If you could change 1 Grand Slam Match result, which one would you change?

Hitman said:
Henman's and Coria's best chance of winning a slam, and they both lost....
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Henman's best chance was Wimbledon 2001 surely. He was a much better grass courter than clay courter.

Or are you going on Gaudio being an easier final opponent than Rafter?
 
Phoenix1983 said:
Henman's best chance was Wimbledon 2001 surely. He was a much better grass courter than clay courter.

Or are you going on Gaudio being an easier final opponent than Rafter?
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Yes, I am going with the fact that Gaudio would have been easier for him, since he already owned two wins over him on clay. Rafter was playing very well on grass, pushed Sampras hard the year before, and took out in form Agassi in 2001, and the grass was still very slick due to the rain, and Rafter IMO is a much better net player than Henman. Add to that that Rafter has slam final experience, both at Wimbledon and also winning them in general...Gaudio was in his first, like Henman would have been.
 
Hitman said:
Yes, I am going with the fact that Gaudio would have been easier for him, since he already owned two wins over him on clay. Rafter was playing very well on grass, pushed Sampras hard the year before, and took out in form Agassi in 2001, and the grass was still very slick due to the rain, and Rafter IMO is a much better net player than Henman. Add to that that Rafter has slam final experience, both at Wimbledon and also winning them in general...Gaudio was in his first, like Henman would have been.
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Interesting viewpoint. I've always naturally regarded Wimbledon 2001 as Henman's lost opportunity for a slam. I think you're underestimating Henman's net play btw. I guess to an extent it would have depended on how Henman reacted to the situation of being in a Wimbledon final - whether the crowd would have overawed him or inspired him. He did regularly play his best at Wimbledon (other than in 2004, obviously), so I tend to think he would've risen to the challenge and defeated Rafter in a close match. He had beaten him (albeit in the R16) at an earlier Wimbledon, in 1998. You are right though that Gaudio was of course a debutant finalist, and Henman was unlikely to offer up the choke that Coria did in reality.

Would've been hilarious if Henman had ended up with RG as his sole slam, after being the Brit hope in SW19 for so many years.
 
Phoenix1983 said:
Interesting viewpoint. I've always naturally regarded Wimbledon 2001 as Henman's lost opportunity for a slam. I think you're underestimating Henman's net play btw. I guess to an extent it would have depended on how Henman reacted to the situation of being in a Wimbledon final - whether the crowd would have overawed him or inspired him. He did regularly play his best at Wimbledon (other than in 2004, obviously), so I tend to think he would've risen to the challenge and defeated Rafter in a close match. He had beaten him (albeit in the R16) at an earlier Wimbledon, in 1998. You are right though that Gaudio was of course a debutant finalist, and Henman was unlikely to offer up the choke that Coria did in reality.

Would've been hilarious if Henman had ended up with RG as his sole slam, after being the Brit hope in SW19 for so many years.
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I don't underestimate Henman's net play, he was good, just don't think he was as good as Sampras or Rafter. Personally I don't see him beating Rafter there, for me Rafter is far better big match player between the two, and Pat had a lot of Aussie support in that final on Monday also, so I don't think it was going to be all on Henman's side. I just don't put Gaudio in that same league as Rafter, and Henman was playing some seriously good clay court tennis in 2004. I saw his whole run to the semis, he was outsmarting all these clay courters by taking time away from them, and if he could have beaten Coria, he was certainly beating Gaudio, a guy he knows how to beat on clay. This is my opinion of it.

Henman's greatest run came from the fall of 2003 to TMC 2004, he was great on every surface during that time. IMO he was an overall better player during that part of his career, wins Paris Masters 2003 beating Grosjean, Federer, Roddick on route to the title, beats Federer after Federer becomes number one in Rotterdam, makes the final of IW, makes semis of RG, makes semis of USO...took the best on those surfaces to stop him each time, then played the TMC in Houston. I think he would have taken Gaudio during that time, it was his golden period.
 
Excluding finals, from Nole fan prospective, RG13 semifinal is a no-brainer. That was basically a final, and it would give DCGS to Nole.

Some runners-up as Nole fan:
2011 RG SF - Best shot to beat Nadal at RG aside 2015. Not a given, but it would have been interesting.
2012 WIM SF - Not sure if Nole would won over Andy. But in term of legacy, Nole and Rafa would had benefitted a lot by Federer without slams from 2010 AO to 2017 AO, pratically all their prime.

I thought at GS slam semifinals played by my countrymen too. There hadn't been GS finals played by italian players since Panatta RG win in 1976.
So 2018 RG between Cecchinato and Thiem and 2019 US Open between Berrettini and Nadal. They had zero chances in these matches, but if they, miraculously, would had won, I think Berrettini would have had a chance in the final vs Medvedev(Despite would have been an heavy underdog). No way for Cecchinato vs Rafa in a RG final.
 
Hitman said:
I don't underestimate Henman's net play, he was good, just don't think he was as good as Sampras or Rafter. Personally I don't see him beating Rafter there, for me Rafter is far better big match player between the two, and Pat had a lot of Aussie support in that final on Monday also, so I don't think it was going to be all on Henman's side. I just don't put Gaudio in that same league as Rafter, and Henman was playing some seriously good clay court tennis in 2004. I saw his whole run to the semis, he was outsmarting all these clay courters by taking time away from them, and if he could have beaten Coria, he was certainly beating Gaudio, a guy he knows how to beat on clay. This is my opinion of it.

Henman's greatest run came from the fall of 2003 to TMC 2004, he was great on every surface during that time. IMO he was an overall better player during that part of his career, wins Paris Masters 2003 beating Grosjean, Federer, Roddick on route to the title, beats Federer after Federer becomes number one in Rotterdam, makes the final of IW, makes semis of RG, makes semis of USO...took the best on those surfaces to stop him each time, then played the TMC in Houston. I think he would have taken Gaudio during that time, it was his golden period.
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Support wasn't going to be solely on his side, but it would have been primarily so. I think this would have been enough to push Henman over the top against Rafter - a man he had already beaten at Wimbledon - in the 2001 final. I have always thought that this was "his moment" to win a slam, if he was ever going to. In any case, it would have been a fascinating match, and neither man would have been a clear facourite in my opinion. Yes, Henman played well to defeat the likes of Chela at RG 2004, I remember his run also. Let's not underestimate Gaudio though, who was in fine form himself, defeating Hewitt and Nalbandian to reach the final.

Re: your second paragraph. Largely agreed, the Paris Masters 2003 title was of course his biggest moment, not just literally in terms of the level of trophy won (his only Masters title), but also the calibre of opponent defeated as you state. 2004 was his most consistent year at the slams yes, and one which (as McEnroe said at the time) validated his career to an extent, proving he could play well on the biggest stages outside the two weeks of SW19. I'm not entirely convinced he had what it took to win a slam that year - he had a fairly easy run to the USO semis IIRC, and would have been defeated in the other semi by Hewitt even if he hadn't faced Federer. It is possible he'd have defeated Gaudio at RG, I admit. I'd still have found that a bit ironic though, given he was primarily known as a grass courter.
 
That terrible mental collapse where Graf, on her last legs, outlasted Hingis. She had no business losing that match at all.
 
@Mainad @Poisoned Slice

Slightly off topic, but do you guys remember when Henman was screwing around with Hewitt's training during the TMC? Hewitt was training with Rashid, his coach inside the building, Rashid was throwing tennis balls at Hewitt, and Hewitt was hitting them back with his hands. Henman starts to watch from a balcony inside the building and then starts to throw tennis balls down at Hewitt...Hewitt freaks out and starts looking frantically in all directions and Henman then mocks him by looking up and wondering where all the balls were coming from. LOL.

Then he goes and beats Federer at Foosball, and Federer starts demanding a re-match but Henman refuses to give him, saying that's twice he's beaten him that season, referring to the Rotterdam 2004 match as the first. Federer gets annoyed that he doesn't get his rematch and Henman rubs it in. :-D
 
2015 Wimby QF: Warinka lost to Gasquet 9-11 in 5th by less than an inch. Arguably a top-ten (non-final) Wimbledon match. If Warinka had won, he would have faced Djok in SF. In the first half of 2015, Stan was in Novak's head. At 2015 AO SF, Warinka surprised everyone by taking Nole to fifth set (even though he regrouped and bagel'd Stan to win that semi). Then Stan beats Novak (some would say easily) in four set FO final. Money may have been on Stan to beat Novak in a 2015 Wimby SF. Let's say Stan beats Novak in that SF, there would have been a Swiss Wimbledon final in 2015. Rather than Roger losing to Novak that year, it would have been a toss between Stan and Roger ... but wait for it ... any outcome then would have resulted in either Roger having 21 slams now, or Stan having a career grand slam. Don't yell at me if you're a Gasquet or Nole fan, I like them both. I'm just pondering what ifs.
 
Phoenix1983 said:
Support wasn't going to be solely on his side, but it would have been primarily so. I think this would have been enough to push Henman over the top against Rafter - a man he had already beaten at Wimbledon - in the 2001 final. I have always thought that this was "his moment" to win a slam, if he was ever going to. In any case, it would have been a fascinating match, and neither man would have been a clear facourite in my opinion. Yes, Henman played well to defeat the likes of Chela at RG 2004, I remember his run also. Let's not underestimate Gaudio though, who was in fine form himself, defeating Hewitt and Nalbandian to reach the final.

Re: your second paragraph. Largely agreed, the Paris Masters 2003 title was of course his biggest moment, not just literally in terms of the level of trophy won (his only Masters title), but also the calibre of opponent defeated as you state. 2004 was his most consistent year at the slams yes, and one which (as McEnroe said at the time) validated his career to an extent, proving he could play well on the biggest stages outside the two weeks of SW19. I'm not entirely convinced he had what it took to win a slam that year - he had a fairly easy run to the USO semis IIRC, and would have been defeated in the other semi by Hewitt even if he hadn't faced Federer. It is possible he'd have defeated Gaudio at RG, I admit. I'd still have found that a bit ironic though, given he was primarily known as a grass courter.
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I am not underestimating Gaudio, he was playing well, but I still think Henman is simply a horrible match up for him and I stand by the point that had Henman beaten much in form Coria, who had beaten Moya, the other in form player in the quarter, then I feel he was taking Gaudio down. Gaudio wasn't exactly known for his mental strength at that point, Henman had played many more big matches. Anyways, we can agree to disagree on this. The bit in bold...well, look at Martinez beating Martina in that 94 Wimbledon final, she was hardly known for being a grass specialist, everyone thought the Spanish player was going to win a slam at RG if she ever was going to be a slam winner.
 
Hitman said:
I am not underestimating Gaudio, he was playing well, but I still think Henman is simply a horrible match up for him and I stand by the point that had Henman beaten much in form Coria, who had beaten Moya, the other in form player in the quarter, then I feel he was taking Gaudio down. Gaudio wasn't exactly known for his mental strength at that point, Henman had played many more big matches. Anyways, we can agree to disagree on this. The bit in bold...well, look at Martinez beating Martina in that 94 Wimbledon final, she was hardly known for being a grass specialist, everyone thought the Spanish player was going to win a slam at RG if she ever was going to be a slam winner.
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Yes, I was thinking about Martinez when writing that - Henman would have been the inverse of her lol.

Enjoy discussing things with you when we are not talking about ND.
 
Phoenix1983 said:
Yes, I was thinking about Martinez when writing that - Henman would have been the inverse of her lol.

Enjoy discussing things with you when we are not talking about ND.
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One of the closest on the men's side would be Chang at RG. Yes it was a special win, especially that historic win over Lendl in the fourth round that had that infamous under arm serve, but to me, and to many Chang's best surface far and away was hard court. And had his peak not coincided with the peaks of Sampras and Agassi, I think he would have won a HC slam. In 1996, he made both HC slam finals, but lost AO to Becker beating a semi tanking Agassi in the semis, who didn't want to lose to Becker and USO to Sampras. Even in AO 1995, he out aced Sampras 20 to 13 in their match there, despite losing.

As for ND, well, that's my guy, so I will talk about him more often than not.
 
Agassi Federer US Open 2005 would be my obvious answer but you said no finals, so I go with Agassi v. B. Becker in US Open 2006. Agassi should have gone out in the spotlight of a night session.
 
Hitman said:
@Mainad @Poisoned Slice

Slightly off topic, but do you guys remember when Henman was screwing around with Hewitt's training during the TMC? Hewitt was training with Rashid, his coach inside the building, Rashid was throwing tennis balls at Hewitt, and Hewitt was hitting them back with his hands. Henman starts to watch from a balcony inside the building and then starts to throw tennis balls down at Hewitt...Hewitt freaks out and starts looking frantically in all directions and Henman then mocks him by looking up and wondering where all the balls were coming from. LOL.

Then he goes and beats Federer at Foosball, and Federer starts demanding a re-match but Henman refuses to give him, saying that's twice he's beaten him that season, referring to the Rotterdam 2004 match as the first. Federer gets annoyed that he doesn't get his rematch and Henman rubs it in. :-D
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Don't recall these anecdotes but Tim does have a mischievous and ironic sense of humour so it sounds just like him. :)
 
1991 U.S. Open SF: I'd have Connors beating Courier. Would have created an insane atmosphere for the final, and I just have a feeling that final would have been epic.
 
The Blond Blur said:
DependentInformalIberianmole-size_restricted.gif


AO12 :cool:
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Same here.

If sticking to the OPs rules, I would nominate RG 2009 Nadal vs Soderling
 
2014 AO Nole vs Wawa. Had Nole won at minimum he breaks Fed’s record for consecutive slam SFs and most likely we end with another Nadal-Djoker AO final.
 
Djokovic v. Nadal 2013 USO -- because Djokovic has clearly been the better performer overall at USO, but some (many?) say it's Nadal because 4 > 3 and 2 > 1. Flip the outcome of this match and the pro-Nadal case would have no legs on which to stand.
 
Hitman said:
I am not underestimating Gaudio, he was playing well, but I still think Henman is simply a horrible match up for him and I stand by the point that had Henman beaten much in form Coria, who had beaten Moya, the other in form player in the quarter, then I feel he was taking Gaudio down. Gaudio wasn't exactly known for his mental strength at that point, Henman had played many more big matches. Anyways, we can agree to disagree on this. The bit in bold...well, look at Martinez beating Martina in that 94 Wimbledon final, she was hardly known for being a grass specialist, everyone thought the Spanish player was going to win a slam at RG if she ever was going to be a slam winner.
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interesting... it would have been fun if henman's lone slam came at RG! :)
(that was a nice SF, with a sharp opposition of style, by the way... right before the beginning of the dark times)
 
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GabeT said:
2014 AO Nole vs Wawa. Had Nole won at minimum he breaks Fed’s record for consecutive slam SFs and most likely we end with another Nadal-Djoker AO final.
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Also 6 Australian open in a row and 9 in total. I expect by 2025 Nole will be on 11-12 AO and 8-9 Wimbledon.
 
McEnroe v. Lendl '84 FO. If Mac wins that match he finishes the year 83-2 winning 3 grand slams (he didn't play Australia that year) plus he won Wimbledon doubles, WCT year-end finals and grand-prix year-end finals.
 
Becker vs Sampras 93 Wimbledon semis. Had 80s king of grass made it past the future king of grass, he would have faced Courier in final. Becker had a 6-1 record vs Courier.
 
Hitman said:
@Mainad @Poisoned Slice

Slightly off topic, but do you guys remember when Henman was screwing around with Hewitt's training during the TMC? Hewitt was training with Rashid, his coach inside the building, Rashid was throwing tennis balls at Hewitt, and Hewitt was hitting them back with his hands. Henman starts to watch from a balcony inside the building and then starts to throw tennis balls down at Hewitt...Hewitt freaks out and starts looking frantically in all directions and Henman then mocks him by looking up and wondering where all the balls were coming from. LOL.

Then he goes and beats Federer at Foosball, and Federer starts demanding a re-match but Henman refuses to give him, saying that's twice he's beaten him that season, referring to the Rotterdam 2004 match as the first. Federer gets annoyed that he doesn't get his rematch and Henman rubs it in. :-D
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Was that in that behind the scenes TMC 2004 video? Or something seperate that came out at the time.
 
Breakpointerer said:
Fed-Safin AO05 I guess. Would be the favourite over Hewitt and if he wins it gives him complete mastery of non-clay slams from 04-07.
Or maybe the SF of USO14. Gives him another USO.
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On the contrary I am happy Fed lost that one. Showed what incredible tennis you had to play to beat Peak Fed. Otherwise the 2004-07 would have been far too perfect.
 
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