ranking rivalries by entertainment value

[George Turner]

Styles make fights. And some styles make for more entertaining fights than others. For example Djokovic-Wawrinka matches are more entertaining than Djokovic-Murray matches. Hightly subjective ofc.

Min 5 matches to make this list.

10; Mcenroe-Borg. Rafter-Agassi. Federer-Nadal.
9; Mcenroe-Connors. Edberg-Becker. Djokovic-Wawrinka. Djokovic-Federer.
8; Sampras-Agassi. Federer-Del Potro. Federer-Tsonga. Nadal-Djokovic.
7; Borg-Connors. Lendl-Edberg. Federer-Murray. Berdych-Wawrinka.
6; Lendl-Mcenroe. Lendl-Becker. Sampras-Rafter. Raonic-Nishikori
5. Agassi-Becker. Hewitt-Roddick. Federer-Berdych. Federer-Roddick
4; Sampras-Courier. Sampras-Ivanisevic. Nadal-Thiem. Nadal-Davydenko.
3; Courier-Chang. Sampras-Henman. Federer-Dimitrov. Djokovic-Murray.
2; Rusedski-Any other player. Djokovic-Berdych. Nadal-Ferrer. Djokovic-Nishikori.
1; Wilander-Any other player. Djokovic-Monfils. Nadal-Gasquet. Isner-Raonic.
0; Sampras-Pioline. Ferrer-Simon. Nadal-Anderson.

 

[Poisoned Slice]

 

[Raining hopes]

TTW vs Logic.

A two decade old rivalry. However it's hilariously entertaining because it's so one sided that logic has permanently decided to show up only in few posts

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

JMac-Borg and Lendl-Edberg are the most exciting OE ATG rivalries, 11/10.

Rafter-Agassi wasn't interesting off grass, Agassi owned unless he was subpar. Their Wimbledon trilogy is an underappreciated classic though.

 

[Archsree]

Murray - raonic

 

[Sport]

No objective person would say that the Federer-Djokovic rivalry is more entertaining than the Nadal-Djokovic one. In fact, it is fair to say that the Nadal-Djokovic rivalry is equally entertaining as the Federer-Nadal one. Nadal-Djokovic produce the best rallies and baseline game ever.

Yeah, you can claim that Nadal and Djokovic have relatively similar styles. But to assume that similar styles are boring is a dogma. Federer and Sampras played a match with similar styles at Wimbledon 2001, and I enjoyed the match.

 

[Sport]

Also, what the hell is Rafter-Agassi and how can you put that almost unknown rivalry as more entertaining that Nadal-Djokovic?

Too much anti-Djokodal agenda?

 

[ChrisRF]

Sampras-Agassi is higher than Federer-Tsonga or Federer-DelPotro. I’m a Federer fan, but we must stay objective here. Sampras-Agassi was the defining rivalry of the 90s, while Del Potro and Tsonga are footnotes of the Big 3 era.

Also Becker-Lendl should be way more than a 6. Just think of their WTF finals (especially 1988), the US Open matches or the Wimbledon SFs. It wasn’t really much worse than Becker-Edberg, if at all.

For Djokovic-Murray it’s a bit difficult. Of the Big 4 rivalries I only like watching Nadal-Murray less, but in all fairness they had many matches on the biggest stages that were full of drama if we don’t only consider our personal preferred playing style. So 3 is not enough.

By the way I’m surprised you didn’t include Zverev here...(okay, not really, I believe you are mainly joking about being his fan ).

 

[NoleFam]

Djokovic/Wawrinka ranked over Djokovic/Nadal? Rafter/Agassi at the top and ranked over Sampras/Agassi?

 

[George Turner]

Sampras-Agassi is higher than Federer-Tsonga or Federer-DelPotro. I’m a Federer fan, but we must stay objective here. Sampras-Agassi was the defining rivalry of the 90s, while Del Potro and Tsonga are footnotes of the Big 3 era.

Also Becker-Lendl should be way more than a 6. Just think of their WTF finals (especially 1988), the US Open matches or the Wimbledon SFs. It wasn’t really much worse than Becker-Edberg, if at all.

For Djokovic-Murray it’s a bit difficult. Of the Big 4 rivalries I only like watching Nadal-Murray less, but in all fairness they had many matches on the biggest stages that were full of drama if we don’t only consider our personal preferred playing style. So 3 is not enough.

By the way I’m surprised you didn’t include Zverev here...(okay, not really, I believe you are mainly joking about being his fan ).

Sampras-Agassi was the defining 90's rivalry with a good clash of styles, but they did not actually play many close matches. Only two five setters, one of which was a forgettable match at Wimbledon at a time Agassi was in one of his slumps. Of their 22 BO3 matches only 6 went to three sets. So that counts against a rivalry in terms of entertainment value, even though Agassi is a better player than Del Potro/Tsonga.

Becker-Lendl played some close matches but Lendl was generally not the most entertaining player, and wasn't playing his natural baseline game at Wimbledon. His serve-volley game was very workmanlike.

Djokovic-Murray have had a lot of stinkers, they don't bring out the best in each other. It's just endless grinding rallies with little shotmaking. That's an example of of styles that don't mix well.

Zverev is a legend who hasn't yet had a career defining rivalry. We'll see how he shapes up against Thiem, Tsit, Shapo etc in future

Just my thought processes

 

[JasonZ]

Sampras-Agassi was the defining 90's rivalry with a good clash of styles, but they did not actually play many close matches. Only two five setters, one of which was a forgettable match at Wimbledon at a time Agassi was in one of his slumps. Of their 22 BO3 matches only 6 went to three sets. So that counts against a rivalry in terms of entertainment value, even though Agassi is a better player than Del Potro/Tsonga.

Becker-Lendl played some close matches but Lendl was generally not the most entertaining player, and wasn't playing his natural baseline game at Wimbledon. His serve-volley game was very workmanlike.

Djokovic-Murray have had a lot of stinkers, they don't bring out the best in each other. It's just endless grinding rallies with little shotmaking. That's an example of of styles that don't mix well.

Zverev is a legend who hasn't yet had a career defining rivalry. We'll see how he shapes up against Thiem, Tsit, Shapo etc in future

Just my thought processes

Agassi better than Del Potro? Greater of course, but peak for peak i think Delpo is better. Agassi is overrated