You can change ONE match result from tennis history...

weakera

Talk Tennis Guru
AO 2014. There is no way Nadal breaks down from then through 2016 if that didn't happen. He's be siting on 24+ slams.
 

Doctor/Lawyer Red Devil

Talk Tennis Guru
Everyone wants to take away the ones Nadal won lol :cry:

Can't believe no one is choosing USO 09, how was that not a big blow in the most winnable match for Federer? At least with Wimb 08 Nadal was 2 sets up and AO 09 he played the good tennis

I'd be fuming with USO 09 - 6th USO in a row, Open Era record, 4 in a row too...3 slams won on 3 diff surfaces in 09
Del Potro though... :)
 

R. Schweikart

Professional
Well, she did lose one set 0-6 and could have lost another one had Hawkeye been around at the time to overturn the out call of Monica’s serve at 6-5 in the tiebreaker. Soooo……not hard to visualize, unless one is the blindest of partisans.

I don't think Steffi "would" (TM Seles fanatics) have lost the second set had she lost the first.
And no, Seles's ball was not an ace. Steffi even shook her head in disgust about the nationalistic crowd booing the lines persons decision.
 

Garro

Rookie
Everyone wants to take away the ones Nadal won lol :cry:

Can't believe no one is choosing USO 09, how was that not a big blow in the most winnable match for Federer? At least with Wimb 08 Nadal was 2 sets up and AO 09 he played the good tennis

I'd be fuming with USO 09 - 6th USO in a row, Open Era record, 4 in a row too...3 slams won on 3 diff surfaces in 09

Yeah I thought the same thing. Six USO in a row, a good chance for 4 slams in a row...and it's always felt like Roger "should" have the US Open record given his success there earlier in his career.

Instead he's tied with Connors and Sampras in that regard. Also I don't think anyone has won a slam tournament six times in a row? At least not in the Men's open era. There's a reason Fed has said this is one of the most difficult losses in his entire career.
 

Sephiroth

Hall of Fame
Even Medvedev wants to take away Nadal's wins, this is systematic hatred :mad:

E_lp7ebXIAMOn-8
 
So close between these two.

- Wimbledon 2009 Final - just seemed unfair - Federer just didn't need the win like Roddick did.
- Wimbledon 2018 Semi Final - the only Nadal defeat that I will never get over. Like 2009 it felt unfair - throw in the roof, the silly Inser match - it felt fate got in the way. Felt worse than the Stan injury AO final
 

Sunny014

Legend
2006 French Open final - Would make Roger win

Not only would this give him a CYGS, this would also give him some confidence vs Nadal on clay and will prevent 2008W and 2009AO losses from happening.

So I have 3 slams in 1.

Arguably the most significant win it could be that gives him more wins.
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
1981 French Open final, Borg defeats 20 year old Lendl in five sets.

Had Ivan won that match, he almost surely would have started winning slams 3 years earlier than he did. He would never have lost the 1982 and 1983 finals to old Connors and would have denied Mac several slams as well.
 

Adv. Edberg

Legend
My 2nd one is probably Nadal - Wawa AO final. Wawa couldn’t beat Nadal at this point and it would’ve handed Nadal a 2nd career slam. Sadly Nadal injured himself in the warm up :(
 

zvelf

Hall of Fame
Seles vs Graf in her comeback Slam USO 95

Or vs Sanchez Vicaro in the 98 FO right after her father passed away.

Would only need to change, I believe, a single point in each match to change the outcome.

These are great choices. If Seles had taken that 1995 U.S. Open, it may have made a difference in her comeback. Her mental game was never the same after the stabbing, but if she had beaten Graf in her comeback tournament, who knows? However, if I could make one change to reward Seles’ career for what happened, I would have her win 1992 Wimbledon against Graf, a win that would give Seles the Grand Slam in 1992. I think this would be my #1 choice.

#2 would be Connors beating Courier at the 1991 U.S. Open semis during his miracle run. He would have had to face Edberg in the final and Edberg probably would have won, but Connors had a chance. Connors seemed to really bug Edberg for some reason. They went 6-6 head-to-head even though their entire rivalry took place when Connors was pretty old. In the 1989 U.S. Open 4th round, a 37-year old #13 Connors took out #3 Edberg 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.

#3 is an obvious one, Djokovic beating Medvedev at the 2021 U.S. Open because then I will have witnessed a Grand Slam on the men’s side in my life time.

#4 is Navratilova beating Sukova at the 1984 Australian Open semis. Martina was on her utterly ridiculous 74-match, 6 majors won win-streak and a win here would have had her play Evert for the Grand Slam in the final, the way it should have been.

#5 is Borg beating McEnroe at the 1981 U.S. Open. Who knows how that might have affected Borg's career trajectory and history could have been completely different.

#6 is Becker beating Sampras at 1995 Wimbledon. Boris deserves one slam win over Pete.

#7 Lendl beating Cash at 1987 Wimbledon to get Ivan the grass crown he so desperately wanted. Like most tennis fans, I didn’t like Lendl at the time, but in hindsight, I feel bad for the guy.

#8 Venus Williams defeats Serena at the 2017 Australian Open. Overshadowed by her younger sister her entire career, Venus should have exited tennis after one final slam win over her biggest opponent.

2004 Wimbledon final

I'd rather give Roddick the 2009 Wimbledon final. He fought like hell for that one. That's my #9.
 

Mustard

Bionic Poster
These are great choices. If Seles had taken that 1995 U.S. Open, it may have made a difference in her comeback. Her mental game was never the same after the stabbing, but if she had beaten Graf in her comeback tournament, who knows?

Seles maintained her old aura in the summer of 1995, all the way through to mid 1996, a bit like when Mike Tyson went back to boxing after his release from prison. Seles won 1995 Toronto without dropping a set, reached the 1995 US Open final without dropping a set before narrowly losing to Graf in the final. Seles missed the rest of 1995, but early 1996 saw her win Sydney after saving championship points against Davenport, came back from the dead against Rubin at the 1996 Australian Open and won that event. The first dent in the Seles aura was at the 1996 French Open, when Novotna beat her in the quarter finals pretty comfortably despite Seles being favourite. Seles had won her previous 3 French Opens (1990-1992).

Seles then won the tournament on grass at 1996 Eastbourne, but lost in the second round of 1996 Wimbledon to Studenikova, who Seles had easily beaten at the 1996 Australian Open. Then at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Novotna beat Seles in the quarter finals again, this time in a close match. What then finished off the old dominant Seles aura was at the 1996 US Open final. Despite Graf winning 7-5, 6-4, Graf's win was much easier than the scoreline suggests, and it was obvious that Seles had regressed compared to their 1995 US Open final (also more out of shape physically), while Graf was arguably better than ever at that point.
 

duaneeo

Legend
I'm assuming that changing one match from tennis history means all else stays the same.

So, 2015 USO final.
 

PilotPete

Hall of Fame
AO 2009 final

This result gives Fed a really good win over a really good Nadal and probably tips the scales a bit in the rivalry.

Not at all. Had Nadal lost that match, the narrative would be that Nadal is still a baby on HC and wouldn't mature till USO10.
 

The_Order

G.O.A.T.
People think I'd choose one of the AOs for Nadal but it's Wimb 18 SF vs Djokovic for me

Same. Should have won that match. Overall, was the better player imo, just got too shaky in the critical moments whereas Novak was solid as a rock... as usual...
 

Roddickulous1

Semi-Pro
I'd rather give Roddick the 2009 Wimbledon final. He fought like hell for that one. That's my #9.
If you're a Roddick fan, the 04 pick is much easier to make because the difference is winning that match could've very likely changed his career trajectory potentially making him more successful down the road. It would've also made him number 1 in the world again. The confidence and the mental gain from that can't be discounted. He might have stuck with Gilbert, developed his game differently, etc.

Winning the 09 WIM would be cool for sure but it doesn't really do anything for him beyond that (maybe a deeper run at the USO that year due to confidence boost but thats about it). 09 was the more emotional loss but 04 is the easy pick when looking at the big picture.
 

Fedeonic

Hall of Fame
Indian Wells 2014 F, if Federer had won that final, Djoker would have been completely broken mentally and Rog may have had a chance in the Wimbledon 2014, or all the Fedkovic finals by that matter.
 

Fedeonic

Hall of Fame
For WTA: Aus Open 2019 F, I really wanted Kvitova to win another major and finally reaching the World N°1, instead Osaka crashed the party.
Don't think this match could have had a butterfly effect, but Petra really deserved another major and N°1.
 

King No1e

G.O.A.T.
AO 2009 final

This result gives Fed a really good win over a really good Nadal and probably tips the scales a bit in the rivalry. Look at it as Fed "halting" Nadal's momentum that he'd gained in 2008.

It also likely gives Fed a NCYGS from US Open 2008 to Wimbledon 2009, though I do wonder how the very tight Wimbledon 2009 final would play out with Fed playing for four Slams in a row. I'd assume not that differently because he did have the weight of the Slam record on his shoulders on him and still eked out the win, but it's worth debating at least.

The downside would be Nadal never getting his AO which would be incredibly unlucky for someone with that many good runs at the tournament.
AO? Not USO?
 

Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
Wimbledon '19 and it isn't particularly close.

Wimbledon 08 hurt, and cost him the standalone record for consecutive weeks at #1.

But the ultimate prize of beating Nadal and Djokovic in succession to win #21 at ~38...and it's now looking like that was the last time we'll see him in a Slam final. So it has to be that one.
 

MeatTornado

Talk Tennis Guru
AO would have been a more legacy-defining win given the nature of the opponent.

Plus, it feels wrong to deny Delpo his only Slam title. Even if we are taking away Nadal's only AO, he's still got 19 other Slams.
Only downside of taking away Ned's only AO title would be having to put up with the incessant whining from the VB that Australia is actually the exo of slams that no one cares about. Because you know that's what would happen.
 
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