Greatest Peak for Peak matches?

[King No1e]

[Redacted for the safety of my account and possibly my family]

How about at the Zakynthos Open?

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

Doesn't have to be Slams.

But 2015 French Final with Novak vs. Wawrinka. Clearly both were peak form and yes that means at least on clay Stanimal's Peak was higher than Novak.

I think Sampras vs. Rafter at 98 USO was also apt and yes, Rafter at Peak on hard better than Sampras.

I think tennis there are a ton of examples where outlier players had higher ceilings. The ATGs are simply more consistent and closer to their top form than others, that's the difference.

Oh and Borg at his peak on clay and grass was untouchable.

Thiem vs Zverev USO final 2020

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

Cilic vs Nishikori USO final 2014

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

Djokovic vs Medvedev USO final 2021

(Because djo fans said he was peak after he beat Rafa at RG)

 

[Herald]

Federer Agassi US Open 2004 Quarters. Great hitting from both, Agassi putting up a hero's effort to go toe to toe with an ATG ten years his junior.

 

[martinezownsclay]

Sampras vs Agassi 2001 US Open quarter final
Sampras vs Becker 1996 YEC final
Djokovic vs Nadal 2011 Miami final (IMO their best ever quality match on hard courts, and the ones both were playing their best more than any other. Djokovic won in a 3rd set tiebreaker. Way better than their overrated 2012 Australian Open final).
Federer vs Nadal 2007 Wimbledon final (incredible match by both and IMO better quality wise than their famous 2008 final)
Federer vs Nadal 2006 Rome final. IMO Federer's best ever match on clay, despite losing. And amazing to come so close to beating a well playing Nadal on clay, almost never would happen, even to 19 year old Nadal)
Djokovic vs Federer 2011 RG semi final. Some Djokovic fans might disagree, but I don't care.
Federer vs Nadal 2017 Australian Open final. IMO one of their best ever, if not their best ever hard court match, despite both technically being past their prime. Both really brought it in this one.
Edberg vs Becker 1990 Wimbledon final. IMO their best ever match on any surface, although their 89 RG semi final on their worst surface was also great.
Sampras vs Agassi 2000 Australian Open semis. The quality of this particular match was insane by both. Sampras had something near 50 aces, but still couldn't dethrone the king of rebound ace up to then.
Federer vs Agassi 2004 US Open quarters. The first 3 sets of this match was probably their best match vs each other in their fairly short/opposite end of careers rivalry. The final 2 sets were played in wicked wind the next day. The first 3 sets of the 2005 US Open final come close to that though.

Curious what some of the longtime ATP fans on this like @buscemi, @Mustard, @abmk, think of my choices.

 

[Third Serve]

Find me a better slow HC match. I'll wait.

maybe the GOAT Bo3 match

 

[martinezownsclay]

maybe the GOAT Bo3 match

Amazing match!

 

[BGod]

Federer Agassi US Open 2004 Quarters. Great hitting from both, Agassi putting up a hero's effort to go toe to toe with an ATG ten years his junior.

By every metric Agassi in the 90s was better which always leads me to believe he'd beat Fed on that surface in his prime.

Sampras vs Agassi 2001 US Open quarter final
Sampras vs Becker 1996 YEC final
Djokovic vs Nadal 2011 Miami final (IMO their best ever quality match on hard courts, and the ones both were playing their best more than any other. Djokovic won in a 3rd set tiebreaker. Way better than their overrated 2012 Australian Open final).
Federer vs Nadal 2007 Wimbledon final (incredible match by both and IMO better quality wise than their famous 2008 final)
Federer vs Nadal 2006 Rome final. IMO Federer's best ever match on clay, despite losing. And amazing to come so close to beating a well playing Nadal on clay, almost never would happen, even to 19 year old Nadal)
Djokovic vs Federer 2011 RG semi final. Some Djokovic fans might disagree, but I don't care.
Federer vs Nadal 2017 Australian Open final. IMO one of their best ever, if not their best ever hard court match, despite both technically being past their prime. Both really brought it in this one.
Edberg vs Becker 1990 Wimbledon final. IMO their best ever match on any surface, although their 89 RG semi final on their worst surface was also great.
Sampras vs Agassi 2000 Australian Open semis. The quality of this particular match was insane by both. Sampras had something near 50 aces, but still couldn't dethrone the king of rebound ace up to then.
Federer vs Agassi 2004 US Open quarters. The first 3 sets of this match was probably their best match vs each other in their fairly short/opposite

Really don't see how especially Sampras 2000-01 was anywhere near his prime. Likely loses Wimbledon to Rafter if just a tougher semi. He always had matchup advantage with Agassi even in twilight years. And Agassi's late career success was never an indicator he was a better player than his prime but that a) he was better mentally and b) Sampras was on the way out then retired

 

[ibbi]

Not a great match, but you want to talk peak vs. peak, Vilas was in the absolute form of his life heading into the Roland Garros final in 1978. He was defending champ, US Open champ, Australian Open finalist, had won like 14 titles or something in the past 12 months, and BAM...

1-6, 1-6, 3-6.

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

The first three sets of the Safin-Agassi 2004 AO semi is the peak of aggressive baselinig for sure.

 

[martinezownsclay]

Not a great match, but you want to talk peak vs. peak, Vilas was in the absolute form of his life heading into the Roland Garros final in 1978. He was defending champ, US Open champ, Australian Open finalist, had won like 14 titles or something in the past 12 months, and BAM...

1-6, 1-6, 3-6.

I wish we had gotten Borg vs Vilas that year.

 

[Beerus]

Wish we could've gotten to see some peak-for-peak action between Nadal and Kokutitas.

Especially on slow hard, like Indian Wells or Australian Open. Rafa would obviously eat up on clay, while Theo at his absolute best was nigh unstoppable on grass and fast courts. But a contest Down Under between the Matador of Mallorca and the Thessaloniki Thunderbolt would've been quite the sight.

Out of 10?

 

[RS]

Find me a better slow HC match. I'll wait.

They told me Fed Safin