On Monday 9 July 2001, Goran Ivanišević beat Pat Rafter 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 to win Wimbledon — becoming the first wild card in history to win a Grand Slam singles title. Played in front of a public "People's Monday" crowd after rain pushed the final back a day, it remains one of the most emotional matches in tennis history.
Final Score
| Date | 9 July 2001 |
| Winner | Goran Ivanišević (world No. 125, wild card) |
| Runner-up | Pat Rafter (seeded No. 3) |
| Venue | Centre Court, All England Club |
The Road to the Final
Ivanišević arrived at the 2001 Championships ranked world No. 125 — far too low for direct entry — and only played thanks to a wild card granted by the All England Club, in part out of respect for his three previous Wimbledon final appearances in the 1990s. He made the most of it, beating world No. 22 Carlos Moyá in round two, a rising Andy Roddick in round three, and world No. 3 Marat Safin in the quarterfinals.
His semifinal against home favourite Tim Henman became almost as famous as the final itself. Interrupted repeatedly by rain, the match stretched across three separate days before Ivanišević closed it out, setting up a final delayed to an unscheduled Monday — sold to the public on a first-come, first-served basis and forever remembered as "People's Monday."
The Final Itself
Rafter, the previous year's runner-up and a two-time US Open champion, was widely seen as the form player and a far more natural fit for grass than the wild-card Croatian. The match swung back and forth across five sets, eventually reaching 7-7 in the decider. Ivanišević double-faulted away his first championship point at 8-7, 40-30, before closing out the match on his fourth match point with a 109 mph second serve that Rafter could only push into the net.
I don't know if someone is going to wake me up and tell me I haven't won again.
Reflecting on three previous Wimbledon final losses — to Andre Agassi in 1992 and to Pete Sampras in both 1994 and 1998 — Ivanišević's reaction afterward captured two decades of near misses finally resolved.
Why the Win Was Historic
| Record | Detail |
|---|---|
| First wild card to win a major | Only player in history to win a Grand Slam singles title as a wild card entrant |
| First unseeded Wimbledon champion since 1985 | Boris Becker was the last, in 1985 |
| Lowest-ranked Grand Slam champion | World No. 125 at the time of the title |
| Ranking jump | 109 places, from No. 125 to No. 16 |
| First Croatian Grand Slam champion | First Croatian man to win a major singles title |
The Umag Rematch
Ivanišević and Rafter met again 18 years later, in a 2019 exhibition match at the Croatia Open Umag, staged to mark the anniversary of their famous final. Ivanišević won again, 6-4, 6-4, on the very court named in his honour — and announced afterward that it would be his final appearance at the tournament, with Rafter as his last opponent.