Last player to win a slam without dropping a set? (semi-final spoiler)

[HunterST]

I really don't see Djokovic giving Nadal much trouble. In fact, I'm predicting a straight set win for Rafa. Does anyone know the last player to win a grandslam without dropping a set? Sounds almost unheard of.

I think this year combined with this year catapults Nadal way forward in the GOAT discussion. He won the French and Wimbledon and now he will complete his career grand slam by winning the tournament that has given him the most trouble without dropping A SET!

As a Federer fan, I'm a little disappointed to see Nadal get the CGS so early in his career. I'm definitely worried Nadal could overtake Fed on quite a few of his records.

 

[Mustard]

Rafael Nadal (2008 French Open, 2010 French Open)
Roger Federer (2007 Australian Open)
Bjorn Borg (1976 Wimbledon, 1978 French Open, 1980 French Open)
Ilie Nastase (1973 French Open)
Ken Rosewall (1971 Australian Open)
Roy Emerson (1964 Australian Championships)
Chuck McKinley (1963 Wimbledon)
Neale Fraser (1960 US Championships)
Tony Trabert (1955 Wimbledon)
John Bromwich (1939 Australian Championships)
Don Budge (1938 Australian Championships, 1938 Wimbledon)

Edit: Added Neale Fraser

 

[HunterST]

Rafael Nadal (2010 French Open, 2008 French Open)
Roger Federer (2007 Australian Open)
Bjorn Borg (1976 Wimbledon, 1978 French Open, 1980 French Open)

Haha well not quite as rare as I was thinking. It's still pretty crazy considering that this is suppose to be where Rafa is weakest. Hopefully Djokovic can get the win or at least make it a 4 or 5 setter.

 

[Hood_Man]

Anyone know who the last man to win the US Open without dropping a set was? I'm betting it was a while ago...

[EDIT]

He'll be the first guy in the Open Era apparently...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Nadal#Rivalry_with_Roger_Federer (scroll up a little bit)

 

[T1000]

Haha well not quite as rare as I was thinking. It's still pretty crazy considering that this is suppose to be where Rafa is weakest. Hopefully Djokovic can get the win or at least make it a 4 or 5 setter.

Well when you get the easiest draw in the history of tennis it's not that hard

 

[Mustard]

Anyone know who the last man to win the US Open without dropping a set was? I'm betting it was a while ago...

It's never happened before :shock:

I know both Guillermo Vilas and Jimmy Connors got to the 1977 US Open final without dropping a set in the tournament. Vilas won the final in 4 sets by the score of 2-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-0.

Edit: Just found out that Neale Fraser won the 1960 US Championships without dropping a set.

 

[Hood_Man]

It's never happened before :shock:

I know both Guillermo Vilas and Jimmy Connors got to the 1977 US Open final without dropping a set in the tournament. Vilas won the final in 4 sets by the score of 2-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-0.

That's insane. This whole thing is insane. Federer wins it 5 times in a row, including 6 consecutive finals, and here comes Nadal from a relatively poor Summer hard court season and he could create a brand new record.

Mental :shock:

 

[HunterST]

Well when you get the easiest draw in the history of tennis it's not that hard

His draw wasn't that easy to begin with, but all the dangerous players got eliminated. Unfortunately a win is a win and Rafa will have a CGS just the same.

 

[abmk]

Anyone know who the last man to win the US Open without dropping a set was? I'm betting it was a while ago...

[EDIT]

He'll be the first guy in the Open Era apparently...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Nadal#Rivalry_with_Roger_Federer (scroll up a little bit)

It was in 1960 I believe, I remember the commentators mentioning it during the USO 2004 final when hewitt reached the final without dropping a set ...

Edit: yep, just checked, it was neale fraser in 60 , he defeated laver in the finals ...

 

[DownTheLine]

Haha well not quite as rare as I was thinking. It's still pretty crazy considering that this is suppose to be where Rafa is weakest. Hopefully Djokovic can get the win or at least make it a 4 or 5 setter.

It doesn't matter that it is his weakest when he has the easiest draw you could ask for. Youz in the semis you kidding me? Federer was playing someone better in the 4th round.

 

[Mustard]

Just checked. Neale Fraser won the 1960 US Championships without dropping a set. It wasn't listed on wikipedia's records.

R128: Neale Fraser def. Richard Raskind (6-0, 6-1, 6-1)
R64: Neale Fraser def. Crawford Henry (6-1, 6-1, 6-1)
R32: Neale Fraser def. Gerald Moss (6-3, 6-2, 6-4)
R16: Neale Fraser def. Mike Sangster (6-2, 6-1, 6-4)
QF: Neale Fraser def. Chuck McKinley (6-2, 6-4, 6-2)
SF: Neale Fraser def. Dennis Ralston (11-9, 6-3, 6-2)
F: Neale Fraser def. Rod Laver (6-4, 6-4, 10-8 )

 

[HunterST]

It doesn't matter that it is his weakest when he has the easiest draw you could ask for. Youz in the semis you kidding me? Federer was playing someone better in the 4th round.

You're absolutely right, but history and the record books wont remember that.

 

[Cesc Fabregas]

Well when you get the easiest draw in the history of tennis it's not that hard

No, that would be Hewitt's 2002 Wimbledon draw, Agassi 01 and 03 Australian and Federer FO 09.

 

[Mustard]

The players can only beat who's in front of them. Please don't go down this "weak draw" nonsense. It's the fault of the seeded players for losing early on, not the fault of those who have the so-called "easy draws".

 

[HunterST]

No, that would be Hewitt's 2002 Wimbledon draw, Agassi 01 and 03 Australian and Federer FO 09.

No way man. Fed had to face Gael Monfils, Haas, and Del potro. The only legitimate threat Nadal has faced is Verdasco. It' doesn't get much easier than Lopez in the quarters and Youzhny in the semis.

 

[urban]

The first round of Frasers win 1960 is worth watching. This Dr. Richard Raskind later returned to the tour, albeit the WTA, as Rennee Richards.

 

[Sharpshooter]

Well when you get the easiest draw in the history of tennis it's not that hard

2009 Wimbledon + FO says hello.

 

[Legend of Borg]

No, that would be Hewitt's 2002 Wimbledon draw, Agassi 01 and 03 Australian and Federer FO 09.

The same draw where he was taken to 5 by Haas and Delpo, the former having a hidden matchpoint on his serve?

 

[Limpinhitter]

Here's to hoping that Djokovic is the one who can keep his gonads in their sack (rather than sucking up into his belly like a pair of ovaries), and PLAY SOME F*** ING TENNIS, RATHER THAN SEE HIM CRUMBLE LIKE A BADLY MADE CRAB CAKE THE WAY THE REST OF RALPH'S SIDE OF THE DRAW HAS DONE!

Ehem! Thank you!

 

[Sharpshooter]

The same draw where he was taken to 5 by Haas and Delpo, the former having a hidden matchpoint on his serve?

Haas? Please, since when was Haas such an incredibly tough opponent at that stage of his career? He wasn't even seeded. What a joke just because Fed was too crap to finish him off in straight sets it all of a sudden becomes a tough draw. Look at the last 2 sets Haas hardly won a game and you call that a tough opponent?

As for Del Po, what ranking was he at the time? I'm willing to bet it isn't as high as Djokovic's.

Fed faced 0 top 4 players in FO 09 and 0 top 4 players in Wimbledon 09.

 

[namelessone]

No way man. Fed had to face Gael Monfils, Haas, and Del potro. The only legitimate threat Nadal has faced is Verdasco. It' doesn't get much easier than Lopez in the quarters and Youzhny in the semis.

I think Cesc was talking about the on paper FO 09' draw, sure it turned out tougher than we thought it would be cause Fed played so-so in RG but it was nothing special on paper.

Acasuso plain sucks on every surface for a couple of years now and he almost led Fed by two sets(Fed's 09' level in RG was almost as bad as his 08' one IMO, he played way better in 05-07'), haas somehow found himself two sets up and once fed pulled the trigger haas fell completely off, monfils is a clown and always be and at that point delpo was the guy that had been double bageled by fed in AO and straight setted in Madrid with a couple of embarrassing points for DelPo in that match.

On paper Fed should have lost 2-3 sets max until the final. But because his level varied wildly he lost sets against:

acasuso - 1 set, acasuso was 5-1 or something in the third but lost in a tiebreaker and just got rolled over afterwards. Acasuso was good on clay a loooong time ago.

phm - lost 1 set, rolled afterwards. Phm is the king of chokers(but dasco comes close) and hadn't really achieved anything notable on clay in a long while.

haas - has played good tennis for two sets and his game clicked but once he failed to convert in the third, he was wiped mentally, he won just 2 games afterwards in two sets. This was more of a mental test for Fed, tommy played good but fed was shankalot that day and once he clicked haas was out.
Surprise match because haas is not good on clay, last clay final he reached was houston in 04'.

delpo - this was Fed's real test in RG 09', mentally and game-wise, and it came out of nowhere. Sure, delpo could play on clay but he got his ass handed to him by Fed the last times they met. DelPo not only came out blazing but he maintained that level even in the fifth. DelPo was about 5 times harder for Fed than Sod in the final.

If Fed has been in his 05-07' form he shouldn't have lost a set until meeting delpo but since Fed was so-so in terms of play quality his draw appears harder than it actually was.

 

[Moose Malloy]

these are the only players to reach the USO final without losing a set(open era)

Connors '76(won the final)
Vilas '77(lost the final)
Connors '77(won the final)
Lendl '87(won the final)
Courier '91(lost the final)
Hewitt '04(lost the final)

 

[statto]

The players can only beat who's in front of them. Please don't go down this "weak draw" nonsense. It's the fault of the seeded players for losing early on, not the fault of those who have the so-called "easy draws".

Correct. A win is a win.

 

[statto]

these are the only players to reach the USO final without losing a set(open era)

Connors '76(won the final)
Vilas '77(lost the final)
Connors '77(won the final)
Lendl '87(won the final)
Courier '91(lost the final)
Hewitt '04(lost the final)
Nadal '10(???? the final)

Corrected for you.

 

[Moose Malloy]

Only players(open era) to lose only one set en route to the USO title:

Nadal '10
Lendl '87
Lendl '86
Lendl '85
McEnroe '79
Vilas '77
Connors '76

 

[jean pierre]

these are the only players to reach the USO final without losing a set(open era)

Connors '76(won the final)
Vilas '77(lost the final)
Connors '77(won the final)
Lendl '87(won the final)
Courier '91(lost the final)
Hewitt '04(lost the final)

Vilas 77 won the final !!