Wimbledon 2001 Title Holders

Gentlemen’s Singles

For the first time in Wimbledon history the men's singles final took place on a 'People's Monday'. The 2001 championships had been plagued by rain for the full two weeks, and many of the matches had to be held over, including the top event, the men's singles.

It was a showdown between crowd favourite, Pat Rafter and the tempestuous Croat, Goran Ivanisevic. The atmosphere on centre court was electrifying, and the thousands of fans who had queued for hours to witness the event were treated to some of the most entertaining tennis the tournament has ever seen.

Scintillating groundstrokes, deft touches and the bizarre outbursts of “King Goran” only fuelled the excitement of the moment. Ivanisevic was, at times, reminiscent of John McEnroe, who used to infuriate and delight fans and officials with his outrageous tantrums on court.

Although Rafter came back strongly in the second and fourth sets, Goran proved to all his detractors that he could, in fact, claim a Grand Slam at Wimbledon when he closed the match down, 6-3 3-6 6-3 2-6 9-7.

On winning the Croatian slumped to the ground, looked to the heavens and thanked his divine intervention.

Ladies’ Singles

Venus Williams beat Justine Henin 6-1 3-6 6-0 to retain her Wimbledon ladies’ singles title. The second-seeded American claimed the deciding set with a whitewash, after the Belgian teenager staged a gritty come back in the second.

Williams powered her way to a quick first-set lead, but the impressive Henin fought hard to take the second set before the champion surged ahead in the third. Sadly, Henin could not emulate the great form she had shown in the semi-finals when she ended Jennifer Capriati’s Grand Slam hopes.

A delighted Williams claimed her second ladies title was a lot harder to achieve than her first: “This year was a lot more difficult to win. I thought a lot more,” she said.

Gentlemen’s Doubles

Donald Johnson and Jared Palmer from the USA won the men’s doubles title when they beat Jiri Novak and David Rikl of the Czech Republic, 6-4 4-6 6-3 7-6 on court number 1.

The fourth seeds and eventual Wimbledon 2001 title holders extended their winning streak to 9-0 on grass, and they are the first all-American duo to claim the crown since Rick Leach and Jim Pugh in 1990. Having only teamed up in late March, the American partnership has had remarkable success with five tournament wins.

The third seeds, Novak and Rikl, were the first Czech pair ever to contest a Wimbledon final.

Ladies’ Doubles

The world’s best women’s doubles outfit, Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs, claimed the ladies doubles title at Wimbledon for the first time. The top seeds defeated Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Ai Sugiyama of Japan in straight sets, 6-4 6-3.

American Raymond and Australian Stubbs have contested the finals at Wimbledon on five occasions, and their previous best finishes were in the semi finals in 1998 and 2000.

The pairing had already picked up one Grand Slam title and that was at the 2000 Australian Open.

Mixed Doubles

Leos Friedl and Daniela Hantuchova won the mixed doubles crown at Wimbledon when they defeated American Mike Bryan and his South African partner, Liezel Huber 4-6 6-3 6-2.

Although Bryan and Huber came out guns blazing and won the first set, the Czech and Slovak duo calmed their early nerves and powered through the next two sets to claim a memorable victory.