Definitive list for Federer's top 5 HC tournaments

[mike danny]

IMO, this list should be unarguable. I'm taking into account tournaments from start to finish, not just individual matches. So, in no particular order:

1. AO 2007 - still the only HC slam where the winner did not drop a set.

2. IW 2017 - a peak performance from Fed, despite being 35. Despite the movement not being as good as it once was, Fed had no stroke weaknesses to exploit at this tournament as he was incredibly solid from both wings and the serve as well. And it wasn't even a fast court to say that the surface could have augmented his play. It was a slow high bouncing HC.

3. Cincy 2015 - won the title without dropping a set or even getting broken and only having to save 3 BPs the entire tournament. And all this while defeating 2 of the best returners in the game back to back, Murray and Djokovic.

4. WTF 2010 - defeated Murray, Djokovic and Nadal dropping just 1 set.

5. Cincy 2012 - again won without dropping a set and getting broken, bagelling prime Djokovic in the process.

 

[Im(moral) Winner]

Top 10: his Basel titles

 

[metsman]

get all the post 07 AO crap out of there. Those "peak" versions of Federer are only comparable with the lollygagging/sick/injured/dying versions of real peak Fed.

By level from start to finish I think 12 stand out in some order: YEC 2004, IW 2005, 07 AO, 06 USO, 04 AO, 06 Madrid, 03 YEC, 06 YEC, 04 USO, 04 IW, 05 Doha, 05 AO.

 

[mike danny]

get all the post 07 AO crap out of there. Those "peak" versions of Federer are only comparable with the lollygagging/sick/injured/dying versions of real peak Fed.

By level from start to finish I think 12 stand out in some order: YEC 2004, IW 2005, 07 AO, 06 USO, 04 AO, 06 Madrid, 03 YEC, 06 YEC, 04 USO, 04 IW, 05 Doha, 05 AO.

This is more about tournament performance and less about actual peak.

At his peak I don't think he won masters titles without dropping serve.

 

[HetTheGreaterer]

Ao 2007
Yec 2003
Iw 2005
Uso 2005
Yec 2004
Ao 2004
Iw 2004

 

[Towny]

IW 2014
IW 2015
USO 2015
YEC 2015
AO 2016
Cincinnati 2018
Paris 2018
AO 2020

 

[Third Serve]

In no particular order, these are the ones that really stick out to me:

YEC 2003
AO 2004
IW 2004
USO 2004
YEC 2004
AO 2005 (maybe sits a little lower but still excellent)
IW 2005
USO 2006
YEC 2006
AO 2007
YEC 2010
Cincy 2012
Cincy 2015
IW 2017

Nearly there but one or two matches prevent these from cracking the list:
Cincy 2005
USO 2007
YEC 2007
USO 2008
AO 2009
Cincy 2009
USO 2009
Shanghai 2014

 

[Third Serve]

Never seen Madrid 2006; perhaps that one could also fit in my list.

 

[gjm127]

I mean if we're looking at this from a consecutive straight-set wins perspective, I'd maybe add WB17 as an honorary mention.

Edit: Just noticed we're talking HC only. Carry-on.

 

[Third Serve]

I mean if we're looking at this from a consecutive straight-set wins perspective, I'd maybe add WB17 as an honorary mention.

The list concerns hard court tournaments.

 

[MeatTornado]

I've always found Cincinnati 2012 to be incredibly overrated.

It's brought up constantly pretty much because of 1 single set. I get it, he bageled prime Novak. But it was a set where Novak happened to be playing like hot garbage. As soon as he stopped playing completely terrible, he was dead even with Fed.

 

[Third Serve]

I've always found Cincinnati 2012 to be incredibly overrated.

It's brought up constantly pretty much because of 1 single set. I get it, he bageled prime Novak. But it was a set where Novak happened to be playing like hot garbage. As soon as he stopped playing completely terrible, he was dead even with Fed.

True, but he didn’t get broken throughout the whole tournament. It wasn’t just the final.

 

[junior74]

AO 2020 to rule them all!

 

[Sysyphus]

His strongest finals runs

Marseille 2000
Rotterdam 2001
Sydney 2002
Miami 2002
Vienna 2002

This was Fed's definitive stretch of peak performance.

A series of most unfortunate events, such as the retirement of Sampras and effectively career-ending injuries of guys like Safin and Hewitt allowed Federer to rack up more hardware from 2003 on, but don't be fooled - his best tennis was long gone, much like how we all know Nadal really peaked between Miami 04 and Wimbledon 2007.

 

[Im(moral) Winner]

I've always found Cincinnati 2012 to be incredibly overrated.

It's brought up constantly pretty much because of 1 single set. I get it, he bageled prime Novak. But it was a set where Novak happened to be playing like hot garbage. As soon as he stopped playing completely terrible, he was dead even with Fed.

He was dead even
FINISHING SECOND

 

[Stannis Baratheon]

His strongest finals runs

Marseille 2000
Rotterdam 2001
Sydney 2002
Miami 2002
Vienna 2002

This was Fed's definitive stretch of peak performance.

A series of most unfortunate events, such as the retirement of Sampras and effectively career-ending injuries of guys like Safin and Hewitt allowed Federer to rack up more hardware from 2003 on, but don't be fooled - his best tennis was long gone, much like how we all know Nadal really peaked between Miami 04 and Wimbledon 2007.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have found the opposite of Lew, Wel.

 

[125downthemiddle]

04 USO final was the best I've ever seen Fed, better than anything on grass as well.

 

[MeatTornado]

He was dead even
FINISHING SECOND

Yes, the 2nd set was dead even. After Roger's supposedly dominating display in the first, he wasn't even able to create a single break point in the 2nd set and won the tiebreak 9-7, saving a set point along the way. That set was as even as things get.

 

[Federev]

I mean if we're looking at this from a consecutive straight-set wins perspective, I'd maybe add WB17 as an honorary mention.

Edit: Just noticed we're talking HC only. Carry-on.

Did he drop a set at wb 17?

 

[Federev]

I've always found Cincinnati 2012 to be incredibly overrated.

It's brought up constantly pretty much because of 1 single set. I get it, he bageled prime Novak. But it was a set where Novak happened to be playing like hot garbage. As soon as he stopped playing completely terrible, he was dead even with Fed.

Novak was playing ok. Not great. But not embarrassing. Fed was just zoning like absolute madness in that 1st set.

 

[MeatTornado]

Novak was playing ok. Not great. But not embarrassing. Fed was just zoning like absolute madness in that 1st set.

I'm pretty sure Novak was serving under 50% and dishing out doubles like Zverev. Tons of uncharacteristic UEs by his standards.

I wish I could find the full match instead of just the highlights.

 

[Steve0904]

I can't shake myself of the belief that the actual prime Federer would make those versions in the OP (aside from 07 AO obviously) look very old and very slow if you could face them off H2H somehow. In fact, I'm certain of it.

If it's based on tournament performance then the list is pretty good I'd say, but then it becomes a simple list because we pick the times Federer was never broken like in the OP. I like trying to rank them by level personally. For a one match performance I'd say the 04 USO Final is the clear winner. If I'm ranking Fed's 5 best HC tournaments then maybe something like this:

1. 07 AO
2. 04 AO
3. 04 USO
4. YEC 2006
5. Maybe YEC 2004 to round it out


Anything post the 07 AO is only an honourable mention level wise IMO. That said I'd give the 2010 AO an honourable mention. And the 2010 WTF. There are tournaments that would be here if he had won them too, like the 09 AO and USO.

 

[Steve0904]

I'm pretty sure Novak was serving under 50% and dishing out doubles like Zverev. Tons of uncharacteristic UEs by his standards.

I wish I could find the full match instead of just the highlights.

Your memory is correct. Novak played like garbage. It wasn't an impressive bagel by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[TearTheRoofOff]

IW 2014
IW 2015
USO 2015
YEC 2015
AO 2016
Cincinnati 2018
Paris 2018
AO 2020

Reported for plagurising Lew's unironic list.

 

[TearTheRoofOff]

No 2013, absolutely trash list.

 

[gjm127]

Did he drop a set at wb 17?

No, he didn't.

 

[Bender]

this list should be unarguable.

There are way too many post 2010 tournaments, IMO.

I get why you chose them but if we agree that competition by the mid-late 2010s were weak then a clinical performance by Fed in that timeframe should be eliminated. Yes, he's also older to compensate but I thought we were talking about his top HC tournaments, which means highest level produced.

 

[King No1e]

2015 Cincy and 2017 IW do deserve mentions here, but there are a lot of great examples from his prime too - YEC 2006, IW05, USO06, IW04, YEC10 (not exactly prime, but he beat all the big 4).

 

[Breakpointerer]

Those 5 games+3 points vs Novak put AO20 near the top IMO.
@ABCD what do you think?

 

[King No1e]

Those 5 games+3 points vs Novak put AO20 near the top IMO.

Don't forget the 23 break points from USO15. GOAT-tier mental toughness

 

[ForehandCross]

2003 YEC (later stages) ,2004 IW,2004 AO,2004 YEC,2004 USO,2005 AO (Despite the loss),2005 IW,2005 Dubai,2006 USO,2006 YEC,2007 AO,2009 USO(except the few brain dead sets in the final),2010 YEC, 2011 USO,2012 IW,2012 Cincy,2014 Dubai,2015 Cincy,2015 USO,2017 IW.

These are his best ones off the top of my head.

Choose the top 5 as you wish.

 

[Nadal_Django]

04 USO final was the best I've ever seen Fed, better than anything on grass as well.

He was playing Hewitt! Relax...

 

[stringertom]

I think the Chennai’08 final featuring fedr lending himself out to Youzhny for a day was peak fedr. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have done it and weaken his mono-ravaged body before heading to Melbourne and theIr new molasses slow Plexicushion surface.