George Edward Bastl (born 1 April 1975) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player from Switzerland.

Tennis career

Bastl was an All-American at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 71 in May 2000 and reached one ATP Tour singles final at

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

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 fro ...

, where he caused one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon and Grand Slam history by defeating seven-time champion

Pete Sampras Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the A ...

, 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 as a lucky loser, having previously lost to Alexander Waske in three straight sets in the final qualifying round at

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, sharing its SW15 postcode with neighbouring Putney and Kingston Vale, and takes up a far western strip, running north to south, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large counc ...

. 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 former professional tennis player. He reached his highest ranking in singles of world No. 3 in March 2006, during a career that spanned from 2000 to 2013. Nalbandian was runner-up in ...

. Bastl teamed up with

Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...

in the men's doubles at the US Open in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. They got to the third round before being knocked out by

Wayne Black Wayne Hamilton Black (born 17 November 1973) is a tennis coach and a former professional player from Zimbabwe. Black turned professional in 1994 and reached his highest singles ranking of No. 69 on 30 March 1998. He is the son of former player ...

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 Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...

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
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ATP career finals

Singles: 1 (0 titles, 1 runner-up)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 9 (4–5)

Doubles: 10 (7–3)

Performance timeline

Singles

References

External links

Official website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bastl, George 1975 births Living people USC Trojans men's tennis players Expatriate tennis players in the United States Swiss male tennis players