Winning a Grand Slam is the pinnacle of any tennis player’s career. The competition to win any tennis match is always fierce, and yet the intensity is ratcheted up another level at the four Majors. Even so, on 29 occasions a player has stared disaster in the face in finding themselves a match point down and yet rallied to win the title. But only four time has a player managed to save a championship point and go on to win it all.
The Four Players Who Won a Grand Slam After Saving Championship Point
Novak Djokovic (2019 Wimbledon vs Roger Federer)
As of 2025, Novak Djokovic is the last player to feature in this exclusive club, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat at Wimbledon in 2019 – denying his great rival Roger Federer in the process. After a thrilling contest, Djokovic looked to be down and out at 7-8 in the fifth with Federer serving for the match and seemingly on course for routine hold that would have won him a then-record 21st Grand Slam title.
The Swiss had been serving so accurately that even Djokovic – surely the greatest returner ever to step on court – had been left guessing. Up 40-15 and with the loyal Wimbledon crowd right behind Federer, the air practically crackled with anticipation. But a loose forehand gave Djokovic a lifeline as Federer squandered his first match point. The Swiss was quickly made to regret handing his opponent a lifeline.
Federer had the match on his racket again in the next point, but did not put Djokovic away with his forehand approach – perhaps trusting his superb hands at the net to the do job, perhaps overcome for a moment by the enormity of the occasion.
Djokovic, recalling the 2011 US Open, where he saved two match point against Federer in the semifinals and went on to win the title, slapped a crosscourt forehand winner on the run to take the game to deuce. Moment later, he had broken back. Djokovic went on to win the first 12-all-deciding set tiebreak and claim another piece of history by winning the longest Wimbledon singles final in history.
It was the last time Federer played in a Grand Slam final and Djokovic has since gone on to comfortably surpass his rival in the total Grand Slam count. Federer’s achievements will never be forgotten, but he was perhaps a forehand away from immortality. Instead it is Djokovic who has carved his name in stone.
Venus Williams (2005 Wimbledon vs Lindsay Davenport)
The 2005 Wimbledon women’s final is an all-time classic. Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport met for the 27th time in their careers, with Davenport leading her compatriot 14-12.
The two played their part in a gripping final. It was hard to call which direction the match would be heading after a frenetic start. Davenport led 5-2 and eventually closed out the set 6-4. Davenport served for the championship late in the second set, but Venus managed to find her rhythm on serve and kept a smattering of early errors from the baseline behind her to break serve and went on take the second-set tiebreak.
The drama was yet to unfold and it was late in the third set when Davenport came within a point of victory. Hampered by an apparent back injury she picked up in the middle of the set, the top-seeded Davenport refused to throw in the towel.
Serving to stay in the match at 4-5, 30-30, Venus double-faulted to give her compatriot a look at championship point. But Venus played possibly the crispest winner of the match in a five-shot rally to save the championship, arrowing a bullet backhand down the line that Davenport could only watch with tired limbs.
The longer the match went on, Venus looked the fitter of the two athletes. She earned the decisive break of serve at 7-7 following another breathtaking exchange. This time, Venus Williams cooly serve for the title to win the fifth of her seven Grand Slams. It was the last Grand Slam final Davenport played in.
Gaston Gaudio (2004 French Open vs Guillermo Coria)
Guillermo Coria announced himself as the King of Clay 12 months earlier – a title he briefly wore on his sleeve until Rafael Nadal came around. He shocked Andre Agassi at the 2003 French Open en route to the semifinal. A year later, Coria went one round better, reaching the 2004 showpiece in Paris with his coronation all but a mere formality in a match against unseeded fellow Argentine Gaston Gaudio.
The bad blood between the two countrymen was well documented. But Coria was the complete player on clay by some distance. He was the dominant force on the terre battue for over a year and asserted his eminence in this final.
Coria was two sets to love up and cruising in the third set, leading 40-0 at 4-all. Gaudio stole the break and served for the third set. Coria battled leg crumps for the remainder of the match. He dropped the fourth set too. He redeemed himself and beat aching limbs to take control of the fifth set.
He served for the match twice in the fifth and held two championship points at 6-5 up, but each time he had the advantage in the deuce game, Coria placed his supposed winning shot a few inches wide from the line. Gaudio never read the script and prevailed in the last pre-Golden Era Slam 0-6 3-6 6-4 6-1 8-6.
To put it bluntly, it was the one that got away for Coria. The considerable psychological damage after this match was beyond repair and he never reached another Grand Slam final. And at 27 he was out of the game. Ironically, that match didn’t help the winner either with Gaudio formally retiring from the sport in 2008.
Jennifer Capriati (2002 Australian Open vs Martina Hingis)
Jennifer Capriati successfully defended her Australian Open crown in a pulsating final more than two decades ago. But that was after she staved off four match points to deny Martina Hingis her first Grand Slam singles title in the 21st century.
It was a championship match played out in sweltering heat with temperatures hitting a scorching mark of 46 degrees Celsius. Hingis led 6-4 4-0 and had her first championship point on serve at 6-4, 5-3, 40-30. But Capriati ended a rally with a rasping backhand drive. The American saved three more on her serve with some hyper-aggressive ball-striking.
After exchanging the first two sets, a 10-minute enforced break by the official gave both players some respite and comfort in the locker room. Upon resumption, Hingis was well beaten in the third set.
Main photo credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
