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Watch again: the greatest sporting comeback ever
How Oracle Team USA beat the odds to win the 34th America’s Cup – and why they’re in good company.
3 min
34th America's Cup race 19 – the final showdown
A stunning end to a memorable event as defenders Oracle Team USA come back to win the America's Cup.
September 25, 2013 saw arguably the most thrilling climax in the 162-year history of the America's Cup.
The incredible scenes at San Francisco Bay as Oracle Team USA overturned an 8-1 deficit to retain the Auld Mug by winning eight straight races has to be ranked the best and most unlikely of all such sporting turnarounds.
Down and out with the Kiwis requiring just one more race for victory the Americans landed a masterstroke by calling up Ben Ainslie from the reserve boat and the Brit’s influence preceded a shift in momentum that the Kiwis were unable to stop.
In celebration, here are our other favourite five sporting comebacks in no particular order.
Jimmy Connors vs Mikael Pernfors – Wimbledon 1987
One of, if not the greatest streetfighters of all time, 34-year-old James Scott Connors looked to be a shadow of the player who won Wimbledon five years previously, as he appeared down and out to Sweden’s Pernfors at a score of 6-1, 6-1, 4-1 down. The younger man should have known better though, as JC, who was struggling with injury, took 18 of the next 25 games in fading light on Centre Court to land the win. He went on to reach the semi finals that year.
Europe vs USA – Ryder Cup, Medinah 2012
Trailing 10-4 coming into the final day’s singles matches the European team looked very much down and out with the USA needing a handful of points to regain the trophy. The visitors somehow won eight of the 12 matches against the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to retain the Ryder Cup by 14½ points to 13½ to stun the hosts.
Liverpool vs AC Milan – Champions League Final 2005
There are many candidates in the world of football that could have made it into the top five, but the importance of this match makes it stand out from the rest. Losing 3-0 at half time to the formidable Italian side, which featured the likes of Kaka, Shevchenko, Pirlo, Cafu and Maldini to name but a few, the Liverpool players sat and listened to Milan celebrating with 45 minutes still to play. Perhaps galvanised by that sound and after a tactical switch by Kop boss Rafa Benitez, Steven Gerrard and co turned things right around in the second half to level at 3-3 and keeper Jerzy Dudek did the rest in the penalty shoot out that saw Liverpool lift the trophy.
United States Grand Prix – Long Beach, 1983
It’s hard to top this for a comeback by the McLaren duo of John Watson and Niki Lauda, who somehow ended up finishing first and second after qualifying in 22nd and 23rd places respectively. The team had struggled with their set up all weekend and finally managed to get it right just ahead of the race. The duo were aided by a series of crashes in front of them, but it was still some effort to lock out the top two places from that far behind on the grid.
Henri Cochet vs Bill Tilden – Wimbledon 1927
Frenchman Cochet deserves his place in this list perhaps more than any other, as not only did he come from 6-2, 6-4, 5-1 behind to win his semi final match in the 1927 Wimbledon Men’s Singles against Tilden (pictured above), but he also came from two sets behind in the quarter final and went on to do it again in the final. Cochet’s achievement was incredible and was only matched this year by Tommy Robredo, who also won three straight Grand Slam matches from two sets behind at the French Open. Robredo didn’t do it in the three that mattered though. That said, tennis was very different back then, as the above clip of Tilden and Cochet from 1929 shows.
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