Home News Tickets 2006 Championships ... Official Suppliers History - Classic Championships 2001: Goran, the Wild Card Winner
'It's A Wonderful Life' is a Frank Capra film about a popular figure in the community (George Bailey) who is thinking of ending it all before his angel (Clarence) comes along and produces a fairytale finish. Substitute Goran Ivanisevic for Bailey and Wimbledon 2001 for Clarence and one of the great feelgood movies becomes, arguably, the feelgood tennis final of all time. When the charismatic Croat defeated the equally regarded Australian Pat Rafter in an epic five-set, three-hour-one-minute final, Centre Court became inhabited by an ecstatic corner of Bedlam. The three-times beaten finalist had been given a wild card as a gesture of goodwill for what he once did; he was 125 in the world and two months off his 30th birthday. A string of early exits and a lingering left shoulder problem provoked talk of imminent retirement and a career without a Grand Slam. No one could believe how it all turned out. The crowd, on People's Monday, cried, cheered, roared and chanted as Ivanisevic, like a gentle giant, stood with his arms aloft on top of a television commentary box to cast his shadow over his kingdom; acknowledging the ovation, capturing the moment with his mind's eye. | |
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