X Richard Krajicek beats Pete Sampras, 1996
We knew the Dutch did total football and legalised weed so we headed off to Wimbledon, via our TV sets, hoping Richard Krajicek could keep the ball pucked out to Pete Sampras as he sought to win this quarter-final match in his quest for four-in-a-row at SW19. Instead the world number one was humbled in straight sets 7–5, 7–6, 6–4. Krajicek went on to win the title, becoming the first Dutchman to do so.

IX Peter Doohan downs Boris Becker in the second round, 1987
German wünderkind Boris Becker had been undefeated at Wimbledon since his debut in 1985, while Australian Peter Doohan had never progressed beyond the first round. So with German efficiency and all that, it was reckoned that Boris, who would later create a record of sorts in a broom closet, could wham and bam his opponents in double quick-time on court. Instead Doohan won in four sets and ruined his opponent's attempts to become the first man to win three Wimbledon titles in a row.

VIII George Bastl shoots down Pistol Pete Sampras, 2002
Swiss player Bastl was ranked 145 in the world when he took on the seven-time champion of Wimbledon, Pete Sampras. Bastl, who only got into the tournament as a lucky loser after failing to qualify, beat the American in five sets. In truth, Sampras was past his sell-by date by a few years on this surface and although he would muster one more great effort to win his final grand slam event in the US Open later that year, that was more of a case of a dying sting rather than the light of rejuvenation.

VII Unseeded Goran Ivanisevic wins it all, 2001
This was the year of the aberration as lanky and left-handed Ivanisevic had lost the Wimbledon final three times before he finally won it in 2001. The eventual victory was a near-miracle, as he had only entered the tournament as a wild card. Ranked outside the top 100 at the time, he became the lowest-ranked player – and only wild card – to win Wimbledon, beating Australian Pat Rafter in the final.

VI Vladimir Voltchkov makes the semi-final on the down low, 2001
The Belarussian was ranked 237 when he managed to make it through to the semi-finals of Wimbledon – becoming the lowest-ranked player to ever make the last four at the tournament. And when a stop was put to his gallop, it was by none other than Mr Sampras who accounted for him in straight sets.

V Lori McNeill sends Steffi Graf crashing at the first, 1994
The first time the defending ladies' champion had lost in the first round and the first time Graf had lost her opening match in any tournament since 1992. There went Graf, a victim of what British tennis legend Fred Perry called "wet, greasy and slippery" gusts, as well as the cool intensity of the unseeded McNeil. Graf, winner of the previous three Wimbledons and five of the last six, was blown out of the draw faster than any other defending women's champ in 101 years.

IV Ivo Karlovic sends Lleyton Hewitt down under, 2003
Karlovic, whose claim to fame rested on being the tallest player on the tour at a mightly 6' 10" had a ranking almost as far off the ground at 203 in the world. Those were the only stats of note attached to the Croat when he beat the top seed and defending champion in the opening match. Hewitt became the first defending Wimbledon men's champion in the open era to lose in the first round. Only once before in the tournament's 126-year history had a defending men's champion lost in the opening round, when in 1967 Manuel Santana was beaten by Charles Pasarell.

III Roger Taylor defuses the
rocket Rod Laver, 1970
The year before Laver had completed a grand slam and had won the previous two Wimbledon titles. So he wasn't exactly quaking in his boots when the dark-haired Brit stood across the net from him but by the end of the game the original Rocket man of the courts was shaking his head in disbelief as he lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 , thus ending his 31-match winning streak at Wimbledon.

IIKevin Curren is too serious
for John McEnroe, 1985
He cannot have been serious on the day, but seriously McEnroe was the odds-on favourite for Wimbledon in 1985. He had reached the previous five finals and had won three of them, including the 1984 title. His opponent in the quarter-final was South African-born Kevin Curren, who had won just one set in seven previous encounters with the Super Brat. But nobody had shown Curren the script as he wiped the court with McEnroe 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. It was the most one-sided defeat McEnroe had suffered since becoming world number one in 1981 and his worst defeat at Wimbledon.

I Jelena Dokic has a qualifying win over Martina Hingis, 1999
The 16-year-old Dokic beat the 1997 champion and as a qualifier, she caused one of the biggest upsets in tennis history, beating Hingis 6–2, 6–0, in the first round. At 129, she was the lowest-ranked player to have defeated the top seed in a grand slam tournament in the open era. She also defeated ninth-seeded Mary Pierce in straight sets before losing to Alexandra Stevenson in the quarter-finals.