Continuing our Season In Review Series, ATPWorldTour.com revisits the biggest Grand Slam comebacks of 2015. In today’s countdown we feature Nos. 2-1:
Novak Djokovic d. Kevin Anderson 6-7(6), 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-4, 7-5/R16/Wimbledon
World No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic had ample reason to be confident heading into the fourth-round at Wimbledon. After all, he held a 4-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head advantage against his Round-of-16 opponent, 6-foot-8 South African Kevin Anderson, including a straight-sets win on the lawns of the All England Club in 2011.
But Anderson was unconcerned about such historical trends, holding serve with impunity and pushing the Serb to five nail-biting sets. It marked the first time Anderson crossed the 40-ace barrier in a single match, and only the fourth time Djokovic had rallied from two sets down to win, reaching his 25th quarter-final appearance at a major.
Djokovic would call it “one of the most difficult in my Wimbledon career, that’s for sure. I thought Kevin played exceptionally well throughout the entire match. He was serving very efficiently, very powerfully on serve. It was very difficult for me to read because he has a same toss for every direction. So with that kind of serve and the aggressive groundstrokes, he’s a very, very tough opponent on any surface — especially on grass.”
The three-hour, 47-minute affair on Court No. 1, which spanned two days, saw Anderson come up just short in his quest for his first Grand Slam quarter-final 6-7(6), 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-4, 7-5.
The 14th-seeded Anderson rallied from a 2-5 deficit in the second set tiebreak to secure a two-set advantage. After dropping nine consecutive sets against his opponent in the past six years, Anderson had won two straight and was closing in on the biggest upset of the fortnight.
With his back against the wall, Djokovic responded with his best tennis in a 6-1 third-set win, breaking Anderson twice in 27 minutes of play. The onslaught continued in the fourth set, as Djokovic found his range both on serve and at the baseline. The Serb didn’t allow Anderson a sniff at a break point and won the set 6-4 when play was suspended due to poor light.
Things didn’t get any easier for the Serb when play resumed the following afternoon. But knotted at 5-5 in the fifth, Djokovic broke his opponent with a stunning low forehand return. He then closed out his 45th victory of the season.
“Until the last moment, until the last point, I didn’t know if I was going to win or not,” he reflected.
Fabio Fognini d. Rafael Nadal 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4/R32/US Open
Some switched off the TV and headed to bed. Others opted to beat the New York traffic, opting for early departures toward the Triborough, the Whitestone, the Holland Tunnel or No. 7 train. With Rafael Nadal looking as sharp as ever and in possession of a commanding two-sets-to-love lead, the outcome seemed all but inevitable. So why stick around?
Only those who stuck it out until 1:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time were in the know around the water cooler the next day. Flamboyant Italian Fabio Fognini had produced a stunning comeback win laced with 70 winners to reach the fourth round of the US Open. In a pulsating late-night/early-morning match, Fognini’s dazzling shot-making officially ended Nadal’s streak of winning at least one Grand Slam title a year for 10 straight years after three hours and 46 minutes of battle.
Nadal had been a perfect 151-0 at Grand Slam level after winning the first two sets, while Fognini’s record of winning from two sets down at the majors was 4-19. It was a remarkable turnaround from Fognini. Though he had twice defeated Nadal on clay earlier in the year, he had never beaten a Top-10 opponent on a hard court.
After dropping the first two sets, Fognini turned in one of the most breathtaking shot-making displays of the year. He clubbed forehand and backhand winners from all parts of the court with exquisite timing that belied the amount of effort behind them. He also attacked the net regularly, winning 39 of 52 approaches.
“If you want to play against him and if you want to do something different, you have to take risks,” said Fognini. “That’s the only thing. I probably made a lot of unforced errors, but it doesn’t matter. You have to do that with a great player who runs a lot on the baseline.”
“He played great,” said a gracious Nadal. “It was not a match that I lost, even if I had opportunities. It’s a match that he won. So accept it. I’m not happy that he played better than me, but that’s what happened.”
Biggest Grand Slam Comebacks Of 2015: Part 1
