What single performance has impressed you the most as a tennis fan?

Pheasant

Legend
McEnroe over Connors, 1984 Wimbledon final. Best beatdown ever. That was wicked stuff by Mac. This is also my favorite by far.

Next, Fed over Roddick at the 2007 AO semi. Yes, Roddick had lost a few mph off of his serve by then. But to bagel a guy that serves in the low-140s is absurd.
 

Third Serve

Talk Tennis Guru
McEnroe over Connors, 1984 Wimbledon final. Best beatdown ever. That was wicked stuff by Mac. This is also my favorite by far.

Next, Fed over Roddick at the 2007 AO semi. Yes, Roddick had lost a few mph off of his serve by then. But to bagel a guy that serves in the low-140s is absurd.
I think the 1984 Wimbledon final is probably the default answer for this kind of question.

But the 1995 Wimbledon final was another good one.
 

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
really? i am too lazy to look at youtube, but wasnt the missed volley from sampras on the setpoint in the tiebreak an ue?
It's close, but Becker ripped that return low and to the body, and Sampras barely made it to the service line. Don't think that was a volley a player is "reasonably" expected to make, per definitions of UE.
 

7thKingSlam

New User
Probably Nadal vs Djokovic RG2020. Nadal's heavily declined speed, a very slow and low bouncing court, Djokovic playing well, but Nadal hits almost no unforced errors especially in the first 2 sets. Yeah his RG2008 performance was a higher level, but RG2020 was more impressive considering the circumstances
 

JMR

Hall of Fame
Here's an obscure choice: 1985 Hamburg SF, Mecir d. Wilander 61 62. I admit that the match is of low historical significance, since it's not the final or semifinal of a slam. But it's a fascinating destruction to witness. At the time, Wilander was already a three-time slam winner, ranked no. 4, with multiple Masters titles and finals under his belt as well. He was coming off an AO final and would go on to win the French Open again that year. In contrast, Mecir was ... nobody. He was ranked no. 27 and had won just one small tournament in his entire career (Rotterdam, earlier that year).

So we have a star player, clearly on his way to becoming an ATG, playing on his favorite surface against "some guy" whom he'd never faced before but was well outside the top 20. Yet the match was ridiculous one-way traffic in favor of the newcomer. It wasn't as though Mecir overpowered Mats; far from it. He just glided around slapping gentle winners in every direction with a lackadaisical air, like a GM playing chess against 20 kids at once. The Big Cat never even took off his long-sleeved sweater!

Here are some good highlights (although the whole match is on YouTube as well, and lasts barely an hour):

 

JMR

Hall of Fame
Next, Fed over Roddick at the 2007 AO semi. Yes, Roddick had lost a few mph off of his serve by then. But to bagel a guy that serves in the low-140s is absurd.
It was a sublime performance by Federer in the match and a peak performance by Roddick in the press conference afterward. :)

I remember a media story about the result that used the phrase "blizzard of winners" to describe what Roddick faced on the court.
 

Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
McEnroe over Connors, 1984 Wimbledon final. Best beatdown ever. That was wicked stuff by Mac. This is also my favorite by far.

Next, Fed over Roddick at the 2007 AO semi. Yes, Roddick had lost a few mph off of his serve by then. But to bagel a guy that serves in the low-140s is absurd.

Sorry to tell you mate but we are only allowed to discuss epic Fed losses on this forum
 

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
Nadal Djokovic 2022 RG. The last time they met on slam level. Nadal won obv.

Yeah that was a crazy match, because Djokovic had really made it look like Rafa couldn't beat him anymore at RG in 2021.
Not to mention Nadal going 4.5 hours in the previous round and Novak worked about as hard as I do to eat a chili dog coming into the match lol. Brilliant comeback from Rafa in the 4th set
 
there were too many impressive performances since 1995, when i started watching tennis. from last year it was djokovics olympic gold final. i was 100% he would lose against alcaraz, and never believed he would be able to deliver such a performance after months of clear decline.
Sure enough . The guy on the other side was FO winner alcaraz. With 16 years of age diffrence novak produced amazing tennis to win . Alcaraz was playing well but somehow novak managed to win.
A memory of a lifetime. That forehand at second set tie break 2 2 was gold medal shot
 

Casey 1988

Rookie
When Sharapova got her first DQ loss for her boo sound she made being too loud. By this point she was winning by her Boo alone going louder and louder till others in the stands started mocking her after the DQ. This was at a more normal event that was not a true open despite having open in the name. She was so loud the ref had to wait for the echo to end in some of the courts before going to DQ her. After the first DQ Sharapova never seemed to be as good as she was becuse she could not use her voice to scare her opponent in the middle of the game with one of her even louder Boo sounds she had used before then to throw players off their game. People watching started mocking her in the dead parts of a tennis match because she was never really liked by fans of tennis at the time. I was surprised the refs did anything about the noise at the time given how quiet the commentators are for TV when 90% of the time they are not out in the open.
 
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Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
Here's an obscure choice: 1985 Hamburg SF, Mecir d. Wilander 61 62. I admit that the match is of low historical significance, since it's not the final or semifinal of a slam. But it's a fascinating destruction to witness. At the time, Wilander was already a three-time slam winner, ranked no. 4, with multiple Masters titles and finals under his belt as well. He was coming off an AO final and would go on to win the French Open again that year. In contrast, Mecir was ... nobody. He was ranked no. 27 and had won just one small tournament in his entire career (Rotterdam, earlier that year).

So we have a star player, clearly on his way to becoming an ATG, playing on his favorite surface against "some guy" whom he'd never faced before but was well outside the top 20. Yet the match was ridiculous one-way traffic in favor of the newcomer. It wasn't as though Mecir overpowered Mats; far from it. He just glided around slapping gentle winners in every direction with a lackadaisical air, like a GM playing chess against 20 kids at once. The Big Cat never even took off his long-sleeved sweater!

Here are some good highlights (although the whole match is on YouTube as well, and lasts barely an hour):


I tried watching this. But it looks like a different sport, TBH. These guys are just standing upright and shuffling around. No wonder he never took off his sweater lol.
 

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
Nadal-Federer, 2009 AO - my favorite Nadal hardcourt match of all time. Man did he just break Federer's will in that match. As I've said before, I have never seen Nadal move that way since. Beautiful defense in that match.
And the defense to offense transitions. Absolutely absurd stuff. It's one of those matches where I wish I could read Federer's mind after certain points, I know he was cursing Rafa's ass OUT :-D
 

Big_Dangerous

Talk Tennis Guru
Nadal-Federer, 2009 AO - my favorite Nadal hardcourt match of all time. Man did he just break Federer's will in that match. As I've said before, I have never seen Nadal move that way since. Beautiful defense in that match.
I might say the Nadal v Verdasco match that same year was even more insane. Not sure how Rafa won that match given how amazing Verdasco played that day.
 

LiamMiguel

Semi-Pro
Federer vs Djoko 2011 RG, an obvious choice
Federer vs Nadal 2017 IW, what a beatdown for a match I expected to be close. Very odd it was early in the tournament as well but their rankings were still low from injury.
Fognini vs Nadal 2019 MC (i think), just an overall great performance that I was really surprised about.
Nadal 2008 RG, just that whole tournament was an insane performance, I know it doesn't match the prompt.
Federer/Wawrinka vs Bryan Bros, 2008 OG, such a clean match all-around, just flawless from the Swiss
Thiem vs Djokovic 2019 WTF, just insane ball striking
Kyrgios vs Tsitsipas 2022 WIMB, can't believe Kyrgios stayed locked-in. Maybe a more unbelievable mental win for him.
Murray vs Gasquet 2008 WIMB, just wow.

A lot of performances will come to mind later but these are some. I just go back to these matches a lot in my free time and just adore them.
 
Any dodo can name 20 of them, I'd be more interested in seeing each poster commit to ONE performance.
That would tell us a lot more about which the most impressive is :rolleyes:
I'd say Nadal 2020 RG because he hadn't played for many months and then lost to Diego at Rome in straight sets, and Goran said it was impossible to beat Djokovic etc.
And it was indoor and the clay was not a bouncy clay compared to every other year... and Nadal won 60 62 75!
 

Hitman

Bionic Poster
Yeah that was a crazy match, because Djokovic had really made it look like Rafa couldn't beat him anymore at RG in 2021.

Nadal was one point away from winning RG 2021, he had SP in that epic third set, which Djokovic saved with the most clutch dropshot you can do. Had Nadal won that point, he wins the crucial third set and goes onto win the match. He also missed a very makeable volley in that tie break which essentially cost him the title. Nadal wasn't going to lose that match had he won that point, no way was Djokovic winning two sets in a row from that point on.
 

Hitman

Bionic Poster
Some good examples already.

I would add a few more from Sampras.

His comeback from 0-2 against Courier at AO 95, when he was crying about his coach having cancer and still raining down aces like there was no tomorrow.
His dogfight with Corretja at USO 96, where he was physically sick on the court, and just willed himself onto victory.
His Davis Cup final win against Russia on the slowest clay possible winning both his singles matches in Moscow, and his doubles, a truly Rocky IV moment.
 

MichaelNadal

Bionic Poster
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Hitman

Bionic Poster
Have to say, Serena Williams Olympics 2012 has to be right up there among the best, if we look at both mens and womens. She was in absolute God mode, virtually unplayable. She dished out 7 bakery products that event and her serve was the most vicious I have ever seen it to be. She is the GOAT womens server and that was the highest serving performance of her career.
 

objection_

Semi-Pro
Nadal was one point away from winning RG 2021, he had SP in that epic third set, which Djokovic saved with the most clutch dropshot you can do. Had Nadal won that point, he wins the crucial third set and goes onto win the match. He also missed a very makeable volley in that tie break which essentially cost him the title. Nadal wasn't going to lose that match had he won that point, no way was Djokovic winning two sets in a row from that point on.
Eh if his foot still ends up flaring I reckon Nole still takes it. Arguably caused by the culmination of 90 minutes of insane tennis in the third that compromised him physically.
 

Hitman

Bionic Poster
Eh if his foot still ends up flaring I reckon Nole still takes it. Arguably caused by the culmination of 90 minutes of insane tennis in the third that compromised him physically.

I don't know, Djokovic might have had a massive mental let down at that point had he lost that set, he knew how important that set was, having lost the last time they played there, and losing the Rome final also just a week before the RG 2021 event. And add to that Nadal has never lost in the fifth set of a clay court match ever in his life.

Though I do agree that the foot issue started to take effect at 2-2 in the fourth set, and the brutality of the third set was the cause of it.
 
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