Is Haas the worst player ever to reach Nr.2?

[insideoutforehanders]

As for Jana I will admit I am biased too as I just dont like. I hated her hair do that make her look 90 years old in her 20s and the skirts she wore that did not fit properly and showed off these hideous granny panties she wore. She also dissed Natalie Tauziat, Steffi Graf, and Capriati once each at press conferences, not a classy thing to do. The pety feud she made with Sanchez over nothing was even worse. I judge both very negatively for that to be clear, not just Jana. Yet her friends like Evert, Davenport, Navratilova, Sukova, Kvitova gush about what a nice and intelligent person she supposably was, even before she died. It is sad she died of course but still does not change anything else.

I also really hate mega chokers like Novotna, Sabatini, and Alexander Zverev, they are the most uncomfortable to watch regardless if you like or root for them or not.

 

[Hard Court]

Sabatini was not a choker.

 

[morten]

I think Ruud... and i am Norwegian...

 

[Mustard]

Sabatini was not a choker.

In a quarter final at the 1993 French Open, Sabatini led Mary Joe Fernandez 6-1, 5-1 and was serving at 40-30 with match point. Fernandez won 1-6, 7-6, 10-8.

 

[insideoutforehanders]

In a quarter final at the 1993 French Open, Sabatini led Mary Joe Fernandez 6-1, 5-1 and was serving at 40-30 with match point. Fernandez won 1-6, 7-6, 10-8.

She also led Date by virtually the same score in the Miami semis in 95 and lost. She lost numerous big matches being ahead, most notably the 91 Wimbledon final to Graf she served for twice, but lost her last 3 serve games. And yeah I know her serve sucks but she had still held almost every serve game in the 2nd and 3rd sets until it really mattered. She also has the worst slam semi final record in tennis history: 3-15. Some will defend her saying she just often ran into ATGs and better players, true to an extent, but as I said that is by far the worst slam semi final record in tennis history by someone who was in them that often, there is no way that is not a sign of major mental weakness. If you are good enough to make 18 semis, you should be in more than 3 finals, and win more than 1 period. There is nobody else in history who was good enough to make 18 semis and has so little to show for it.

Sabatini was definitely a bigtime choker, and anyone who says otherwise is either stupid or did not follow that era of tennis at all. Tennis Magazine which was at the height of its prominence and respect in the 90s even had an entire 5 page article dedicated to what a choker Sabatini was in 94, and this was before the Date match I cited. Not quite at Novotna's level but just a notch behind.

 

[Hard Court]

Just because someone lost a big lead or a close match doesn't mean that they choked. Usually they didn't. Most of the time, one player simply played a little better than the other. And we are talking about three matches out of over 800 matches in her career.

Absurd to say that she choked against Graf in the Wimbledon final. Try watching the match.
She won some big points just to make it to 6-6. She got broken, but she also has some breaks against Graf.

As for the 3-15 record in semifinals: most of them were to Graf, Seles, and Navratilova. She did lose to Evert at the French Open. How embarrassing.

Did you ever stop and think how she got to 18 semifinals?
Graf had the forehand as a huge weapon. A strong serve that gave her cheap points from time to time. Olympic level speed.
Seles had a big forehand and a big backhand.
Navratilova was probably the best net player of all time.

Sabatini had none of this. She wasn't winning early round matches in 45 minutes. Didn't have powerful groundstrokes. Could move but didn't have Graf's speed. Her serve was a joke. She wasn't getting cheap points from it. She was just putting the ball in play.

Talent wise, she was a lot closer to people like Mary Jo Fernandez and Manuela Maleeva. But Sabatini grinded out matches and usually went further than they did.

Sabatini won plenty of close matches in her career. Here are a few big ones:

She beat Manuela Maleeva 7-5 in the 3rd set at the 1985 French
Beat Garrison in a close match at the 1989 Australian Open QF
Beat Zvereva 8-6 in the 3rd set at the 1990 Wimbledon QF
Beat Garrison in two close sets at the 1991 Wimbledon SF
Beat Capriati in a hard fought Wimbledon QF in 1992
Beat Pierce 4-6, 7-6, 6-0 at 1993 Australian Open QF

Oh, and when won the 1990 US Open, she won a tiebreaker over Graf in the Final.

 

[Mustard]

Just because someone lost a big lead or a close match doesn't mean that they choked.

That's true. However, that 1993 French Open quarter final, Sabatini led Mary Joe Fernandez 6-1, 5-1 and 40-30 with match point, and then double faulted. Fernandez's level got better, Sabatini's level got worse, and Fernandez came back to win 1-6, 7-6, 10-8.

 

[Hard Court]

It's doubtful that Sabatini actually choked when she double fault. Why would she be nervous when leading 5-1 and having a match point? It seems more likely that it was simply a bad error in double faulting.
And it's hard to argue that she choked in the third set when it went to 10-8, which was 8-8 at one point. You have to be winning some of the big points to get to 8-8. And to pull this out of her whole career to call her a choker seems pretty far-fetched.

 

[Jsummers1]

He did win a M1000, and he was the player whose injuries cost him the most alongside del Potro, at least when talking about top players. Some 2nd tier players like Brian Baker and PimPim Johansson also had it pretty bad.

AO 2002 should have been his. He definitely beats Johansson in the final. And he was beating a well-playing Safin in the first three sets of that semi until the rain.

and Mark Philippoussis, he might have gotten Sampras and all the way to Wimbledon champ if not for the knee injury. Never the same player since knee was busted.

 

[Angrybirdstar]

Why would she be nervous when leading 5-1 and having a match point?

... have you ever played tennis

 

[pierceforehands]

I think Ruud... and i am Norwegian...

Yeah it is Ruud by a country mile. Why are people even debating these other guys. Maybe it is since people forget Ruud even reached #2 in the first place.

 

[pierceforehands]

and Mark Philippoussis, he might have gotten Sampras and all the way to Wimbledon champ if not for the knee injury. Never the same player since knee was busted.

I don't think he wins the title even if he beats Sampras. Just a feeling, especialy based on his history. At best he winds up going to the final and losing to Agassi.