mike danny
Bionic Poster
Saying Nadal was not at his peak in 2011 would be foolish IMO. The guy was only 25 and was the only time he was exceptional on all 3 surfaces.
Greatest Performance in a Us Open Final?
- Thread starter JoelSandwich
- Start date
DreddyTennis45
Hall of Fame
Well if you actually read on you would have noticed I was talking about that specific tournament not the whole year but dont let that get in the way of your fanboyism
DreddyTennis45
Hall of Fame
Yeah I was talking about his level of play at USO 2011 which was sub-par imo. The rest of the year was peak/prime level
Also he was on his career best streak of 5 Slam finals in row from FO 2011 to F0 2012. It was definitely peak Nadal.
InsideOut900
Legend
Honestly that match was very weird.
Del Potro started the match at a pretty average level,than Federer allowed him to turn on the heat failing to serve the 2nd set.
Del Potro totally choked the 3rd after being up a break and than outclutched Federer in the 4th. Than Federer collapsed in the 5th like he did in AO.
Overall Fed had a negative W/UE balance against an average mover and served like crap.
Nice display of mental toughness from a young player but not that fantastic of a performance.
On topic,I find Federer's 04 and 06 finals very impressive.
swordtennis
G.O.A.T.
How is winning every match in 3 sets including wiping out Roddick in the QF and whipping Murray in 4 sets in the SF SUB PAR?
Rafa the King
Hall of Fame
Peak Nadal was a year before, I'd call it prime Rafa. Those two sets in the middle of that match were soooo good though
DreddyTennis45
Hall of Fame
Perhaps I was quite rash in calling the whole tournament sub par but the original point was hs performance in the final was certainly so, imo
Rafa the King
Hall of Fame
It was an amazing period when looking at his slam level. But peak Rafa will always for me remain that stretch from RG08, Wimbledon, Olympics, AO and that clay season pre RG
CYGS
Legend
Keep changing your positions when challenged. That's really intelligent.
Bhagi Katbamna
Legend
Del Potro beating a heavily favored Federer in 2009. He looked done and dusted when Federer was serving for the second set up a break. An equally great performance was Sampras beating Agassi in 1990.
mike danny
Bionic Poster
Roddick was outside the top 20 and would retire the following season. Not a strong barometer.
The Murray win was good though.
DreddyTennis45
Hall of Fame
I love how you ignore my post to you which you don't even have the balls to respond to, yet comment on something that doesn't even involve you. Plus I'm not "changing positions" I just stated that what I said was perhaps rash, also refered to the original point of the whole debate.
N
nowhereman
Guest
Edberg '91, Safin '00 and Fed '04 are the best ones IMO.
CYGS
Legend
Your post got deleted because of the insult. Perhaps rash? That just exposed how weak your original argument was. A 25-year old Nadal was certainly still a peak Nadal. Don't cherry pick tournaments/matches.
Bhagi Katbamna
Legend
Although Safin v Sampras or Hewitt v Sampras was pretty good too.
DreddyTennis45
Hall of Fame
No it got deleted because you didn't have the balls to respond; there were no insults there, but it was more convenient for you to not have to respond.
The original argument was that the level of play from Nadal in the final wasn't peak level, unlike Novak's.
The whole argument was about the final of USO 2011 and not 2011 as a whole.
CYGS
Legend
Well, I respectfully disagree.
DreddyTennis45
Hall of Fame
TahoeTennis
Legend
Rafter 96
JoelSandwich
Hall of Fame
Did you think Rafa played well in the third set at least?
Rafa the King
Hall of Fame
If that was a peak Rafa, then Rafa beat a peak Nole twice in 2013. See the difference between peak and prime?
Rafa the King
Hall of Fame
Do you think Nole in the 2010 final played a higher level for his overal standard than Rafa did in 2011 final?
He was so good that day, from that point on I thought of him as a threat for all the majors for the coming years
DreddyTennis45
Hall of Fame
Yeah, I think if he played like that from the start he could have given Djokovic a lot more trouble. The fact that the first two sets were stinkers almost forced him to play better in the 3rd set but Djokovic was just too good in that day; I think it's criminally underappreciatied how Djokovic bounced back from 2 sets and a MP down against Fed to raise his game in the final and almost demolish Rafa
JoelSandwich
Hall of Fame
Considering Nadal's great form and the fact that Novak struggled throughout 2010. I'd say yes Novak played well and did way better than most people thought he would. Nadal underperformed for his standards in the final in 2011, but he never played bad Novak was just too good.
You could maybe say he was bad in the last set, but I don't blame him after that insane third set.
Rafa the King
Hall of Fame
JoelSandwich
Hall of Fame
LolCheeky MTO after a long first game of the fourth set put him off
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Bhagi Katbamna
Legend
On the women's side I would say Stosur.
JoelSandwich
Hall of Fame
Definitely the best she's ever played
swordtennis
G.O.A.T.
Ok fair enough I do not totally agree with how bad Roddick was. He was making a nice run that year.
I just can not wrap my head around how certain people just can not accept Djokovic's domination and huge winning runs against the other 3 of the big 4 esp nadal. There has to be some type of mental block going on in the brain.
swordtennis
G.O.A.T.
Ok fair enough. However djokovic was just pushing him around by then. Nadal had to take off and re tool his game against djokovic.
ScentOfDefeat
G.O.A.T.
Edberg's demolition of Courier.
It was sweet.
It was sweet.
VamosBamos987
Hall of Fame
djokic vs youzeenee uso 20016
cheers
cheers
Meles
Bionic Poster
That had some huge build up and was a good one.
TheFifthSet
Legend
There's likely not a single poster on this forum that has spent more time arguing that Nadal was smack dab in his prime in 2011 than I (I know, sad)... but if you believe that that particular match was an accurate representation of Nadal's peak capabilities, then I must infer from this that you don't think much of Nadal as a player. He held 6 out of his 18 service games, won 52% of his first serve points, got breadsticked in the deciding set against a knackered Djokovic...it was a high-quality match, to be sure, but Nadal could have done much better (and did, in their very next major HC encounter). A player can be at their physical peak and still play a pedestrian match from time to time, these things aren't mutually exclusive. Hewitt was riding a long winning streak going into the 2004 US Open final and got shellacked by a sterling Federer, but he definitely didn't play his best in the final, or even close to it.
No qualms with choosing Djokovic btw, his level in the 2011 final was insane and is deserving of one of the top spots on any list, but stubbornly maintaining that his opponent was at HIS very best strikes me as insincere.
TheFifthSet
Legend
My own top 5, in no order (open era only)
Edberg-Courier
Federer-Hewitt
Djokovic-Nadal
Safin-Sampras
McEnroe-Lendl
Edberg-Courier
Federer-Hewitt
Djokovic-Nadal
Safin-Sampras
McEnroe-Lendl
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TheFifthSet
Legend
Across the entire year, absolutely. Very small difference between the Nadal of '10 and '11.
cockneyDjoker
Hall of Fame
Djokovic in 2011
Rafa the King
Hall of Fame
The serve in 2010, that serve and the same level of play and you have a whole new match in 2011
DreddyTennis45
Hall of Fame
Yeah like I said in a previous post I think it's massively underrated how Djokovic came back from 2 sets and MP down against Fed to raise his game in the final. Nadal played so poorly in the first two sets that he had to raise his game, which he did, but it was too late and Djokovic finished him off
1976: Orantes beats #1 Connors, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Connors was in the middle of his stretch of making 5 straight U.S. Open finals, winning 3 of them (and five overall). In the SF, Connors had beaten Borg in straight sets. Orantes had completed an inconceivable comeback to beat Vilas in five sets. Everyone picked Jimbo to win. Manuel smoked him in straight sets.
1984: McEnroe beats #2 Lendl, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. Lendl was in the middle of his stretch of making 8 straight U.S. Open finals, winning 3 of them. In the SF, both guys had tough five setters. McEnroe came out on fire in the final and crushed Lendl.
1991: Edberg beats #4 Courier, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. Serve and volley perfection. The most dominant U.S. Open finals win in history, apart from Connors crushing old man Rosewall in 1974. I think Edberg was slightly more dominant here than Roger was against Lleyton in 2004.
1984: McEnroe beats #2 Lendl, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. Lendl was in the middle of his stretch of making 8 straight U.S. Open finals, winning 3 of them. In the SF, both guys had tough five setters. McEnroe came out on fire in the final and crushed Lendl.
1991: Edberg beats #4 Courier, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. Serve and volley perfection. The most dominant U.S. Open finals win in history, apart from Connors crushing old man Rosewall in 1974. I think Edberg was slightly more dominant here than Roger was against Lleyton in 2004.
Boom-Boom
Legend
yep Safin - Sampras
vive le beau jeu !
Talk Tennis Guru
edberg 1991 (he totally destroyed the lumberjack) and federer 2004
i like safin, but sampras looked so deflated that day...
metsman
Talk Tennis Guru
the cross court forehand to my eyes had more depth in 2010 too
Yes Nadal was in his prime/peak in 2011 but would Novak fans say that novak was playing very well in the 2013 USO final like some are saying about Nadal in 2011.
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