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Okay, this question has been heavy on my heart ever since I witnessed that epic 5 hour long drama at USO. So letting it out.
General convention would clearly go with W Final. A 38 yr old GOAT contender going at what could have been dream finale of his glittering career against another GOAT contender. A match full of drama. Two missed match points. Going to maximum length possible with 5th set ending in TB at 12-12. TBs make for lot of drama and this match had three of them. In comparison to this USO final was rather low key. One of the participants was a rookie playing first time major final. Match didn't go the distance as it could have. So pales in comparison.
However, with every repeated viewing I am getting convinced that quality wise USO final would triumph W final rather easily. Though match didn't seem to be as dramatic a W one but Med comeback after being down 2 sets and a break is nothing short than stuff of movies. You throw in shot clock in the final set, when Nadal seems to be playing as much against shot clock as he did against Med, drama quotient go even higher.
But what actually tilts scale in favor of this match, which also makes this match best match of year 2019, is the sheer quality of Tennis 3rd set onwards. Med had got his engine on somewhere in middle of 3rd set, may be triggered by that silly overhead miss by Nadal and after that he was unstoppable. I don't think Nadal could have done much to save that 3rd set. In the final game of 3rd set Med played like a man possessed and bludgeoned ball for back to back forehand down the line winners. As a reward he was able to break Nadal to take the match to 4th set. There were many other moments in the match which would make for the reel of classic tennis moments. Both players were brilliant tactically and kept changing their pattern of play. Nadal brought two outstanding changes which proved to be masterstroke - Sliding wide serve from the ad court on the backhand side of Med and wicked use of slices particularly once he sensed lethargy that Med was showed in getting that 6'6'' down to deal with low slices. On his part Med was very good with droppers and net play and exploited Nadal return position to some extent.
In comparison in W 19 , Djokovic form was just lukewarm only which kind of put a ceiling on the overall quality of the match. He was kind of hanging on in the match most of the time. I don't think there are many shots from the match which will be part of highlight reels for shot-making. Though I agree those two match points that Fed missed will be most watched moments on youtube from year 2019.
I could be little biased here because of the extent to which I was involved emotionally in USO final. But even if I use some discounting factor to offset my obvious bias, I would vote for USO final as the match of the year.
General convention would clearly go with W Final. A 38 yr old GOAT contender going at what could have been dream finale of his glittering career against another GOAT contender. A match full of drama. Two missed match points. Going to maximum length possible with 5th set ending in TB at 12-12. TBs make for lot of drama and this match had three of them. In comparison to this USO final was rather low key. One of the participants was a rookie playing first time major final. Match didn't go the distance as it could have. So pales in comparison.
However, with every repeated viewing I am getting convinced that quality wise USO final would triumph W final rather easily. Though match didn't seem to be as dramatic a W one but Med comeback after being down 2 sets and a break is nothing short than stuff of movies. You throw in shot clock in the final set, when Nadal seems to be playing as much against shot clock as he did against Med, drama quotient go even higher.
But what actually tilts scale in favor of this match, which also makes this match best match of year 2019, is the sheer quality of Tennis 3rd set onwards. Med had got his engine on somewhere in middle of 3rd set, may be triggered by that silly overhead miss by Nadal and after that he was unstoppable. I don't think Nadal could have done much to save that 3rd set. In the final game of 3rd set Med played like a man possessed and bludgeoned ball for back to back forehand down the line winners. As a reward he was able to break Nadal to take the match to 4th set. There were many other moments in the match which would make for the reel of classic tennis moments. Both players were brilliant tactically and kept changing their pattern of play. Nadal brought two outstanding changes which proved to be masterstroke - Sliding wide serve from the ad court on the backhand side of Med and wicked use of slices particularly once he sensed lethargy that Med was showed in getting that 6'6'' down to deal with low slices. On his part Med was very good with droppers and net play and exploited Nadal return position to some extent.
In comparison in W 19 , Djokovic form was just lukewarm only which kind of put a ceiling on the overall quality of the match. He was kind of hanging on in the match most of the time. I don't think there are many shots from the match which will be part of highlight reels for shot-making. Though I agree those two match points that Fed missed will be most watched moments on youtube from year 2019.
I could be little biased here because of the extent to which I was involved emotionally in USO final. But even if I use some discounting factor to offset my obvious bias, I would vote for USO final as the match of the year.
