• Rewind to 2001

The upset of the century that never was

Barry Cowan nearly pulled off the 'upset of the century' against defending champion Pete Sampras © Getty Images

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While British tennis fans have not had a Wimbledon champion since Virginia Wade in 1977, they have been treated to some memorable performances by home players at the All England Club.

In 2001, Tim Henman came painfully close to his first Wimbledon final, but fell short in his epic semi-final defeat to eventual champion Goran Ivanisevic. But perhaps the most heroic British performance in recent memory was Barry Cowan, who nearly pulled off the greatest upset of all.

A wildcard in the men's draw in 2001, Cowan won his first ever match in six Wimbledon appearances, winning an all-British encounter against youngster Mark Hilton - setting up a dream second-round clash against seven-time champion Pete Sampras, unbeaten at the All England Club since 1996.

It was the classic David against Goliath; the reigning champion against the unfavoured British wildcard. Sampras was a 13-time grand slam champion, while Cowan was ranked at world No. 248, having reached a career-high 162 the year before.

Having never previously reached the second round at Wimbledon, Cowan enlisted the help of a sports psychologist to help him prepare for the biggest match of his career on Court One. An avid Liverpool fan, Cowan would play Reds anthem You'll Never Walk Alone during breaks in play, as he endeavoured to pull off an almighty upset.

Cowan listened to music during breaks in play © Getty Images

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But when Sampras won the opening two sets with relative ease, any hopes of an upset seemed to have faded. But as Sampras closed in on victory, Cowan was not about to let his big moment pass him by.

"It had taken me 20 years to get to experience this, and under no circumstances was I going to let it go," Cowan told ESPN. "When you have worked as hard as I had to get to play Sampras - I always wanted to play the best players on the biggest stage at Wimbledon."

Cowan saved seven break points in the third set to force the match to a tiebreak, and staring defeat in the face, triumphed in an epic tiebreak to take the third set. The crowd on Henman Hill began to grow, and sensing an upset, the atmosphere began to resemble a crowd at a football match.

With Sampras on the ropes, Cowan pressed on, proving a match for Sampras' powerful serve, and against all the odds snatched a break before holding his nerve to level the match.

"I found myself two sets to love down, but I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn't really look at him and that by the start of the fifth set he was rattled, but I had never been in that position before," Cowan recalls.

"Sportspeople often say you get in the zone where although you are aware of the crowd, you don't really notice them and that was the case for me. Anything could have happened in there and it wouldn't have distracted me."

Sampras was rattled, but he soon had things back on his terms as he stormed to a 4-0 lead in the deciding set. Cowan battled valiantly, breaking back, but despite a partisan crowd, back-to-back aces from Sampras saved two break points in his next service game.

Cowan saved an astonishing 14 break points, but ultimately Sampras proved too strong as he claimed a 6-3 6-2 6-7(5) 4-6 6-3 victory to avoid what he admitted what would have been the "upset of the century".

"I was so excited going into that match, but I didn't want to just go onto the court with a smile on my face and last less than an hour," Cowan admitted.

After nearly three hours on court, Sampras survived an almighty scare and left the court a relieved man, while Cowan walked off with his head held high.

"I think he congratulated me after the match but to be honest I don't really remember," Cowan said. "He was certainly given a scare and I think he was surprised at the standard I played at. But I knew I was capable of playing to that level and I knew I could take it to five sets.

"To me a tennis match is like going through university and getting a degree; you work your way through and you make mistakes along the way and you learn from them. Before the match I tried not to think about it too much - there was no point wasting unnecessary nervous energy. I never thought 'what if'; I just tried to stay in the present."

What happened next?
Sampras went on to beat third-round opponent Sargis Sargisan in straight sets, but he came unstuck in the fourth round, where he suffered only his second defeat in eight years at the All England Club, falling in five sets to a young upstart by the name of Roger Federer. Federer claimed his first of six Wimbledon titles two years later, and in 2009 surpassed Sampras' record of 14 grand slam titles. Sampras won just one more major - at the US Open in 2002 before announcing his retirement a year later. Cowan, meanwhile announced his retirement at Wimbledon the following year.

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