The Most Shocking Wimbledon Upsets Since 2000
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The second round of Wimbledon has just begun and already some of tennis’ biggest stars have been knocked out of the London-based tournament.
Big name singles players ousted include Venus Williams, Naomi Osaka, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Gael Monfils, Dominic Thiem and Maria Sharapova. (The men’s and women’s No. 1 seeds, Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty, respectively, are still competing.)
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With nearly two weeks left in the tournament, FN looks back at some of the recent noteworthy upsets to take place on the Wimbledon courts.
Three Shocking Defeats for Rafael Nadal
The Nike-backed athlete has won Wimbledon twice before, claiming victory in 2008 and 2010. But in the years that followed, the Spaniard suffered losses that stunned tennis fans worldwide including falling in the first-round to Steve Darcis in 2013 and a pair of second round defeats to Lukas Rosol and Dustin Brown in 2012 and 2015, respectively.
Pete Sampras Falls to George Bastl
During his legendary career, tennis icon Pete Sampras scored a pair of Wimbledon three-peats, winning it all from 1993-1995 and 1997-1999, and earned his final victory in the tournament in 2000. Despite the success, fans can’t scrub his second-round loss to virtuously unknown George Bastl in 2002. Bastl wouldn’t celebrate for long, though, as he fell in the third round to David Nalbandian.
Second-Round Exits for Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer
Wimbledon wasn’t kind to stars Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer in 2013. Both athletes have seen success in the tournament historically, with Sharapova winning in 2004 and Federer earning victories on eight occasions (2003-2007, 2009, 2012 and 2017). But the two suffered second-round defeats during play in 2013 to Michelle Larcher de Brito and Sergiy Stakhovsky, respectively.
Karolina Sprem Hands Venus Williams a Second-Round Exit
In 2004, Venus Williams lost in the tournament’s second round, although more people likely will remember the match for umpire Ted Watts’ egregious counting error than the person who defeated her, Karolina Sprem.
Lleyton Hewitt’s Abrupt Exit a Year After Winning it All
Lleyton Hewitt won Wimbledon in 2002, so expectations heading into the following year’s tournament were high. But his run was short-lived, falling to Ivo Karlovic in the first round.
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