How about David Wheaton winning the 1991 Grand Slam Cup!

[jmsx521]

Winning the highest paying event of the year! I see he was seeded #7, so it shouldn't be as surprising as it sounds. Where is Sampras by the way? Looks like Woodbridge had to replace the #1 seed... whoever the #1 seed was at that time for the tournament... Edberg!?
http://www.atptennis.com/5/en/vault/draws.asp?TournamentID=604&TournamentYear=1991

Year-end Rankings 1991:

1 Edberg, Stefan (SWE)
2 Courier, Jim (USA)
3 Becker, Boris (GER)
4 Stich, Michael (GER)
5 Lendl, Ivan (TCH)
6 Sampras, Pete (USA)
7 Forget, Guy (FRA)
8 Novacek, Karel (TCH)
9 Korda, Petr (TCH)
10 Agassi, Andre (USA)
11 Bruguera, Sergi (ESP)
12 Gustafsson, Magnus (SWE)
13 Rostagno, Derrick (USA)
14 Sanchez, Emilio (ESP)
15 Chang, Michael (USA)
16 Ivanisevic, Goran (YUG)
17 Wheaton, David (USA)
18 Prpic, Goran (YUG)
19 Gilbert, Brad (USA)
20 Hlasek, Jakob (SUI)

(credit to SteveG's site)

 

[Rabbit]

I remember that tournament, Wheaton's final appearance was a fluke, IMO. Wheaton was one of the last true S/V players, he kept it moving forward.

 

[Moose Malloy]

Winning the highest paying event of the year! I see he was seeded #7, so it shouldn't be as surprising as it sounds. Where is Sampras by the way? Looks like Woodbridge had to replace the #1 seed... whoever the #1 seed was at that time for the tournament... Edberg!?

The seedings for the Grand Slam Cup weren't taken from ATP rankings(it did not count for ATP points)

They were taken from the players that had the best results in the 4 majors only. Sampras didn't do great in the majors that year, so its possible that he didn't even qualify(you can see only 16 players were taken), while someone much lower ranked like Patrick McEnroe was seeded(he made the SF in Australia that year)

Wheaton qualified due to his SF finish at W that year.

I don't know who #1 seed was at that event, but I would guess Edberg(he had a 4R in AO, QF in FO, SF in W, W at USO that year)

He missed the year end championship in Frankfurt that year due to injury, so I doubt he would have been healthy for this event, which was just a few weeks later.

It was amazing how important Germany was to the ATP in the 90s, they put so much money into the game, but today they are losing their masters series status for their last big event on tour(Hamburg), partly due to lack of interest in the sport there.

That Chang-Lendl SF that year was pretty amazing, the only 2 times Chang ever beat Lendl he was down 2 sets to love both times.

 

[jmsx521]

...It was amazing how important Germany was to the ATP in the 90s, they put so much money into the game, but today they are losing their masters series status for their last big event on tour(Hamburg), partly due to lack of interest in the sport there...

Looks like they didn't adapt well to Tomy Haas and Nicholas Kiefer. They miss teir superstars Boris and Steffi.

 

[Rabbit]

Yeah, jus t thinking back, didn't Edberg abstain from playing? The Grand Slam Cup was competing with the ATP year end championships, the Masters. There was a lot of politics going on and the two controlling bodies were jockeying for dominance.

 

[andreh]

Edberg was injured in the end of 1991. He didn't play the ATP championship.

 

[oberyn]

The seedings for the Grand Slam Cup weren't taken from ATP rankings(it did not count for ATP points)

They were taken from the players that had the best results in the 4 majors only. Sampras didn't do great in the majors that year, so its possible that he didn't even qualify(you can see only 16 players were taken), while someone much lower ranked like Patrick McEnroe was seeded(he made the SF in Australia that year)

Yeah, Pete's best Slam result in 1991 was the QF at the U.S. Open. \

I don't know who #1 seed was at that event, but I would guess Edberg(he had a 4R in AO, QF in FO, SF in W, W at USO that year)

How about Becker? W in AO, SF in FO, F in W, 3R in USO.

 

[Moose Malloy]

How about Becker? W in AO, SF in FO, F in W, 3R in USO

I believe Becker boycotted this event in the early years of its existence. It was a sort of controversial event initially, with some players calling the prize money obscene, calling it just a glorified exo(which I guess it sort of was) & many that qualified took a pass on it.

 

[oberyn]

I believe Becker boycotted this event in the early years of its existence. It was a sort of controversial event initially, with some players calling the prize money obscene, calling it just a glorified exo(which I guess it sort of was) & many that qualified took a pass on it.

Interesting. Of the Slam winnners in 1991, it looks like only Stich and Courier actually showed up.