Obscure Tennis Players.

[iluvparis]

Janko Tipsarevic - wore glasses when he played and came through around the same time as Djoker but career completely stalled just as Novak's took off.

 

[JackNah_8]

Oliver Rochus.

Think he may of been the only male on the tour at the time that was shorter than myself.

He was tiny.

 

[Hamingja]

Janko Tipsarevic - wore glasses when he played and came through around the same time as Djoker but career completely stalled just as Novak's took off.

He was in the top 10 3 years ago. Injured since. Loved to lose a first set 6-7.

 

[Roobs321]

lol at Janko, he was good enough to be a top 10 mainstay for at least 18 months.

Olivier Rochus was also above obscure status, had solid results over a long period and obviously stood out for height reasons (was one of my favourites throughout his career). If we are going to pick an obscure Belgian, has to be Vliegen. Briefly cracked the top 30, made a final in Adelaide (Davydenko's first title) which I have no memory of and beat Lleyton in Davis Cup in early 2007 on Belgian indoor wood, but other than that nothing really comes to mind.

 

[Hamingja]

Brian Baker is back playing doubles. He is famous for his obscurity though. Got a fairytale year before his body broke down again.

 

[Beavis07]

Alexander Kudryavtsev. Absolute nutcase when he gets going but even so I have no idea how he has not cracked the top 100 at some stage in his career. He is at least a top 40 talent when he is on imo.

 

[Roobs321]

Some random names that just sprung to mind;

Julien Boutter (Federer won his first title against him in the final, sent #2 Kuerten packing in AO 2002, and was hilarious that time Llodra accidentally killed a bird in doubles)

Juan Balcells (one of those random Spaniards who equally dabbled in singles and doubles)

Guillaume Raoux (was one of the funniest looking players I've ever seen)

Gotta love the French and Spaniard deep cuts for utter randoms. Chris Guccione would also go down as a great example if this wasn't an Australian forum, a perfect obscure player.

I also never realised that Harel Levy once reached a hardcourt masters final (Toronto in 2000, lost to Safin, virtually all seeds in action). That stuns me.

 

[The Darkman]

Chris Lewis. Wimbledon finalist 1983. Shame he was a Kiwi.

Roscoe Tanner. First of the big hitting servers. Wimbledon finalist 1979.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

Nick Lindhal. Won a wildcard playoff 6 years ago, looked to be the next big thing, then pissed off to Sweden and did nothing with his career.

Err, I found him.

A former Australian professional tennis player has pleaded guilty in a Sydney court to a corrupt betting charge in a scheme to fix a match in Queensland.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/...y-to-match-fixing-charge-20160124-gmd74s.html

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Onny Parun.

 

[yabsy]

Mariano Puerta - gave Nadal a good tussle in the 2005 French Open Final, then never to be seen of again.

 

[pepsi]

Mariano Puerta - gave Nadal a good tussle in the 2005 French Open Final, then never to be seen of again.

Probably cos he he got busted for doping.

 

[Hamingja]

A lot of those Argies from the same era are obscure to Australian audiences I think. Chela was reasonably well known due to his matches with Hewitt but Gaudio/Coria/Canas were top 10 players and you wouldn't know them if you walked past them in the street.

 

[crowsarethebest]

Sally Peers. Seemed to be doing alright at the start of the decade and now is struggling against unranked players.

 

[Beavis07]

A lot of those Argies from the same era are obscure to Australian audiences I think. Chela was reasonably well known due to his matches with Hewitt but Gaudio/Coria/Canas were top 10 players and you wouldn't know them if you walked past them in the street.

Yeah I saw Canas a couple of times at the AO this year and no one had any clue who he was.

 

[JackNah_8]

Can I add Marcelo Rios here? What a talented player but a strange character.

 

[iluvparis]

Can I add Marcelo Rios here? What a talented player but a strange character.

LOL no - he was a World number #1

That Gaudio/Coria French final is still all time - not so much for the quality of the tennis but the emotional rollercoaster the match was.

 

[Roobs321]

It's a shame that South American tennis isn't quite as up and about nowadays. Back then, you had a near GOAT generation from Argentina (not mentioned, great fighters on their day like Calleri, Acasuso, Zabaleta, etc.), Brazil had an effective support cast behind Kuerten, Chile getting no.1, slam finals and gold medals, Ecuador began the decade with a slam and closed it with a top 10 player.

An obscure player I was reading about a few weeks ago (before my time) is Nicolas Pereira, born in Uruguay and played for Venezuala. Had a Monfils-esque junior year in the late 80s and a promising first year on tour, but after that never really managed to finish the year in the top 100, despite registering a few plucky matches across his career against big names.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Nicolas Lappenti

 

[iluvparis]

There must be plenty of UK wild cards at wimby over the years that qualify for this thread.

 

[JackNah_8]

It's a shame that South American tennis isn't quite as up and about nowadays. Back then, you had a near GOAT generation from Argentina (not mentioned, great fighters on their day like Calleri, Acasuso, Zabaleta, etc.), Brazil had an effective support cast behind Kuerten, Chile getting no.1, slam finals and gold medals, Ecuador began the decade with a slam and closed it with a top 10 player.

An obscure player I was reading about a few weeks ago (before my time) is Nicolas Pereira, born in Uruguay and played for Venezuala. Had a Monfils-esque junior year in the late 80s and a promising first year on tour, but after that never really managed to finish the year in the top 100, despite registering a few plucky matches across his career against big names.

Yes! What happened to the South American players? During the 1990s and early 2000s there were a few good players especially on clay court but now no one.

Rios was so talented that guy should've won a Grand Slam.

 

[JackNah_8]

Taylor Dent from USA

 

[RedmanWasHere]

From Argentina, Sergio Roitman.

From Russia, Mikhail Ledovskikh.

 

[krisholio14]

Chris Lewis. Wimbledon finalist 1983. Shame he was a Kiwi.

Roscoe Tanner. First of the big hitting servers. Wimbledon finalist 1979.

Wouldn't say Roscoe Tanner is obscure, apart from winning a Grand Slam tournament, he is quite well known for his post tennis exploits in the US.

 

[Buzzasto DaSilva]

Aravane Rezai- got as high 15 in the world and she seemingly disappeared

Had an incredibly abusive father that would literally beat her up between matches. She effectively abandoned him for just under a year and was coached by Mouratoglou (who is now with Serena) and went on an incredible clay-court run where she rose from obscurity to being third favourite for the French-open in a matter of weeks. She then had a poor grass court season and went back to her father and fell off the radar again (apart from turning up to matches bruised and beaten). Her story is a pretty sad one but common among coach-fathers, though not to this extent often.