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
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Singles titles (4)

Runners-up (6)

Performance timeline

Singles

References

External links

Official website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bastl, George 1975 births Living people Swiss male tennis players