Best ever match your favourite played and lost

Anyone for RG07 for Federer. On clay atleast? Though probably not any Fed fan would select that as his best match as he didn't even took it to 5.

@RS Maybe you were right all day, one of the best match? RG should upload.
 
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Phenomenal said:
Anyone for RG07 for Federer. On clay atleast? Though probably not any Fed fan would select that as his best match and not even took it to 5.

@RS Maybe you were right all day, one of the best match? RG should upload.
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Possibly. Don't think Fed fans would have it as high up as AO 05 SF or Rome 06 F which most Fed fans tend to choose.
 
Otacon said:
Safin beating Fed at the AO'05, was an extraordinary match, wasn't even mad when he lost, Safin deserved his moment of glory.
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Watch Federer at the end. He's match point down, falls over, Safin is easily able to put away the ball to win the match, but you still see Federer crawling on the ground trying to get to his feet to keep playing the point.

"Federer is not a fighter", what world do people live in.
 
Hood_Man said:
Probably the only tennis match ever played where the better player lost.
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One of the few matches the loser maybe has a argument for being the better player even though I would still say Novak was the better player.
 
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It’s still AO 2005 SF. Then Rome 2006 F. Third place is distant.

2009 AO is almost up there but the poor serving and stinker of a fifth set are big blemishes on an otherwise fantastic performance.
 
Phenomenal said:
Anyone for RG07 for Federer. On clay atleast? Though probably not any Fed fan would select that as his best match as he didn't even took it to 5.

@RS Maybe you were right all day, one of the best match? RG should upload.
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It was the best RG match he played against Nadal but there’s still Rome 2006 if we’re talking all of clay.
 
Becker - YEC final 1996
Rafter - Wimbledon final 2001
Pete - AO SF 2000 or Stuttgart F 1996
Borg - USO F 1980

Edit: as I was an Agassi fan at the time it happened USO QF 2001 and (considering it was a three-setter) IW final 1995.
 
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Third Serve said:
He was better in sets 1 and 3 going into the tiebreak. It was really those tiebreaks that made the match.
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But the TB is part of the set. The defining part actually.

Roger had more BP opportunities in those sets IIRC but he didn’t convert. That hardly makes him better
 
alexio said:
you play/played tennis (at any level, no matter) or just a spectator, like me?:)
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I played on local level as a kid/teen but cannot really translate it into those ratings used in the US. My guess would be 3.5/4.0 or something. Focused more on football and later basketball though. Started tennis as an adult years later again and now play maybe once a month (sometimes more sometimes less). So nothing special but still like it.
 
Third Serve said:
It was the best RG match he played against Nadal but there’s still Rome 2006 if we’re talking all of clay.
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I was very impressed with Fed's play in Rome 2006 and certainly one of his best ever match on clay but Nadal was really much better at RG 07 in comparison. Nadal was not quite impressive imo.
Just tranistion even makes Nadal play better at RG in same year due to different conditions etc.

It's similiar to what Fed fans claim sometimes btw 07 -08 Wimbledon finals. Though Fed fans claim so many like that, i mean by looking from Fed's perspective.
 
The Blond Blur said:
Zv_irP.gif
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An iconic image of tennis history :D
 
Hitman said:
For Djokovic it is Madrid 2009 semi final. The best three set clay court match of all time imo.
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I guess RG 2013 would probably be his best performance in terms of the slams but IIRC he also played at a pretty high level at the 2014 AO when he lost to Wawrinka.
 
AO14 QF. Probably the angriest I've ever been at a tennis match. Novak was up a break in the 5th, won 8 more points, had more winners, made less forced and unforced errors and still lost because of one terrible game. What made things worse is that he won literally everything after USO just for the first loss to come at the next slam (from a guy he defeated in the last 3 HC slams and the tournament before). I honestly feel like Djokovic would be safe against anyone else on that day, but unfortunately just came up short against Wawrinka. Wasn't great in the 3rd set, but I don't remember any Djokovic losses where he would be good in all 5 sets (like Federer in W19 for example). That's also why I'd pick W18 in front of AO12 for Rafa. With Novak, RG13 had too many on and off moments for me to put it there.
 
The top 5 for Fed:

AO 05 semi
Rome 06 final
*gap*
AO 09 final
Wim 08 final

for Nadal top 2 should be Wim 07 final and AO 12 final in that order. gap and then Wim 18 semi.

for Djokovic, AO 14 QF and then RG 11/13 SFs
 
Nadal: 2007 Wimbledon
Federer: 2005 AO
Tsonga: 2011 RG (vs GOATwrinka)
Medvedev: 2019 US Open / 2022 AO
Wawrinka: 2012 RG (vs Tsonga)

Bonus Non-Bo5: NishikoriGOAT losing Madrid 2014 final to Rafa after playing some of the most insane clay court tennis ever but injuring himself during the match.
 
RS said:
Possibly. Don't think Fed fans would have it as high up as AO 05 SF or Rome 06 F which most Fed fans tend to choose.
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I’ve got to be careful with this because it is a sacred match, but I’ve watched Rome 2006 Final a few more time in recent years and Rafa’s level is not as good as I had mis-remembered it.

I had talked for years about that being peak Rafa and it is certainly within the timeframe but in that particular match he was missing forehands that Rafa during that time just didn’t miss when he was at his best.

Federer for what it’s worth is still brilliant in the match. I honestly think he played the better tennis for the majority of the match and it’s one of those Big 3 matches where if you watched an abridged version of the match without knowing the score you might think the other player won.
 
For some other favorites apart from federer:

Edberg: Wim 91 SF

Tsonga: AO 13 QF vs fed (under-rated match)

Nalbandian: AO 04 QF vs fed, USO 03 SF vs Roddick next

Safin: Hamburg 00 final vs Kuerten, YEC 04 semi vs fed

Borg: USO 80 F vs Mac

Mac: Wim 80 F vs Borg
 
MeatTornado said:
That was a big part of it too. I couldn't stand that he was winning everything in those 04-07 years. I actually thought he was bad for tennis.

I always liked his style of play though, so once he was losing more I could root for him without feeling like a front runner. Losing is more endearing than dominating.
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Same, exact same. I did root for him at RG exclusively during those years, though. I genuinely could not stand Nadal back then mind, so that might have been a part of it.

Anyway, Rome 2006
 
Sampras losing to Agassi in AO 2000 semis. He hurt his thigh late in the fourth set, so the last set was not competitive. But the first 4 sets were the best these two played against each other, much better quality than the highly touted US 2001 match.
 
Djokovic vs Nadal 2013 RG SF, it looked as though Djokovic was finally going to beat Nadal when he went up an early break in the 5th set (even though he should have been sent packing in 4 sets).

However, knowing that it's Nadal and especially at RG, Nadal was not going to go down without a fight, Nadal's FH was on fire in that 5th set, Djokovic ran into the net like an idiot trying to put away an overhead, after Djokovic lost that point, I knew Nadal was going to win in the end.
 
Subway Tennis said:
I’ve got to be careful with this because it is a sacred match, but I’ve watched Rome 2006 Final a few more time in recent years and Rafa’s level is not as good as I had mis-remembered it.

I had talked for years about that being peak Rafa and it is certainly within the timeframe but in that particular match he was missing forehands that Rafa during that time just didn’t miss when he was at his best.

Federer for what it’s worth is still brilliant in the match. I honestly think he played the better tennis for the majority of the match and it’s one of those Big 3 matches where if you watched an abridged version of the match without knowing the score you might think the other player won.
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Exactly my thoughts about the match. I'm glad that finally i see someone have similiar opinion on it.
 
abmk said:
For some other favorites apart from federer:

Edberg: Wim 91 SF

Tsonga: AO 13 QF vs fed (under-rated match)

Nalbandian: AO 04 QF vs fed, USO 03 SF vs Roddick next

Safin: Hamburg 00 final vs Kuerten, YEC 04 semi vs fed

Borg: USO 80 F vs Mac

Mac: Wim 80 F vs Borg
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Tsonga had some good runs at AO other than the known ATG level AO 08.
 
McEnroe: 1984 vs Lendl. Is recently rewatched this match. Mac played extremely well throughout most of this match. A couple of things happened where Lendl went into absolute beast mode

1. He started using his topspin lob in the 3rd set. He had some very good lobs after being thrown into a very defensive position as well.

2. He started returning Mac’s serves. He was reading them perfectly, then returning them with interest for outright winners.

3. His rallies became laser-accurate. He was able to hit cross court winners past Max, who was at the net.

Lendl’s adjustments were pure genius, unfortunately. Mac really didn’t choke that match away. There weee a few instances where I was upset. But I would call it a choke. For instance, at 3-3 in the 5th set with Lendl serving at 15-40, Mac hit back-to-back unforced errors to allow Lendl to get to deuce. The one in particular at 15-40 maybe could have been a winner, had he hit it right. But by that point, Lendl had been brilliant at hitting both defensive and offensive topspin lobs. And then on match point, Mac should have put the ball away at the net. But he sent it wide. Otherwise, it was a brilliant match.

Federer:

1. 2006 Rome vs Rafa. Let’s face it. Fed isn’t beating Rafa on this surface in a best of 5 setup. If he couldn’t do it here, then he was never going to pull that off.

2. 2005 AO semi. Fed was on a 26-match winning streak headed into that semi. 22 of those 26 matches were won in straight sets, which includes 14 consecutive straight set wins right before that match with Safin. A Ed
 
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