In the Open Era, which player who lost a Two Sets Lead in a Grand Slam Final do you believe suffered the worst defeat?

[BladeDaywalker]

In the 1974 French Open Final, Bjorn Borg defeated Manuel Orantes 2–6, 6–7, 6–0, 6–1, 6–1

In the 1984 French Open Final, Ivan Lendl defeated John McEnroe 3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 7–5, 7–5

In the 1999 French Open Final, Andre Agassi defeated Andrei Medvedev 1–6, 2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4

In the 2004 French Open Final, Gaston Gaudio defeated Guillermo Coria 0–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1, 8–6

In the 2020 US Open Final, Dominic Thiem defeated Alexander Zverev 2–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 7–6

In the 2021 French Open Final, Novak Djokovic defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6–7, 2–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–4

In the 2022 Australian Open Final, Nadal defeated Daniil Medvedev 2–6, 6–7, 6–4, 6–4, 7–5


Out of all these matches, which player do you believe suffered the worst defeat after leading by Two Sets?

 

[weakera]

Tsitsipas because ultimately he was defeated by a toilet break from his opponent which shattered his mind. Still hasn't recovered from it.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

Coria by far.

1. He was the favourite.

2. Lost to a non-ATG.

3. Never won a slam later.

4. Had MPs.

5. Got injured.

6. Cried like a baby afterward.

 

[ibbi]

I think depending on how you define 'worst' you could probably pick a different answer. Other than '74, where you kind of have to just say "Too god damn good", you could pick any of the others,

'99 was terrible, but that he got into that position to begin with was pretty crazy. That one is all on Agassi massively raising his level.

'20 was bad, really bad, but they were both terrible, and one of them was just less terrible. The fact Sasha seems to have recovered from it and moved on means there's no lasting damage, so no big deal.

'22 was bad, but he really wasn't playing particularly well through the back half of that tournament, so (aside from the fact that he got about 9 points away from the title in set 3) maybe it shouldn't have been as MUCH of a surprise? The fact that he had a hernia probably had at least something to do with it too.

'21 was bad, but he was playing his first slam final against a guy who almost won all 4 majors that year, and has to have been riding high on confidence after beating Nadal. Like '99 it's kind of a case of "How the hell did he get into that position in the first place?"

'84 is one of the great moments in the history of sports, and it's easy to say in retrospect that 3 time champion and all-time great against serve-volley guy who only ever played one final there is no surprise, but obviously at the time that was not the case... A guy who has lost all 4 of his major finals to date, against a guy 40-0 on the season, who waltzed his way to the final? It was pretty bad in its way, but Mac played really well in set 5 and Lendl was just better. Almost none of these other guys can say the same.

So, yes, this was my long-winded way of saying it's got to be 2004. It's like Tsitsipas had lost last year to Ramos-Vinolas.

 

[malbaker86]

Coria by a country mile

 

[mike danny]

I think depending on how you define 'worst' you could probably pick a different answer. Other than '74, where you kind of have to just say "Too god damn good", you could pick any of the others,

'99 was terrible, but that he got into that position to begin with was pretty crazy. That one is all on Agassi massively raising his level.

'20 was bad, really bad, but they were both terrible, and one of them was just less terrible. The fact Sasha seems to have recovered from it and moved on means there's no lasting damage, so no big deal.

'22 was bad, but he really wasn't playing particularly well through the back half of that tournament, so (aside from the fact that he got about 9 points away from the title in set 3) maybe it shouldn't have been as MUCH of a surprise? The fact that he had a hernia probably had at least something to do with it too.

'21 was bad, but he was playing his first slam final against a guy who almost won all 4 majors that year, and has to have been riding high on confidence after beating Nadal. Like '99 it's kind of a case of "How the hell did he get into that position in the first place?"

'84 is one of the great moments in the history of sports, and it's easy to say in retrospect that 3 time champion and all-time great against serve-volley guy who only ever played one final there is no surprise, but obviously at the time that was not the case... A guy who has lost all 4 of his major finals to date, against a guy 40-0 on the season, who waltzed his way to the final? It was pretty bad in its way, but Mac played really well in set 5 and Lendl was just better. Almost none of these other guys can say the same.

So, yes, this was my long-winded way of saying it's got to be 2004. It's like Tsitsipas had lost last year to Ramos-Vinolas.

2021 was pretty bad given how he capitulated after the first 2 sets. Don't care that it was his first slam final.

And I wouldn't say Z hasn't been affected by USO 2020. The way he choked against Nadal before he got injured tells me he hasn't changed one bit since that final.

 

[Thetouch]

Since people only talk about McEnroe's defeat he will be reminded about it for the rest of his life

 

[Mustard]

Has to be Guillermo Coria. I think everyone expected him to win before the match started. Coria led 6-0, 6-3, 4-4 and was 40-0 up on serve, and then the crowd supported Gaudio and it all went wrong. Coria got broken in that ninth game of the third set, Gaudio served out the set, Coria started cramping in the fourth set and got swept aside in that set. In the fifth set, Coria was a break up on four (I think) separate occasions, and twice served for the title at 5-4 and 6-5, narrowly missing the line wide on two attempted winners on the two CPs at 6-5, before Gaudio won 8-6 in the fifth set. On top of this, Coria and Gaudio had been bitter rivals since they were small kids. Gaudio was on the poor side for a tennis player, while Coria was a privileged one, they had regularly clashed in matches (like 2003 Hamburg) and over Davis Cup. Coria gave Gaudio a quick hug at the net after that 2004 French Open final though, and then sat down in his chair looking absolutely crushed.

On paper though, Zverev had an even bigger lead in the 2020 US Open final, as he led by 2 sets and a break. Coria wasn't a break up in the third set in his match.

 

[TheNachoMan]

3 of them have been in the past 2 years. lol

 

[The Blond Blur]

 

[ibbi]

Since people only talk about McEnroe's defeat he will be reminded about it for the rest of his life

He doesn't need reminding of it, he literally has said that every year he goes back there for commentary he feels sick to his stomach.

 

[Mustard]

He doesn't need reminding of it, he literally has said that every year he goes back there for commentary he feels sick to his stomach.

"I'm on a Haagen-Dazs diet" said McEnroe about Lendl's fitness regime during the January 1985 Masters event in Madison Square Garden.

 

[Cupcake]

I dont remember the first 3 that much.
My vote: Coria never recovered from his loss.

 

[ibbi]

2021 was pretty bad given how he capitulated after the first 2 sets. Don't care that it was his first slam final.

And I wouldn't say Z hasn't been affected by USO 2020. The way he choked against Nadal before he got injured tells me he hasn't changed one bit since that final.

It's not just that it was his first slam final, a lot of these guys were in their first, but who he was AGAINST in his first. Djokovic wasn't exactly good in that tournament, but he's still Djokovic. You can't tell me that when Stef went up 2-0 you didn't think, "Okay, it's about 50/50 now". I sure did, and I'm easier on these guys than you are I don't think anyone thought half these other dudes had a shot in hell of coming back.

Zverev has still had many bad moments, sure, but he's also had a lot of the best wins of his career since then too. It wasn't like it was the beginning of the end like it was for Coria or A Med.

 

[ibbi]

"I'm on a Haagen-Dazs diet" said McEnroe about Lendl's fitness regime during the January 1985 Masters event in Madison Square Garden.

Absolute biggest a-hole in the history of tennis.

 

[mike danny]

It's not just that it was his first slam final, a lot of these guys were in their first, but who he was AGAINST in his first. Djokovic wasn't exactly good in that tournament, but he's still Djokovic. You can't tell me that when Stef went up 2-0 you didn't think, "Okay, it's about 50/50 now". I sure did, and I'm easier on these guys than you are I don't think anyone thought half these other dudes had a shot in hell of coming back.

Zverev has still had many bad moments, sure, but he's also had a lot of the best wins of his career since then too. It wasn't like it was the beginning of the end like it was for Coria or A Med.

It was Djokovic at his weakest slam after a 4h+ match with Nadal. Everything lined up perfectly for Tsitsipas and he still couldn't win. It was a bad loss.

 

[Gogu Pangrati]

Tight one between Coria and Zed for me. I'll go with Coria. He really had the match in the palm of his hand and it was probably his best chance to win a GS.

 

[FrontHeadlock]

Form a purely personal perspective, it's Coria. Coria was a fantastic clay player who really deserved the title, was playing against one of the weakest Major champions of the Open Era, and cramped like crazy so it wasn't just a choke job. Mentally he never recovered, and he doesn't have any other hardware to make up for it.

From a historical perspective, it's hands down McEnroe in 1984. Had he won that match he would have had the greatest season probably in tennis history. He also would have been a clear cut above Connors and Lendl imo, and it would have elevated Mac to one of the all-time greats of the sport. As for Lendl, that was his only win in his first 7 Major finals. If he didn't win that one and lost his first 7 Major finals, its reasonable to wonder whether he would have won the other 7 Majors he did win.

 

[Hitman]

Coria, no question.

 

[chicagodude]

Coria, and it's not even close. Perhaps for those who were not following tennis closely back then the Zverev one seems worse.

I do have to admit that the Coria one is made much worse by the fact that it more or less was the beginning of the end for Coria's career and he never got even close to a slam again.
The Zverev on is mostly bad because he was ahead a break, but the whole match was so comically bad (especially from Thiem in the first 2 sets) and Zverev wasn't the overwhelming favorite beforehand anyway, so I don't think it's as bad as some of the others.

I don't think the Tsitsipas and Daniil's losses are that bad.

Oh also, with the Coria final, what many may not remember is that Coria went truly all out in the first 2 sets, really going for everything, chasing everything down, to make it his day. Many think he went way deeper in those sets than he needed to, and paid the price after that. Somehow he still managed to get championship points though (perhaps he was even leading a break in the 5th? I don't recall the score in the last set that well), which probably made the ultimate loss feel even worse than had he lost the last sets with 6-2 each.

 

[Third Serve]

Coria for sure.

 

[DIMI_D]

In the 1974 French Open Final, Bjorn Borg defeated Manuel Orantes 2–6, 6–7, 6–0, 6–1, 6–1

In the 1984 French Open Final, Ivan Lendl defeated John McEnroe 3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 7–5, 7–5

In the 1999 French Open Final, Andre Agassi defeated Andrei Medvedev 1–6, 2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4

In the 2004 French Open Final, Gaston Gaudio defeated Guillermo Coria 0–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1, 8–6

In the 2020 US Open Final, Dominic Thiem defeated Alexander Zverev 2–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 7–6

In the 2021 French Open Final, Novak Djokovic defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6–7, 2–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–4

In the 2022 Australian Open Final, Nadal defeated Daniil Medvedev 2–6, 6–7, 6–4, 6–4, 7–5


Out of all these matches, which player do you believe suffered the worst defeat after leading by Two Sets?

I believe this is the entire list of all slams played in the open era where the player won from 2 sets to love down?
coria for me because of the MPs..

 

[BeatlesFan]

McEnroe. That loss was 38 years ago and he admitted in 2020 he still thinks about it every single day.

 

[NatF]

In another universe it's Nadal at Wimbledon in 2008

 

[Mustard]

McEnroe. That loss was 38 years ago and he admitted in 2020 he still thinks about it every single day.

Rather ridiculous really, when McEnroe won so much in tennis. At least with Coria, he never won a major.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

In another universe it's Nadal at Wimbledon in 2008

Pew, that WAS very close.

 

[travlerajm]

Coria by far.

1. He was the favourite.

2. Lost to a non-ATG.

3. Never won a slam later.

4. Had MPs.

5. Got injured.

Butterfly effect.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

Butterfly effect.

Butterfly effect?

You mean how my "Djokovic wins FO22" jinxed him?

Thank God for butterflies and the fact they read TTW then travel to France to poop on Novak's shoulder at key moments in the match...

 

[UnderratedSlam]

Interesting that nobody voted for Medvedev yet.

That defeat was pretty crushing for him. Not that he deserved that title more than Agassi, because he definitely didn't.

 

[Mustard]

Interesting that nobody voted for Medvedev yet.

That defeat was pretty crushing for him. Not that he deserved that title more than Agassi, because he definitely didn't.

I seem to remember that Medvedev was close to retirement before the 1999 French Open. And ironically, it was Agassi that convinced him otherwise.

 

[King_olaf_the_hairy]

"I'm on a Haagen-Dazs diet" said McEnroe about Lendl's fitness regime during the January 1985 Masters event in Madison Square Garden.

For those who don't know (this is the GPPD forum after all), Lendl's much-improved fitness at the time was down to adopting the "Haas Diet" pioneered by Navratilova. JMac was making a pun on this.

 

[mistik]

Tsipitas still angry to him.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

I seem to remember that Medvedev was close to retirement before the 1999 French Open. And ironically, it was Agassi that convinced him otherwise.

I didn't know this crazy detail.

Medvedev was completely gone during the several years before his totally unexpected final.

Still, weird to want to retire at 25, even back in that era.