Biggest 'legacy stakes' matches in Open Era by media hype at the time

[smoledman]

1980 Wimbledon - big hype about winning 5 in a row for Borg
1981 Wimbledon - big hype about winning 6 in a row for Borg
1981 US Open - big hype about can McEnroe block Borg from ever winning US Open
1984 French Open - McEnroe hyped up to finally win FO
1986 Wimbledon - phenom Becker vs Lendl's first Wimbledon final
skipping 1987-1991 as my knowledge of this period is too little
1992 US Open - Edberg/Sampras super hyped match
1993 Wimbledon - The talk was can Courier continue his march toward CYGS
1995 US Open - Sampras/Agassi Nike guerilla tennis campaign led to gigantic hype
1999 French Open - HUGE deal that Agassi did career slam, first time I heard about that term
2000 Wimbledon - Sampras breaking Emerson's record was a big media deal
2000 US Open - Safin's destruction of Sampras heralded the arrival of the "New Balls" generation
2001 Wimbledon - Federer def Sampras sent shockwaves over the tennis world
2002 US Open - Sampras extends GS record to 14
2003 Wimbledon - Federer wins first grand slam
2005 French - Nadal wins first GS title - creates huge buzz about teenage phenom
2006 French - Nadal blocks Federer from career and possible CYGS
2007 French - Nadal blocks Federer from career and possible CYGS
2007 Wimbledon - Federer ties Borg's record(5 in a row)
2008 AO - Djokovic wins first slam
2008 Wimbledon - Nadal blocks Federer from breaking Borg's record
2009 AO - Nadal beats Federer, Federer breakds down everyone thinks this is 'the end'
2009 French - Federer wins French Open, completes career slam and ties Sampras GS record
2009 Wimbledon - Federer def Roddick, breaks Sampras record
2010 US Open - Nadal becomes first man to win GS on 3 different surfaces in same year
2011 US Open - Djokovic joins Federer & Nadal as winning 3GS in a season
2012 AO - Djokovic def Nadal in epic 6 hour match that transcends the tennis world
2012 FO - Nadal breaks Borg's FO record for most titles
2012 Wimbledon - Federer extends his GS record to 17
2013 Wimbledon - Andy Murray is first British man to win Wimbledon in Open Era
2014 AO - Stan Wawrinka starts winning slams causes legacy issues for Big 3
2015 AO - Djokovic now hold record 5 titles
2015 FO - Stan blocks Djokovic from career slam
2015 US Open - Djokovic completes 2nd 3-slam season
2016 French - Djokovic wins 4 in a row and career slam
2016 Wimbledon - Sam Querrey blocks Djokovic from winning 5 slams in a row
2016 US Open - Stan blocks Djokovic from having a 3rd 3-slam season
2017 AO - Federer def Nadal in 5 setter, shocks the tennis world coming back from knee injury
2017 FO - Nadal wins 'La Decima'
2017 Wimbledon - Federer wins record 8th title
2018 AO - Federer extends GS record to 20

what's next?

 

[Rago]

Wimbledon 2018 could be huge for Federer if he ends up playing Nadal in the final.

 

[Standaa]

2018 Wimbledon - Nadal reaches QF, it’s for the first time in history that a player causes 4 upsets in a row.

 

[tennisaddict]

2017 Wimb - Fed beats Pete to get the most titles

2018 AO - Fed becomes bolder or joint holder of most titles at 3 of 4 majors

 

[smoledman]

It's amazing how many more 'legacy stakes' matches there have been in the last 10 years compared to 30 years before that.

 

[smoledman]

I've amended the list to include 2002 US Open, 2017 FO/Wimbledon and 2018 AO.