5-set Slam finals

[krosero]

Okay, someone in another thread mentioned a drought recently in 5-set Slam finals. I looked back through the Open Era and made this list.

1968 Ashe-Okker (USO)
1969
1970 Newcombe-Rosewall (W)
1971 Newcombe-Smith (W)
1972 Smith-Nastase (W), Nastase-Ashe (USO)
1973 Newcombe-Kodes (USO)
1974 Borg-Orantes (FO)
1975
1976
1977 Borg-Connors (W), Gerulaitis-Lloyd (AO)
1978
1979 Borg-Tanner (W)
1980 Borg-McEnroe (W), McEnroe-Borg (USO)
1981 Borg-Lendl (FO)
1982 Connors-McEnroe (W)
1983
1984 Lendl-McEnroe (FO)
1985
1986
1987 Edberg-Cash (AO)
1988 Wilander-Cash (AO), Wilander-Lendl (USO)
1989 Chang-Edberg (FO)
1990 Edberg-Becker (W)
1991 Courier-Agassi (FO)
1992 Agassi-Ivanisevic (W)
1993 Bruguera-Courier (FO)
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998 Sampras-Ivanisevic (W)
1999 Agassi-Medvedev (FO), Agassi-Martin (USO)
2000
2001 Ivanisevic-Rafter (W)
2002
2003
2004 Gaudio-Coria (FO)
2005
2006
2007

In five-set finals:

Borg is 5-1
Newcombe is 3-0
Wilander is 2-0
Agassi is 3-1
Edberg is 2-1
Ashe is 1-1
Nastase is 1-1
Smith is 1-1
Courier is 1-1
Connors is 1-1
Lendl is 1-2
Ivanisevic is 1-2
McEnroe is 1-3
Cash is 0-2

Wilander and Agassi are the only ones to win two in a single calendar year.

Borg, Lendl, Agassi and Gaudio are the only ones to win from two sets down; they all did it at the French.

Gaudio is the only winner of the lot to face a match point.

 

[pj80]

nice stat...

 

[ximian]

It makes sense why there is a drought, Federer is simply too dominant. I wouldn't expect a 5 set Slam Final anytime this year, either.

 

[tennishead93]

how long did that take to do.

 

[krosero]

how long did that take to do.

I don't know, less than an hour.

 

[Gillian]

Interesting stuff. Thank you.

 

[krosero]

We've now had the last two Wimbledon finals, to add to the list.

So out of 30 Slam finals in the Open Era that have gone five sets, 13 have been at Wimbledon.

 

[westside]

Can't forget last years Wimbledon final

 

[consistency wins]

We've now had the last two Wimbledon finals, to add to the list.

So out of 30 Slam finals in the Open Era that have gone five sets, 13 have been at Wimbledon.

I only count 25 going five sets according to your list plus 07 and 08 Wimbledon finals....

 

[consistency wins]

Can't forget last years Wimbledon final

He/she didn't. Look at the post above yours....

 

[krosero]

I only count 25 going five sets according to your list plus 07 and 08 Wimbledon finals....

Including the Nadal-Federer finals, there would be 25 lines (or 25 years) containing such finals. But five of those years had two such finals, so that's 30 finals altogether.

 

[westside]

He/she didn't. Look at the post above yours....

LOL my bad

 

[krosero]

Only ones to go to 6-all in the fifth:

Borg-McEnroe (1980)
Wilander-Cash (1988 )
Ivanisevic-Rafter (2001)
Coria-Gaudio (2003)
Nadal-Federer (2008 )

 

[consistency wins]

Including the Nadal-Federer finals, there would be 25 lines (or 25 years) containing such finals. But five of those years had two such finals, so that's 30 finals altogether.

Ha! Now it's MY turn to say:

"My bad..."

 

[krosero]

So now we've had three more five-set finals, all in 2009.

This is the first year in the Open Era that three have been played.

 

[tudwell]

Does that put Federer at 2-3 in five set grand slam finals?

 

[ubermeyer]

Hey, can you update the list so that Federer's 5 setters are up there?

 

[drwood]

Fed's 5 set finals:
1. Wimbledon 2007 vs Nadal (win) -- was up 2 sets to 1
2. Wimbledon 2008 vs. Nadal (loss) -- was down 2 sets to 1
3. Australian 2009 vs. Nadal (loss) -- was down 2 sets to 1
4. Wimbledon 2009 vs. Roddick (win) -- was up 2 sets to 1
5. Wimbledon 2009 vs. Del Potro (loss) -- was up to sets to 1

 

[IvanAndreevich]

2. Wimbledon 2008 vs. Nadal (loss) -- was down 2 sets to 1

Erm how about was down 2 sets to 0?

 

[drwood]

Erm how about was down 2 sets to 0?

Good point. Sampras would have just mailed it in and lost in straight sets to an on-fire opponent (i.e. Krajicek 1996 Wimbledon, Safin 2000 US Open, Hewitt 2001 US Open, Philippousis 1996 Australian) but Fed dug in and at least pushed Rafa to 5 sets.

 

[IvanAndreevich]

Good point. Sampras would have just mailed it in and lost in straight sets to an on-fire opponent (i.e. Krajicek 1996 Wimbledon, Safin 2000 US Open, Hewitt 2001 US Open, Philippousis 1996 Australian) but Fed dug in and at least pushed Rafa to 5 sets.

I would have lost a bit of respect for Fed had he not made the push to come back. As it stands, he still lost but we got a fun match out of it.

 

[krosero]

latest update

 

[dh003i]

If my quick overview of the chart is right, Federer has been in more Major finals that went to 5 sets than anyone else.7 Major finals that went to 5 sets, and he's won 3 of them. Borg was in 6 and won 5 of them.

 

[dh003i]

If my quick overview of the chart is right, Federer has been in more Major finals that went to 5 sets than anyone else.7 Major finals that went to 5 sets, and he's won 3 of them. Borg was in 6 and won 5 of them.

 

[krosero]

If I've done my math right, Federer has played more of these than anyone in history. He and Borg and Tilden were each at 6. Fed now has 7 with a 3-4 record.

 

[krosero]

If my quick overview of the chart is right, Federer has been in more Major finals that went to 5 sets than anyone else.7 Major finals that went to 5 sets, and he's won 3 of them. Borg was in 6 and won 5 of them.

ha ha cross-post!

 

[krosero]

lot more 5-setters on grass for some reason

 

[NatF]

lot more 5-setters on grass for some reason

Easier to hold serve so more coin flip tiebreaks maybe? Are we accounting for the AO being on grass until the late 80's and the USO on grass until the late 70's?

 

[krosero]

Easier to hold serve so more coin flip tiebreaks maybe? Are we accounting for the AO being on grass until the late 80's and the USO on grass until the late 70's?

I was thinking something like that too. But I should run the numbers for the entire span (OE and before) and see what kind of pattern emerges. Even then we're only looking at finals so it's not the best sample size.

 

[NatF]

I was thinking something like that too. But I should run the numbers for the entire span (OE and before) and see what kind of pattern emerges. Even then we're only looking at finals so it's not the best sample size.

It would be great to see that.

 

[krosero]

update

In five-set finals, out of those players who have appeared in more than one:

Newcombe 3-0

Wilander 2-0

Borg 5-1

Agassi 3-1

Djokovic 3-1

Edberg 2-1

Ashe 1-1

Nastase 1-1

Smith 1-1

Connors 1-1

Courier 1-1

Federer 4-5

Nadal 2-3

Lendl 1-2

Ivanisevic 1-2

McEnroe 1-3

Cash 0-2

 

[krosero]

The longest Wimbledon championship matches in history are:

2009 Federer-Roddick: 77 games/tiebreaks
2019 Djokovic-Federer: 68 games/tiebreaks
2008 Nadal-Federer: 62 games/tiebreaks
(TIE)
2014 Djokovic-Federer: 58 games/tiebreaks
1954 Drobny-Rosewall: 58 games

Federer's been involved in 4 of the 5 longest Wimbledon finals.

And it's ironic, Wimbledon's three longest finals have been played in the tiebreak era.

 

[The Harkleroad]

So Federer has played in the last 4 slam finals that went to 5 sets.

Only 11 times in the last 15 years a Slam Final went to 5 sets and Federer has played in 9 of them.

He's in the last 5 Wimbledon Finals that went the distance.

 

[krosero]

update

 

[Third Serve]

2009 had some great finals.

 

[UnderratedSlam]

It makes sense why there is a drought, Federer is simply too dominant. I wouldn't expect a 5 set Slam Final anytime this year, either.

Nadal was just getting warmed up for some serious deGOATing, as we later found out.

 

[Nadal_King]

update

Look at dominance of rafa that french hasn't seen a 5 set final since his first win in 2005

 

[JaoSousa]

update

Two Renshaw GOATs in 1883 and 1882