George Edward Bastl (born 1 April 1975) is a former professional
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player from Switzerland.
Tennis career
Bastl was an All-American at the
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
.
He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 71 in May 2000 and reached one ATP Tour singles final at
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...
in 1999.
The biggest win of Bastl's tennis career came in the second round of the
2002 Wimbledon Championships
The 2002 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 116th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held f ...
, where he caused one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon and Grand Slam history by defeating seven-time champion
Pete Sampras, winning in five sets by the score of 6–3, 6–2, 4–6, 3–6, 6–4. Bastl had only been in the main draw of
2002 Wimbledon
The 2002 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 116th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
as a lucky loser, having previously lost to
Alexander Waske
Alexander Waske (born 31 March 1975) is a retired tennis player from Germany.
Waske was ranked as high as world No. 16 in doubles, winning four titles. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 89 in June 2006. In 2010, Waske a ...
in three straight sets in the final qualifying round at
Roehampton
Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...
. He beat
Denis Golovanov in the first round and after beating Sampras he lost in the third round to eventual runner-up
David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian (; born 1 January 1982) is an Argentine retired professional tennis player who played on the ATP Tour from 2000 until his retirement in 2013. He reached the highest ranking in singles of world No. 3 in March 2006. Nalban ...
. Bastl teamed up with
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
in the men's doubles at the US Open in
2002. They got to the third round before being knocked out by
Wayne Black
Wayne Hamilton Black (born 17 November 1973) is a former professional tennis player from Zimbabwe. The son of former player Don Black, Black turned professional in 1994 and reached his highest singles ranking of 69 on 30 March 1998. He is the y ...
and
Kevin Ullyett
Kevin Ullyett (born 23 May 1972) is a former professional tennis player from Zimbabwe. His primary success on the tour was in men's doubles.
Ullyett won 34 doubles titles during his career, including two Grand Slams at the 2001 US Open and t ...
.
Bastl was the first player to be beaten by
Andy Murray in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at
Wimbledon in 2005, with Murray winning 6–4, 6–2, 6–2.
BBC SPORT , Tennis , Murray storms to victory on debut
/ref>
Singles titles (4)
Runners-up (6)
Performance timeline
Singles
References
External links
Official website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bastl, George
1975 births
Living people
Swiss male tennis players