Goran Ivanisevic displayed one of the greatest and most unexpected performances from any player in two weeks at Wimbledon.

	Mal's Picks
	Washington Former ATP Tour pro MaliVai Washington provided ESPN.com with in-depth analysis during Wimbledon. Washington, a tennis analyst for ESPN, reached the 1996 Wimbledon final.

At one time, Ivanisevic was No. 2 in the world. Most people thought if he was going to win a Grand Slam title it would be at Wimbledon, but because of the way he lost some of those three Wimbledon final appearances people really wondered if he had the mental stability to do it.

Monday he proved it.

At Wimbledon in 1998, Ivanisevic lost to Sampras in five sets. As a player, you can always look back to a few matches that can either hurt your year or help your year. Wimbledon '98 was a big downturn for Ivanisevic and it's taken him this long to get out of it.

Every player wants to win a major, and when you're in the final three times and still don't win a championship that can wear on you. After that year, Goran finished 1999 ranked about No. 65 and then in the past two years he was ranked in the 100s.

Then, at the start of this year, he flies all the way to Australia and loses in the first round in the qualifiers. That's demoralizing. And a little embarrassing just because of how far you've dropped. He didn't even try to qualify for the French Open.

He really should send the All-England Club a 100 dozen roses, because if they didn't give him a wild card into this event, who knows where he might have been at the end of this year. He might have been retired.

A match like this has the potential of getting his entire career back on track. We might see Ivanisevic come out now and produce the best tennis that he's ever produced because of this one match. He got King Kong off of his back Monday.

In this final, Ivanisevic was tested more mentally then he has ever been tested in a match in his life.

He could have lost his mind in the fourth set. He is up two sets to one, then he gets what he considers a couple of bad calls: one on a foot fault, and then one serve later on his second serve an ace was called out. He proceeds to go nuts for 30 seconds. His serve is broken, and at that point you start wondering if he's finished because he's known for letting things get to him and then he goes into the tank.

He proceeded to lose his serve again in that set, but then he regrouped and continued to hold serve.

At one point in the fifth set, he was two points from losing the match and was able to fight through that. At match point to win his first Grand Slam, he double faults on two championship points. So obviously he was as nervous as he had ever been in a tennis match. But then to get past all of that and come out as the champion, it shows that he has the ability and the resolve to win a major.

This is a match that could have gone either way.

I expected Rafter to win it the whole way. Even at the end, I wasn't sure Ivanisevic had the guts to serve it out. Give Ivanisevic a lot of credit to be able to break serve tied at 6-6. He played a great return game.

No matter what pressure Ivanisevic was feeling, Rafter was feeling it, too, because they were at the same situation in the match. There were times that Rafter showed his nerves. At 7-7 (15-40) in the fifth set, Rafter just tosses in a second serve at about 75 to 80 mph trying not to double fault. You hit a second serve in the middle of the court like that and you can expect Ivanisevic to jump all over it. Winner.

As expected, Ivanisevic's serve was a big factor. Rafter's strength is not his return of serve and there were times when he just needed to get the ball in the court. At one point in the fifth set, Rafter is returning at 15-30 -- although Ivanisevic hit a big second serve -- and misses the forehand return. If Rafter had made the return he could have won the match. At that point you're thinking, "Rafter has to get the ball in the court."

But after a loss like this, Rafter is the kind of player who can put things in perspective pretty quickly, and he even did that in his acceptance speech. He said that his two weeks there had been a great two weeks, but it just wasn't his tournament to win.

I'm picking Rafter to win Wimbledon next year -- assuming he's not retired as he's threatened to do. He's just a great tennis player and a great grass-court player.

This year, though, Ivanisevic felt this was his destiny. It's just a great story, what we just witnessed. There's nothing ho-hum about Grand Slam tennis. You can always look for a great story and this is it.

It means an infinite amount to any player to win a major, but to win a major when you think your chances have already passed you by and it's your fourth try -- that's got to be even more rewarding for him.