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Five Most Devastating Tennis Losses of All Time

By Nate Slaymaker

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Five Most Devastating Tennis Losses

Yesterday, in the biggest sporting event in the United States, the Seattle Seahawks experienced one of the most devastating losses American football has ever seen. With less than a minute to go, they looked poised to score the go ahead touchdown, but the victory was snatched away by a bad play call. The brutality of the loss brings memories of tennis matches where victory was snatched away in the most heartbreaking manner. Here are the top five most devastating losses in tennis history.

Have a beef with the rankings? Think another match should be on the list? Let us know in the comments section.

Aug 11, 2013; Toronto,ON, Canada; John McEnroe (USA) serves to Jim Courier (USA) (not pictured) during the Legends exhibition match at the Rexall Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

5. John McEnroe defeats Bjorn Borg

Setting: 1980 US Open Final

Score: 7–6(7–4), 6–1, 6–7(5–7), 5–7, 6–4

Story: 

Coming into the 1980 US Open, Borg had won five French Open titles and five Wimbledon titles. He had won at both Roland Garros and London for three straight years. Since the Australian Open was not a factor is his day, it was only the championship at Flushing Meadows that eluded him.

Borg was widely considered the best player of the previous five years, but a young John McEnroe was challenging his claim to that throne. Just a few months earlier, the rivals played the most thrilling tiebreaker in tennis history. It the twenty minute breaker, McEnroe saved five match points and forced a fifth set. The American could not break Borg in the fifth and lost the set 8-6.

The rivalry continued to New York, where the raucous crowds got behind their boisterous countryman. It was Borg’s third try in the US Open final, having lost twice before to Jimmy Connors. Using the quick courts to his advantage, McEnroe took a two set lead, but Borg was known for his relentless, never-say-die attitude. Borg took the next two sets and had all the momentum rolling into the deciding frame.

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McEnroe later wrote in his autobiography, Serious: “I’m sure that after I lost the third and fourth sets, the crowd thought Borg would ride the momentum to take the fifth set and his first US Open title. Strangely enough, though, that very expectation helped me relax, and pump myself up. I had lost a match I should have won at Wimbledon; I didn’t want to do that again.”

The lost was the most devastating of Borg’s career and started his demise. Borg would beat Ivan Lendl for the Wimbledon trophy the next year. Now that McEnroe had a mental edge, he overtook Borg at the French Open and US Open the next year. Borg would then retire and pass the baton of best men’s tennis player to his rival.

Next: Most Devastating Tennis Losses: #4


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