal match. You had two sets all, that can happen. At Wimbledon you have many times a suspension because of darkness, because it’s late,” Lahyani said. “I was not thinking anything. The second day was when I started thinking in the middle of the match, ‘This is unbelievable.’”

The length of the match became increasingly stunning as the games ticked by on the second day, 23 June. What was perhaps a bigger surprise for Lahyani was the phone call he got from his wife, Mariam, who was in Tangier, Morocco, 15 minutes before he walked on court to begin the fifth set.

“My wife called me just before that day and she said I just wanted to let you know we have special news: ‘It’s a boy!’” Lahyani recalled of the moment he found out they were going to have a son. “I told her, ‘I will finish my match. It will be over in one hour and then we’ll talk.’ That was unbelievable, and she was waiting for more than seven hours!”

Mariam did not watch the match, so she didn’t realise that her husband was presiding over something historic.

“I could not even sleep that night because it was too much,” Lahyani said. “Everybody was talking about the records and a lot of things. It was a special feeling.”

Lahyani didn’t realise what the match would become. But it also didn’t matter to him — he prides himself on treating every match equally.

“People always think about the final, final, final. But it doesn’t need to be a final to be the greatest match. This was a first-round match. I tell the young officials, ‘You have to treat every round the same.’ My best match was the first round. Don’t think the final should be your best,” Lahyani said. “You never know. The final could be the easiest. Most of the toughest matches are in the first round. You need to treat every match the same, even if it’s Court 18. It’s not just when you walk on Centre Court. Every match is important.”

Lahyani is most proud that over the course of the three days, there were no arguments from either player. For that, the Swede gave credit to everyone around him.

“It was teamwork. It was the line umpires, the ball kids, everyone around the court did something special. I was telling myself, as soon as a player was bouncing the ball, I told myself, ‘Mohamed, focus. You don’t want to finish the match after so many hours and do something stupid,’” Lahyani recalled. “I try to teach that to all my colleagues, the younger officials and everything, you need to focus the whole match. I think that match is a special example. If you lost concentration for a split second, you could destroy the whole match.”

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The moment from the match that stands out most came late in the second day, after Mahut hit an ace down the T to level the fifth set at 50-50. The crowd gave the players a standing ovation, and Lahyani bellowed: “Game, Mahut. 50 Games All. Final Set.”

“When I said 50 games all, there was a standing ovation for what felt like minutes. The players had to tell the crowd to calm down and I had to say, Thank you, thank you.’ It was like a wave,” Lahyani said. “They were clapping for a while, it was unbelievable. It’s a special memory, 50 games all.”

After the match, Lahyani remembers Isner asking him a funny question: “Mohamed, you didn’t go to the bathroom? How come?”

“I was so concentrated on the match, so I didn’t even have time to think about food, drinks, anything,” said Lahyani, who didn’t take a single bathroom break. “I said, ‘Mohamed now it’s only the match. Don’t think of the people around you.’ You could see so many people standing around the court, everybody was there cheering. It was one of the best atmospheres and best feelings I’ve had in my career.”