With Lois Boisson’s recent run to the Roland Garros semifinals, and Wimbledon under way – a place where Goran Ivanisevic and Tatjana Maria thrived while ranked outside the top 100 – the time feels right to revisit some of the most surprising runs at major tournaments.
In chronological order, we bring you the top 10 greatest Grand Slam surprises this century.
1. Goran Ivanisevic – Wimbledon 2001
Croatia’s Goran Ivanisevic reached three Wimbledon finals in the 1990s and lost them all, including two in five sets.
The tennis trophy the big-serving lefty cherished most of all, and to which he’d come so close to hoisting, seemed forever beyond reach.
Little was expected of Ivanisevic when he arrived at the All England Club in 2001 as a wildcard entry, ranked 125th, and soon to celebrate his 30th birthday.
But in an unforgettable fortnight, he overpowered a succession of impressive names – Carlos Moya, Andy Roddick, Greg Rusedski, Marat Safin and Tim Henman – to reach a fourth final.
In a rain-affected tournament, the men’s final was held over to Monday, and with a far-less-corporate crowd packed into Centre Court, the celebrations were wild as Ivanisevic completed a dramatic 6-3 3-6 6-3 2-6 9-7 triumph over Pat Rafter.
“This is so great, to touch the trophy,” Ivanisevic said. “I don't even care now if I ever win a match in my life again.”
2. Martin Verkerk – Roland Garros 2003
In just the third Grand Slam main draw of his career, Martin Verkerk went all the way to the final at Roland Garros.
It was an extraordinary result, given the Dutchman was barely ranked inside the top 50 and had never before won a Grand Slam match.
But he struck some form on clay in the lead-up to Paris – reaching the Rome quarterfinals and the St. Poelten semis – then cut down four consecutive seeds at Roland Garros, including Carlos Moya and Guillermo Coria, to appear in the decider.
Juan Carlos Ferrero, coach of current Roland Garros champion Carlos Alcaraz, proved far too strong in the final and Verkerk only played in the main draw of six more majors, from which his best result was a third-round finish at Roland Garros in 2004.
ATPTour.com explained that Verkerk “fired 124 aces en route to the final in Paris, posting consecutive wins over three year-end top 10s – [Rainer] Schuettler (4R), Moya (QF) and Coria (SF).
“Afterwards, he climbed from 46 to No.15 in becoming the first player since [Mikael] Pernfors in 1986 to reach the Roland Garros final in his first visit.”
3. Gaston Gaudio – Roland Garros 2004
The following year in Paris, there was an even bigger surprise.
World No.44 Gaston Gaudio ensured there was a second straight unseeded Roland Garros finalist when he came up against fellow Argentine Coria.
Coria was a heavy favourite, entering the event after winning the Monte Carlo Masters and reaching the Hamburg Masters final. And he won the first two sets of the final, 6-0 6-3, against a frozen Gaudio.
But the match turned: Coria tightened and cramped, failed to convert championship points, and Gaudio ran out an unlikely 0-6 3-6 6-4 6-1 8-6 victor.
In 32 Grand Slam main draws, Roland Garros 2004 was the only one in which Gaudio progressed beyond the fourth round.
He remains the last unseeded man to win a Grand Slam singles title.
4. Marcos Baghdatis – Australian Open 2006
Baghdatis showed signs of his liking for Melbourne Park’s courts when he won the boys’ singles title in 2003 and reached the fourth round of the men’s event in 2005.
But his run to the 2006 final came out of the blue, given he was ranked 54th at the time and had just twice gone beyond the second round of a major.
The Cypriot’s run was memorable; he beat top-10 seeds Andy Roddick, Ivan Ljubicic and David Nalbandian, respectively, to arrive in the final, recovering from two-sets-to-love down in a dramatic semifinal against Nalbandian.
One of the more unlikely Australian Open victories seemed a possibility when he took the opening set of the final against Roger Federer, before he faded to a 5-7 7-5 6-0 6-2 defeat against the world No.1.
“Dream come true. That's the only thing I can say. I mean, it was a great dream,” Baghdatis reflected of his fortnight.
5. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – Australian Open 2008
Two years later at the same tournament, it was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s turn to light up the Australian Open.
His campaign began with a bang when he stunned Andy Murray at Rod Laver Arena in the first round, and continued when he ousted fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet, the world No.8, to reach the quarterfinals.
In just his fifth Grand Slam main draw, 38th-ranked Tsonga progressed to the semifinals where he faced Rafael Nadal – and blasted through the world No.2 for the loss of just seven games.
“Everything was in and my backhand worked a lot and my serve also, my forehand, my volley, my dropshot, everything,” Tsonga recounted. “I was moving on the court like never I move, so everything was perfect.
“I think it's the first time I played this level, and it's here in semifinal of Australian Open.”
Novak Djokovic beat him in the final, but it was a Grand Slam result that announced him as a future star of the game.
Tsonga went on to become a top-five player, won a Masters 1000 title, and reached at least the quarterfinal stage at 14 subsequent majors.
6. Roberta Vinci – US Open 2015
Roberta Vinci had a history of impressive results at the US Open, reaching back-to-back quarterfinals in 2012 and 2013.
But as the world No.43 in 2015, she created one of the biggest boilovers in tennis history when she ended Serena Williams’ bid for the calendar Grand Slam.
Williams was a dominant world No.1 in 2015, scooping the Australian, Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles to ensure excitement was at fever pitch when she arrived in New York.
No player had won the Grand Slam – all four major singles titles in a calendar year – since Steffi Graf in 1988.
And Williams came extremely close, winning through to the semifinals and taking the first set against Vinci, an unseeded opponent in the last four of a major for the first time.
But Vinci’s slicing, dicing style unsettled an increasingly nervous Williams, as a stunned crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium – and millions more on screens around the world – watched on.
The Italian triumphed 2-6 6-4 6-4, snapping Williams’ 33-match Grand Slam winning streak.
She ended up falling to countrywoman Flavia Pennetta in an historic first all-Italian Grand Slam singles final.
7. Jelena Ostapenko – Roland Garros 2017
Eight years ago, Jelena Ostapenko ushered in the era of surprise women’s Grand Slam champions.
The previous major had been won by Serena Williams, the 23rd Slam of her storied career. But a few months later Williams revealed she was pregnant and stepped away from the game.
And what followed was an era of parity; Ostapenko became the first of eight maiden major winners in the 12 Slams that followed Williams’ pregnancy announcement.
She was a 47th-ranked teenager who’d never won a tour-level title, but following a fortnight of audacious ball-striking in Paris, she was the one left standing with the trophy.
Not only that, but she trailed Simona Halep 6-4 3-0 in the final, and 3-1 in the final set, before pulling off an astonishing comeback.
8. Emma Raducanu – US Open 2021
A few years later Emma Raducanu joined the growing list of first-time women’s major winners, but her triumph in New York was even more unlikely.
Ranked 150th, Raducanu became the first qualifier in history to win a Grand Slam singles title.
MORE: Raducanu feels "no pressure" all the way to US Open title
And she won all 10 of her matches at Flushing Meadows – three in qualifying, seven in the main draw – without dropping a set. She defeated Leylah Fernandez in an all-teenage final to become a global superstar.
“I've always dreamed of winning a Grand Slam,” Raducanu revealed. “But to have the belief I did, and actually executing, winning a Grand Slam, I can't believe it.”
9. Tatjana Maria – Wimbledon 2022
In her 35th Grand Slam main draw, more than 15 years after playing her first, Tatjana Maria got past the third round at a major for the first time.
A mother of two, just shy of her 35th birthday, and ranked outside the top 100, she rode that momentum all the way through to the semifinals.
Maria saved match points to beat Ostapenko in the fourth round, after outplaying world No.5 Maria Sakkari a round earlier. She overcame fellow German Jule Niemeier in a three-set quarterfinal then came within a set of the final.
“We have to realise all these positive things, what happened these two weeks. I was so often down and I came back,” she reflected after ultimately falling to Ons Jabeur.
“It gives you confidence for more things. I hope in the future I can keep going like this and improve every single day.”
Maria has yet to produce a Grand Slam result like that again, yet recently re-emerged as a grasscourt force thanks to her WTA 500 title at Queen’s.
10. Lois Boisson – Roland Garros 2025
Boisson was one of the great stories of this year’s Roland Garros, sending French fans into a frenzy with her extraordinary semifinal finish.
Ranked No.361 after missing almost a year of competition due to an ACL injury in mid 2024, Boisson required a wildcard to enter the main draw.
And she made the most of it, outplaying 24th seed Elise Mertens in round one, before back-to-back top 10 wins over Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva, to reach the last four.
Boisson, 22, was playing in her first Grand Slam main draw, and shot up to world No.65 after her exploits in Paris, making her the No.1 Frenchwoman.
She was the lowest-ranked women’s Grand Slam semifinalist – not including unranked Kim Clijsters at the 2009 US Open – in the past 40 years.