Amélie Mauresmo was one of my favourite players, her passion, power and attitude was always exceptional and it was a special pathway to her Wimbledon title in 2006.
Amelie would come to majors from 2004 with a tag of being the world number one without winning a major. Between 2001 and 2005 on 9 occasions she lost in the final eight, 4 more occasions saw her lose in the final four and at The Australian Open in 2006 she won her first major title.
5 months later she was back at Wimbledon, for the past three years she had gone out in the semi-finals at SW19:
2002 – 2-6 1-6 vs Serena Williams
2003 – absent
2004 – 7-6 5-7 4-6 vs Serena Williams
2005 – 7-6 6-7 4-6 vs Lindsay Davenport
On two occasions she came close but couldn’t get over the line until 2006.
The pressure not just at Wimbledon but that year must’ve been massive following those defeats in the latter stages aiming to reach a major final once again, she waited 7 years since her first in 2007.
It was a battle, it started off Smooth sailing for the Frenchwoman winning the first round matches without dropping a set, then the battle commenced.
QF – 6-1 3-6 6-3 vs Myskina
SF – 6-3 3-6 6-2 vs Sharapova
F – 2-6 6-3 6-4 vs Henin
For the first time she was a set down and it was in the final, Amelie had suffered heartbreak before in big moments but this was new. She was the number one and a set down in the Wimbledon final. Her composes was solid throughout, at 5-4 in the third she defended her backhand corner well and forced the extra ball from Henin time and time again and finally got over the line…

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