Tennis is getting a little xenophobic.
Gaston Gaudio beat fellow Argentine Guillermo Coria in the men’s French Open final to complete the latest of several all-countryman tennis finals in one of the four major, or Grand Slam, tournaments. This was the first all-Argentine Grand Slam final.
The women’s finals Saturday saw another first when two Russians paired off in a tennis major. Anastasia Myskina topped Elena Dementieva to become the first Russian woman to win a major title.
Argentina and Russia aren’t the only nations to hog the Grand Slam spotlight. Since 1990, five other countries have produced a single-nation men’s or women’s finals.
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UNITED STATES
’90, ’95, ’02 U.S. Opens, ’99 Wimbledon: Pete Sampras
def. Andre Agassi
’00 Wimbledon: Venus Williams def. Lindsay Davenport
’00 U.S. Open: V. Williams def. Davenport
’99 U.S. Open: Agassi def. Todd Martin
’96 U.S. Open: Sampras def. Michael Chang
’95 Australian Open: Agassi def. Sampras
’94 Australian Open: Sampras def. Martin
’93 Wimbledon: Sampras def. Jim Courier
’91 French Open: Courier def. Agassi
’90 Wimbledon: Martina Navratilova def. Zina Garrison
UNITED SISTERS OF AMERICA*
’03 Australian and Wimbledon: Serena Williams def. V. Williams
’02 French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open: Serena def. Venus
’01 U.S. Open: Venus def. Serena
BELGIUM
’04 Australian Open: Justine Henin-Hardenne def. Kim Clijsters
’03 French Open: Henin-Hardenne def. Clijsters
’03 U.S. Open: Henin-Hardenne def. Clijsters
AUSTRALIA
’98 U.S. Open: Patrick Rafter def. Mark Philippoussis
GERMANY
’91 Wimbledon: Michael Stich def. Boris Becker
SPAIN
’02 French Open: Albert Costa def. Juan Carlos Ferrero
’98 French Open: Carlos Moya def. Alex Corretja
’94 French Open: Sergi Bruguera def. Alberto Berasategui
* OK, we’re fudging a bit, but the Williams sisters were
so dominant, they created their own tennis nation.
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Edited by the Sports staff of RedEye.
