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Greatest tennis match ever?

Gambit

By Gambit
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Gambit

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Of course, the one today will figure quite prominently in everyone's list but among the ones I've seen only two other matches, matched the intensity,drama and emotion on view in today's game. The two matches I'm talking about did not, however, match the sheer quality of tennis seen today. The first match was Sampras v Courier Australian Open QF '95. Courier won the first two sets and then Sampras started his comeback. Sampras then brokedown as found out in one of the breaks that his coach's(who was Gullikson at the time) condition had deteriorated and that he was sinking. Sampras started bawling his eyes out on the court and yet kept smacking ace after ace. Courier even suggested that they could come back and finish it another day as it was just a tennis game. Sampras just couldn't hold back the tears or his sheer tennis pedigree as he closed out the game in the 5th set. Amazing game. The second game was the best Wimbledon final I had seen, before today. Rafter v Ivanisevic '01. Goran had been given a wildcard to the tourney and everyone thought it would be his last as his ranking had plummetted and his career was plagued by injuries. He had been denied a few Wimbledon titles at his peak by Agassi and Sampras. Still, Goran surprised all by making the final and then had an epic 5 setter with the Aussie. Goran finally managed to win the final on his 7th or 8th c'ship point and then just broke into tears. I think everyone apart from Steve Waugh and the rest of the Australian team, who were there cheering Rafter, was supporting the underdog Ivanisevic. Great moment in tennis history.

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Predator_05 Newbie

Predator_05

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Yeah, i watched the Rafter-Ivanisevic one too. My favorite grass court match by far, what drama. The Roddick-Federer game in '04 was superb as well, if only for Federer's play, which was out of this world. He was pulling out one jaw-dropping shot after another. Best performance i've ever seen by any tennis player. I will always remember what Roddick said afterwards; "I kept throwing the kitchen sink at him and he just went back and got the tub"... 'til today, the best match i had ever seen was the '01 US Open quarterfinal between Sampras and Agassi - the famous 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 game...3 and a half hours of mesmerising tennis played by two legends in front of a raucous and noisy New York crowd. I didn't think that match would ever be topped, but after today, i'm not sure.

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The Outsider Newbie

The Outsider

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The three consecutive Wimbeldon finals that Becker and Edberg played from '88-'90 were top notch matches as well, specially the one '90 which was a five set encounter won by Edberg. For drama, the '88 4 set match also won by Edberg was a lot of fun too - it spanned three days IIRC due to rain delays. Becker was a master of coming back from the dead in matches. There were quite a few occasions when he won matches after losing the first two sets and almost pulled it off in '90, but Edberg's net approaches were just too good for him in the final set.

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Gambit Collaborator

Gambit

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gambit, did u watch the federer vs sampras game during the 01 wimbledon? when Fed won for the first time in wimbledon against sampras. that was one hell of a game too. for me, todayz game was 2nd best. surely the best final ever though
Haven't seen the Fed v Sampras one. That is the only time they faced each other isn't it?
Yeah, i watched the Rafter-Ivanisevic one too. My favorite grass court match by far, what drama. The Roddick-Federer game in '04 was superb as well, if only for Federer's play, which was out of this world. He was pulling out one jaw-dropping shot after another. Best performance i've ever seen by any tennis player. I will always remember what Roddick said afterwards; "I kept throwing the kitchen sink at him and he just went back and got the tub"... 'til today, the best match i had ever seen was the '01 US Open quarterfinal between Sampras and Agassi - the famous 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 game...3 and a half hours of mesmerising tennis played by two legends in front of a raucous and noisy New York crowd. I didn't think that match would ever be topped, but after today, i'm not sure.
Yeah, the Roddick and Fed game was awesome too. Roddick was simply brutal in the first test firing one scud after another. Fed let Roddick tire himself out and then took his game to another level, 10 notches above Roddick.
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SachDan Newbie

SachDan

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Today's was undoubtedly the greatest match ever I watched... Coming a close second is the one between Federer and Sampras in the 2001 wimbledon where FedEx stopped Pete's supremacy on grass. Third best was the Australian Open S/F between Federer and Safin in 2005...that was one heck of a match which Safin won in five sets. There has been some memorable Ladies matches in the 90's involving Steffi/Martina and Arantha Sanchez Can't recall one by one. There's also that epic final palyed between Bjorg and McEnroe in 1980...Saw the video clips of that match...it was just superb.

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Rajiv Enthusiast

Rajiv

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Yeah, i watched the Rafter-Ivanisevic one too. My favorite grass court match by far, what drama. The Roddick-Federer game in '04 was superb as well, if only for Federer's play, which was out of this world. He was pulling out one jaw-dropping shot after another. Best performance i've ever seen by any tennis player. I will always remember what Roddick said afterwards; "I kept throwing the kitchen sink at him and he just went back and got the tub"... 'til today, the best match i had ever seen was the '01 US Open quarterfinal between Sampras and Agassi - the famous 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 game...3 and a half hours of mesmerising tennis played by two legends in front of a raucous and noisy New York crowd. I didn't think that match would ever be topped, but after today, i'm not sure.
All time best game
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MundaPakistani Newbie

MundaPakistani

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Of course, the one today will figure quite prominently in everyone's list but among the ones I've seen only two other matches, matched the intensity,drama and emotion on view in today's game. The two matches I'm talking about did not, however, match the sheer quality of tennis seen today. The first match was Sampras v Courier Australian Open QF '95. Courier won the first two sets and then Sampras started his comeback. Sampras then brokedown as found out in one of the breaks that his coach's(who was Gullikson at the time) condition had deteriorated and that he was sinking. Sampras started bawling his eyes out on the court and yet kept smacking ace after ace. Courier even suggested that they could come back and finish it another day as it was just a tennis game. Sampras just couldn't hold back the tears or his sheer tennis pedigree as he closed out the game in the 5th set. Amazing game. .
IIRC he said that in a sarcastic tone and that too just before sampras was about to serve and it didn't go down too well with Pete as he bludgeoned his way back in to the match! What a great champ Pete was.
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