21st Century Greatest Comeback In A Final? (1000+)

[BGod]

Out of the Slams and ATP 1000 tournament finals beginning in 2000, what was the greatest comeback?

Was reminded of the 2005 Tour Final, when it was best of 5 sets.

Nalbandian came back after losing first two sets in tiebreaks to win, 6-2, 6-1 and 7-6 in the third set after being down 30-0 on Federer's serve at 5-6.

After that, I'd peg the 2005 Miami Masters Final where it was Federer who came back down 2 sets to none and 3-5 in the third set tiebreaker before coasting 6-3, 6-1 to the title.

And then a shout-out to Djokovic's stunner at the 2012 Shanghai Masters. Saving 5 championship points to win the 2nd set tiebreak 13-11 and the title with 6-3 in the third set.

 

[oberyn]

Gaudio has to get props for doing it in a slam final, coming back from 2 sets down at the 2004 French Open.

 

[Hood_Man]

Gaudio has to get props for doing it in a slam final, coming back from 2 sets down at the 2004 French Open.

I wish I could forget that one

 

[The Green Mile]

2005 Madrid Masters comes to mind. Ljubicic vs Nadal on an indoor hardcourt. Fav surface vs least fav surface. Ljubicic's best year(or 06) and leading 2 sets to love, winning them quite comfortably. Ridiculous.

Nadal vs Coria at Rome 2005 was all sorts of ups and downs.

 

[Steve0904]

Off the top of my head, Djokovic's AO 2012 comes to mind. He only lost the first set, but all circumstances considered, I think it qualifies.

 

[westside]

Hewitt v Federer 2003 Davis Cup SF

Hewitt was down 2-6 7-6 3-5 and rallied back to win the last 3 sets 7-6 7-5 6-1.

 

[Zoid]

Hewitt v Federer 2003 Davis Cup SF

Hewitt was down 2-6 7-6 3-5 and rallied back to win the last 3 sets 7-6 7-5 6-1.

at 5-3 down in the third he was also down 40-15 on federer's serve. Hands down the greatest comeback I have seen in my time

 

[Prabhanjan]

Gaudio's was special considering that he was bagelled in the first set much to the agony of the Coria fans

Hewitt//Fed/Nalbandian/Nadal/Nole all have something other to compensate for unlike either Gaudio/Coria.

 

[John6239]

- 2004 french Open with Coria losing after being up two sets and nearly a double break.
- fed coming back from 2 sets down against Nadal in Miami 2005 final
- Fed coming back 1 set down 2-6 in the second set tiebreak against roddick in wimbledon 2009
-

 

[Deleted member 716271]

Off the top of my head, Djokovic's AO 2012 comes to mind. He only lost the first set, but all circumstances considered, I think it qualifies.

Haha no, I'm a bigger Novak fan than Rafa but I would guess you just enjoyed it because it was 1 less slam for Nadal.

Great courage by Novak to win 2 5 and 6 hour matches in a row, but in no way was that one of "the greatest comebacks"

 

[Deleted member 716271]

Most people do not realize this, but the 2005 Miami Masters win was due to a bad call.

Nadal was up on Fed's serve 0-30 3-4 in the 3rd and Fed hit a forehand quite a bit long that wasn't called, Nadal stopped and argued a bit...Nadal ended up getting the game to deuce...so difficult to argue he wouldn't have won it if the call was correct. He then would have been up 2 sets to love and 5-3, serving for the match if the correct call had been made.

 

[NatF]

Nadal probably would of won that game but there's no guarantee's. There could of been other less obvious bad calls in the match - probably not on such pivotal points though. Federer still had to win the next 2.5 sets anyway.

I'm sure Chico will point out that Nadal benefited from favorable calls in the past

 

[Deleted member 716271]

Nadal probably would of won that game but there's no guarantee's. There could of been other less obvious bad calls in the match - probably not on such pivotal points though. Federer still had to win the next 2.5 sets anyway.

I'm sure Chico will point out that Nadal benefited from favorable calls in the past

In general I don't like to point them out because I agree it often happens and you play through it

But I'm sorry this was a pretty obvious case where the blown call could have likely changed the outcome of the match.

 

[NatF]

In general I don't like to point them out because I agree it often happens and you play through it

But I'm sorry this was a pretty obvious case where the blown call could have likely changed the outcome of the match.

We'll never know

But I agree, it's quite likely Nadal would of won there.

 

[Deleted member 716271]

We'll never know

But I agree, it's quite likely Nadal would of won there.

Fortunately something like that can't really happen these days with hawkeye. Hawkeye could be wrong, but the margin of error is less than the human eye so you just accept that.

The most that could happen is someone would be out of challenges, or chooses not to, or a point has to be replayed when someone was leading significantly in the point (especially if on return)

I think comebacks have become less likely in big finals, there has been a trend of one player leading than another coming back often from 2 sets down, sometimes just coming back down in the 4th set to force a 5th, but rather than have the momentum, seems to fold from the exhaustive continued effort. This is especially prevalent amongst the top guys ...might have something to do with both guys being extremely fit.

Examples:

Wimbledon 2008, AO 2009, AO 2012, USO 2012, RG 13 sf, Wimbledon 2014

 

[MichaelNadal]

Haha no, I'm a bigger Novak fan than Rafa but I would guess you just enjoyed it because it was 1 less slam for Nadal.

Great courage by Novak to win 2 5 and 6 hour matches in a row, but in no way was that one of "the greatest comebacks"

I hope that changes in 2015 :twisted:

 

[Failed overrule]

no one mentioned Delpo at USO09?
Strange.
from this year it has to be one of Dimugtrov's comebacks - either at Acapulco or Queens.

 

[John6239]

no one mentioned Delpo at USO09?
Strange.
from this year it has to be one of Dimugtrov's comebacks - either at Acapulco or Queens.

Yea that was a very good one.

 

[Mainad]

Djokovic at 2012 Shanghai final. He was a set and a break down against Murray and had to save 5 match points before turning the match around and winning it. I believe it was an important win for him psychologically after having just lost the US Open final to Murray and re-booted his confidence against him especially on hardcourts.

 

[Deleted member 716271]

Djokovic at 2012 Shanghai final. He was a set and a break down against Murray and had to save 5 match points before turning the match around and winning it. I believe it was an important win for him psychologically after having just lost the US Open final to Murray and re-booted his confidence against him especially on hardcourts.

Good one!

That was incredible, really

However, Murray having just won the USOpen it kind of gets lost in the fray a bit.

It looked like maybe Djoko would have come back down 2 sets to love then, major kudos to Andy for finishing him off for his 1st slam win