Best One Hit Wonder?

Cabeza del Demonio said:
How about Martin Verkerk! The guy came out of the blue and played Ferrero at RG 2003 final, before injuries derailed his career and he vanished just as quick.

Beat Moya and Coria along the way too. Played a total of just 9 Slams in his entire career, and only made the 2nd week at that one.
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I came here to answer Verkerk!!

Another solid answer was Nadal's first RG finals opponent Mariano Puerta
 
middleballs said:
Coric? He became the lowest ranked player to ever win a M1000 in Cincinnati 2022. I know that he at one point was a promising player, but faded after his career high ranking in 2018. That win in Cincy came out of nowhere and he hasn’t really done a lot after that either.
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I feel Coric has hung around long enough when not injured that he is more established beyond a one hit wonder.
He was never an easy guy to play.
 
socallefty said:
Kyrgios - Wimbledon final:unsure:
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Kyrgios had better wins/runs. That Wimbledon run was complete dumb luck, he almost got KO’d in the first round by an unknown and was lucky that the big seed in his section (Tsitsipas) was infamously bad on grass. He didn’t play a seeded player after Tsitsipas til the final and also got a lucky win by default in the SF due to Nadal’s retirement.

His 2017 form more or less eclipses anything Nick did afterwards.
 
Verdasco's 2009 AO SF run where he beat strong versions of Murray and Tsonga and took Nadal to uncharted territory. He had no other comparable run.
 
Mainad said:
Pat Cash probably owes his Wimbledon triumph to Doohan because he had taken out Becker for him. He had said that Becker was the only guy he feared at Wimbledon.
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Cash was a bit worried about Connors too. Still, Cash was in such good form at 1987 Wimbledon that I'm not sure that anybody would have beaten him during that fortnight.
 
Ostapenko? Only one other slam semi, the surprise being being able to keep the way she plays consistently for two weeks.
 
Magnus Norman - had a great rivalry with Kuerten in the 2000 clay season, Norman taking out Kuerten in the Rome final, Kuerten beating Norman in Hamburg and then a pretty decent RG final before Norman got done in by injuries starting towards the end of 2000
 
Robert F said:
What player active or inactive was the best one hit wonder on tour. Had an amazing performance only to never really perform again? Could be at a Slam but maybe somewhere else?

Fairly recent times I was thinking:

Emma Radacanu at the US Open (her fate isn't determined yet).
Sonia Kenin?

Thinking about
Karatsev and Hyeung at the Australian Open.
Gaudio at French--but that might be his lucky peak, he was still a force on tour.
Maybe Berretinni's Wimby run?
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Raonic?
 
mavsman149 said:
Bartoli actually made a final at Wimbledon previously. Somehow, I'll never understand watching her play how she won anything.

Her opponent Sabine Lisicki in her Wimbledon win is a one hit wonder
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Bartoli made the 2007 final but lost in straights to Venus Williams.

Lisicki was widely regarded as the favourite in that 2013 final but played a nervous, error-strewn match in her maiden (and 1 and only) Slam final. Bartoli coasted through in straights and sealed championship point with an ace out wide something I don't think she intended as she stood stunned for a few seconds when no out call came! :cool:
 
Jérôme Haehnel. He was a Challenger level player, only having a high enough ranking to play 26 matches at the ATP level, going 8-18.

Five of his eight ATP level wins came in Metz in 2004 as he beat Acasuso/Giquel/Clement/Mathieu/Gasquet to take the title. Two of his other three ATP level wins also came in 2004, beating Agassi at the French Open and Gonzo in Basel.
eb8ef70722414b65be87c1971a73d81c-haehnelwat_jpg
 
Mainad said:
Bartoli made the 2007 final but lost in straights to Venus Williams.

Lisicki was widely regarded as the favourite in that 2013 final but played a nervous, error-strewn match in her maiden (and 1 and only) Slam final. Bartoli coasted through in straights and sealed championship point with an ace out wide something I don't think she intended as she stood stunned for a few seconds when no out call came! :cool:
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Bartoli's win over Henin in the 2007 Wimbledon semi was very impressive. When Bartoli lost the final to Venus Williams, I remember Bartoli saying that she'd be back in a Wimbledon final in the future and would win it. I remembered that comment and thought that she'd beat Lisicki in the 2013 Wimbledon final, and so it proved.
 
buscemi said:
Jérôme Haehnel. He was a Challenger level player, only having a high enough ranking to play 26 matches at the ATP level, going 8-18.

Five of his eight ATP level wins came in Metz in 2004 as he beat Acasuso/Giquel/Clement/Mathieu/Gasquet to take the title. Two of his other three ATP level wins also came in 2004, beating Agassi at the French Open and Gonzo in Basel.
eb8ef70722414b65be87c1971a73d81c-haehnelwat_jpg
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this is a great one, totally forgot about him. TVR and him will likely be the best answers
 
Mainad said:
Are you kidding? By the time Söderling caught mono (2011) Murray had been in 3 Slam finals, won 6 Masters and been ranked as high as #2. Söderling had been in 2 Slam finals, won 1 Masters and been ranked no higher than #4.
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So, he's right. And funny how you ignore Soderling was ranked 4 and Murray 5 in 2011 Murray being 2 was in a different period.
 
Mainad said:
Are you kidding? By the time Söderling caught mono (2011) Murray had been in 3 Slam finals, won 6 Masters and been ranked as high as #2. Söderling had been in 2 Slam finals, won 1 Masters and been ranked no higher than #4.
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I didn't mean he was as good, I just meant he was reaching QF's and staying in the top 5 as consistently as Murray was. (Much like Ferrer around that era and later).
 
Honestly, I feel like it's a bit unfair to Gaudio to focus on the fact that he never made it to the QF of a Major other than the 2004 French Open.

The bottom line for me is that he was a very good clay court player from 2002-2006, a solid five year period.

During those five years, he won eight clay titles, including Barcelona in 2002 (smoking Costa in a straight set BO5 final just before Costa won the French), Viña del Mar (straight setting Gonzo in the final in his home country), Buenos Aires (straight setting Puerta in the final soon before Puerta made the French final), Estoril (beating Robredo in the final), Gstaad (straight setting Wawrinka in the final in his home country), and Kitzbühel (beating Verdasco in a four set final). He also made six other finals during that stretch, including losing Stuttgart finals to Nadal and Cañas (in five sets) and losing a Barcelona final to Robredo (in five sets).

As for his results at the French Open, during that period, we have:

2002: lost to Ferrero in five sets in the fourth round;​
2003: lost to Kuerten in four sets in the third round;​
2004: won, beating Cañas/Novák/Enqvist/Andreev/Hewitt/Nalbandian/Coria​
2005: lost to Ferrer in five sets in the fourth round;​
2006: beat Ferrero in the third round, lost to Davydenko in the fourth round​

Not bad overall, IMO. It was bad luck to draw the two best clay players of the early 2000s in the 3rd/4th round in 2002/2003, and the losses to Ferrer and Davydenko are definitely respectable.
 
mavsman149 said:
Another solid answer was Nadal's first RG finals opponent Mariano Puerta
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A lot of people forget that Puerta had 3 set points, on serve, to make it 2-2 in sets in that final. It isn't obvious from the end scoreline of 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5, but Nadal saved the set points, broke Puerta's serve, then held his own serve, and then broke Puerta again to win the title.

Puerta testing positive for a banned substance after that final, which was his second positive drug test, caused a lot of controversy when revealed in December 2005. Davydenko (who Puerta had beaten in 5 sets in the 2005 French Open semi finals) was pissed off about it. Puerta later admitted to lying in order to get his second doping ban reduced.
 
Mustard said:
A lot of people forget that Puerta had 3 set points, on serve, to make it 2-2 in sets in that final. It isn't obvious from the end scoreline of 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5, but Nadal saved the set points, broke Puerta's serve, then held his own serve, and then broke Puerta again to win the title.

Puerta testing positive for a banned substance after that final, which was his second positive drug test, caused a lot of controversy when revealed in December 2005. Davydenko (who Puerta had beaten in 5 sets in the 2005 French Open semi finals) was pissed off about it. Puerta later admitted to lying in order to get his second doping ban reduced.
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I'd be pissed if I was Davydenko too.

Possibly a good former player thread, but Davydenko has to be one of the greatest players never to reach a slam final
 
mavsman149 said:
I'd be pissed if I was Davydenko too.

Possibly a good former player thread, but Davydenko has to be one of the greatest players never to reach a slam final
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In the QF, Puerta beat Cañas in 5 sets before beating Davydenko in 5 sets in the SF.

Cañas was 3-2 against Davydenko, so definitely no guarantee Davydenko beats Cañas if he plays him instead of Puerta (of course, Cañas had his own doping issues).
 
Mustard said:
A lot of people forget that Puerta had 3 set points, on serve, to make it 2-2 in sets in that final. It isn't obvious from the end scoreline of 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5, but Nadal saved the set points, broke Puerta's serve, then held his own serve, and then broke Puerta again to win the title.

Puerta testing positive for a banned substance after that final, which was his second positive drug test, caused a lot of controversy when revealed in December 2005. Davydenko (who Puerta had beaten in 5 sets in the 2005 French Open semi finals) was pissed off about it. Puerta later admitted to lying in order to get his second doping ban reduced.
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Nadal is epic AF :D
 
DSH said:
Don't forget Roberto Carretero winning Hamburg in 1996.
:cool:
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I haven't forgotten :cool: . I just found Portas' semi final and final more thrilling. Portas beating Ferrero in that 5-set final likely stopped Ferrero possibly toppling Kuerten as the best clay player of that time. Ferrero had beaten Kuerten in the 2001 Rome final in 5 sets, and then Portas beat Ferrero in the 2001 Hamburg final to stall Ferrero's momentum somewhat. When Kuerten and Ferrero met in the 2001 French Open semi final, Kuerten won in straight sets.
 
While not akin to Carratero, the GOAT of one hit wonders, Andrei Pavel winning the 2001 Canadian Masters was not on most people’s bingo cards.

Pavel had one of the great 1HBH strokes that people have forgotten.
 
mavsman149 said:
I'd be pissed if I was Davydenko too.

Possibly a good former player thread, but Davydenko has to be one of the greatest players never to reach a slam final
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Davydenko is the best for sure this century. And maybe longer. We are talking about someone who won the Masters and three M1000s.


Haas deserves a mention too, even if he did not achieve that much because of injuries. The rain screwed him vs Safin in the AO and he had to watch an inferior player beating him in the final.

Mustard said:
A lot of people forget that Puerta had 3 set points, on serve, to make it 2-2 in sets in that final. It isn't obvious from the end scoreline of 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5, but Nadal saved the set points, broke Puerta's serve, then held his own serve, and then broke Puerta again to win the title.

Puerta testing positive for a banned substance after that final, which was his second positive drug test, caused a lot of controversy when revealed in December 2005. Davydenko (who Puerta had beaten in 5 sets in the 2005 French Open semi finals) was pissed off about it. Puerta later admitted to lying in order to get his second doping ban reduced.
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Puerta did pretty well in the final.

But well, he was doped so it's kind of dimished because of that. Nonetheless, he had some good results on clay so it was not really out of nowhere. More out of nowhere was his performance in the Davis Cup doubles on grass in Australia.
 
BauerAlmeida said:
So, he's right. And funny how you ignore Soderling was ranked 4 and Murray 5 in 2011 Murray being 2 was in a different period.
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How is he right? Murray was on SIX Masters titles at that point. Söderling had only just won his 1st (and only). Admittedly their H2H was close but still in Murray's favour (3-2) with Murray winning their last pre-mono encounter (2010 WTF) in easy straights.
 
Mainad said:
How is he right? Murray was on SIX Masters title at that point. Söderling had only just won his 1st (and only). Admittedly their H2H was close but still in Murray's favour (3-2) with Murray winning their last pre-mono encounter (2010 WTF in easy straights.
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Because they were somewhat at the same level, although Murray was better.

Soderling was ranked higher, had reached only one fewer slam final but had bigger slam wins and the H2H was close. Murray only had a big gap in M1000s. He was the better player but they were closer with each other than they were with any of the Big 3.
 
BauerAlmeida said:
Because they were somewhat at the same level, although Murray was better.

Soderling was ranked higher, had reached only one fewer slam final but had bigger slam wins and the H2H was close. Murray only had a big gap in M1000s. He was the better player but they were closer with each other than they were with any of the Big 3.
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A big gap in M1000s is not "ONLY". These are the biggest titles on tour after the Slams and the WTF and Murray had won 4 of them against Big 3 players (2 against Federer and 2 against Djokovic). For me, its results that count and Söderling was still far behind Murray in those kind of results.
 
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