Top 10 upsets in Grand Slam tennis since 2000

Upsets are always aplenty at the Grand Slams in tennis and it is almost always a shock when an unknown player or an underdog player takes out a highly fancied one. Here are 10 upsets which will surely rank amongst the greatest upsets in Grand Slam history.

#10 Lukas Rosol beats Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon 2012

Lukas Rosol was ranked 100 in the world, had lost in the Wimbledon qualifiers for five straight years before, and was making his main draw debut at Wimledon 2012.

He ran into two-time Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal in the second round, and in what will go down as one of the most brutal displays in tennis in recent times, beat the Spaniard in 5 sets to send shockwaves through the tennis world.

#9 Sergei Stakhovsky beats Roger Federer at Wimbledon 2013

It was supposed to be a routine second round match for 7-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer.

Instead, it turned out to be the biggest upset of the tournament, with little known Ukranian Sergei Stakhovsky beating the defending champion in 4 sets by playing some old school serve and volley tennis.

#8 Novak Djokovic beats Roger Federer at the 2008 Australian Open

As of 2008, Novak Djokovic was on the periphery, but not yet among the players who were considered to be in the top bracket. The Serb was known more for his dubious injury record till that time, but all that was going to change at the Australian Open in 2008.

Djokovic defeated defending champion Roger Federer in 3 straight sets in the semifinal inside Rod Laver Arena in a stunning display. Djokovic went on to win the tournament and claim his first Grand Slam title.

#7 Rafael Nadal beats Roger Federer at 2005 French Open

It was Rafael Nadal's 19th birthday. He had ended the previous year as world no 51 and was just starting to compete with the big boys.

Roger Federer was the man on the other side of the net in the semifinal of the French Open in 2005. It was Nadal's coming of age, and a sign of things to come, as the Spaniard beat the World No.1 in 4 sets and went on to take the French Open crown.

#6 Thomas Johansson beats Marat Safin to win the 2002 Australian Open

Up until the Australian Open in 2002, Thomas Johansson had done nothing to prove that he wasn't yet another journeyman in tennis. His best resluts at Grand Slams prior to 2002 had been quarter-final runs at the US Open in 1998 and 2000.

Johansson took on an in-form Marat Safin in the final of the Australian Open in 2002 and to the surprise of pretty much everyone, beat the Russian to take the men's singles crown.

#5 Stanislas Wawrinka beats Djokovic and Nadal to win the 2014 Australian Open

Stanislas Wawrinka is by no means an inferior player to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal when he is on song. But the Swiss, till 2014, had not won a single Masters 1000 event or reached a Grand Slam final.

So when Wawrinka took out Djokovic in the quarter-finals in a classic and then went on to beat Nadal in the final, it was as much an upset for the tennis world in general, as it was a fairytale for Wawrinka.

#4 George Bastl beats Pete Sampras at 2002 Wimbledon

Though not the dominant force that he was on the greens of Wimbledon in the 90s, Sampras was expected to sail through the initial rounds and make a run deep into the tournament at the 2002 edition as well.

So a second round match against Swiitzerland's George Bastl, who only made the main draw as a lucky loser, was no reason to be worried. Except, Bastl played some inspired tennis, taking advantage of Sampras' lacklustre performance and clinched an epic 5 set victory, which will go down as one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history.

#3 Robin Soderling beats Rafael Nadal at 2009 French Open

Robin Soderling's win against Rafael Nadal is probably something that will go down as one of the most stunning moments in Grand Slam tennis history.

Not because Soderling is a bad clay court player himself, but because nobody thought that the Spanish matador could be stopped on the red clay at Roland Garros. Nadal had won 4 titles and 31 matches on the trot at Paris before Soderling took him down in 4 sets in a 4th round match in 2009.

It remains Nadal's only defeat at Roland Garros till date. How about that to put the enormity of this result into perspective?

#2 Del Potro beats Nadal and Federer to win US Open

Argentine 6th seed Juan Martin del Potro had just stunned the tennis world with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Rafael Nadal in the semifinal of the US Open in 2009, but very few expected him to get past Roger Federer in the final.

But the 20-year-old was keen on writing his own dream script as he beat Federer in 5 sets to take his first US Open title and in the process prevent Federer from taking his 6th straight US Open crown.

It is his lone Slam till date.

#1 Goran Ivanisevic wins Wimbledon as a wildcard in 2001

Goran Ivanisevic had lost 3 Wimbledon finals in his career. Two of them in the deciding set. And it was sort of a given that Ivanisevic's tryst with Wimbledon was going to end in bitter disappointment for the Croat.

When Ivanisevic, ranked 125 in the world in 2001, entered Wimbledon as a wildcard, not much was expected of him. Goran however, played some of his best tennis during that memorable fortnight, and beat big names such as Carlos Moya, Marat Safin and Tim Henman on his way to a final against Pat Rafter.

In a final witnessed by one of the most vocal crowds a tennis match has ever seen, Ivanisevic, tears rolling down his eyes, sent down a second serve which Rafter did not return in the 16th game of the 5th set to clinch his only Wimbledon title, and only Grand Slam singles title for that matter, in the process scripting one of the most romantic stories in the history of the sport.