After surrendering match points to Carlos Alcaraz in an epic Roland Garros final, Jannik Sinner emphatically turned the tables with a first Wimbledon title.
From fairytale rises to unlikely breakthroughs, we revisit 10 of the greatest Grand Slam surprises this century.
Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz produced feats recalling some of the greatest names in the sport as they added to their record-breaking careers at Wimbledon.
Iga Swiatek silenced all doubters as she rediscovered her major-winning form to claim her sixth Grand Slam title and a first on grass at the All England Club.
MANAGING EDITOR
Vivienne Christie
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
FOUNDING EDITOR
Alan Trengove
PHOTOGRAPHS
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Tennis Australia
Dan Imhoff DESIGN
Andrea Williamson
Stuart M Ford
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31 HIJIKATA MAKES HISTORY
With an improbable run to the Wimbledon final, Rinky Hijikata entered the All England Club record books.
50 THE WILLIAMS WAY
Twenty-fi ve years after Venus Williams claimed a maiden Grand Slam title in unlikely circumstances at Wimbledon, we revisit the former world No.1’s historic success.
64 DARING TO DREAM
As Evonne Goolagong Cawley’s legendary career was celebrated at the inaugural Night of Champions, so too was her vast contribution to helping others achieve their dreams.
66 THE ORIGINAL SISTER ACT
Long before Venus and Serena Williams made history at the All England Club, Australian sisters Gail and Carol Sherriff made their mark.
Be
Thrilling fans with audacious shotmaking and his rapid rise up the rankings, Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca has arrived in the top 50 and appears set for superstardom.
There are some who seize opportunities and others who create them.
Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner did both as they overcame all challenges to add to their stunning Grand Slam records and achieve breathtaking history at Wimbledon.
With their maiden victories at the grasscourt Slam, Swiatek and Sinner each became the first players from their nation to hoist a trophy at the All England Club.
Swiatek progressed one major step further than Polish countrywoman and 2012 finalist Agnieszka Radwanksa as she dominated the 2025 Championship match in astonishing style.
Italy had boasted two singles finalists at SW19 –Matteo Berrettini in 2021 and Jasmine Paolini in 2024 – but neither had made the life-changing breakthrough that Sinner achieved with his victory over Carlos Alcaraz.
Alongside that history, each player achieved an impressive Grand Slam milestone. For Swiatek, a first Wimbledon title made her one of only eight women in the modern era to win a major title on every surface. Sinner’s fourth major trophy was the first he’d lifted outside a hard court.
Achieving those feats required extraordinary acts of resilience. With her commanding triumph, Swiatek cast aside a difficult year both on the court and
off it. The former No.1 had faced a suspension for a contaminated substance, changed coaches and suffered a rare form slump – by her own high standards –in which she didn’t win a title for more than a year.
And much conversation at Wimbledon was that Swiatek, so dominant on clay, couldn’t perform at her best on grass. How that narrative shifted as she became the first woman since Steffi Graf at Roland
“I never thought one day could change so much.”
Garros in 1988 to record a 6-0 6-0 victory in a major final.
“I think the best things [can] happen to you when you least expect them,” said Swiatek, who described the sense of freedom that accompanied a riskier and more aggressive approach at SW19 this year. “It's much harder to actually do the job and to play tennis well, if you think about the results.”
Just weeks before his come-from-behind victory over Alcaraz in the men’s decider, Sinner had surrendered three match points to the two-time defending champion in a Roland Garros final which extended more than five hours. A result that would have destroyed the will of many players became fuel for one of Sinner’s greatest wins.
“Today was again a rollercoaster against Carlos," Sinner said of a victory that required all his fortitude. “I never thought one day could change so much.”
As always, there were lessons for players at every level. For Swiatek and Sinner, still only 24 and 23 respectively, there was immeasurable growth in their life-changing breakthroughs. And from the major opportunities they’d seized so convincingly, there are almost certainly more they will create.
Vivienne Christie editor@tennismag.com.au
Few expected Jannik Sinner to respond so emphatically against his great rival on the grass at Wimbledon so soon after his Roland Garros heartache.
DAN IMHOFF reports
Acrestfallen
Jannik Sinner sat numb in his chair, staring vacantly in disbelief as Carlos Alcaraz – back caked in clay and clambering across seats into the stands –celebrated his most unlikely turnaround in Paris.
A feverish French crowd only compounded the harsh reality for Sinner at having let slip a maiden Roland Garros crown from the narrowest of margins.
How he managed to pick himself up off the deck again so swiftly – beaten, battered but defiant – to avenge defeat against his great rival only 35 days later for his first Wimbledon trophy would go down as among his most defining triumphs.
“It’s mostly emotional because I had a very tough loss in Paris,”
Sinner said. “But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how you win or how you lose at important tournaments, you just have to understand what you did wrong and try to work on that,
and that’s exactly what we did. We tried to accept the loss and just kept working.”
From triple championship point to having subsequently served for the title at Court
Philippe Chatrier, the world No.1 had squandered a chance to add to his three hard-court majors in June only a month after his return from a three-month doping-related suspension.
The Italian’s emotions later spilled over in the locker room and the lingering hurt carried into the start of the grasscourt season.
After a surprise defeat in Halle to the enigmatic but often erratic Alexander Bublik, an opponent he had comfortably handled in the Roland Garros quarterfinals, Sinner conceded he hadn’t quite shaken his five-hour-plus heartbreaker.
Few expected him to purge those Paris demons on a Grand Slam stage at the next stop, much less against his tormentor, whom he had not beaten in his past five attempts.
ETCHED IN HISTORY:
From the most difficult period of her career, Iga Swiatek emerged to claim arguably her greatest Grand Slam victory at Wimbledon. VIVIENNE CHRISTIE reports
rom heady major highs, there were also difficult reality checks. When Iga Swiatek was asked ahead of the 2025 Championships to reflect on lifting the Wimbledon girls’ trophy at age 17 in 2018, she could vividly recall the bittersweet nature of her junior Grand Slam breakthrough.
“It was the highlight of my career back then,” she recalled. “On the other hand, I came back home, and nothing really changed … I remember I thought my life is going to be, like, perfect now. I was a bit disappointed. It was still the same, and I still had to get back to work.
“But for sure it gave me – I remember having a lot of just hope and just the feeling that maybe if it was possible now, it’s going to be also possible in the future at the pro level.”
How fitting, then, seven years on, Swiatek would not only complete her Wimbledon dream, but also do so with one of the most dominant performances in the 138-year history of the women’s tournament.
Swiatek claimed all but one match of her winning campaign in straight sets and capped
her sixth Grand Slam triumph with a flawless victory over Amanda Anisimova in the final. Completing her victory in just 57 minutes, Swiatek was the first player since Dorothea Lambert Chambers in 1911 to record a 6-0 6-0 scoreline in a Wimbledon final.
“I’m just appreciating every minute. I’m just proud of myself because, yeah, who would have expected that?” said Swiatek, working hard to describe the significance of her achievement.
“For sure it [means] a lot, especially after a season with a lot of ups and downs and a lot of expectations from the outside that I didn't really match [with] winning Wimbledon. It’s something that is just surreal.”
It was also history-making. Swiatek became the first Polish player – male or female – to have lifted a Wimbledon singles trophy. At age 24, she was the youngest player since Serena Williams in 2002 to win a Grand Slam title on every surface. She joined Margaret Court and Monica Seles as the only women to have won their first six major finals.
It’s unlikely a young Iga could have imagined the hard work required to achieve such success.
In the years since her junior breakthrough, Swiatek shone brightly at other Grand Slams. She won five major titles – four at Roland Garros and one at the US Open – before age 23. But Wimbledon had become a frustration for the former world No.1, who competed at SW19 this year as the No.8 seed.
In five previous main-draw campaigns at the All England Club, her best result was a quarterfinal appearance in 2023.
Some suggested that Roland Garros success had been costly for the Pole. In each of the past three years, she’d arrived at the All England Club after victory at the claycourt major, however those winning runs had also robbed Swiatek of time and energy to prepare on grass.
But after exiting to world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the 2025 Roland Garros semifinals, Swiatek spent time training on grass courts in Mallorca and
found a new degree of comfort on the surface. It showed as she defeated Jasmine Paolini, the 2024 Wimbledon finalist, to reach her first final this year on grass in Bad Homburg.
As she reset the narrative on her grasscourt capabilities, Swiatek also consigned the most challenging period of her career to the past. Wimbledon marked her first title since last year’s Roland Garros triumph –her longest stint without a trophy.
Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca, thrilling fans with audacious shotmaking and a rapid ranking rise, has arrived in the top 50 and appears headed for superstardom.
Wto assessing Joao Fonseca, you could
choose to focus on his stats, his rapid ranking progression, his sponsor portfolio, the quality of his shotmaking, the manner in which crowds respond to him – or a combination of these elements.
Whichever way you analyse it, he is tracking to become a tennis superstar.
The 18-year-old from Brazil made his top-50 debut after a third-round finish at Wimbledon, continuing what has been a marvellous first full season on tour.
that rise to continue. This may sound like on a player who is just 18 years
MATT TROLLOPE reports
The 18-year-old from a is going on. A lot of [things] big tournaments, playing against very good players, and evolving.
“[I] was 150 in the world [at the start of the year] and now I’m 50. I’m very proud of myself,” Fonseca re ected in London.
“I still need to think what is going on. A lot of [things] have changed, people are knowing me more, putting more expectations. At the same time, I’m loving being on the tour, playing new tournaments, the big tournaments, playing against very good players, and evolving.
“That’s the most important: evolve as a person, as an athlete.”
With every new milestone Fonseca meets, and experience he gains, it’s not unfair to expect
Fonseca meets, and experience he gains, it’s not unfair to expect
This may sound like unnecessary pressure to pile on a player who is just 18 years old, and may read as a clichéd “next big thing” feature in a sport that loves to hype emerging players.
Yet there is ample evidence to suggest that Fonseca –happy, healthy and motivated – is positioned for an extremely successful career.
It’s unusual for
provided he remains
tennis circles even a er reaching the Australian Open 2023 boys’ doubles nal.
a player to crack the top 50 when they were unranked less than three years ago. When current world No.2 Carlos Alcaraz
was a teenage prodigy, than three-and-a-half
he required more than three-and-a-half years to reach the top 50 a er debuting
on the ATP rankings. Current No.1 Jannik Sinner went from unranked to top 50 in almost exactly the same time
unranked to top 50 in almost exactly the same time as Fonseca.
2022 and was still relatively
Fonseca made his rankings debut at No.1350 on 31 October 2022 and was still relatively unknown outside the keenest of
It was sometime between that tournament and Wimbledon in 2023 that apparel company On Running signed Fonseca as a brand ambassador.
A notable boost to Fonseca’s pro le came when he won that year’s US Open boys’ singles title and nished 2023 as the junior singles world No.1. "[It] has been such an amazing year and I know that I have taken another step towards my pro career," Fonseca told it ennis.com a er emulating Gael Mon ls, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz as yearend No.1 juniors.
Fonseca le his junior career behind with that victory in New York. A er playing just three tour-level events in 2022 and six in 2023, he committed to a full schedule at (mostly) ITF and Challenger level in 2024.
the Australian Open 2023 boys’ the Fonseca er emulating in 2023, he committed to a full A quarter nal on home soil in
He ourished, winning 37 matches and leaping from 730th to world No.145 by season’s end.
A quarter nal on home soil in February 2024 at Rio de Janeiro – an ATP 500-level tournament – turbocharged that rise. He entered as a 655th-ranked wildcard, stunned Arthur Fils
A new star was born as Venus Williams won her maiden Grand Slam in unconventional circumstances. Twenty-five years on, we revisit Australian Tennis Magazine’s coverage of her historic first Wimbledon win.
Has there ever been a Wimbledon coup quite so astonishing? Venus Williams missed six months of competition because of tendinitis in both wrists. She had played only nine matches in 2000 before ying to London, having lost to Amanda Coetzer at Hamburg, Jelena Dokic in Rome, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in Paris.
Yet now she is the Wimbledon champion, the rst Black American woman to capture the game’s most coveted title since Althea Gibson in 1957-58, and no one can say she doesn’t deserve to be. In her last three matches, she overpowered Martina Hingis, the champion in 1997, her sister Serena, the reigning US Open champion, and, in the nal, the defending Wimbledon champion, Lindsay Davenport 6-3 7-6(3). It was a triumph of athleticism and mental toughness over adversity.
The Williams family, mind you, has long delighted in confounding accepted wisdom. Aspiring champions are supposed to develop in junior competition, but Venus and Serena stopped playing junior matches a er they found none of their contemporaries could test them. Today, they rely on coaching from their parents, Richard and Oracene, who never
played competitive tennis in their lives. And though they have rarely played on grass courts, they spurned the warm-up grass tournaments before Wimbledon.
To add to the enigma, it was only three months ago that Richard Williams was hinting that both may soon retire to take up other interests.
There’s no more talk of quitting. Mr Williams and the sisters are repeating what they said when they rst burst on the tennis world. They are, they say, destined to be the world No.1 and No.2 – and pretty soon.
“One or other of them will be Wimbledon champion for the next four or ve years,” Mr Williams said. “Look at the opposition, Lindsay’s [Davenport] running is too slow. Martina Hingis’ legs aren’t long enough.
Mary Pierce doesn’t have the
con dence. It’s ours. It’s our time. It’s our day.”
Many agree, however reluctantly. “They have the capability of taking tennis to another level,” Martina Navratilova said of the physically imposing duo. “They haven’t got there yet, but they certainly have the possibility.”
Indeed, this may well have been a watershed tournament for women’s tennis. Hingis, for instance, has begun to be intimidated by the power players. She was blasted by Davenport at Melbourne Park, by Pierce at Roland Garros, and at times seemed almost apprehensive against Venus. She remains the world No.1 even though she hasn’t won a title at any of the last 10 Grand Slam championships. Will she ever win another? Or is she simply too short and too light?
When someone asked Hingis if she hadn’t been too passive against Venus (she had hit many shots tentatively short and made errors on others), she bridled.
“You want to go out there and try it yourself? If someone pressures you all the time, then suddenly you get a chance, you try to be aggressive, and you overhit. She always gets to that one extra shot, and you have to play close to the lines,” Hingis said.
The Venus Williams–Hingis quarter nal was a case of power
versus placement. Somehow, you felt Hingis was on a lost cause anyway – even if she survived Venus’ brutal blows, she’d be too spent to resist Serena in the semis. And if, by some miracle, she got through that match, too, there’d be another battering ram to overcome in Davenport.
steadier, making fewer unforced errors, she always looked in danger from Venus’ ferocity and court speed.
Venus Williams soars to her first Wimbledon singles title in 2000; the first of two trophies at SW19 that year after winning doubles with sister Serena.
Venus was locked in the struggle with Martina when Serena came to Centre Court to support her, having just disposed of Lisa Raymond on Court 1 for the loss of two games in 42 minutes. It took Venus two hours and 13 minutes to beat Hingis 6-3 4-6 6-4, and not until the last game, which she won to love, nishing with an ace, was the outcome certain.
There were many spectacular rallies, in which the players tested each other’s skill, stamina and nerve. While Hingis played the
In a uctuating second set, Hingis weathered a pummelling of her backhand to level the score. Some of the rallies extended to 14 shots or more, with Hingis defending desperately and attempting to outmanoeuvre her lusty, long-legged opponent.
The balance tilted in the third set when Hingis wilted under the onslaught. “I regret that I didn’t come in a bit more,” she said. “But I didn’t have that many opportunities. She was always trying to take control of the rallies and be aggressive.”
Almost overnight, it seems, women’s supremacy may not be between Davenport and Hingis, as was imagined, but between the Williams girls.
At age 45, Venus Williams was preparing for her WTA return.
A quarter of a century after Venus Williams won her first Grand Slam title, an Olympic gold medal and claimed the world No.1 ranking, the history-making champion was set to make a comeback on tour.
Williams, 45, accepted a wildcard into the WTA 500-level tournament staged in Washington in July. It was 16 months since she had last contested a tournament (Miami last year) and almost two years since she’d last won a WTA-level match (at Cincinnati in 2023).
“There’s something truly special about DC –the energy, the fans, the history,” said Williams. “This city has always shown me so much love and I can’t wait to compete there again.”
Boost your on-court performance
building basic fundamentals can provide a foundation for on-court success.
Roland Garros and pristine Wimbledon lawn, the world’s top professionals showcased lessons that every player can adopt. takes us through her preparation and recovery on match day.
