Jack Draper admitted that he is quite an anxious person after being sick four times on court during his US Open semi-final loss to Jannik Sinner. Jack, you are in good company…
Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon 2001
It was the craziest People’s Monday ever as Wimbledon ran into an extra day because of the weather. Goran Ivanisevic served out for the 2001 title against Pat Rafter in the most agonising way possible. The Croat, who had lost three previous finals at SW19, was only playing because of a wildcard invite from the AELTC.
When serving at 8-7 in the fifth, Ivanisevic admitted that he couldn’t lift his arms as they were so heavy, double-faulting twice on separate match points. He even resorted to kissing the ball and shaking his arm to try and loosen up. “Okay, fourth match point, just put that second serve, doesn’t matter where. Maybe he’s going to miss. And he did,” recalled the most relieved man on Centre Court. Pat Cash said it was unbelievably stressful for anyone watching. It was.
Frances Tiafoe beaten by nerves not Taylor Fritz
Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe couldn’t provide America’s first Grand Slam champion since 2003 at Flushing Meadows. Tiafoe admitted that his body broke down during their night session semi-final which Fritz won in five sets.
He was very transparent in the press conference afterwards: “I think nerves had a lot to do with it, and they are what defeated me in this match. I saw myself very close to victory but ended up unable to move. I think it’s very similar to what happened to Alcaraz against Novak last year in Paris,” Tiafoe commented. Please see below….
Emma Raducanu can’t breathe at Wimbledon 2021
Just two months before she captured the US Open title in a blaze of glory, Emma Raducanu was “just” another Brit battling to get a win at Wimbledon. Aged 18, fresh from her A Levels and ranked 338 in the world, she did exactly that. Three times.
A Centre Court fourth-round slot on Manic Monday against Ajla Tomljanovic followed at prime evening time. With the score at 4-6 and 0-3 in the second set, the teenager called a timeout, later citing “breathing difficulties ” and had to retire on medical advice. John McEnroe opined: “It appears it got a little too much.” Mac also said he wasn’t sure if she would get a New York wildcard….
Miloslav Mecir gets spooked against Jimmy Connors
Miloslav Mecir was a former world No 4 and reached two Slam finals, but his eternal problem was a huge issue with nerves. At the 1985 World Team Cup in Dusseldorf, ‘The Big Cat’ built a 4-0 lead in the final set against Jimmy Connors but got so nervous that he served underarm. He lost the match.
“I don’t know what happened down there,” Connors said. “I’ve never had a guy serve under-arm against me in my life. He got tight, and the tighter he got the looser I got.”
Carlos Alcaraz gets very nervous before Novak Djokovic
Carlos Alcaraz has won the last two Wimbledon titles, so it would appear anxiety is under control. That wasn’t the case before the epic five-set battle that dethroned Novak Djokovic in 2023.
First, there was the French Open semi-final the month before where after two tight sets, Djokovic ran away with the match 6-1 6-1 in the third and fourth when it was clear that the Spaniard was cramping.
“Of course playing a semi-final of a Grand Slam, you have a lot of nerves, but even more with facing Novak. That’s the truth. Next time that I’m gonna face Novak, I hope to be different, but the nerves will be there.”
They were there again at SW19. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Alcaraz admitted that to being so nervous on the Sunday morning, he had to consult his psychologist and lie down on the physio table for half an hour to control the emotions. The top seed promptly lost the first set 6-1 but then unleashed a flurry of brilliance.
Jana Novotna against Steffi Graf 1993
The late Jana Novotna received a warm tribute from Barbora Krejcikova after the Czech won the 2024 Wimbledon title. Just over three decades earlier, Krejcikova’s former mentor and coach was 4-1 up on Steffi Graf in the final set having played some beautiful all-round grass-court tennis to outclass the favourite.
On the cusp of victory, Novotna was gripped by the thought of not failing and all those perfect groundstrokes and volleys dissipated into double faults and erratic overheads. She failed to win another game and cried on the Duchess of Kent’s shoulder at the presentation ceremony. Redemption came in 1998 when Novotna won the title at the third attempt.
Ons Jabeur throws up and then falters at Wimbledon
The popular Tunisian has been to two Wimbledon finals in 2022 and 2023 and neither showed her true colours because of overwhelming anxiety. There was a warning sign in 2021 when she threw up on court after holding match point against Garbine Muguruza.
In the 2023 final against the unseeded Marketa Vondrousova, poor Jabeur was visibly eaten up by nerves, hitting returnable balls barely two-thirds of the way up the net. At times, it looked like the racket was something she had just picked up for the first time.
Mardy Fish defaults against Roger Federer
In the days before Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe were a thing, Mardy Fish was a top 10 player and, at one point in 2011, the America No. 1. In the Netflix documentary Untold: Breaking Point, Fish tells of the severe anxiety disorder that ruined his career to a large extent.
He had a panic attack in the third round of the US Open against Gilles Simon in 2012 and then had to default before his last-16 game against Roger Federer. After talking to his wife in the car while travelling to the match, he pulled out. “Tennis had just been taken away from me completely,” Fish said
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