Did Alcaraz play the best USO ever?

Is Alcaraz’s 2025 run the best USO ever?

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buscemi said:
Based on the stats above and what I calculated for Connors:

-Vilas won 72.1% of his games in his 1977 title run​
-Lendl won 69.4% of his games in his 1987 title run​
-Connors won 65.9% of his games in his 1976 title run​
-Alcaraz won 65.02% of his games in his 2025 title run​

So, he's probably #4 at best, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lendl's 1985 or 1986 title runs were more dominant by stats.
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Crazy how good Vilas's run was. Sure, he was "helped" by the fact it was played on clay that year, but it was Har-Tru and not red clay. And he beat Connors in the final.
 
an all-time run to be sure. better than everyone, essentially, at everything. if his spot-hitting on serve continues to improve, lapses in concentration will be his only competition.
 
Looks like Agassi winning 71.6% of his games at the 2003 Australian Open is the high water mark for games won percentage at a hard court Major (Vilas's 1977 U.S. Open title run being on green clay).
 
Megafanoftennis100 said:
Well, I certainly can!

Nadal 2019 (was taken to five sets by pre-prime Medvedev lol)
Thiem 2020 (anyone who watched the final would get it. Nuff said)
Medvedev 2021 (Sinner's pigeon now)
Alcaraz 2022 (≥Sinner 2022 << Sinner 2025)
Djokovic 2023 (also Sinner's pigeon now. It is the general consensus in the entire tennis community that post-2024 Sinner >> 2023 Djokovic)
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Why haven’t you gotten any better at trolling? :unsure:

2019 was the start of Med’s prime. He had a great NA HC and indoor season (actually beat a much younger Joker in Cincy).

Timmy actually had a serve in the 2020 F. Idk how a guy like Sinner can be 6’4 and can’t even get half his serves in play, but he pulled it off.

2021 Med still had his serve before Sinner finally stopped being his pigeon.

2022 Carl was obviously worse than 2025 Carl. But The Sinner’s Wilander’s shrink at the sight of him anyway.

And 2023 Joker still owned The Sinner as the 2023 YEC showed.
 
Rosstour said:
Even I’m shocked

He HANDLED them
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#BMB :cool:

200w.gif
 
The Blond Blur said:
And 2023 Joker still owned The Sinner as the 2023 YEC showed.
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2023 Joker owned 2023 Sinner, not 2025 Sinner. Those two versions of Sinner are nowhere near the same in terms of level.
Comparing 2023 Sinner to 2025 Sinner is akin to comparing 2015 Nadal to 2017 Nadal.
Surely, you wouldn't say that Joker owning Nadal on clay in 2015 is a sign that he would be able to do the same in 2017, right?
Any sane tennis fan would agree that 2017 Nadal >>> 2015 Joker on clay.
 
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The Blond Blur said:
Why haven’t you gotten any better at trolling? :unsure:

2019 was the start of Med’s prime. He had a great NA HC and indoor season (actually beat a much younger Joker in Cincy).
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Yes, Medvedev started his prime. But at the end of the day, he is still a mug when measured against ATG standards (most TTW users, including the non-trolls, would agree), and his prime is definitely far less impressive than e.g. Alcaraz's or Sinner's.
 
The Blond Blur said:
Timmy actually had a serve in the 2020 F. Idk how a guy like Sinner can be 6’4 and can’t even get half his serves in play, but he pulled it off.
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and he still was down two sets to love (and a break in the 3rd & 5th sets) against Zverev (whom almost everyone on TTW loves to bash on).
Now, please don't tell me we are already stooping to the level where we are disagreeing that 2025 Sinner > any version of Zverev, right?
 
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Moose Malloy said:
That's pretty crazy, considering the Connors serve, the surface etc. Makes Vilas' win over JC the next year seem even bigger. Do you have complete stats on the '76 match?
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According to this NY times article, the only break point that Connors faced all match, was in the 8th game in the opening set, with him saving it. He was only taken to deuce in 2 out of his 12 service games that day.


They recorded the following stats from the match:

1st serve % - Connors 93%-86% Vilas
Winners - Connors 31-19 Vilas
Unforced errors: Connors 27-33 Vilas
Forced errors: Connors 11-20 Vilas

I've only seen incomplete coverage of the match. The strategy mapped out by Segura and described in that article, hitting deep, moving Vilas out wide with powerful, angled cross court shots and then attacking short returns, looked to work to perfection. The depth of his groundstrokes, and his ability to take the ball early and on the rise really stood out.

I know that Connors faced 3 break points during his demolition of Rosewall in the 1974 final. He faced 0 vs. Borg in the 1978 final, but like Newcombe and Trabert I count that match as an effective walkover. Facing just 1 break point vs. an elite opponent in a big match on har-tru, without a booming serve as you said, was incredible.

There was talk immediately after that SF win, about whether it was the best performance of Connors' career at that point. It had to be up there, given the opponent and surface etc., alongside his destructions of Rosewall in the 1974 US Open final and Tanner in their 1975 Wimbledon SF (better than his performance vs. Rosewall in the 1974 Wimbledon final IMO).

Ashe in the TV studio / commentary booth, couldn't really hide the fact that he really wanted Borg to beat Connors in the final. Trabert predicted that Connors would win. I saw a clip of Connors' press conference after that SF, when he criticised the heavy focus on his inability to win a major in 1975; 'You bring up 75 so much, why don't you bring up 74 a little bit. There's only one guy better than me in 74 and he made me (pointing upwards)'.
 
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RS said:
How do you think he does vs Djokovic 11/15?
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IMHO:
2025 Alcaraz going all out loses in 4 sets to both 2011 and 2015 Djokovic.
2025 Sinner holding back (like he did in the final on Sunday) loses in straight sets to 2011 Djokovic and loses in four sets to 2015 Djokovic
2025 Sinner going all out beats both 2011 and 2015 Djokovic in 4 sets.
 
jrepac said:
Yeah, I was thinking of Lendl, but Connors '76 was pretty impressive on the green clay
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Borg pushed connors a lot closer in their 4 set final than Sinner did to Alcaraz.

In fact most commentators agree it likely came down to their epic 3rd set which ended on tiebreak where Jimmy won 11-9. I think Connors saved 4 set points during that 3rd set.
 
In this century, all of fed's 5 USOs (04-08), nadal (10, 13), djokovic (11,15) were clearly better.

then you can argue about the rest ...hewitt 01 SF/F, roddick 03 (except semi), delpo USO 09, cilic USO 14, djoko USO 18.

so Alcaraz USO 2025 probably just out of top 10 this century. somewhere between 11-15.

but glad he finally showed ATG level for a slam (consistent high level from start to finish) with atleast one decent opponent.
 
abmk said:
In this century, all of fed's 5 USOs (04-08), nadal (10, 13), djokovic (11,15) were clearly better.

then you can argue about the rest ...hewitt 01 SF/F, roddick 03 (except semi), delpo USO 09, cilic USO 14, djoko USO 18.

so Alcaraz USO 2025 probably just out of top 10 this century. somewhere between 11-15.

but glad he finally showed ATG level for a slam (consistent high level from start to finish) with atleast one decent opponent.
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Yeah this is the most fair assesstment. Does anyone really think Fed 05, Nadal 10 or Djoko 11 wouldn't have steamrolled past this title?
 
helterskelter said:
Nadal in 2013 is up there, too. So is Federer in 2004 and 2007.

A lot of this is going to come down to people's assessment of the form of older but former great players. Obviously, I primarily have in mind Djokovic in the SF this year, but there are also McEnroe and Connors as Lendl's QF and SF opponents in 87 [McEnroe was only 28 and only a year and a month older than Lendl, but way further from his best; Connors turned 35 on the second day of the tournament], and 34-year-old Agassi as Federer's QF and toughest opponent in 2004. Nobody won a set against Federer that year other than Agassi and Baghdatis.

All three of Lendl's wins have to be right up there. Arguably the draw was a bit easier in 86, but it was by no means easy with Leconte/Edberg/Mecir the final three rounds. But 85 ended with Noah/Connors [then only 33]/McEnroe and 87 with McEnroe/Connors/Wilander.
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Djokovic looked done against Fritz but fritz no mental toughness, Djokovic was finished in the marathon match against frtiz. He has nothing in the tank for Carlos, strangely Sinner only did slightly better than OLD MAN by taking a set but 1 break of serve each lol.
 
xFedal said:
Djokovic looked done against Fritz but fritz no mental toughness, Djokovic was finished in the marathon match against frtiz. He has nothing in the tank for Carlos, strangely Sinner only did slightly better than OLD MAN by taking a set but 1 break of serve each lol.
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Did Sinner really do any better than Djokovic? I don't think it's as simple as 3-1 > 3-0. The games tallies were 19-12 and 21-14, which means Sinner won 1.3% more of the games than Djokovic did (40% v 38.7%). But the points tallies were 112-89 in the final and 101-81 in the semi-final. So, Sinner won 44.28% of the points and Djokovic won 44.51% of the points.
 
I noticed Carlos attacked Janik's forehand a lot during the match, and Janik did seem to struggle with running forehands quite a bit (compared to his running backhand)
 
Megafanoftennis100 said:
2023 Joker owned 2023 Sinner, not 2025 Sinner. Those two versions of Sinner are nowhere near the same in terms of level.
Comparing 2023 Sinner to 2025 Sinner is akin to comparing 2015 Nadal to 2017 Nadal.
Surely, you wouldn't say that Joker owning Nadal on clay in 2015 is a sign that he would be able to do the same in 2017, right?
Any sane tennis fan would agree that 2017 Nadal >>> 2015 Joker on clay.
Click to expand...

2017 Nadal on clay > 2015 Djoko on clay

but

2017 Nadal outside clay <<< 2015 Djokovic outside clay

So Clay has magical healing properties for Nadal
 
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