Greatest post-prime/"old man" match

Greatest old man match?

  • 1972 WCT Final (Rosewall d. Laver)

    Votes: 11 20.8%

  • 2001 US Open Quarterfinal (Sampras d. Agassi)

    Votes: 4 7.5%

  • 2017 Australian Open Final (Federer d. Nadal)

    Votes: 17 32.1%

  • 2017 French Open Semifinal (Wawrinka d. Murray)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 2018 Wimbledon Semifinal (Djokovic d. Nadal)

    Votes: 13 24.5%

  • 2019 Wimbledon Final (Djokovic d. Federer)

    Votes: 9 17.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 1 1.9%
  • Total voters
    53
BigThreeForever

BigThreeForever

Semi-Pro
Which match do you believe to be the greatest/best/highest quality that was played by those out of prime or beyond their 20s ("old men")? Any recommendations I can add to poll.

Timeline;
1972 WCT final, Ken Rosewall d. Rod Laver 4–6, 6–0, 6–3, 6–7(3–7), 7–6(7–5)

2001 US Open quarterfinal, Sampras d. Agassi 6–7(7–9), 7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–5)

2017 Australian Open final, Federer d. Nadal 6–4, 3–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–3

2017 French Open semifinal, Wawrinka d. Murray 6–7(6–8), 6–3, 5–7, 7–6(7–3), 6–1

2018 Wimbledon semifinal, Djokovic d. Nadal 6–4, 3–6, 7–6(10–8), 3–6, 10–8

2019 Wimbledon final, Djokovic d. Federer 7–6(7–5), 1–6, 7–6(7–4), 4–6, 13–12(7–3)
 
2018 WB SF, though a great match, wasn't a post-prime match, because both contestants were relatively young! Imagine Nadal could've caught Djokovic with 3 WB championships apiece! And 23 slams apiece, in that case, you would've to give it to Nadal as a tie breaker!
 
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Never saw the 1972 match so I don’t think it’s fair for me to vote it here, but that match basically launched the popularity of tennis.

From those I’ve seen it’s gotta be Sampras-Agassi based on raw quality and drama.

AO 2017 was my subjective favorite though.
 
Jimmy Connors' entire 1991 US Open run, especially the following:

First round vs. Patrick McEnroe: Connors trails 4-6, 6-7, 0-3 (1 break) and serves at 0-40 down. Connors comes back to win 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, in the early hours of the morning.

Fourth round vs. Aaron Krickstein: Connors loses first set, leads 5-1 in the second set and had set point, Krickstein comes back to get a set point of his own, Connors goes ballistic against umpire in tiebreak, Connors wins second set. Krickstein wins an easy third set, Connors scraps out the fourth set. Krickstein leads 5-2 in the fifth set. Connors comes back to win 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6. This was on Connors' 39th birthday.

Quarter final vs. Paul Haarhuis: Haarhuis had knocked out world number 1 Boris Becker in the third round. Haarhuis won the first set 6-4, and served for the second set at 5-4, when Connors won a very famous point at 30-40 I believe. Connors comes back to win 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2.
 
Agassi vs Fed US Open final!!

2005? Anyway, incredible match. Very high quality. Andre was 35. I remember because the commentators would not shut up about it. They acted like no one had ever lived to that age before let alone played a pro match.
 
Tough one between 1972 WCT, 2001 USO, 2017 AO and 2018 WB. All of these are great matches.

Think i'll go with the Laver Rosewall one. I doubt any of the previous ones will be as remembered as that one in the future.
 
Third Serve said:
Never saw the 1972 match so I don’t think it’s fair for me to vote it here, but that match basically launched the popularity of tennis.

From those I’ve seen it’s gotta be Sampras-Agassi based on raw quality and drama.

AO 2017 was my subjective favorite though.
Click to expand...

I'll give that to Borg. If i had to pick a match, probably the 1980 Wimbledon final.
 
NatF said:
If you know anything about tennis history the greatest is the 1972 WCT final, the impact it had on the games mainstream appeal cannot be overstated.
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I was listening to an episode of Roddick's podcast from a while back and they referenced this one! I didn't know about it but they mentioned how it made tennis mainstream in the USA.
 
I don't think these would really be GOAT "old man matches," but my favs are Goran/Rafter 2001 Wimbledon final (neither were old by today's standards, but 28/29 in 2001 was pushing it) and Pete/Andre US Open final in 2002.
 
Mustard said:
Jimmy Connors' entire 1991 US Open run, especially the following:

First round vs. Patrick McEnroe: Connors trails 4-6, 6-7, 0-3 (1 break) and serves at 0-40 down. Connors comes back to win 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, in the early hours of the morning.

Fourth round vs. Aaron Krickstein: Connors loses first set, leads 5-1 in the second set and had set point, Krickstein comes back to get a set point of his own, Connors goes ballistic against umpire in tiebreak, Connors wins second set. Krickstein wins an easy third set, Connors scraps out the fourth set. Krickstein leads 5-2 in the fifth set. Connors comes back to win 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6. This was on Connors' 39th birthday.

Quarter final vs. Paul Haarhuis: Haarhuis had knocked out world number 1 Boris Becker in the third round. Haarhuis won the first set 6-4, and served for the second set at 5-4, when Connors won a very famous point at 30-40 I believe. Connors comes back to win 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Click to expand...
Great efforts by Connors but none of those players he beat were all-time great players.
 
SonnyT said:
2018 WB SF, though a great match, wasn't a post-prime match, because both contestants were relatively young! Imagine Nadal could've caught Djokovic with 3 WB championships apiece! And 23 slams apiece, in that case, you would've to give it to Nadal as a tie breaker!
Click to expand...
The best day ever to be a tennis fan.

15315794122131.jpg
 
BigThreeForever said:
Incredible match and impact it had on tennis, though I prefer the 2018 Wimbledon semi between Nadal and Djokovic.

Good read on the 1972 match: https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/1972-the-rod-laver-vs-ken-rosewall-wct-final-in-dallas
Click to expand...
But Rosewall, who Laver once described as a “bloody thief,” had another charge left. Winning four of the next five games, he reached match point on Laver’s serve at 5-4. When Laver wiped it away with an ace, held serve, and went up 5-3 in the tiebreaker that followed, it appeared again that this match had taken its final turn. Rosewall, to Laver’s eyes, was spent.

Or was he? “Ken’s exhaustion was always something of a deception,” according to Evans, and there was no greater proof than the last three points in Dallas. When Laver stepped up to serve at 5-4, he had the title on his racquet, and watching Rosewall drag himself around the court in between points, he was confident it would soon be his. A few minutes later, Laver found himself walking to the net a loser, wondering what had happened. Rosewall’s backhand is what happened.

At 4-5, Rosewall found a crosscourt angle with his backhand return that Laver himself had never seen from him. “I hit a terrific serve,” Laver said, “but the return was even terrificker.” At 5-5, Rosewall reached out and smacked a backhand return—Kenny’s last stab—for a winner. Laver was too stunned to get his return at 5-6 over the net.
Click to expand...
It seems Muscles was Djokovic's real predecessor.
 
messiahrobins said:
RG 2022 QF was the most historically significant for sure. Also probably the highest quality match between two mid 30's guys at a slam. Definitely at the FO anyway
Click to expand...
how so? what is so historically significant with it?

RG16 - nole simultaneously hold 4 slams (as the only player since 3 surfaces) making the greatest year of all times (4 slams, WTF, 5 masters + 3 finals, 12 titles, 31 top10 wins, positive h2h vs al main rivals and highest points record) - the ultimate BOAT stuffs!
RG21 - nole becoming the GOAT with 2nd CGS beating rafa on the way to RG title
RG23 - nole broke the last main GOAT record that he does not already hold
OG24 on RG - nole completing tennis!!!!
 
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GoatNo1 said:
how so? what is so historically significant with it?

RG16 - nole simultaneously hold 4 slams (as the only player since 3 surfaces) making the greatest year of all times (4 slams, WTF, 5 masters + 3 finals, 12 titles, 31 top10 wins, positive h2h vs al main rivals and highest points record) - the ultimate BOAT stuffs!
RG21 - nole becoming the GOAT with 2nd CGS beating rafa on the way to RG title
RG23 - nole broke the last main GOAT record that he does not already hold
OG24 on RG - nole completing tennis!!!!
Click to expand...
Determined who was GOAT of the Big 3 era. No ifs no buts. And it was personal. Djokovic and his team and family were trolling Nadals AO win for months. Remember conditions were tailored for Djokovic as he got his night time wish when Nadal wanted daytime. They were 1-1 at RG at the new stadium. Djokovic and his wife in 2021 went OTT so all of that in the pot and everything was on the line. It was winner takes all
 
messiahrobins said:
Determined who was GOAT of the Big 3 era. No ifs no buts. And it was personal. Djokovic and his team and family were trolling Nadals AO win for months. Remember conditions were tailored for Djokovic as he got his night time wish when Nadal wanted daytime. They were 1-1 at RG at the new stadium. Djokovic and his wife in 2021 went OTT so all of that in the pot and everything was on the line. It was winner takes all
Click to expand...
Djokovic and his fans actually treated Australian law like it was a tennis opponent to be grinded down. Messianism off the charts, really.
 
Mustard said:
Djokovic and his fans actually treated Australian law like it was a tennis opponent to be grinded down. Messianism off the charts, really.
Click to expand...
It was the Djokovic fans who billed that RG 2022 match as the GOAT decider lol. After they saw Rafa almost go out to FAA and have a 5 set win with his dodgy foot they thought it was in the bag. I distinctly remember comments such as 'no excuses it's all on the line' 'winner takes all' 'goat decider', and the best bit was the likes of Paul.Mcnamee Roddick, kyrgios and other pro Djokovic ex pros bigging it up as such.
Then after the match it was back to being Australia's fault as Djokovic wasn't match fit ...5 months later.
For.me the rivalry came to its head that night.
 
messiahrobins said:
Determined who was GOAT of the Big 3 era. No ifs no buts. And it was personal. Djokovic and his team and family were trolling Nadals AO win for months. Remember conditions were tailored for Djokovic as he got his night time wish when Nadal wanted daytime. They were 1-1 at RG at the new stadium. Djokovic and his wife in 2021 went OTT so all of that in the pot and everything was on the line. It was winner takes all
Click to expand...
rafa never had own era, never was YE#1 for 2 consecutive seasons, never was GOAT and never was main power, alpha man for more than one season. he was greatest no2 of all time, first in feds era (04-09) and then in both noles eras. he had his year (2010) in between feds era and noles first era (11-RG16)! and he shared another year with fed (2017) in between noles 2 eras (1st and W18-23)!

he is seen as 3rd greatest after nole and fed so he never was seen as greater than fed!

how could he be the greatest with so disastrous main GOAT stat as time spend as the best player of the world?

209+209+10 > 310 > 209
 
messiahrobins said:
It was the Djokovic fans who billed that RG 2022 match as the GOAT decider lol. After they saw Rafa almost go out to FAA and have a 5 set win with his dodgy foot they thought it was in the bag. I distinctly remember comments such as 'no excuses it's all on the line' 'winner takes all' 'goat decider', and the best bit was the likes of Paul.Mcnamee Roddick, kyrgios and other pro Djokovic ex pros bigging it up as such.
Then after the match it was back to being Australia's fault as Djokovic wasn't match fit ...5 months later.
For.me the rivalry came to its head that night.
Click to expand...
And John McEnroe's moaning in the Eurosport commentary box about Rafael Nadal's time between points and in between serves. Good grief! He went on and on and on and on about it, and it was painfully obvious what the motivation behind the moaning was, i.e. Djokovic in Australia earlier that year. I was like "Djokovic and the Australian authorities colluded for Djokovic to break Australian law, and the Australian people, who had been in lockdown for months and months, found them out when Djokovic posted that instagram post when he arrived in Australia. Tough luck.". That the Australian authorities then botched the deportation process, possibly because of their own complicity, just made it even more farcical. But my goodness how they whined.
 
GoatNo1 said:
rafa never had own era, never was YE#1 for 2 consecutive seasons, never was GOAT and never was main power, alpha man for more than one season. he was greatest no2 of all time, first in feds era (04-09) and then in both noles eras. he had his year (2010) in between feds era and noles first era (11-RG16)! and he shared another year with fed (2017) in between noles 2 eras (1st and W18-23)!

he is seen as 3rd greatest after nole and fed so he never was seen as greater than fed!

how could he be the greatest with so disastrous main GOAT stat as time spend as the best player of the world?

209+209+10 > 310 > 209
Click to expand...
Nadal's big match record blows them all out of the water, and you know it.
 
GoatNo1 said:
rafa never had own era, never was YE#1 for 2 consecutive seasons, never was GOAT and never was main power, alpha man for more than one season. he was greatest no2 of all time, first in feds era (04-09) and then in both noles eras. he had his year (2010) in between feds era and noles first era (11-RG16)! and he shared another year with fed (2017) in between noles 2 eras (1st and W18-23)!

he is seen as 3rd greatest after nole and fed so he never was seen as greater than fed!

how could he be the greatest with so disastrous main GOAT stat as time spend as the best player of the world?

209+209+10 > 310 > 209
Click to expand...
Nadals era was 2005-2022. He won the most Majors in the time he was on tour as a regular player while all the Big 4 members were active.

According to your argument u must think Sinner is greater than Alcaraz and its the Sinner era as he has way more weeks at no.1 lol. I like Sinner btw. But clearly this is Alcaraz era currently
 
Mustard said:
And John McEnroe's moaning in the Eurosport commentary box about Rafael Nadal's time between points and in between serves. Good grief! He went on and on and on and on about it, and it was painfully obvious what the motivation behind the moaning was, i.e. Djokovic in Australia earlier that year. I was like "Djokovic and the Australian authorities colluded for Djokovic to break Australian law, and the Australian people, who had been in lockdown for months and months, found them out when Djokovic posted that instagram post when he arrived in Australia. Tough luck.". But my goodness how they whined.
Click to expand...
Simon Reed and McEnroe at the end of the match literally went silent. Didn't say a word for about 3 mins and they had to cut to an advert lol.

In the history of tennis i don't think there has been a bigger grudge match than RG2022 QF. Can you think of one? Connors v McEnroe was a more spicy rivalry obviously but I don't remember a single slam match they had that had so much a back round to it.
 
messiahrobins said:
Nadals era was 2005-2022. He won the most Majors in the time he was on tour as a regular player while all the Big 4 members were active.

According to your argument u must think Sinner is greater than Alcaraz and its the Sinner era as he has way more weeks at no.1 lol. I like Sinner btw. But clearly this is Alcaraz era currently
Click to expand...
The Sinner hype was off the charts during Rome, and during the French Open. Better than peak Nadal at the French Open even. LOL. Sinner's total number of clay tournaments wins to date is just 1, and that from 2022!
 
messiahrobins said:
Simon Reed and McEnroe at the end of the match literally went silent. Didn't say a word for about 3 mins and they had to cut to an advert lol.

In the history of tennis i don't think there has been a bigger grudge match than RG2022 QF. Can you think of one? Connors v McEnroe was a more spicy rivalry obviously but I don't remember a single slam match they had that had so much a back round to it.
Click to expand...
John McEnroe's biggest grudge opponent is rarely mentioned. It's Bill Scanlon. They couldn't stand each other, and Scanlon didn't like McEnroe's whole bravado. Scanlon beat McEnroe at the 1983 US Open.
 
BigThreeForever said:
Which match do you believe to be the greatest/best/highest quality that was played by those out of prime or beyond their 20s ("old men")? Any recommendations I can add to poll.

Timeline;
1972 WCT final, Ken Rosewall d. Rod Laver 4–6, 6–0, 6–3, 6–7(3–7), 7–6(7–5)

2001 US Open quarterfinal, Sampras d. Agassi 6–7(7–9), 7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–2), 7–6(7–5)

2017 Australian Open final, Federer d. Nadal 6–4, 3–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–3

2017 French Open semifinal, Wawrinka d. Murray 6–7(6–8), 6–3, 5–7, 7–6(7–3), 6–1

2018 Wimbledon semifinal, Djokovic d. Nadal 6–4, 3–6, 7–6(10–8), 3–6, 10–8

2019 Wimbledon final, Djokovic d. Federer 7–6(7–5), 1–6, 7–6(7–4), 4–6, 13–12(7–3)
Click to expand...
I’m gonna go with 2017 ao
 
messiahrobins said:
Nadals era was 2005-2022. He won the most Majors in the time he was on tour as a regular player while all the Big 4 members were active.

According to your argument u must think Sinner is greater than Alcaraz and its the Sinner era as he has way more weeks at no.1 lol. I like Sinner btw. But clearly this is Alcaraz era currently
Click to expand...
this BS about rafa did not deserves answer

as for sinner and raz it is their ERA none of them deserves it. as 17-RG18 was rafas and feds period!
 
GoatNo1 said:
no one denies his greatness on clay (ther his big matches was)! he is undisputed clay GOAT!
Click to expand...
Not just on clay. Nadal is 2-1 in matches against Djokovic at the US Open, and 3-1 up in matches against Federer at the Australian Open, on top of clay domination.
 
Mustard said:
The Sinner hype was off the charts during Rome, and during the French Open. Better than peak Nadal at the French Open even. LOL. Sinner's total number of clay tournaments wins to date is just 1, and that from 2022!
Click to expand...
Yes now Sinner and Alcaraz are here and it seems plausible both may surpass the Big 3 unless other players step up your will find that those anti Nadal media lot will start being nice about Nadal and admitting he was best of his era only to then beat down on him by saying how Sinner and Alcaraz are better. We are already seeing it happen!!!
 
GoatNo1 said:
this BS about rafa did not deserves answer

as for sinner and raz it is their ERA none of them deserves it. as 17-RG18 was rafas and feds period!
Click to expand...
You keep contradicting yourself. And what do you mean Sinner and Alcaraz don't deserve their era. I mean they literally have owned tennis for almost 2 years now.
 
messiahrobins said:
Yes now Sinner and Alcaraz are here and it seems plausible both may surpass the Big 3 unless other players step up your will find that those anti Nadal media lot will start being nice about Nadal and admitting he was best of his era only to then beat down on him by saying how Sinner and Alcaraz are better. We are already seeing it happen!!!
Click to expand...
It's so farcical, because Nadal had won 12 clay titles by the time his teenage years were over, including a French Open, 2 Monte Carlos, 2 Romes, 2 Barcelonas. Already!
 
Mustard said:
It's so farcical, because Nadal had won 12 clay titles by the time his teenage years were over.
Click to expand...
I know...I know for a fact how many in the media despised Rafa from an early stage because of his sleeveless tops and pirate shorts. There were many in the media ?older ones) who hated Rafa for that as they liked the old school clean cut Federer image. Rafa shut his critics up at every level but when he got the slam record I remember all the backhanded 'he is statistically the GOAT one can say' jibes.
 
Mustard said:
Not just on clay. Nadal is 2-1 in matches against Djokovic at the US Open, and 3-1 up in matches against Federer at the Australian Open, on top of clay domination.
Click to expand...
yes i know, it was the last time he won a single set vs nole on HC. after that USO13 he is 0-9 in matches and 0-19 in sets on HC! after that match nole had 11-1 streak vs rafa. rafa avoid nole on HC. their last 5 matches was all on clay! 9 out of last 12 matches was on clay while just 2 of last 12 was on HC!

there is 2 HC slams and 1 CC but they played 5 times on HC (only 2 at nole favorite and rafas worst slam, 2-0 nole) and 10 at RG (rafas favorite and noles worst slam, 8-2 rafa)!
it is 6 HC masters and 3 CC masters but they played 17 times on clay (11-6, rafa) and 12 times on HC (10-2, nole)!

nole completed tennis, rafa never won title at WTF, miami or paris!

nole won vs rafa on ALL big tournaments they played each other (no meetings at shanghai) while rafa NEVER won vs nole at AO, miami, cinci and paris!
 
Mustard said:
Not just on clay. Nadal is 2-1 in matches against Djokovic at the US Open, and 3-1 up in matches against Federer at the Australian Open, on top of clay domination.
Click to expand...
Yup. Vs Novak.

Leads at 2 of the 4 majors and should really have been 13 out of the 18 matches won with 1 missed backhand away at Ao12 at Novak’s best major and Nadal's worst.

Also Roofgate 2018 on a wet slick indoor grass court which is also by far Nadal's worst conditions to be playing and Noles best conditions.

If he won only those 2 knife edgers, then Nadal would be undefeated at ALL 4 majors, and leading in 3 and drawing in 1. All whilst having the severe limitation of 2 hc slams where Nole is the extreme favourite and grass has been hard on Nadal's knees since circa 2012/2013.

Nadal has also straight setted Novak 4 TIMES at Majors, where Novak has only done that ONCE to Nadal at majors, so Nadal has a MUCH easier time beating Novak at majors than vice versa and so Struggles in comparison.
 
messiahrobins said:
You keep contradicting yourself. And what do you mean Sinner and Alcaraz don't deserve their era. I mean they literally have owned tennis for almost 2 years now.
Click to expand...
yes, tougheder it IS their era but not just sinners or just razs! it is sinneraz era or how ever you want to name it. but it is not razs and it is not sinners era!

if you take numbers for fed and nole in their eras you will see why rafa, sinner or raz had no own eras!

to have own era you most be leading in main stats under at least 4-5 years. you should have more than half YE#1s, weeks at #1. learly most slams than any other player and most big titles. and not just some of that but ALL that!
 
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