Create Your Own Favorite Match, Set by Set

Third Serve

Third Serve

Talk Tennis Guru
I was inspired by the discussion of good / bad sets in the AO 2009 final to make this thread. Simply put, create your own favorite five-set match using your favorite sets from different matches. For example, put your favorite first set in the first set slot, your favorite second set in the second slot, and so on and so forth. I think finding the best fifth set might be the trickiest part of this activity...
 
Third Serve

Third Serve

Talk Tennis Guru
I’m not sure what I would do for this match. I think the third set would be the USO 2011 final’s third set but I don’t know about the others.
 
metsman

metsman

G.O.A.T.
Great thread.
First Set: 03 TMC F if I'm in mood for masterclass, or else 04 AO SF, 01 USO QF, or 07 Wimby F
Second Set: Federer-Roddick 03 Wimbledon, prettiest tennis ever. HM to 99 Wimby F and 95 Wimby SF (best I've ever seen anyone serve, actually hold that thought).
Third Set: 04 Wimby F or 07 Wimby F. Or 05 AO F for sheer badassery.
Fourth Set: Way too many good candidates, 95 Wimby SF (see above), 11 RG semi, Nadal-Fiasco, 09 AO F, Stan-Djoker, Pete-Andre 00 AO, Federer-Safin 05 AO, 08 Wimby F, but I'm gonna go with 80 WImby F.
Fifth Set: Definitely Fed-Safin. Obviously tons of other candidates to mention but why bother.
 
metsman

metsman

G.O.A.T.
I know I look like a real 90s hippy for that 95 Wimby semi reference but seriously do yourself the service of watching those sets. Or at least look at the stats, actually the best anyone's ever served, I wasn't kidding. Goran was an absolute terror in 94-95, unfortunately for him he ran into PEAK PETE. Consistently 25-30 aces and 90% on the first serve match in match out. First serve may have been even better than Ivo honestly when Goran was on those runs.
 
Last edited:
RS

RS

Bionic Poster
metsman said:
Great thread.
First Set: 03 TMC F if I'm in mood for masterclass, or else 04 AO SF, 01 USO QF, or 07 Wimby F
Second Set: Federer-Roddick 03 Wimbledon, prettiest tennis ever. HM to 99 Wimby F and 95 Wimby SF (best I've ever seen anyone serve, actually hold that thought).
Third Set: 04 Wimby F or 07 Wimby F. Or 05 AO F for sheer badassery.
Fourth Set: Way too many good candidates, 95 Wimby SF (see above), 11 RG semi, Nadal-Fiasco, 09 AO F, Stan-Djoker, Pete-Andre 00 AO, Federer-Safin 05 AO, 08 Wimby F, but I'm gonna go with 80 WImby F.
Fifth Set: Definitely Fed-Safin. Obviously tons of other candidates to mention but why bother.
Click to expand...
Better than Karlovic/Isner serving?
 
Standaa

Standaa

G.O.A.T.
metsman said:
I know I look like a real 90s hippy for that 95 Wimby semi reference but seriously do yourself the service of watching those sets. Or at least look at the stats, actually the best anyone's ever served, I wasn't kidding. Goran was an absolute terror in 94-95, unfortunately for him he ran into PEAK PETE. Consistently 25-30 aces and 90% on the first serve match in match out. First serve may have been even better than Ivo honestly when Goran was on those runs.
Click to expand...

Karlovic in Halle 2015 trumps Sampras in that semi in every stat catagory on serve.
 
metsman

metsman

G.O.A.T.
RS said:
Better than Karlovic/Isner serving?
Click to expand...
Isner isn't in this conversation, his first serve is way behind Karlovic or Goran and a few others because it degrades too much against good players because he lacks truly elite disguise, placement, spin, and depth. He's GOAT level in first serve percentage and 2nd serve though while having a top 10 first serve.

I have a hard time thinking of Karlovic serving this well on a stage this big. I mean I guess it's not fair to him because he could never get to a stage this big and overall he's definitely the GOAT server, but it's still hard to imagine him doing what Goran was doing on the first in those days.

You people do realize I was talking about Goran and not Pete right? Pete is the most alpha server but his first is a bit behind Goran's or Ivo's.
 
RS

RS

Bionic Poster
metsman said:
Isner isn't in this conversation, his first serve is way behind Karlovic or Goran and a few others because it degrades too much against good players because he lacks truly elite disguise, placement, spin, and depth. He's GOAT level in first serve percentage and 2nd serve though while having a top 10 first serve.

I have a hard time thinking of Karlovic serving this well on a stage this big. I mean I guess it's not fair to him because he could never get to a stage this big and overall he's definitely the GOAT server, but it's still hard to imagine him doing what Goran was doing on the first in those days.
Click to expand...
Okay never seen as much of that era as you . But that must be a big deal since IVO is 6 foot 11 while Goran is 6 foot 4. P4P i think guys like Arthurs and Roddick and Lopez are in the mix.
 
Standaa

Standaa

G.O.A.T.
metsman said:
You people do realize I was talking about Goran and not Pete right? Pete is the most alpha server but his first is a bit behind Goran's or Ivo's.
Click to expand...

okay, well Goran’s serve stats in that semi also lack behind Karlovic’s in Halle 2015 in every category.
 
metsman

metsman

G.O.A.T.
RS said:
Okay never seen as much of that era as you . But that must be a big deal since IVO is 6 foot 11 while Goran is 6 foot 4. P4P i think guys like Arthurs and Roddick and Lopez are in the mix.
Click to expand...
Arthurs yes, Roddick and Lopez no for first serve.
 
metsman

metsman

G.O.A.T.
StANDAA said:
you said "look at the stats, it’s best anyone’s ever served"

well I did that and it’s not true
Click to expand...
Well you didn't even realize what player I was talking about at first so...

Anyways, you're still wrong, but since I'm a nice guy I'll give you another shot. Did I say Goran's serving in the whole match was the best I've ever seen?
 
Standaa

Standaa

G.O.A.T.
metsman said:
Well you didn't even realize what player I was talking about at first so...

Anyways, I'll give you another shot. Did I say Goran's serving in the whole match was the best I've ever seen?
Click to expand...

well for start you didn’t even say which player you were talking about, only that it was the best serving you’ve seen. and since Sampras won the tourney and is the best server ever excuse me for at first thinking it was him you were talking about. plus Sampras and Ivanisevic have similar serve stats in that match. only afterwards you have edited your post and were specific about the player but that was after I’ve already wrote my post.
 
metsman

metsman

G.O.A.T.
StANDAA said:
well for start you didn’t even say which player you were talking about, only that it was the best serving you’ve seen. and since Sampras won the tourney and is the best server ever excuse me for at first thinking it was him youwere talking about. plus Sampras and Ivanisevic have similar serve stats in that match. only afterwards you have edited your post and were specific about the player but that was after I’ve already wrote my post.
Click to expand...
Well my post wasn't talking about any matches, it was talking about sets of matches in a thread specifically about sets of matches, hence the "hold that thought" so no, that would not be the logical conclusion.

Also, I never edited by original post, I made a new one to clarify. You still brought up Goran's match numbers even after I made that post. Just take the L.
 
Standaa

Standaa

G.O.A.T.
metsman said:
Well my post wasn't talking about any matches, it was talking about sets of matches in a thread specifically about sets of matches, hence the "hold that thought" so no, that would not be the logical conclusion.

Also, I never edited by original post, I made a new one to clarify. You still brought up Goran's match numbers even after I made that post. Just take the L.
Click to expand...

okay, may bad, for a moment i forgot that the thread is about specific sets.

btw. you’ve edited the post that I was responding to.
 
metsman

metsman

G.O.A.T.
StANDAA said:
okay, may bad, for a moment i forgot that the thread is about specific sets.

btw. you’ve edited the post that I was responding to.
Click to expand...
I didn't edit it regarding the goran-pete match, I added a new post to clarify why I put that on there. I think I edited it to add some other match. Whatever, this is a pretty useless discussion lol
 
M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
metsman said:
I know I look like a real 90s hippy for that 95 Wimby semi reference but seriously do yourself the service of watching those sets. Or at least look at the stats, actually the best anyone's ever served, I wasn't kidding. Goran was an absolute terror in 94-95, unfortunately for him he ran into PEAK PETE. Consistently 25-30 aces and 90% on the first serve match in match out. First serve may have been even better than Ivo honestly when Goran was on those runs.
Click to expand...

Yeah the 2nd and 4th sets were probably the best anyone’s ever served in a major sf.

goran served at 75% in the 2nd, won 100% of all first serve points.

he served at 82% in the 4th, won 94% of all first serve points.
 
MichaelNadal

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
AO 2009 first 4 sets, USO19 final set, done :D

UnkemptSadGangesdolphin-small.gif
 
Standaa

Standaa

G.O.A.T.
I’d say:

1) Fedal Wimbledon 07
2) Fedal Rome 06
3) Djokodal USO 11
4) Fedal 08 Wimbledon
5) I have no idea, so many candidates I’d need to think for a week and/or rewatch some.
 
Third Serve

Third Serve

Talk Tennis Guru
I've been meaning to bump this thread for quite some time now as I really like the premise and the discussion and wished to see more submissions, but with a full year passed and with the very recent addition of the dramatic 92-minute third set between Djokovic and Nadal in their French Open semifinal, I wonder what TT's thoughts are now. There were already some excellent mentions here but maybe there's more I'm missing? For example, Fedal played an excellent third set in their Wimbledon 2006 final.

Also, after checking out more and more matches over the lockdown, here's an approximation of my list:

First Set: Federer-Nadal Wimbledon 2007 final, hon. mention Sampras-Agassi US Open 2001 QF
Second Set: Safin-Agassi AO 2004 SF (I have to include at least one of the first three sets from this match here), hon. mention Nadal-Verdasco AO 2009 SF as well as a few others
Third Set: Nadal-Djokovic Wimbledon 2018 SF for the sheer drama as well as having respectable quality throughout, hon. mentions to 2006 Fedal Wimbledon final and 2011 US Open final
Fourth Set: There are way, way too many to choose from but I'll go with the classic Federer-Nadal Wimbledon 2008 final here, @metsman listed all of the honorable mentions pretty much lol
Fifth Set: Safin-Federer AO 2005 SF. Hon. mentions to Wawrinka-Djokovic AO 2013 4R, Fedal Wimbledon 2008 F, and Djokovic-Nadal RG 2013 SF, and Thiem-Zverev US Open 2020 final

Some really tough competition out there tbh
 
The Guru

The Guru

Legend
Djokodal theme:
First Set: Madrid 11
Second Set: Madrid 09
Third Set: USO 11
Fourth Set: AO 12
Fifth Set: RG 13

5-7 6-7 7-6 7-6 9-7 Nadal
Epic
 
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