Last Updated on December 30, 2022 by Joan Hahn
Tennis is one of the most popular sports across the globe. With a long history dating back to the 1800s, there have been some matches that will go down in the history books for years. Whether it’s from one of the most popular tennis competitions in the world or show matches, the world has seen displays of both sportsmanship and chaos on the court.
With tennis constantly producing some of the world’s top athletes, there’s no shortage of high-stakes, competitive matches to watch. Neds provides one of the best betting websites for live tennis matches, where boffins can make sure they don’t go home with love.
Famous Tennis Matches
1) John McEnroe v Ivan Lendl – French Open final, 1984
Famous for his fiery temper, John McEnroe was as volatile as he was an exceptional tennis player. Going into the match, McEnroe had not lost a single match in 1984, and he was certain he would be dominating the match and taking his first title on a clay court.
When McEnroe got into a heated debate with a cameraman filming the match, he lost focus on the game. So, after dominating the court at the beginning of the match, he lost it to what a lot of people were betting would be the underdog.
2) Venus Williams v Lindsay Davenport – Wimbledon final, 2005
The Wimbledon final in 2005 went down to the wire. With both women performing at the top of their game, nobody could guess who would take the win.
By the end of the 2 hour, 46 minute match, Venus Williams had snatched the title and won her third Wimbledon championship. This was the longest Wimbledon Women’s final in history, and as of 2022, that record remains.
Venus Williams would go on to win Wimbledon two more times in her career. Check out Venus Williams’ net worth here.
3) Rafael Nadal v Roger Federer – Wimbledon final, 2008
Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis matches of all time, the Wimbledon Men’s final in 2008 will be remembered for decades. Roger Federer was the reigning champion of Wimbledon, having taken the title the previous five years, beating Rafael Nadal in the last two of those. Everyone thought he was going to take his sixth in 2008.
But when the match came and viewers realised Nadal was holding his own against one of the greatest tennis players of all time, people started questioning their predictions.
The nail-biter match was almost impossible to predict; the two players were almost perfectly matched. But by the end of the day, well after 9pm, Nadal pulled through to be victorious, breaking Federer’s five-year winning streak.
Read: Roger Federer vs Serena Williams
4) Novak Djokovic v Roger Federer – 2019 Wimbledon Final
It’s not often you hear of a tie-break in the Wimbledon final, but when two of the greatest tennis players go head-to-head, stranger things have happened.
After 5 gruelling hours of tennis, the score sat on 12-all and the two men went into a tie break.
Novak Djokovic won the match in the end, but it was a spectacle for all to see as these two top athletes tried to out-match each other. But when do tennis schedules come out?
5) Billie Jean King v Bobby Riggs – 1973 ‘Battle of the Sexes’
The Billie Jean King v Bobby Riggs match was not as high-stakes as some of the others we’ve mentioned. But when Bobby Riggs announced that, even at 55 years old, he could beat any woman in a game of tennis because men are superior, Billie Jean King was up for the challenge.
29-year-old King was at the top of her game, and when the match came, she beat Riggs. King beating Riggs was symbolic of the massive changes going on socially at the time. So while she didn’t take a grand title after this match, she leveled the playing field between men and women in tennis.
The match garnered 50 million viewers and was a pivotal moment in sporting history. The game happened at the time that the discrepancies between male and female earnings from professional sports were called into question.
When King beat the man who proudly called himself a chauvinist, it was like she won for feminism on that day.
Final Thoughts
Tennis can be one of the trickiest sports to predict. So many of the greatest who go up against each other are equally matched, making betting and predictions incredibly difficult.
Perhaps that’s what makes victory taste that much sweeter when your predictions for the major tennis tournaments come true.
Bibliography
- https://news.williamhill.com/tennis/greatest-tennis-matches-of-all-time/
- https://www.ihctennisacademy.com/blogs/10-greatest-tennis-matches-of-all-time
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis
- https://womenyoushouldknow.net/billie-jean-king-defeated-bobby-riggs/#:~:text=Forty%2Deight%20years%20ago%2C%20on,tennis%20match%20of%20all%20time.
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/king-triumphs-in-battle-of-sexes
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Williams
