Interesting posts, it seems like many of you (understandably) have different definitions of choking.
I think to be a true choker, it needs to happen more than once & in a situation in which victory is almost a lock. I don't consider Rafter losing a mini-break in the 2nd set tiebreak against Sampras in the '00 W Final to be a true choke, yes the guy got nervous, but he was only up 4-2, I believe. It's not unheard of for a player to lose that lead in a tiebreak especially against an all time great at his best tournament. Plus up to that point Rafter hadn't even had a breakpoint against Sampras, even if he went up 2 sets to love, it wouldn't have been a lock in my mind.
I don't consider Safin to be a choker either, he just tanks a lot, but he doesn't seem to get nervous in crunchtimes or when he is in position to win.
Moya on the other hand, while inherently an erratic player even on a good day, has gotten tight many times. At Key Biscayne against Roddick this year, he served 2 doubles when serving for the match. Also he was probably most responsible for helping Agassi on the road to becoming an all time great in '99. At the French he was the defending champ, had a great claycourt season, was up a set & 2 breaks before self destructing.
Todd Martin is an interesting case. He has a great 5 set record(making ridiculous comebacks in many of them), has gone deep in several majors, but is responsible for 2 of the most amazing chokes I've even seen in Grand Slam play. In the '96 W SF against Malivai Washington he was up 5-1 in the 5th, & ended up losing the match. In the 2nd Round of the '00 W, he was up 5-1 again in the 5th against Agassi & blew it. Amazing.
Clijsters is also a unique choker. She spent much of '03 one of the 2 or 3 best players in the world, had a previous Grand Slam final experience(in '01 French where she competed very well) & came out for both the '03 French & US Finals like a lower ranked rookie with stage fright, not even vaguely resembling half the player she is from beginning to end in both matches(she also froze in Aussie SF against Serena losing a 5-1 3rd set lead). I can understand nerves like that from Dementieva this year with her limited big match experience but Clijsters? Eventhough she's young (though by tennis standards she's a veteran) I'm not sure if Clijsters can pull a Lendl & change her career around.
And my last candidate for a Grade A choker: Capriati. Yes she's shown guts in her Slam wins, but also some horrible losses. She lost the Key Biscayne Final against Venus after having 8(!) match points. In last year's US Open SF against Henin (playing great tennis from the 1st point) she got very tight every chance she got close to the finish line(plus Henin was cramping) losing all depth on her strokes. At this year's French, after beating Serena in the quarters, it was her tournament to lose & she did spectacturally losing to Myskina in the semis, barely able to kep the ball in the court.
