Best Quality of Play from a Player

[President]

Which match was the highest quality of play from an individual player (both players don't have to be playing well). Personally, I think Tsonga vs Nadal AO 08 is right up there.

[dincuss]

Yes, or soderling nadal.
or nadal federer wimby 08

or safin fed ao 05

[Carsomyr]

Federer d. Blake 6-0, 6-3, 6-4: Federer was destructive off both the forehand and backhand wings and just dismantled Blake, who actually played very well. Fed's 2007 Australian Open performance against Roddick comes really close, though.

[President]

I might add that Federer in his first two sets against Soderling in this years USO was playing godlike tennis. Soderling wasn't playing badly , and Federer beat him 6-0 and 6-1. He couldn't keep that level up though.. Fed himself said that he was playing "dream tennis" in the first 2 sets.

[borg number one]

Four matches come to mind:

Nadal's level of play in both his wins over Federer at the '08 AO and '08 Wimbledon final I thought was extremely high as he was pushed to newer and newer heights by Federer going all out. Also, John McEnroe's performance in the Wimbledon final against Jimmy Connors in 1983 (6-1, 6-1, 6-2) and Borg's performance in the Wimbledon final in 1978 (6-2, 6-2, 6-3) when he also defeated Connors were both off the charts.

[downdaline]

Nadal in FO 2008 Final - Pure Clay Ownage. Passing at will with forehands and backhands cleaning the lines like a Disneyland attendant.

Federer in USO 2004 Final (1st and 3rd Set at least) - Forehand festival. 'Nuff said.

Tsonga in AO 2008 against Nadal - He either put the ball over the net as an insane dropper or he was painting the lines with bullets off FH, BH and SERVE.

Quality of play from 2 players - Nadal and Verdasco in AO 2009 - Angles, spins, power, placement, touch and precision. Had it all.

[mikro112]

Federer vs. Del Potro AO09.
Tsonga vs. Nadal AO08
Verdasco vs. Nadal AO09 (Nadal was great also, but for Verdasco standards he played unbelievable)
Federer vs. Roddick AO07 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGiSrj97txc

I also thought that the AO09 final had a very high quality, even higher than the WImbledon finals 08 and 09, relating to the quality of the rallies, etc, not the tension necessarily. That was higher at the Wimbledon Final 08.

[random guy]

Nalbandian in Paris 07 against Gasquet. The man could do no wrong that month.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8dFaCcMqhM

My favorite: Nalbo in Paris 08 against Murray. Complete and utter domination, and it's not like Murray wasn't trying hard or anything. The last point with Murray crumbling into the ground resumes the whole match pretty well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AmYlLjGjcI

[BorisBeckerFan]

When Safin beat Pete in the US Open finals I wrongly thought that he was the future of tennis. Sadly he never repeated a performance as great as that one. Not even when he beat Fed at the Australian.

[tudwell]

Gonzo vs. Haas at 2007 Australian. 40+ winners and 5 unforced errors. Five freaking errors.

[Nextman916]

Nalbandian has a ton of them...

[BorisBeckerFan]

Originally Posted by tudwell

Gonzo vs. Haas at 2007 Australian. 40+ winners and 5 unforced errors. Five freaking errors.

That was awesome!

[drwood]

Originally Posted by BorisBeckerFan

When Safin beat Pete in the US Open finals I wrongly thought that he was the future of tennis. Sadly he never repeated a performance as great as that one. Not even when he beat Fed at the Australian.

I disagree. He probably played even better against Fed in the 05 Aus SF...if you notice the Safin-Sampras 2000 match, Pete actually did quite well from the baseline in that match...he got destroyed b/c he almost always came to net and Safin always passed him. But the long rallies from the baseline Pete held his own. In the Aus SF match, Safin played much better from the baseline than in the 2000 US Open F.

[jamesblakefan#1]

-Tsonga vs Nadal, of course
-Nadal the entire FO 08, but the triple bagel to Almagro and the spanking to Federer in particular
-Fed's AO 07 win over Roddick. True masterpiece.
-Nalbandian in 07 Paris Indoors finals, to cap off 2 weeks of masterful tennis in Madrid and Paris
-Serena's beatdown of Sharapova to win the 07 AO title. Biggest beatdown between 2 major women's contenders in a long time.
-Henin's runs at RG in 2006 & 2007

[AlexTennisAllDayLong]

Federer vs Rod US OPEN 08 or 07 it was, roddick played outta his mind and got rolled

[Claudius]

Originally Posted by Carsomyr

Federer d. Blake 6-0, 6-3, 6-4: Federer was destructive off both the forehand and backhand wings and just dismantled Blake, who actually played very well. Fed's 2007 Australian Open performance against Roddick comes really close, though.

Yeah...sublime performance from Federer.

[EtePras]

Verdasco beating Gasquet at IW, when Gasquet needed 4 backhand winners in one game to get on the board

Tsonga v Nadal A0 08, actually he played like that all tournament except the final.
Safin v Federer AO 05 - Federer beaten at his best, nuff said.
Nadal vs Federer FO 08 - It looked as Federer was in his first slam final
Nadal v Federer Wimbledon 08

[Bhagi Katbamna]

Sampras d. Agassi 1999 Wibledon Final. This was the match that Sampras beat Agassi from the net and the baseline. I have never seen anything like this(except Nadal defeating Fed at FO2008 if Nadal would have gone to the net 30-40% of the time). That was the scale of the beatdown.

[Bhagi Katbamna]

And Federer v. DelPotro at the 2009 US Open Final until 5-4 in the second set.