Best Australian Open match from 2000's

[lud]

Hey guys, again. Now it's Australian Open.
Hands down, AO has best quality matches of 2000's. Easily. There are so many to chioce, but here we go..

Here's some honorouble mentions:
2003 Nalbandian vs Federer in 4.Round
2004 Safin vs Roddick in Quarter-Final
2004 Safin vs Agassi in Semi-Final
2005 Hewitt vs Nadal in 4.Round
2005 Hewitt vs Nalbandian in Quarter-Final
2006 Baghdatis vs Ljubicic in Quarter-Final
2008 Federer vs Tipsarevic in 3.Round
2012 Nadal vs Federer in Semi-Final
2012 Djokovic vs Murray in Semi-Final

 

[Poisoned Slice]

Agassi vs Sampras holds a special place in my heart.

 

[NatF]

All those honourable mentions were better than the 2011 SF.

 

[Bukmeikara]

Wawrinka - Djokovic 2013, the match point sums it up and before that Stan saved another match point with a legendary backhand

 

[lud]

All those honourable mentions were better than the 2011 SF.

More dramatic for sure. But level of play in 2011 SF was simply insane!

 

[lud]

Like I said before, AO is best GS for quality.

My vote is 2003 QF Roddick vs El Aynaoui.
Such a intense,dramatic match.Attacking at his best. El Aynaoui had match point ,Roddick saves.Than Roddick serve for match Younes made come back.. 2005 SF,2009SF and 2013 4.Round are close second.

 

[NatF]

More dramatic for sure. But level of play in 2011 SF was simply insane!

The quality in the 2004 was higher. I wasn't that impressed with the 2011 match.

Anyway, neither would get my vote anyway. I think the 2003 QF Roddick vs El Aynaoui is the best for quality/drama/sportsmanship. It was all court tennis played at a very high level by both men.

 

[lud]

The quality in the 2004 was higher. I wasn't that impressed with the 2011 match.

Anyway, neither would get my vote anyway. I think the 2003 QF Roddick vs El Aynaoui is the best for quality/drama/sportsmanship. It was all court tennis played at a very high level by both men.

My vote exactly.

 

[falstaff78]

No AO match in the last 15 years matches Federer-Safin 2005 for absolute, god-mode, beasting, goating POWER. It was the best hard court player of all time, at the absolute height of his powers, being taken down by a inconsistent maverick who reached unimaginable heights on that one melbourne evening. Heck it might be the best match at ANY major since 2000.

That it was a de facto final, ended 9-7 in the fifth and that Federer was denied match points in the 4th set tie-break are all convenient factors for accountants to quibble over.

 

[metsman]

Nothing tops my avatar

First 4 sets of 09 were arguably the highest quality tennis I have seen but absolute clunker of a 5th set. 09 and Roddick El Aynaoui semi comes close though that was a ridiculous match.

 

[metsman]

No AO match in the last 15 years matches Federer-Safin 2005 for absolute, god-mode, beasting, goating POWER. It was the best hard court player of all time, at the absolute height of his powers, being taken down by a inconsistent maverick who reached unimaginable heights on that one melbourne evening. Heck it might be the best match at ANY major since 2000.

That it was a de facto final, ended 9-7 in the fifth and that Federer was denied match points in the 4th set tie-break are all convenient factors for accountants to quibble over.

best match ever imo.

 

[falstaff78]

Hey OP. Great series of posts. And thanks for all the hard work to curate the selections, and put together the polls with the scorelines and everything.

Lots of work, but worth it.

Once the voting is in for the four majors, and maybe a best of the rest (Fed-Nadal Rome 2006, Fed-Nalby Master 2005), you could perhaps take the most popular options and do a "best match since 2000" thread?

 

[lud]

Hey OP. Great series of posts. And thanks for all the hard work to curate the selections, and put together the polls with the scorelines and everything.

Lots of work, but worth it.

Once the voting is in for the four majors, and maybe a best of the rest (Fed-Nadal Rome 2006, Fed-Nalby Master 2005), you could perhaps take the most popular options and do a "best match since 2000" thread?

Thanks for attention. It's not the problem create topics and polls,problem is that site allows only 10 opinions per topic.

 

[falstaff78]

Thanks for attention. It's not the problem create topics and polls,problem is that site allows only 10 opinions per topic.

Either way great work. Look fwd to the best of non-major matches and best of the best threads if you decide to make them

 

[Inanimate_object]

This is too difficult a choice. AO 09 final is the greatest match I have ever seen, but Djokovic v. Wawrinka 2013 was so good...and Safin v. Federer 2005 was so good...and Sampras v. Agassi 2000 is just unforgettable...

 

[HewittAlwaysDisappoints]

Like I said before, AO is best GS for quality.

My vote is 2003 QF Roddick vs El Aynaoui.
Such a intense,dramatic match.Attacking at his best. El Aynaoui had match point ,Roddick saves.Than Roddick serve for match Younes made come back.. 2005 SF,2009SF and 2013 4.Round are close second.

which therefore makes it the best slam full stop

With all these best matches at AO, best matches of all-time or from the past decade, there is only one answer: Nadal Verdasco 09

Anyone who says otherwise is wrong

 

[lud]

I have one problem with 2005 SF. Too many UE from booth Players. 119 UE overall. Safin 60 , Federer 59.

 

[metsman]

I have one problem with 2005 SF. Too many UE from booth Players. 119 UE overall. Safin 60 , Federer 59.

that's not the best way to measure a match when most of those UE's were going for the lines because they were pushing each other so much.

Plus that was a long match, 119 isn't that many.

The 09 final had 121 winners to 105 UFE. The 05 semi was 137 to 119. The 05 semi had 395 points while the 09 final had 347. So if you extrapolate the stats out for the 09 final to the length of the 05 semi, you actually 137.7 winners to 119.5 UFE. Basically indentical. First 4 sets of 09 were better but the 5th set of 05 destroys the 5th set of 09 so I put that match ahead. 09 semi is a real contender though, but all the tiebreaks were fairly noncompetitive and the 5th set was good but not an absolute classic like 05.

Plus both of the 09 matches had the predictable, huge firepower offense vs the scrambling and sick defense of Nadal, who would go on the offensive at times but was mostly relying on defense vs the barrage of Verdasco and Federer. That's extremely high quality tennis but personally I prefer amazing offense vs amazing offense with good defense still mixed in and the 05 final perfectly encapsulated that. Both guys were serving big, returning aggressively, coming to net, moving exceptionally well.

 

[InsideOut900]

Nadal-Verdasco gets my vote for the contrasting style of play and level of play. @metsman You can disagree,but style contrast usually makes it up for a beautiful match
Djokovic-Wawrinka gets the second spot,just one bit lesser qualitywise,but more dramatic,lots sick winners by Stan and the same contrast of styles.
2009 final is third(5th set nuff siad),tied with 2005 semi(a little bit of choking from both,too many UE for a match between offensive players and hardly any contrast).
To be fair,I would put them all 4 on tie,but there must be a choice.

 

[mavsman149]

A tie for first place with Roddick vs Younes and Safin vs Federer 05. Honorable mention to Nadal vs Verdasco 09 and Djokovic vs Nadal 12.

 

[metsman]

that's not the best way to measure a match when most of those UE's were going for the lines because they were pushing each other so much.

Plus that was a long match, 119 isn't that many.

The 09 final had 121 winners to 105 UFE. The 05 semi was 137 to 119. The 05 semi had 395 points while the 09 final had 347. So if you extrapolate the stats out for the 09 final to the length of the 05 semi, you actually 137.7 winners to 119.5 UFE. Basically indentical. First 4 sets of 09 were better but the 5th set of 05 destroys the 5th set of 09 so I put that match ahead. 09 semi is a real contender though, but all the tiebreaks were fairly noncompetitive and the 5th set was good but not an absolute classic like 05.

Plus both of the 09 matches had the predictable, huge firepower offense vs the scrambling and sick defense of Nadal, who would go on the offensive at times but was mostly relying on defense vs the barrage of Verdasco and Federer. That's extremely high quality tennis but personally I prefer amazing offense vs amazing offense with good defense still mixed in and the 05 final perfectly encapsulated that. Both guys were serving big, returning aggressively, coming to net, moving exceptionally well.

those three are I think the best AO matches ever so how you order them depends on your preference.

09 semi for me the playstyle was too predictable imo..Verdasco was just going for broke all the time and Nadal was scrambling to stay alive. 09 final was better from that way as Nadal was more offensive particularly his backhand but the 5th set was just a buzzkill as was the 3rd set tiebreak after an otherwise high quality set. 05 semi though had everything. 4th set TB in 05 was incredible, Federer played some sick shots to get the MP, Safin then saved it with clutch play(although I think Fed had time to play something other than a tweener) and the 5th set was sooooo good. Remember Safin had the break, was serving at 5-3, had match points in that game. Then had 15-40 on the next Federer service game and then 15-40 I think again at 6-7. Fed was saving match points left and right before he was finally (literally) brought to his knees.

The returning and net play in the 05 is very underrated and wasn't there as much in the other two matches.

 

[metsman]

Nadal-Verdasco gets my vote for the contrasting style of play and level of play. @metsman You can disagree,but style contrast usually makes it up for a beautiful match
Djokovic-Wawrinka gets the second spot,just one bit lesser qualitywise,but more dramatic,lots sick winners by Stan and the same contrast of styles.
2009 final is third,tied with 2005 semi.
To be fair,I would put them all 4 on tie,but there must be a choice.

I'm saying I prefer the style of the 05 match, other people may prefer the stark contrast in the 09 matches and that is fine. I love watching the best defense vs the best offense. but I'd rather have two guys taking it to each other and playing plenty of defense with that as well. Also the drama of the 05 match is tough to beat too with Safin playing a clutch MP to save in the 4th and Fed saving 5-6 match points in the 5th.

 

[lud]

that's not the best way to measure a match when most of those UE's were going for the lines because they were pushing each other so much.

Plus that was a long match, 119 isn't that many.

The 09 final had 121 winners to 105 UFE. The 05 semi was 137 to 119. The 05 semi had 395 points while the 09 final had 347. So if you extrapolate the stats out for the 09 final to the length of the 05 semi, you actually 137.7 winners to 119.5 UFE. Basically indentical. First 4 sets of 09 were better but the 5th set of 05 destroys the 5th set of 09 so I put that match ahead. 09 semi is a real contender though, but all the tiebreaks were fairly noncompetitive and the 5th set was good but not an absolute classic like 05.

Plus both of the 09 matches had the predictable, huge firepower offense vs the scrambling and sick defense of Nadal, who would go on the offensive at times but was mostly relying on defense vs the barrage of Verdasco and Federer. That's extremely high quality tennis but personally I prefer amazing offense vs amazing offense with good defense still mixed in and the 05 final perfectly encapsulated that. Both guys were serving big, returning aggressively, coming to net, moving exceptionally well.

I agree that many of these unforced were actually forced errors.Because it was such ludicrous tempo through whole match.