I'm counting down the Top 5 tennis matches I didn't see. Yes. Incredibly fascinating. You can read about the other ones below, but no links! You just got to go find them if you want.
2. Novak Djokovic v. Rafael Nadal, 2012 Australian Open Final
Now we are getting down to it. The distinction between this match and the #1 spot on the list is hard to make not just among the best matches I did not witness, but frankly, among the best matches ever played in the history of the sport. It just so happens that there is overlap – I did not witness two of the greatest tennis matches in history.
I mentioned previously that for a time in his career, Pete Sampras was untouchable. Better than anyone else on the planet. Now, in order to put this 2012 Djokovic-Nadal match at the Australian Open in perspective, I need to explain that over the last ten years or so, I’ve seen three players come along in succession who seemed better than him at some point in their careers – and perhaps, each better than the last at their height.
Let me try to say that a different way. Imagine if Michael Jordan had ruled the NBA in the 1990’s as he did, and then in the 2000’s another player -- let’s call him Player X – even better than Michael had dominated the game for a few years, and then another player (Player Y) came along who dominated Player X, and then yet another player (Player Z) came along who dominated Player Y. And, that all of them played against each other contemporaneously. Their peaks overlapped. Can you imagine that kind of continuous escalation of talent, where it just keeps amplifying to another level that you didn’t know existed and couldn’t believe you were witnessing, again and again and again? In a nutshell, that’s tennis in the last 10 years or so – the last 6 years in particular.
Player X – Player X, of course, is Roger Federer. Almost universally recognized as the greatest player ever to step on a tennis court. This is the Michael Jordan, the Muhammad Ali, the Lionel Messi of tennis. He’s won every Grand Slam tournament at least once, and he’s won 17 of them in total – 3 more than Sampras, his closest rival on the list. He’s spent more weeks ranked #1 in the world than any player in history. From 2003 until 2008, he reigned supreme and I could not believe that I had lived to see a player better, more dominating, more unstoppable than Pete Sampras. Federer transcended the sport and to this day, at 31, he is still dangerous – he won Wimbledon last year and although has become less consistent, can still summon greatness.
Player Y – Enter Rafael Nadal, circa 2006-2007. Words fail me with this guy. I am not gay, but a couple of times a year Nadal makes me ask myself if I’m really sure about that. He’s the toughest, fastest, fittest player I’ve ever seen, and he’s got gargantuan talent to back it up. Federer and Nadal have played 30 times to date, and Nadal has won 20 of those matches. At 20-10, he is one of the only players on tour to have a winning record against Federer and the only one by a good margin. From 2007-2009, Federer seemed to have no answer whatsoever for Nadal, at any time or on any surface. For a record 6 years, from 2005-2010, these two finished first and second in the rankings every year. Nov. 10, 2013 was the first day in 10 years that neither of them were ranked in the top 2. What does it say about Nadal that Federer is the best tennis player who ever lived, and that since 2007 Nadal has essentially dominated Federer two-thirds to three-quarters of the time? That Nadal has also won every Grand Slam tournament at least once and a total of 12, and is 4 years younger than Federer? Where does that put him in the conversation? Keep this in mind…
Player Z – Enter Novak Djokovic, circa 2011. For years prior to this, it felt like Djokovic would always be #3, that he would never break through to play at the same level as Federer and Nadal. Djokovic had a reputation for choking in big matches, for getting down on himself and giving up when things didn’t break his way. He’s also a bit of a cut-up and self-styled comedian and does impressions of other tennis players, which perhaps leant further credence to the idea that he wasn’t a serious champion (he’d won only 1 Grand Slam in 6 years of play prior to 2011). In 2010, Djokovic reorganized his support team, got a new coach, and rededicated himself to his fitness and his game. This set the stage for one of the most amazing years anyone has ever had in professional tennis. He won 43 straight matches to start the year, which is ridiculous. He won the Australian Open, plus every other tournament he played, finally losing to Federer at the French Open in early June. After that he went on to win both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, both against Nadal. In fact, he faced Nadal in 6 tournament finals in 2011 and he won all 6 times. He played Federer in 5 matches and won 4 of them. And these weren’t fluke wins – he earned them, outplaying the best the game had to offer. Pete Sampras referred to Djokovic’s 2011 season as the best he’s seen in his lifetime, “one of the best achievements in sports.” Boris Becker called it “one of the very best years in tennis of all time.” Rafael Nadal described Djokovic’s play as “probably the highest level of tennis that I ever saw.” Andre Agassi said that Federer, Nadal and Djokovic might be “the best tennis players who ever lived.”
That brings us up to January, 2012: the Australian Open.
To repeat, at this point in time Djokovic had won 3 of the last 4 Major tournaments. He had played Nadal in 6 tournament finals in 2011 and won all of them. Nadal had only won the French Open when Djokovic dropped the semifinal to Federer, causing Djokovich to miss his chance at a calendar “Grand Slam,” a near-mythical event wherein a player wins all four Majors in the same year (last done by Rod Laver in 1969).
So it’s fitting that Djokovic and Nadal would meet again in the Australian, and that it would be titanic.
It’s hard not to overdo it with the superlatives on this match. It was the longest Grand Slam finals match of all time, clocking in at 5 hours, 53 minutes. So long, so grueling, that neither player (both tremendously fit athletes) was able to stand during the trophy presentation ceremony. Tennis legends like Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Mats Wilander and Andre Agassi all referred to it as the greatest tennis match they’d ever seen. From start to finish, the quality of the tennis was superb, and even seemed to grow better and better as the 5th set waxed on and on. Rafael Nadal would call it “the best match I ever played.” And he lost. The final score was 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 in favor of Djokovic, giving him his 4th Major victory of the previous five.
For the last three years, men’s tennis has been an embarrassment of riches. In 2012, last year, the four Majors were won by 4 different players – Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Andy Murray (that’s a whole other story). These are four guys playing fantastic tennis almost all the time, as evidenced last Friday when Djokovic and a resurgent Nadal played another 5-setter in the semis at the French.
I can’t wait for Wimbledon 2013. I feel sad for you that you aren’t a tennis fan at this particular moment, as I know almost none of you are.
What’s that? Oh, yes. I missed this match too. It started at 3:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, during a period when I was trying to get ready to move to China. It lasted 6 hours until just before 9:00 a.m., but none of us realized we could have watched the end until it was over. I asked my father-in-law to record it on DVR, but the match was so long that the DVR timed out and didn’t even record the final set and a half. So I missed a match most consider the greatest of all time, though I’ve since seen parts of it.
Notice I didn’t say the match that I consider it to be the greatest of all time. I disagree with all the tennis greats, in that I’d put another match over this one as greatest – although I missed both of them. Ballsy of me, maybe, but to be honest I don't think it's even close.
But that's for tomorrow. Here are the highlights of the 5th set of this Djokovic-Nadal match:
Coming up tomorrow: The Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played
2. Novak Djokovic v. Rafael Nadal, 2012 Australian Open Final
Now we are getting down to it. The distinction between this match and the #1 spot on the list is hard to make not just among the best matches I did not witness, but frankly, among the best matches ever played in the history of the sport. It just so happens that there is overlap – I did not witness two of the greatest tennis matches in history.
I mentioned previously that for a time in his career, Pete Sampras was untouchable. Better than anyone else on the planet. Now, in order to put this 2012 Djokovic-Nadal match at the Australian Open in perspective, I need to explain that over the last ten years or so, I’ve seen three players come along in succession who seemed better than him at some point in their careers – and perhaps, each better than the last at their height.
Let me try to say that a different way. Imagine if Michael Jordan had ruled the NBA in the 1990’s as he did, and then in the 2000’s another player -- let’s call him Player X – even better than Michael had dominated the game for a few years, and then another player (Player Y) came along who dominated Player X, and then yet another player (Player Z) came along who dominated Player Y. And, that all of them played against each other contemporaneously. Their peaks overlapped. Can you imagine that kind of continuous escalation of talent, where it just keeps amplifying to another level that you didn’t know existed and couldn’t believe you were witnessing, again and again and again? In a nutshell, that’s tennis in the last 10 years or so – the last 6 years in particular.
Player X – Player X, of course, is Roger Federer. Almost universally recognized as the greatest player ever to step on a tennis court. This is the Michael Jordan, the Muhammad Ali, the Lionel Messi of tennis. He’s won every Grand Slam tournament at least once, and he’s won 17 of them in total – 3 more than Sampras, his closest rival on the list. He’s spent more weeks ranked #1 in the world than any player in history. From 2003 until 2008, he reigned supreme and I could not believe that I had lived to see a player better, more dominating, more unstoppable than Pete Sampras. Federer transcended the sport and to this day, at 31, he is still dangerous – he won Wimbledon last year and although has become less consistent, can still summon greatness.
Player Y – Enter Rafael Nadal, circa 2006-2007. Words fail me with this guy. I am not gay, but a couple of times a year Nadal makes me ask myself if I’m really sure about that. He’s the toughest, fastest, fittest player I’ve ever seen, and he’s got gargantuan talent to back it up. Federer and Nadal have played 30 times to date, and Nadal has won 20 of those matches. At 20-10, he is one of the only players on tour to have a winning record against Federer and the only one by a good margin. From 2007-2009, Federer seemed to have no answer whatsoever for Nadal, at any time or on any surface. For a record 6 years, from 2005-2010, these two finished first and second in the rankings every year. Nov. 10, 2013 was the first day in 10 years that neither of them were ranked in the top 2. What does it say about Nadal that Federer is the best tennis player who ever lived, and that since 2007 Nadal has essentially dominated Federer two-thirds to three-quarters of the time? That Nadal has also won every Grand Slam tournament at least once and a total of 12, and is 4 years younger than Federer? Where does that put him in the conversation? Keep this in mind…
Player Z – Enter Novak Djokovic, circa 2011. For years prior to this, it felt like Djokovic would always be #3, that he would never break through to play at the same level as Federer and Nadal. Djokovic had a reputation for choking in big matches, for getting down on himself and giving up when things didn’t break his way. He’s also a bit of a cut-up and self-styled comedian and does impressions of other tennis players, which perhaps leant further credence to the idea that he wasn’t a serious champion (he’d won only 1 Grand Slam in 6 years of play prior to 2011). In 2010, Djokovic reorganized his support team, got a new coach, and rededicated himself to his fitness and his game. This set the stage for one of the most amazing years anyone has ever had in professional tennis. He won 43 straight matches to start the year, which is ridiculous. He won the Australian Open, plus every other tournament he played, finally losing to Federer at the French Open in early June. After that he went on to win both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, both against Nadal. In fact, he faced Nadal in 6 tournament finals in 2011 and he won all 6 times. He played Federer in 5 matches and won 4 of them. And these weren’t fluke wins – he earned them, outplaying the best the game had to offer. Pete Sampras referred to Djokovic’s 2011 season as the best he’s seen in his lifetime, “one of the best achievements in sports.” Boris Becker called it “one of the very best years in tennis of all time.” Rafael Nadal described Djokovic’s play as “probably the highest level of tennis that I ever saw.” Andre Agassi said that Federer, Nadal and Djokovic might be “the best tennis players who ever lived.”
That brings us up to January, 2012: the Australian Open.
To repeat, at this point in time Djokovic had won 3 of the last 4 Major tournaments. He had played Nadal in 6 tournament finals in 2011 and won all of them. Nadal had only won the French Open when Djokovic dropped the semifinal to Federer, causing Djokovich to miss his chance at a calendar “Grand Slam,” a near-mythical event wherein a player wins all four Majors in the same year (last done by Rod Laver in 1969).
So it’s fitting that Djokovic and Nadal would meet again in the Australian, and that it would be titanic.
It’s hard not to overdo it with the superlatives on this match. It was the longest Grand Slam finals match of all time, clocking in at 5 hours, 53 minutes. So long, so grueling, that neither player (both tremendously fit athletes) was able to stand during the trophy presentation ceremony. Tennis legends like Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Mats Wilander and Andre Agassi all referred to it as the greatest tennis match they’d ever seen. From start to finish, the quality of the tennis was superb, and even seemed to grow better and better as the 5th set waxed on and on. Rafael Nadal would call it “the best match I ever played.” And he lost. The final score was 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 in favor of Djokovic, giving him his 4th Major victory of the previous five.
For the last three years, men’s tennis has been an embarrassment of riches. In 2012, last year, the four Majors were won by 4 different players – Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Andy Murray (that’s a whole other story). These are four guys playing fantastic tennis almost all the time, as evidenced last Friday when Djokovic and a resurgent Nadal played another 5-setter in the semis at the French.
I can’t wait for Wimbledon 2013. I feel sad for you that you aren’t a tennis fan at this particular moment, as I know almost none of you are.
What’s that? Oh, yes. I missed this match too. It started at 3:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, during a period when I was trying to get ready to move to China. It lasted 6 hours until just before 9:00 a.m., but none of us realized we could have watched the end until it was over. I asked my father-in-law to record it on DVR, but the match was so long that the DVR timed out and didn’t even record the final set and a half. So I missed a match most consider the greatest of all time, though I’ve since seen parts of it.
Notice I didn’t say the match that I consider it to be the greatest of all time. I disagree with all the tennis greats, in that I’d put another match over this one as greatest – although I missed both of them. Ballsy of me, maybe, but to be honest I don't think it's even close.
But that's for tomorrow. Here are the highlights of the 5th set of this Djokovic-Nadal match:
Coming up tomorrow: The Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played
So this match...wow. I saw this- as I said earlier in my comment on FB the memory of this match is what keeps me setting my alarm for 3am during that week in January. Showing up at work a total wreck, sleeping through afternoon meetings,going to bed at 7 when I get home. All worth it when you get something like this. I had an 8:30 class on the day this match was played. Easy right? They start around 3:30 EST so I'd be out of my dorm easily by 8:15 to this class (that I hated). Good thing I showered before hand to wake myself up- not that I would end up going away. By 8am I was standing about a foot from the TV jumping up and down, yelling at the TV and drafing the email to my professor in my head about why I wasn't going to be in class. Missing grad classes are a different animal- you have to make measure choices and there is always the chance you'll skip for "no good reason" and get really ill. I decided to take the chance, it didn't hurt that I hated the professor. A simple "Dear Professor S- I'm sorry but something has come up and I won't be in class. See you Wednesday". Was all I wrote- and I completely stand by the decision.
ReplyDeleteRafa Nadal brought my passion for the game to a whole new level and watching him mature (remember the pirate pants and sleeveless shirts?) has been a complete joy for people who love the game. And Novak? To watch him revamp his camp and change his diet etc to become the player he is has been amazing. I remember watching him breath so heavily after some rallys that you swore he would pass out. I don't know which part of the revamp changed that but he's like a new man. I think we are starting to see some of those changes with Andy Murray- Ivan Lendl has done wonders with Andy. But I still think what he needs is a good sports psychologist (I missed my calling).
But Roger....oh Roger. I'm not a fan. I can appreciate his skill set but I refuse to believe "The best that ever play the game" title. Rafa gets that in my book.
Well this was long enough to be its own blog post but I wanted you to know how much your posts are appreciated! Its so much fun to think about these older matches.
I think your next list should be top 5 worst Tennis Commentators. I have a list.
Oh please, oh please, oh please... make #1 Federer Vs Sampras at Wimbledon 2001.
ReplyDelete@Jen -- I think you and I have a lot in common. I really do think Roger is the best in history, although it may come down only to his inhuman stamina. That's not to say I don't think Rafa plays better, and often -- I love the guy, and prefer him to Federer -- but... 1) his knees, and 2) Federer's been good for longer, and 3) Federer made Nadal happen. People don't remember this but Federer was really the first guy to take fitness to levels of insanity in tennis, at least at his skill level. There was nobody in the game who could touch Federer for 4-5 years. He was Kal-El. There really are no flaws in his game. I laugh out loud when commentators try to pick on his backhand. And his serve... Nadal really only started to beat him when he got his service game up to a near-equivalent level.
ReplyDeleteYou do make me want to get up at 3:00 a.m. though. Complicated by the fact that I don't have cable in Vermont, no TV service at all really. It's a good choice every time of the year except when the tennis is on.
Djokovic. I thought Djokovic was a fluke until he beat Rafa at Wimbledon in 2011. I could not believe what I was seeing. As I wrote above... I couldn't believe Federer was that good... couldn't believe Nadal was better... but my disbelief hit a new level when I saw Djokovic play EVEN BETTER that day.
@ Sarah I SAW that 2001 Federer-Sampras match and it was awesome. Not the best I ever saw though... and anyway since I saw it, inherently disqualified from this list. Perhaps I should make another list.