In 2012, Kim Clijsters was in pain

after twisting her ankle in the seventh game of her Australian Open fourthround duel with Li Na. Down 62 in the tiebreaker, Clijsters courageously fought off four match points for a dramatic 46, 76 (6), 64 fourthround match in her last Australian Open, where Clijsters said she didn’t want to bow out with a retirement. “I knew if I could just try to let the medication sink in or if I could get through the first 20 minutes, half hour, I think the pain would go away a little bit and then maybe with the adrenaline I could just fly through it,” said Clijsters afterwards.

fought off four set points in a fluctuating, 119 thirdset tiebreaker to edge archrival Bjorn Borg 64, 36, 76 (9), 64 in the superlative 1976 US Open final. The tiebreaker was so engrossing that when the players forgot to change sides at 99, a ball boy had to remind the umpire.

Jimmy Connors, a pugnacious lefty,