Former World No.1 Roger Federer's shock defeat at the hands of the unheralded Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round of Wimbledon this year has been chosen as the upset of the year by the ATP. In a list that also includes the 17 times Grand Slam champion's loss to the qualifier Federico Delbonis in Hamburg, Stakhovsky's triumph found its place on top of the charts as Federer calls the hallowed Centre Court as 'My Court'.
Probably the biggest upset in the history of tennis, a little-known serve and volleyer named Sergiy Stakhovsky knocked-out the mighty Roger Federer from The Championships at Wimbledon in 2013 - It was the Swiss' first loss before the quarterfinals of a Major since the French Open in 2004. The Greatest of All Time had appeared in 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarters during that period and had captured seven Wimbledon trophies in 10 years but in his 11th year as defending champion his hopes of adding a record breaking 8th trophy were broken by the then 116th ranked journeyman.
All through the match Sergiy kept the maestro on his toes as he served and volleyed all the time - a strategy that didn't give Federer any breathing time to react to the balls. In fact, what was fascinating to watch was the way Stakhovsky was mixing his play - he was hitting the ball as deep as he could and wasn't allowing Federer to dictate the rallies from his vast repertoire of ground-strokes as he kept the points extremely short.
An amazed Stakhovsky had said at that time: 'I'm in disbelief that it happened. It was magic. I couldn't play any better today. I played everything I needed and wanted to do. I volleyed incredibly well today. It was a fantastic day for me.'
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