Big 4. Matches that changed/defined h2h

[lud]

Nadal vs Federer - Rome 2006 of Wimbledon 2008. I can't decide. Rome 2006 was best Federer performance against Nadal on clay ever, Fed was better player, but ultimately choked in the end.I believe if Fed win this match, their h2h would be much more closer. Wimbly 2008 was another extremely important match. Nadal beat Fed in his own backyard was probably biggest slap in Fed's career.


Djokovic vs Nadal - Madrid 2011. Nadal was 16-9 before this match. First ever victory for Djoko on clay vs Nadal. This match was turning point.


Djokovic vs Murray - Shanghai 2012. This one is obvious. Murray beat him at Olympics and Us Open, and h2h was still close(11-8). Rest is history.


Federer vs Murray - Cincinnati 2009. Murray was 6-2 vs Roger at that point ??. Today is 14-11.

 

[buscemi]

Djokovic vs Nadal - Madrid 2011. Nadal was 16-9 before this match. First ever victory for Djoko on clay vs Nadal. This match was turning point.

I don't know about that. As you note, it was 16-9 Nadal at that point, or +7 for Nadal. Djokovic, of course then won all their matchups through the 2012 Australian Open to close the gap to 16-14, or +2 for Nadal. But Nadal then won five out of the next six matches through the 2013 U.S. Open to get back to 22-15, or +7 Nadal again.

It was then the Beijing match that started a stretch in which Dkokovic won 11/12 against Nadal to take the 26-23 lead before Nadal closed the gap to 26-24 in Madrid last year.

 

[Tennisanity]

mono

 

[falstaff78]

how could you not include AO 17 F?

 

[chut]

Federer - Murray, i'd choose one of their first 3 meetings at slams, all of them being finals (strange fact btw), probably AO10. It's not until 2012 that Federer managed to beat Murray consistently in bo3, but he owns him at slams.

Djokovic/Federer is hard, USO10, RG11 and USO11... I'd go USO10, Federer was a big favourite imo coming into this match

Nadal/Federer, i'd pick Rome 06 too.

Djokovic/Nadal, Madrid 11 is a fine choice, but their Miami match was better so i'd pick this one

Nadal/Murray, .......... lol, no match qualifies really, maybe their very first match, AO07, long match, Nadal wins? Or WTF10, probably their best match (and again, long match, Nadal wins)

 

[Sudacafan]

Nadal vs Federer - Rome 2006 of Wimbledon 2008. I can't decide. Rome 2006 was best Federer performance against Nadal on clay ever, Fed was better player, but ultimately choked in the end.I believe if Fed win this match, their h2h would be much more closer. Wimbly 2008 was another extremely important match. Nadal beat Fed in his own backyard was probably biggest slap in Fed's career.


Djokovic vs Nadal - Madrid 2011. Nadal was 16-9 before this match. First ever victory for Djoko on clay vs Nadal. This match was turning point.


Djokovic vs Murray - Shanghai 2012. This one is obvious. Murray beat him at Olympics and Us Open, and h2h was still close(11-8). Rest is history.


Federer vs Murray - Cincinnati 2009. Murray was 6-2 vs Roger at that point ??. Today is 14-11.

Dishonorable mention: Fedal RG 2008 final. It never got lower for Roger from there.

 

[lud]

And I forgot Djokovic vs Federer rivalry

I agree. Us Open 2010 was key moment. That match give Djokovic strength,confidence and momentum. We can positively confirm this match was birth of Djokovic 2.0.

 

[MeatTornado]

how could you not include AO 17 F?

So far that's only affected 1 season. Let's see how many more times they face each other.

It doesn't quite stack up to a match like RG or Wim 08 as a turning point, which pretty much made it a one-sided rivalry for close to a decade.

 

[King No1e]

USO 10 final was the defining match of the Big 4 generation.

 

[clout]

Nadal-Djokovic: 2011 Wimbledon - first time Nole beat Rafa at a major, first win over Rafa on grass, ended Nadal's 20-match win streak at the all-England club. This was sort of a passing of the torch between the start of Nole's reign on grass and the beginning of the end for Rafa's reign on the lawns.

Federer-Nadal: 2008 Wimbledon - this one is pretty easy, Fed came off his best 18 month stretch prior to 2017 vs Rafa, going 5-2 from mid 2006 until the end of 2007. Not only did this end Fed's dominance at Wimbledon, but I feel like following this defeat, Fed was never an outright favourite to win majors anymore. This was also the first GS win for rafa off clay and from this match onwards, he began to become a top favourite at all four majors, even off the clay.

Federer-Djokovic: 2010 US Open - most expected Fed to get through this one in like 4 sets (or at least I did) and Nole was still not seen as a world beating threat to Fedal. This win gave Nole the belief that he can not only hang with these guys but he can regularly beat them as well; enter 2011.

Federer-Murray: 2012 Wimbledon - This was initially seen as a vintage icing on the cake for Fed's incredible career, turning back the clock a few years, and beating a Brit at Wimbledon to add to the suspense. Even though Murray lost, this match made him realize what he needed to improve on and it also gave him the belief to break through at a slam which ended up happening a couple months later in NYC.

Djokovic-Murray: 2011 Australian - It wasn't too long ago, back in early 2011, that people were still wondering who would really have the better career between Nole and Murray, considering how dominate Fedal were at the time. This was their first ever GS final match and Nole ensured that not only would he be the greater player among the two, but this was the tournament that helped propel Nole to become consistently great for the remainder of his career.

Nadal-Murray: 2010 Wimbledon - This rivalry is probably the lowest profiled one among the big four and it was quite difficult to come up with an answer to this one. I'll go with the semis match in Wimby '10 since Murray had actually beaten rafa in their last two meetings at a major, and Nadal had struggled in the tournament prior to that match as well. This win not only gave Nadal the confidence to end up winning the tournament, but more importantly, it gave him sky high confidence throughout the rest of the summer into the USO, where he ended up completing the career slam.

 

[King No1e]

And I forgot Djokovic vs Federer rivalry

I agree. Us Open 2010 was key moment. That match give Djokovic strength,confidence and momentum. We can positively confirm this match was birth of Djokovic 2.0.

The signs were there in the Toronto match. Djoko played his heart out but still lost. That made the US win all the more important

 

[Shaolin]

Rafa finding ways to hide from Fed at WTF year after year shaped the h2h greatly.

 

[KINGROGER]

Rafa finding ways to hide from Fed at WTF year after year shaped the h2h greatly.

Cincy is the worst.

Avoids him in 07, 09, 10, 12, 14, 15 but Fed manages to reach him there during his worst and Rafa’s best year.

OTOH Fed reaches Nadal at 3 MC finals, 2 Rome finals (one in 2013 lol), 2 Hamburg, 3 Madrid.

Nadal at IW/Cincy? 3 in total.

 

[Shaolin]

Cincy is the worst.

Avoids him in 07, 09, 10, 12, 14, 15 but Fed manages to reach him there during his worst and Rafa’s best year.

OTOH Fed reaches Nadal at 3 MC finals, 2 Rome finals (one in 2013 lol), 2 Hamburg, 3 Madrid.

Nadal at IW/Cincy? 3 in total.

And Rafa fanatics have the nerve to bounce around and be giddy about the h2h.

At least Fed had the balls to meet Rafa in every clay court final possible for a decade...meanwhile Nadal hid on a fishing boat somewhere during the WTF every year.

 

[TheAverageFedererFan]

Federer-Nadal: Rome 2006
Federer-Djokovic: US Open 2010
Federer-Murray: Australian Open 2014
Nadal-Djokovic: Wimbledon 2011
Nadal-Murray: World Tour Finals 2010
Djokovic-Murray: Australian Open 2013