This is very sad news for tennis fans who followed the sport back in the late 1980s to 1990s. Jana Novotna, the 1998 Wimbledon champion and winner of multiple Grand Slam doubles and mixed doubles titles, passed away. She sadly succumbed to cancer at the age of 49.
Jana achieved a career-high ranking of #2 and her mastery of the serve-and-volley style allowed her to remain competitive throughout her career. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005, six years after her retirement. While most other players are remembered for their major wins, Jana gained fame from her 1993 loss in the Wimbledon final to Steffi Graf. Jana was up 4-1 in the third set and was a point away from going up 5-1 before having monumental collapse and allowing Graf to regain control of the match and rattle off the next 5 games to win the championship. Jana could not hold back her tears during the awarding ceremony and she ended up crying on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent. She lost another Wimbledon final in 1997 to Martina Hingis before she finally achieved success on her third final appearance.
I join the tennis world and her family and friends in mourning her loss. Rest in peace, Jana.
photo from http://www.wtatennis.com
Jana achieved a career-high ranking of #2 and her mastery of the serve-and-volley style allowed her to remain competitive throughout her career. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005, six years after her retirement. While most other players are remembered for their major wins, Jana gained fame from her 1993 loss in the Wimbledon final to Steffi Graf. Jana was up 4-1 in the third set and was a point away from going up 5-1 before having monumental collapse and allowing Graf to regain control of the match and rattle off the next 5 games to win the championship. Jana could not hold back her tears during the awarding ceremony and she ended up crying on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent. She lost another Wimbledon final in 1997 to Martina Hingis before she finally achieved success on her third final appearance.
I join the tennis world and her family and friends in mourning her loss. Rest in peace, Jana.
No comments:
Post a Comment