To mark the end of another thrilling season, ATPTour.com is unveiling our annual ‘Best Of’ series, which will reflect on the most intriguing rivalries, matches, comebacks, upsets and more. Today we relive the five best Grand Slam comebacks this season.
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5) Australian Open R2, Daniil Medvedev d. Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6, 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-6(1), 6-0
With daybreak approaching in Melbourne, Daniil Medvedev avoided an early upset by rallying from two sets to love down, a position he would again win from in the semi-finals against Alexander Zverev.
It could have been easy for Medvedev to deflate after losing a topsy-turvy, 83-minute second set against Emil Ruusuvuori. But the 20-time tour-level titlist did just the opposite, clawing his way back to eventually win at 3:40 a.m.
“This one is for sure going to stay in my memory,” Medvedev said after the four-hour, 23-minute triumph.
The 28-year-old showed some early signs of backhand rust in his first tournament of the season. “I was missing all over the place,” he later assessed. But Medvedev matched the clean hitting of the Finn and raised his level in important moments, such as when he was two points from defeat at 4-5 in the fourth set.
Moments later, he raced through the fourth-set tie-break to level at two sets all and asserted his dominance in the decider as Ruusuvuori began to struggle physically.
Medvedev elected to use the same racquet from the third set onwards, instead of using the ball change as a reference to grab a new stick from his bag, the method of many players.
“I finally found one where I felt like I was playing better. Sometimes it is just something you create in your mind,” Medvedev said. “I stayed with this racquet. I started with it at the beginning of the third set and stayed with it until the end of the match.”
4) US Open R2, Jiri Lehecka d. Mitchell Krueger 6-7(5), 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5
At the US Open, Jiri Lehecka was competing in just his second tournament since suffering a back injury in April in Madrid. It looked as if the lack of matches was catching up to the 22-year-old against American qualifier Mitchell Krueger.
The Czech dropped 11 consecutive games from 6-5 in the first set and in an instant, he was three games from exiting the season’s final major.
But the 32nd seed raised his aggression and heavy hitting, striking 67 winners across the match, to earn his first win from two sets to love down in one minute shy of four hours on a hot New York afternoon. Lehecka improved to 4-1 in five setters.
<img alt=”On a hot day in New York, Jiri Lehecka survives Mitchell Krueger.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/11/27/17/19/lehecka-us-open-2024-krueger.jpg” />
Jiri Lehecka in action at Flushing Meadows. Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
3) Wimbledon R1, Thanasi Kokkinakis d. Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 5-7, 7-6(9), 6-4, 6-4
When it comes to five-set epics, Thanasi Kokkinakis is well versed. This season alone, the Australian played five matches at the majors that went the distance, and he came out on top in all but one. Against 17th-seed Felix Auger-Aliassime at Wimbledon, Kokkinakis raced to a 5/0 lead in the third-set tie-break but lost six points in a row to face match point. The Canadian let slip four match points in the tie-break, fuelling Kokkinakis’ two-sets-to-love-comeback, his second this season.
“I just do whatever it takes,” Kokkinakis said. “Obviously I would have rather done it easier, but I had a couple of lapses of concentration in the first two sets. I knew I was not too far away, but I just lost my focus.”
The work was far from finished after the dramatic tie-break. The first-round match was suspended due to darkness at 1-1 in the fourth set. Then, the 28-year-old overcame a nervy night of sleep, still one set from defeat.
After four hours and 38 minutes of play, and a handful of rain delays, Kokkinakis scored his first of two Top 20 wins this season (d. Tsitsipas, US Open R1). The Adelaide native lifted his arms in the air before pounding his chest with his racquet and cracking a large smile towards his box, which included former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt.
<img alt=”Thanasi Kokkinakis celebrates his epic Wimbledon first-round victory.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/11/27/17/36/kokkinakis-wimbledon-felix-2024.jpg” />
Thanasi Kokkinakis celebrates his epic Wimbledon first-round victory. Credit: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images
2) Wimbledon R1, Tomas Machac d. David Goffin 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(5)
On the same day Kokkinakis completed his comeback, the London magic spread throughout the SW19 grounds. Tomas Machac rallied from 0-5 in the fifth set against David Goffin, marking the first comeback of that kind since 1993. It was a drastic change of events for Machac, who was originally scheduled to face Andy Murray on Centre Court before the former World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings’ withdrawal.
“This match will forever stay in mind,” Machac said. “I was still trying to play my game and I was believing that at least I could break him once, and let’s see what was going to happen after. I had the chances to break him for the second time in a row and I took the chance and completely turned the match to my side.”
The 23-year-old had his back against the wall for much of the match, which was contested over two days. Goffin led 6-3, 4-2 before play was suspended for the evening. After falling behind two sets to love, Machac trailed by a break on three separate occasions in the third set. Both men earned nine service breaks in the three-hour, 17-minute match.
Goffin later avenged the difficult Wimbledon loss with a straight-sets win against Machac in the US Open third round.
1) US Open R1, Daniel Evans d. Karen Khachanov 6-7(6), 7-6(2), 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4
It was a summer of comebacks for Daniel Evans, who partnered Andy Murray at the Paris Olympics, where they remarkably fought off seven match points (five in the first round, two in the second round) to reach the quarter-finals in the Scot’s final event.
The 34-year-old Evans again featured in an unforgettable match at Flushing Meadows. He won the longest match in US Open history, a five-hour, 35-minute thriller against 23rd seed Karen Khachanov.
“It was a long, long battle. It was sort of who could last the longest in the end,” Evans said. “I just tried to scrape little by little. Each point I was obviously really struggling with my legs. On serve I was fine on return, so that gave me a bit of hope.”
For a moment, it seemed the clash would not make history. Khachanov surged to a 4-0 lead in the fifth set and earned four break points on Evans’ serve, but was unable to convert. The Court 6 crowd, raucous throughout, urged Evans back into the match and roared with delight when he finished off the match, during which all five sets lasted more than an hour. The third set was the longest at 72 minutes.
Entering the tournament, Evans owned just four tour-level match wins this season and had not defeated a Top 100 opponent since March in Miami. Highly regarded as one of the sport’s fiercest competitors, Evans fought, and fought some more, to improve to 5-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Khachanov, securing the biggest Grand Slam comeback of 2024.
“I think when you’re a kid, you’re just told to fight until the end. I mean, that’s sort of rule one,” Evans said. “I’ve done that pretty consistently for my career.”
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