Usually in a given era, the major tennis open titles only seem to cycle between a small number of great players' hands, compared to say, golf, where it's more frequent for a previously-unheard of player to get hot for a weekend and win a major tournament before fading back into anonymity.
While less common, that does also happen from time to time in tennis, and when the giants of the game fall unexpectedly to a nobody, few things in sports are more exciting.
What makes these unexpected tennis underdog wins even more intriguing and exciting to watch is when you follow the game closely and place responsible-sized wagers on the matches you think are easy money.
If you'd like to try online sports betting, but don't know how, have a read of this guide to gain all the relevant information so you can get going today.
Throughout history, there have been many unforgettable unexpected tennis underdog wins that left bettors either annoyed or ecstatic. Here are five of our favorites:
Mark Edmondson wins the 1976 Australian Open
Here's some good bar trivia for you: who was the lowest-ranked player to ever win a Grand Slam title? That honor belongs to Mark Edmondson, the Aussie ranked #212 in the world that miraculously worked his way through the draw into the Championship match against fellow Aussie and defending Open Champ, John Newcombe.
Edmondson pulled off the upset in four sets for his only Grand Slam victory of his career, and also becoming the last Australian to win the Aussie Open.
Jelena Dokic def. Martina Hingis (1999 Wimbledon)
Even though she was only 18, Martina Hingis had already set numerous tennis records and was being heralded as one of the future greatest women's players of all-time. And after losing in the 1999 French Open Finals to Steffi Graf, the world No. 1 looked determined to sweep through Wimbledon and win for the third time in four years.
Another title at the All-England Club would have to be put on hold however, as Hingis was smashed in the first-round by then-unknown Jelena Dokic. Ranked 129th at the time, the Serbian-Australian became the lowest-ranked player in history to defeat a top seed in an Open Era Grand Slam tournament.
Roberta Vinci def. Serena Williams (2015 U.S. Open)
Perhaps in the most dominant part of her mostly-dominant career, Serena Williams entered the 2015 U.S. Open looking to win her country's Grand Slam title for the fourth straight time and also to become just the fourth woman in history to complete a calendar year Grand Slam. In typical Serena fashion, she swept through the competition into the semifinals, only dropping two sets along the way.
But it was there she ran into 32-year-old Roberta Vinci, an unseeded Italian who was ranked 43rd and appearing in her first Grand Slam semifinal. Vinci ended Serena's 33-match Grand Slam Winning streak and pulled off on the sport's biggest shockers ever, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Michael Chang def. Ivan Lendl (1989 French Open)
Although his five-set victory over Stefan Edberg was the match that made Michael Chang the youngest ever male to win a Grand Slam event, it was the 17-year old's fourth-round match against world No. 1 and three-time French Open Champ Ivan Lendl that people remember most today.
After dropping the first two sets 6-4 6-4, Chang clawed his back to win the third set and then overcame leg cramps in the fourth to send the match to a decisive fifth set. Using unusual tactics such as an underarm serve to throw Lendl off of his game, Chang would win the historic match after five sets and nearly five hours.
Robin Soderling def. Rafael Nadal (2009 French Open)
Rafael Nadal was unbeatable at the French Open. Literally — since making his debut at the tournament in 2005, he had never lost a match, winning the La Coupe des Mousquetaires an Open Era-record four consecutive times.
Although he had never reached the fourth round of any Grand Slam tournament, Nadal's opponent that round, Robin Soderling was ranked 23rd in the world and a respectable player in his own right. But this was Rafa, aka the King of Clay, and pretty much anything other than a romp would be a shock. So imagine the world's surprise when Soderling would emerge victorious in just four sets, 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(2).
Since then, the upset's improbability has only increased, as Nadal would begin a new streak the following summer at Roland Garros, not losing another French Open match (or title) until 2015.
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