Top 5 One Slam Wonders

There are only four Grand Slams in a year that are the highest echelons of tennis. Such is their magnitude that it is a dream for players entering the tennis world to hold a Grand Slam title one day.

Since 1968, the year Open era of tennis began, only a few players have managed to win multiple Grand Slam titles. The road to win one is extremely challenging as the highly demanding game requires mental and physical exertion along with maintaining great level of consistency to beat the best players.

Many players come and go, but some endure, persevere and manage to find the edge to lift the most coveted trophy. Does this mean that the ultimate secret to win a grand slam is cracked? The game is so competitive and triumph so transient that it doesn’t take long for those players to crumble and fall back to stagnancy. ?We call such players one slam wonders.

So here we pick the top 5 one slam wonders of tennis.

5) Yannick Noah

The Frenchman always produced glimpses of excellent shot making and athleticism. But it is one thing to win a point and another to win a Grand Slam.

In 1983, Yannick Noah played two weeks of high octane tennis to beat Mats Wilander convincingly in the finals of French Open? 6-2 7-5 7-6.

Noah did have a great two weeks but never managed to reach another Slam final. His best at Australian Open was to reach semi-finals in 1990, 7 years after his historic win.

On the hallowed turf of Wimbledon, Noah failed to make an impact as he could never get past the third round.

4) Brian Teacher

Brian Teacher who was once ranked as high as number 7 in the world managed to win only one slam in his career at the 1980 Australian Open.

The American put on a tough battle against the home crowd favourite Kim Warwick. ?Despite a promising impact he created after his win, he failed to bring back the magic?in any of the other slams in his career.

The highest level he reached was at the quarter finals at Wimbledon in 1982. ?The career for the American slumped after that year and he was unable to yield the same results post the sole GS win. .

At the U.S. Open he could never reach the final 8 stage and at the French Open, his best performance came in 1978 when he reached the 3 round.

3) Albert Costa

Coming into 2002 French Open, Costa was clearly not the favourite in the tournament because he had not won a single title since 1999.

It was only when he defeated the defending champion, Gustavo Kuerton in the fourth round, that people took notice of the player and considered his chances of winning. He defeated fellow Spaniard, Juan Carlos Ferrero in the finals, to celebrate the biggest title of his career.

He was last seen as a quarter-finalist at Australian Open. He could never go beyond 4 round at U.S. Open and only managed to reach 2 round at Wimbledon.?

2) Gaston Gaudio

The unseeded Argentine? upset LLeyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian en route to his first major final at Roland Garros in 2004.

He beat Guillermo Coria in the finals to win the French Open. The win came as a complete surprise as Gaudio had never gone beyond the 3 round in any other Slam post the maiden victory.

Gaston never managed to go past the 3 round ?in Australian Open, and the U.S. Open, as well as the ?2 round at Wimbledon.

1. Mark Edmondson

The 1976 Australian Open champion, Edmondson holds the record for the lowest ranked player to win a Grand Slam. He was ranked 212 at the beginning of the tournament.

Mark produced some unbelievable performances en route to victory, knocking off the then?number 1 seed Ken Rosewell in the semifinals whereas number 2 seeded Jon Newcombe in the finals.

His highest ranking of 15 came in 1982 and his career win-loss record of 252-238 is ordinary. Edmondson failed to make a mark after the solo grand slam win. His best at other tournaments was limited to making the semi-finals at Wimbledon, 3 round at U.S Open and 2 round at Roland Garros.