Greatest fifth set regroup

[George Turner]

This is where a player whose on the verge of victory loses the fourth set, but wins the fifth set to avoid a heartbreaking loss.

Which is the greatest such regroup in the fifth, given the circumstances of the match?

Notes about each match;

Borg- Mcenroe; Borg served for the match at 5-4 40-15 and missed numerous match points in the tie break

Edberg-Becker; Edberg crushed Becker in the first two sets but Becker suddenly raised his game and was a break up in the fifth

Sampras-Becker; Sampras missed two match points in fourth set tie break before breaking Beckers serve for the only time all match at the end of the fifth set

Ivanisevic-Rafter; Ivanisevic overcame his own choking and history of so many Wimbledon heartbreaks to finally win Wimbledon as a wildcard

Nadal-Federer; After losing two tie breaks from two sets up, including two match points, Nadal edged out the fifth in one of the ATG matches

Djokovic-Nadal; Djokovic narrowly lost the fourth set and fell a break down in the fifth before recovering, aided by a bad Nadal miss on a critical point

Murray-Djokovic; WIth all the pressure on him to finally win a major, Murray recovered from losing a two sets lead to storm through the fifth set

Nadal-Djokovic; The inverse of their Australian marathon, Nadal narrowly lost the fourth and recovered from a break down in the fifth, aided by THAT Djokovic smash

Federer-Nadal; Federer has a chance to write history aged 35 against his greatest rival and he took it, winning the last five games from a break down in the fifth.

Honourable mentions;

McEnroe-Borg USO 1980
Federer-Nadal Wim 2007
Federer-Roddick Wim 2009
Djokovic-Federer Wim 2014
Djokovic-Nadal Wim 2018
Zverev-Chardy AO 2019

 

[Red Rick]

Isner recovered pretty well from losing the 4th set to Mahut in Wimbledon 2010. Absolutely crushed the Frenchman

edit, I am ********, he didn't even lose the 4ths et

 

[maratha_warrior]

Djokovic - Stan Australia 2013.

 

[George Turner]

Djokovic - Stan Australia 2013.

Stan-Djokovic 2014 was better, considering Stan was the huge underdog and had suffered that close five set loss the previous year.

 

[maratha_warrior]

Stan-Djokovic 2014 was better, considering Stan was the huge underdog and had suffered that close five set loss the previous year.

Maybe u care about the results more..
I care about the quality ,fight and level of the players..
Aussie Open 2013 match is incomparable .
Watch it ,if u didn't yet..

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

Maybe u care about the results more..
I care about the quality ,fight and level of the players..
Aussie Open 2013 match is incomparable .
Watch it ,if u didn't yet..

Also the drama, in the fifth set wrong call was made when Stan has a break point which saved Novak and later Novak broke Wawarinka serve to win the match.

 

[Sport]

Sampras-Federer Wimbledon 2001 has my vote.

 

[Pheasant]

Borg vs Mac in the 1980 final takes the cake. Borg had double-match point on his serve, only to get broken by some insane back hand returns by McEnroe. He eventually lost he tiebreaker 18-16. But Borg was the Iceman for a reason. He came out in the 5th set serving better than he ever had in his lifetime. Kudos for McEnroe coming up with some insane backhand returns to fend off consecutive match points. But nothing broke Borg. Nobody out-clutches Mr. Clutch over 5 sets.

This is the greatest match in history. Now granted, I wasn't around to see Laver clinch the CYGS, or other key matches. I only caught the tail end of Borg's career. But this match was the greatest in my 40+ years of following the sport. And I wanted McEnroe to win badly! Luckily, McEnroe got revenge the following year.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Sampras-Federer Wimbledon 2001 has my vote.

Are you pretending that you actually watched that match or were alive when it was contested? I ask this because you have repeatedly and egregiously mis-characterized Pete's abilities on a tennis court. You said he was "a foolish net rusher to disguise that he had no groundstrokes." No one (literally nobody) who has ever actually watched a Sampras match would make such a statement.

 

[Night Slasher]

Are you pretending that you actually watched that match or were alive when it was contested? I ask this because you have repeatedly and egregiously mis-characterized Pete's abilities on a tennis court. You said he was "a foolish net rusher to disguise that he had no groundstrokes." No one (literally nobody) who has ever actually watched a Sampras match would make such a statement.

Did he really said that about Sampras? Lol...

I've noticed that this guy tries to diminish the legacy of the players from older eras, don't quite get why. But you're probably right, it could be that he never watched them play actually.

 

[mike danny]

Federer AO 2017 and Nadal FO 2013 IMO.

 

[JMR]

Although I'm tempted by Federer-Nadal AO 2017 because it was such a heroic mental effort from Federer within the fifth set, I really can't justify placing anything ahead of Borg-McEnroe Wimbledon 1980. The OP specifically refers to a regroup by a player who had seen his hopes dashed when "on the verge of victory." Well, Fed may have been up 2-1 in sets, but he lost the fourth set 3-6. He was never truly on the verge of victory before the fifth set. But Borg squandered seven match points -- seven Wimbledon championship points -- in the fourth set in 1980. And he lost what was probably the most thrilling tiebreaker of all time up to that point in tennis history. Yet Borg somehow put all that aside and outserved the game's best serve-and-volley player to squeeze out an overtime fifth-set victory.

 

[JMR]

There are lots of good candidates for second place, by the way. Maybe Murray even deserves the nod for not blowing his match and finally winning his first slam.

 

[maratha_warrior]

Also the drama, in the fifth set wrong call was made when Stan has a break point which saved Novak and later Novak broke Wawarinka serve to win the match.

What I like about that match is, there is hardly any moment or phase in that match where a player lowers his level..
That match was lights out blistering tennis from 1st point to last point, for 5 straight hours..
Matchpoint is incredible.

 

[BGod]

I voted Nadal 2013 French. It was like he was destined to lose that year but he just said no.

 

[ibbi]

I think from the ones you mention these are the most impressive.

Nadal-Federer Wimbledon 2008 (he was regrouping from losing both sets 3, and 4, and having championship points against the 5 time defending champion who beat him here the previous 2 years, and after having experienced the choke job he did in the fifth in that 2007 final).

Murray-Djokovic at US Open 2012 (I mean it's Andy Murray winning his first title after all those lost finals, and he's beating the defending champion. It's maybe a little less impressive than the one above because Novak's played 3 sets just the day before, but still mentally recovering from giving up his lead with his history was amazing).

Federer-Nadal at Australian Open 2017 (After he loses that fourth set AND gives up the break to open the fifth, surely everyone is expecting this to be by now business as usual, with Federer fading away at the finish in the face of Nadal, but the super aggressive way in which he launched his assault on him in the final set was incredible. Took him long enough).

 

[xFedal]

Borg vs Mac in the 1980 final takes the cake. Borg had double-match point on his serve, only to get broken by some insane back hand returns by McEnroe. He eventually lost he tiebreaker 18-16. But Borg was the Iceman for a reason. He came out in the 5th set serving better than he ever had in his lifetime. Kudos for McEnroe coming up with some insane backhand returns to fend off consecutive match points. But nothing broke Borg. Nobody out-clutches Mr. Clutch over 5 sets.

This is the greatest match in history. Now granted, I wasn't around to see Laver clinch the CYGS, or other key matches. I only caught the tail end of Borg's career. But this match was the greatest in my 40+ years of following the sport. And I wanted McEnroe to win badly! Luckily, McEnroe got revenge the following year.

Has Djokovic not done enough to be Mr Clutch himself?