{"id":5466,"date":"2022-09-01T12:05:28","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T12:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/?p=5466"},"modified":"2022-09-01T12:05:28","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T12:05:28","slug":"the-tennis-128-no-54-jana-novotna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennisabstract.com\/blog\/2022\/09\/01\/the-tennis-128-no-54-jana-novotna\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tennis 128: No. 54, Jana Novotn\u00e1"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jana Novotn\u00e1 in 1998<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In 2022, I\u2019m counting down the 128 best players<\/a> of the last century. With luck, we\u2019ll get to #1 in December. Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\nJana Novotn\u00e1 [CZE]<\/b>\n
Born: 2 October 1968\n
Died: 19 November 2017\n
Career: 1987-99\n
Played: Right-handed (one-handed backhand)\n
Peak rank: 2 (1997)\n
Peak Elo rating: 2,295 (2nd place, 1998)\n
Major singles titles: 1\n
Total singles titles: 24\n
 \n\n\n\n

* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In making this list, I’ve picked up a couple of tricks for identifying all-time greats who have been unfairly neglected. These aren’t things I actively sought out, just trends that have emerged as we go through the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, many of the best doubles players in history were stronger singles competitors than we give them credit for. A few names that come to mind are Rosie Casals<\/a>, Tony Roche<\/a>, and Pam Shriver<\/a>. The skills that make singles and doubles champions aren’t that different from each other, and that was even more true before the increased specialization of the last couple of decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, if a player is better known for losses than wins, history has probably done them a disservice. We remember David Ferrer<\/a> for his valiant, failed attempts to dislodge Rafael Nadal. Vitas Gerulaitis<\/a> is the guy who needed 17 tries to beat Jimmy Connors. What the capsule summaries miss is the sustained excellence required to earn one’s way onto the biggest stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jana Novotn\u00e1 emphatically ticks both boxes. With Helena Sukov\u00e1, she won five major doubles titles before her 23rd birthday. The Czech duo came within one match of completing the Grand Slam in 1990. In 1998, Novotn\u00e1 three-peated again, playing three slams with Martina Hingis and winning the lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And of course, if you know one thing about Novotn\u00e1, it is that she gave away the Wimbledon title in 1993. Upon her untimely death from ovarian cancer five years ago, the New York Times<\/em> obituary began with her losing the final. The headline called her a “Czech Champion,” but the lede had her crying on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her name has become a byword for choking in tennis. When I wrote about Serena Williams’s collapse<\/a> to Karol\u00edna Pl\u00ed\u0161kov\u00e1 at the Australian Open a few years ago, I managed to get through a draft without mentioning Jana’s name. By the final edit, she was in. Apparently it’s not optional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had Novotn\u00e1 lost in the quarter-finals that year, we would remember her more for the Wimbledon title she did win, in 1998. Had Steffi Graf made quick work of the title match, Jana would be just one more of the excellent players who weren’t quite up to the Steffi standard. Instead, she got so close–4-1, deciding set, game point–and then looked terrible as the biggest match of her career slipped away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Novotn\u00e1’s member page<\/a> at the International Tennis Hall of Fame website makes a gallant effort to focus on the positive. There’s no mention of the 1993 Wimbledon final until the fourth paragraph, about halfway through the biography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas, if you’re reading that page, you probably know what happened. The attempt, well-intentioned as it is, feels a bit like an ashen journalist pointing and yelling, “Don’t look! Don’t look at the double-faulting server!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jana insisted that she didn’t choke–she was playing her usual high-risk game. It takes a very charitable eye, however, to watch the replay<\/a> and agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graf pulled out a squeaker of a first set, 8-6 in the tiebreak. Novotn\u00e1 came out more aggressive in the second and capitalized on Steffi’s errors to quickly force a decider, 6-1. She kept the momentum going, breaking Graf twice to reach 4-1 in the third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A textbook serve-and-volley point gave Jana game point for 5-1. Then it all came apart. She double faulted, missing her second serve by a mile. Two unforced errors at net gave the game to Graf. Steffi still wasn’t playing well: Novotn\u00e1 generated two break points in the next game but couldn’t convert. At 4-3, she double faulted three more times. After a hold to love for the German, Jana made three unforced errors and won only a single point in her final service game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She told the Independent<\/em> later that year, “That’s the way I play. It had worked in the semi- finals and quarter-finals. OK, I gave her a chance with the second serve and the easy volley. But I’ve looked at the tape of the final and I would play it like that again.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot rests on what Jana meant when she said like that<\/em>. She had a reputation for double faulting more than the typical player, since she often came in behind her second serve and opted for a more aggressive delivery. Serve-and-volleyers accept that while they’ll get passed and they’ll miss the occasional easy volley, the percentages are on their side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>