It was one of the most famous retorts in tennis history, a perfectly executed overhead slam of a quote from the self-deprecating prince of the tour, Vitas Gerulaitis. Going into his match against Jimmy Connors at the 1979 Masters, Gerulaitis had lost 16 straight matches to the lefty, but pulled off the upset at Madison Square Garden.
“Let that be a lesson to you all,” he told reporters afterward. “Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row!”
Forty-two years later, Kei Nishikori finds himself in a similar spot, hoping that he could mimic that quintessential sports one-liner.