Favourite "Battle of the Generations" Matches

[clout]

Lendl vs Sampras, 1990 US Open (19 year old Pete vs 30 year old Lendl - the first of 14 slams for Pete, 5 of which were in NYC, and the end of an astonishing 8 straight finals appearances in NY for Lendl)

Nadal vs Agassi, 2005 Rogers Cup (19 year old Rafa vs 35 year old AA - crazy to think Rafa has played Agassi and Jannik Sinner in his career lol)

Federer vs Sampras, 2001 Wimbledon (19 year old Fed vs 29 year old PETE - can't have a battle of generations thread without mentioning this one, easily one of the most significant torch passings in all of sports)

Borg vs Lendl, 1981 French Open (only a 4-year age gap between the two, but this a big passing of torch in tennis history as it was Borg's 11th and final slam win capturing a record 6 RG titles, while this was the first of many RG and slam finals for Ivan over the next decade)

Nadal vs Medvedev, 2019 US Open (33 year old Rafa vs 23 year old Med - this is a pretty historic one since it was the first time a next-gen player went toe-to-toe with a big 3 member in a slam final)

What are your favourite battle of the generations matches?

 

[clout]

Connors vs Krickstein, 1991 US Open (39 year old Jimbo vs 23 year old Krickstein in an unforgettable epic)

Agassi vs Connors, 1989 US Open (How about 19 year old Agassi vs 37 year old Connors - in his career, Connors has played against Agassi/Sampras as well as Ken Rosewall lol)

 

[Third Serve]

 

[clout]

Venus vs Coco, 2019 Wimbledon (how could I forget this one - 15 year old Gauff takes out 39 year old Venus who has won this event 5 times before)

Graf vs Kournikova, 1999 French Open (30 year old Steffi and 18 year old Anna - the most successful female player ever takes on the most gorgeous female player ever)

 

[Subway Tennis]

Fantastic thread idea.

Connors vs Ashe Wimbledon 1975 final is another good one:

 

[pj80]

Venus vs Coco, 2019 Wimbledon (how could I forget this one - 15 year old Gauff takes out 39 year old Venus who has won this event 5 times before)

and he won it 4 years before gauff was born

 

[pj80]

Laver played Borg
Borg played McEnroe
Mcenroe played Sampras
Sampras played Federer
Federer played Tsitsipas

 

[DSH]

 

[Third Serve]

If Connors had stuck around for just a few more years, it's possible we could have seen teenage Fed vs. geriatric Connors.

 

[Meles]

I think we've got some doozies incoming. Musetti v Federe

 

[clout]

Laver played Borg
Borg played McEnroe
Mcenroe played Sampras
Sampras played Federer
Federer played Tsitsipas

How about this one:

Segura played Rosewall (13 year age gap)
Rosewall played Connors (18 year age gap)
Connors played Agassi (18 year age gap)
Agassi played Nadal (16 year age gap)
Nadal played Sinner (15 year age gap)

 

[DSH]

 

[clout]

This could pretty much be a Jimmy Connors thread haha, here's a blast from the past between 35 year old Laver and 22 year old Jimbo in 1975

 

[Shaolin]

Laver vs Suresh

 

[Third Serve]

Laver vs Suresh

You call that a match? I call that a wipeout!

sureshs could get served two bagels and still win the match in straight sets.

Wait, wrong bagels.

 

[daggerman]

Graf v. Serena Indian Wells 1999. Also a notable matchup because they both won slams that year.

 

[King No1e]

Federer vs Raonic, Wimbledon 2016. The one shining moment of glory for LostGen.

 

[DSH]

 

[Tennis_Hands]

Connors vs the old (pre OE) guard is the most significant in terms of clear distinction.

It also showed that at the time the tour was getting thin at the top, and disaster like what we have now was narrowly avoided.

 

[mike danny]

If Connors had stuck around for just a few more years, it's possible we could have seen teenage Fed vs. geriatric Connors.

Basically another win in the ATG column for Fedr.

 

[Yugram]

Nadal vs Tsitsipas matches are always crisp

 

[clout]

Nadal vs Tsitsipas matches are always crisp

Love Nads-Tsits match-ups...they're certainly shades of Fedal there