Tennis’ Unforgettable One-Hit Wonders

With the in-between two slams period in session, the articles and columns attempting to explain Rafael Nadal's dominance on clay and to predict if Roger Federer will get his sixth Wimbledon title should be in ample numbers around the web and in the newspapers. Instead of adding just one more, I decided to write about one of the ultimate clubhouse chatter subjects: one-hit wonders of the tennis world.

At first, it seems easy to find names that fit the bill. So a name here, another name there, get thrown into the conversation, people have a good time. Once the discussion becomes serious, it becomes obvious that some of the names circulating around the table really do not deserve to be there. Then a serious tennis history addict joins the table, he deepens the discussion. A few beers later, brains are working overtime in the clubhouse table, to come up with the ultimate one-hit wonder.

The parameters are the same for men and women. In this article, the focus will be on the men, but an astute tennis fan should be able to come up with past WTA players who fit the various descriptions below. Three names worth mentioning are Andrea Temesvari (hint, she is Hungarian), Iva Majoli, who won a Slam and pulled a quick disappearing act, and Iroda Tulyaganova, who had one terrific 12-month period during which she won three titles and reached top 30, only to struggle even being in the top 100 the rest of career. Perhaps, the latter is more of a one-year wonder.

The obvious place to look for these people are the Slams. One glance at the list of finalists and winners of Slams in the last few decades, should provide a few valuable candidates for the title. It is not for anybody, however. A distant fan of tennis may look at the list and think, for example, that a champion like Yannick Noah may qualify for a one-hit wonder. Any serious tennis fan will tell you quickly that this would be a mistake. Noah was a respectable top-10 player for a long period of time, did fairly well in a couple of other Slams, and has several ATP titles to his names. Heck, some Noah fans, who lack sense of humor, may take offense to that. Therefore, one must be more than just a light casual fan to make the right pick.

Equally, the non-open era should not be included in the discussion for obviously being too far in the past, as well as, and more importantly, once taken into account that players turned professional often after becoming successful in the amateurs, thus leading historic lists to falsely display plenty of one-hit wonders.

Another requirement is that the one-hit wonder's ascent and descent must both be efficiently at warp speed factor nine. Taking this into consideration, Andres Gomez, the winner of French Open 1990, is a good example of a player who does not qualify as a one-hit wonder. His descent was swift without a doubt. The guy won Roland Garros, a year and a half later, he was outside top 100, and less than three years following his Slam title, he played his last ATP match, ever!

However, Gomez was an established top-20 and an occasional top-10 player prior to his Roland Garros title, for a long period of time. He won several prestigious tournaments. He did not come out of nowhere to win the Roland Garros title in 1990; his ascent was steady, but slow. He was a more spectacular version of Albert Costa, who himself was a long-time top-20 player, before finally reaching the apogee of his career, also in Paris, by winning Roland Garros in 2002. His descent was quick, as well, although a little slower than Gomez' rapid disappearance. Costa never won another title, and found himself outside the ATP top 100 three years later.

Chris Lewis of New Zealand brings us closer home to our discussion. He came out of nowhere to reach the finals of Wimbledon in 1983, before getting schooled by John McEnroe in the finals (those of you thinking Nadal's win over Federer on Sunday was the most one-sided win in Slam finals, think again). He only won three career singles titles, otherwise. But those three titles, along with seven finals appearances, did spread to an eight-year span. A smooth ride overall, with a minor spike in the middle, but no swift ascent or descent.

Martin Verkerk, a Roland Garros finalist, is definitely a hotter prospect. The Dutch player gained his 15 minutes of fame by reaching the 2003 Roland Garros, showcasing his bulging eyes in the process. Despite his finals appearance in a Slam, he never did well enough to enter the top 10. He was outside the top 100 until late in the summer of 2002. No later than April 2005, he was right back outside the top 100. Just for the curious fan, the guy is still playing, now a journeyman around the 300s.

Yet all these players pale madly in comparison to one Roberto Carretero, an obscure Spanish player who came out of nowhere to win a prestigious Hamburg Masters Series title in 1996, coming from the qualifying draw, beating two top clay court players at the time in the main draw, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Alex Corretja, on his way to the title. With no other titles or finals, Carretero only saw ATP success in his wildest dreams for the rest of his career. In fact, he had a lopsided win-loss record, struggling to win a match seldom on the tour. Just to be precise, he won one (yes, one!) match the following year, while losing 18.

So one more round of drinks for the mysterious man from Madrid. An extra light one for the one who is able to tell what he is doing now. Cheers to Carretero!