Monkey-on-my-back

A jinx, involving a streak of defeats by a certain opponent. The term is not exclusively tennis's, but it belongs in the lexicon of tennis perhaps more than in any other sport. When players finally defeat opponents who have consistently been beating them over a long period of time, they are likely to claim, "I finally got the monkey off my back." (Maybe they did, and maybe they didn't. The next few matches will tell).