Highest level of one-time US Open champion?

Highest overall level of one-time USO champ

  • Safin (2000)

    Votes: 46 35.4%
  • Hewitt (2001)

    Votes: 4 3.1%
  • Roddick (2003)

    Votes: 3 2.3%
  • Delpo (2009)

    Votes: 49 37.7%
  • Murray (2012)

    Votes: 6 4.6%
  • Cilic (2014)

    Votes: 12 9.2%
  • Stan (2016)

    Votes: 7 5.4%
  • Thiem (2020)

    Votes: 3 2.3%

  • Total voters
    130
D

Deleted member 748597

Guest
My man takes the honors.
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NAS

Hall of Fame
Just out of interest, only 3 on that list (Del Potro, Murray and Wawrinka) defeated the defending champion.
Yep, this is why I selected Delpo, may be Safin level was high in final but Delpo defeated Murray, Cilic, Rafa, Fed in back to back matches.
Defeated no 3 , no.2 and no.1 seed to win the title.
Last four opponent of Delpo either was or became Us open chpion and he also defeated 5 times defending champion in finals
 

AnOctorokForDinner

Talk Tennis Guru
Yep, this is why I selected Delpo, may be Safin level was high in final but Delpo defeated Murray, Cilic, Rafa, Fed in back to back matches.
Defeated no 3 , no.2 and no.1 seed to win the title.
Last four opponent of Delpo either was or became Us open chpion and he also defeated 5 times defending champion in finals

Cilic defeated Murray, who was hurt.
 
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Mainad

Bionic Poster
Yep, this is why I selected Delpo, may be Safin level was high in final but Delpo defeated Murray, Cilic, Rafa, Fed in back to back matches.
Defeated no 3 , no.2 and no.1 seed to win the title.
Last four opponent of Delpo either was or became Us open chpion and he also defeated 5 times defending champion in finals

He didn't play Murray at 2009 USO. His draw was : 1R Monaco, 2R Melzer, 3R Köllerer, 4R Ferrero, QTR Cilic, SF Nadal, F Federer so he beat the 5 times defending champion, 2 future champions (Nadal, Cilic) and a former finalist (Ferrero).
 

NAS

Hall of Fame
He didn't play Murray at 2009 USO. His draw was : 1R Monaco, 2R Melzer, 3R Köllerer, 4R Ferrero, QTR Cilic, SF Nadal, F Federer so he beat the 5 times defending champion, 2 future champions (Nadal, Cilic) and a former finalist (Ferrero).
Yeah , you are right
 

ForehandCross

G.O.A.T.
People here forget how Fed was riding high into that final. He had straight set Djokovic and had slam record bravado...

People here are actually forgetting Safin. Not that I was watching at the time but the 2000 USO F was the first match I ever watched of Safin and I was stunned

He probably took on the greatest server ever and the GOAT then and basically made him look like an amateur.

And people are forgetting how good Thiem was before Finals. He was playing very high level of consistent aggression.


Del Potro was great as well.


It's Safin for the thread then Del Potro then Thiem and Cilic then Roddick, Murray Hewitt
 

RS

Bionic Poster
Murray USO 08 QF and Del Potro USO 09 SF in a single match but Del Potro USO 2009 for the full event.
 
It will be tough given Del Potro's form but Djokovic is really a nightmare for Del Potro so I won't put it past him.

Djokovic's dismantling of Del Potro in 2018 USO F is really underrated.

Prior to the final, everyone would have thought Djokovic of 2009 was favorite against Del Potro of 2009, not because of head to head but because of overall level. It's true that Federer did close out Djokovic and failed to close out Del Potro, but we shouldn't read too much into that. Djokovic pushed Federer throughout, whereas Federer was fairly close to beating Del Potro pretty comfortably.
 

Biotic

Hall of Fame
One match performances?

1) Safin 2000 F
2) Roddick 2003 F
3) Del Potro 2009 SF
4) Hewitt 2001 F (and semi too honestly)
5) Cilic 2014 SF

Hard to say for the whole tournament, each had ups and downs.

Solid list.

Safin 2000 USO F vs Safin 2005 AO SF, who you got?
 

tudwell

G.O.A.T.
I rewatched most of the 2000 final last night. I see why Safin's such a common choice, but I also find it virtually impossible to compare with, say, Delpo's victory. The match-ups with their opponents are almost complete opposites. Safin shines with aggressive returns and pin-point passing shots. Delpo plays consistent returns from deep in the court and doesn't get the opportunity to hit as many passing shots as Safin.

Delpo shines with consistent baseline depth (almost Djokovic-like at times), slowly outmaneuvering Federer until he has the opportunity to whack a forehand winner. Safin could excel in this regard, and occasionally does, but for the most part he's relatively unpressured in baseline rallies (basically all on his own serve). He doesn't have to go for much to win a point, most of the time, when Sampras is at the baseline (though Sampras does hit some consistently good forehands throughout and really seemed to step up the intensity from the baseline in the last few games, with Safin adjusting appropriately).

Safin, of course, won with ease while Delpo probably should have lost, but then Federer was just a comprehensively better player in the 2009 final than Sampras was in 2000. Even up at net, Sampras seemed to lack the explosiveness he once had, and his baseline game was a shadow of what it used to be. I just don't know how to make an accurate comparison of their respective levels because the matches they played required them to excel at such different things.

(This is of course only looking at the finals. From start to finish, Delpo was clearly at a consistently higher level than Safin, who struggled with all sorts of opponents on his way to the final.)
 

tudwell

G.O.A.T.
Djokovic was favored in tournament. If I’m not mistaken Fed went into SF Cilic knowing that Kei had ousted Novak already. Did this make him overconfident?
I think if anything, it was the opposite – it made him feel the pressure too much. I think the physical toll of the Monfils match and the mental pressure of knowing he had a likely exhausted and overwhelmed Nishikori waiting in the final resulted in Fed playing an exceptionally passive match, by his standards. Cilic did well to take advantage, but Fed had no sting on his shots that day.
 

tudwell

G.O.A.T.
Cilic by a big margin. SF/F was probably the highest performance I've ever seen from a non-Big3 player.
Eh. It was great serving and clean, aggressive hitting from the back of the court, but against players who basically did nothing to push him at all. Granted, it's Cilic and he could have easily let that opportunity slip through his fingers, so good on him that he didn't, and it's impressive to maintain that level so comprehensively even when your opponents aren't really doing much, but on the whole I find it hard to judge just how good he would have been if he were going toe-to-toe with a truly great, in-form opponent a la Delpo 2009. Maybe he still would have won, but given his mental woes in basically every other big match he's played, I kind of doubt it. Just my take.
 
Eh. It was great serving and clean, aggressive hitting from the back of the court, but against players who basically did nothing to push him at all. Granted, it's Cilic and he could have easily let that opportunity slip through his fingers, so good on him that he didn't, and it's impressive to maintain that level so comprehensively even when your opponents aren't really doing much, but on the whole I find it hard to judge just how good he would have been if he were going toe-to-toe with a truly great, in-form opponent a la Delpo 2009. Maybe he still would have won, but given his mental woes in basically every other big match he's played, I kind of doubt it. Just my take.
Del Potro was in a sticky situation vs Cilic in 2009 until Marin imploded.
He also started the final vs Fed quite slow and didn't really get going until set 4, but managed to snatch the 2nd set. So impressive clutch play in the final and fantastic level at the end of the match, but let's not pretend it was smooth sailing.

Now it's very possible that Cilic may not be able to see this through, simply because he lacks high end clutchness, but his level wasn't far apart from Del Potro in my view and it would be very close if you put them against each other.

I see no one talking about Roddick performance in the 2003 F either, that was the best match of his career and he played it in the final off all matches. Less impressive tournament overall, but no one mentioning that match is kind of a headstretcher.
 

NatF

Bionic Poster
I find Delpo really overrated tbh. Should have lost to Fed who threw in his worst serving performance of all time in a slam final.
 

Hitman

Bionic Poster
Safin, no question. Sampras was on a roll at the point, he had just broke the slam record and was the big fav heading in. It was his first lost in a slam final since AO 95 and never had he lost so convincingly as he did that day, I was stunned watching it as a fan.
 

Third Serve

Talk Tennis Guru
I find Delpo really overrated tbh. Should have lost to Fed who threw in his worst serving performance of all time in a slam final.
Who among that group would be rated higher? Safin for sure, Hewitt for sure, Roddick too. I think you could manage to craft an argument for Cilic but I'd rate Delpo 4th from those guys. The final was a pretty good win despite Fed mugging it up a bit. Both players still put in a reasonably good level of play.
 
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