I'm puzzled by the disdain for Novota. She won what, 4 titles in '97 (including a great win over Seles on clay in Madrid as well as the YEC) and reached the Wimbledon Final. She had won 2 or 3 titles going into Wimbledon '98, including winning Eastbourne the previous week. She knocked out Venus in the QFs, World #1 and defending champ Hingis in the Semis, then surprise Finalst Tauziat to win it all. Then won the very next week in Prague (not a star-studded field, but still). She played wonderfully in '97-'98 and wasn't some random, horridly ranked #2 player
She choked in every slam final she ever played in, including somewhat even in the one she won. Lets go through each.
1991 Australian Open- She got to 7-5, 3-3 in the final vs Seles. To her credit, Seles played some great points from 15-30 down to hold in the 3-3 game to get to 4-3, so I can't fault her there. However she played 2 horrible games at 3-4 but still on serve to lose serve from 30-0 up, then another horrible one with Seles serving for the set at 5-3. She lost 7 of the 8 points she lost with an unforced error, one with a forced error that was still a sloppy shot that was very playable. Then a horrendous, godawful 3rd set where she lost almost point with an unforced error. Seles played well and very solidly but didn't have to do much, Jana didn't make her do much, as she basically gave away the final 8-9 games of the match. Then she made the excuse she played super badly the last set and half since she had a "sore leg", LOL. And from here it gets only worse.
1993 Wimbledon- The worst choke of ALL TIME. Just embarassing. I shouldn't even have to explain much, one game she hit 4 double faults in a row, she put 8 serves out of play in a row. She hit a bunch of unforced errors the ball was about 5 feet out or landed in the bottom of the net, something you rarely see from a professional, never mind a top 5 player. Graf did hit some good shots, and raised her game overall some ,but lets be real she was still mostly gifted the match more than winning it or legitimately making the comeback on her own, something even Ann Jones who is a big Graf fanatic admits. The video is up all over the youtube so watch the final 5 games of it if you need you memory refreshed, plus the final 8-10 games of the 91 Australian Open final where she was also just terrible, even if not as terrible as this, or the final 7 games of the 97 Wimbledon final where she also played very poorly (not as poor as Wimbledon 93 or even Australia 91, but still very subpar) from 2-0 up in the 3rd set of the Wimbledon final vs Hingis to lose 6-3, including losing her own serve 4 straight times which is just humiliating for a big serve and volleyer with a very big first serve and big forehand. Which leads me to the next example.
1997 Wimbledon- The least bad of the first 3 but still a legit choke/collapse of sorts. She played an impeccable 1st set, one of the best sets ever seen in a Wimbledon final, to easily win the first set vs the then dominant #1 Hingis. Hingis did raise her game plus adjust her tactics in the 2nd set, but Jana's own game also fell way down, even if she didn't outright collapse at any point in the 2nd, just wound up getting outplayed. The 3rd was where the real collapse came, where as I said she was up 2-0, but wound up losing 6 of the last 7 games from that spot, including losing her own serve 4 straight times. A big serve and volleyer with a very big serve whose favorite surface is grass, playing on grass, the surface most condusive to holding serve. No excuses at all, even if she tried to make a slew (so called stomach injury that she claims affected her serve more and more as the match went on, blah blah). This wasn't as bad as the 93 Wimbledon choke/collapse, or even the 91 Australian Open one, but it still wasn't nothing and worthy of criticism. Last.
1998 Wimbledon- Yeah she did win but she basically choked and won anyway. Against a crummy final opponent- Tauziat, played by far her worst match of the tournament, came out super scared and nervous and almost went down 3-0, then when serving for the title at 5-4 in the 2nd choked and let Tauziat almost win the set, but snuck it out in the final set tiebreaker.
That isn't to mention all the slam semi finals she had pretty obvious displays of choking:
96 French- Was up a break in both sets vs Sanchez, and fell apart at the end of both sets, losing 4 or 5 games in a row in both, with a bunch of bad shots.
94 US Open- Was up 5-2 and had set points in the 2nd set vs Graf, but fell apart and lost the set and match 7-5.
91 French quarters- Lost to Sabatini from up a set and a huge lead in the 2nd, and a bunch of match points.
97 US Open quarters- Lost to Davenport after having a match point, where she missed a very easy approach shot that would have been a clean winner as Davenport wasn't even moving towards it, but she hit inches out. Then fell apart after that. In fairness to her Davenport was her worst opponent on tour, even over Graf, and she never beat her, but she still would have this down but choked again from a winning spot.
98 US Open- Huge choke vs Hingis in the semis, blowing a double break lead, losing the final 5 games, including losing her serve 3 times in a row. The #1 ranking would have been on the line vs Davenport in the final had she won.
So yes I think she is deservedly the worst #2 ever since she is an embarassing choker and displayed it in all 4 slam finals she ever played, including the 1 she won, most of the slam semis she ever played, many of the slam quarters she played, many other tour matches she played. She lost to Rubin from 5-0, 40-0 in the 3rd round of the French once too, a pretty irrelevant match, but still a historic choke. I think she is still the only player in history to lose a slam match from 5-0, 40-0 up in the deciding set, in any round, oh and btw once again she was serving and she was known for having a big first serve, making it even worse. So worst #2 ever easily,
Conchita reached #2 and Jana is a better player than Conchita. Conchita is better on clay of course (although even on clay despite Conchita being clearly better there are still some top players Jana did better against than Conchita, like Pierce, Seles, Majoli, Kournikova, while I am not totally sure I think Huber too, which shows Conchita's limitations in general against top opponents) but Jana is definitely better on every other surface. Jana came closer to winning the 91 Australian Open, potentially the 94 US Open, the 98 US Open, than Conchita ever did winning a hard court slam including the one she reached a final but was never winning at the 98 Australian Open. And on grass and carpet both it is no contest at all despite Conchita's bizarre Wimbledon title. Lastly of little importance but also emphasizing the point a bit more, Jana is 5-1 lifetime vs Conchita, and the only loss being their match right after Wimbledon 94 where I believe Jana had a big injury, and was in terrible form, and having recently lost to a 37 year old Navratilova at Wimbledon. In fairness to Conchita though 0 clay matches, where Conchita probably would have won everytime.
