Unseeded to youngest Wimbledon winner

Posted: Mar 30, 2023

Boris Becker is one of tennis' greatest players; unsurprisingly, in hindsight, he got off to an unbelievable start to his career. One year after turning pro, he would reach rank 20 before Wimbledon, but more was needed to be seeded. Nevertheless, he would go on to win Wimbledon becoming the youngest player ever to win that tourney, the first unseeded player, and the first German to win the oldest tennis tournament in the world.

Quotes

but what Becker did was a sign of great maturity for someone that young. He's got the qualities of a champion. At 17, I would have been totally intimidated by the whole atmosphere.

Kevin Curren
References
  • July 7, 1985: The day Becker stunned Curren to become the youngest man to win Wimbledon

    Even though many observers expected him to be a decent outsider at the All England Club that year, not many expected him to reach the final four. In fact, the young German miraculously escaped a third-round loss against Joakim Nystrom, as the Swede served for the match twice in the fifth set, before Becker finally prevailed (3-6, 7-6, 6-1, 4-6, 9-7).

  • YOUTH IS SERVED A WIMBLEDON TITLE BY BECKER

    For two weeks he beat a path on the grass courts at the All-England Club, defying tennis tradition and the logic that said he was too young to win. Boris Becker argued logic with a serve that earned him the nickname Boom Boom, and ignored tradition with the irreverence of youth. And today, the 17-year-old from West Germany wrote a storybook ending when he became the youngest champion in the history of the men's singles at Wimbledon.

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