Howdy, everyone (and way to keep your eye on the ball, dude!)
Well TW's OKRECS (Official Keeper of the Records), Master Ace/Patrick Hinton set the table with his 3-set highlights of 2008 yesterday, so today it's time to roll out marquee matches of an entirely different order of magnitude - the five-setters, which means Grand Slam events and Davis Cup. This is where the rubber of aspiration meets the road of glory, and the most striking thing about our OKRECS selections is lack of even one Top Ten selection from the French Open, or Roland Garros.
This raises an interesting question, with both short-term (annual) as well as long-term (decades or even Open-era) implications. Which is the most competitive of the majors? My gut feeling is that if you were to crunch some numbers (number of five set matches, percentage of sets and/or games per match, elapsed time of match) and assign them some vague statistical values, the most competitive tournament as a whole would be the French Open, and the least competitive would be Wimbledon (due mainly to the difficulty - or is it indifference? - clay-court experts meet or feel at Wimbledon.
And while I haven't asked Master Ace directly (consider it asked, Patrick), I assume his selections below took into account factors other than mere degree-of-closeness - elements like the marquee value and ranking of the players involved, the round of the tournament in question, the long-term resonance or importance of the match itself (as in the case of Andy Murray's win over Richard Gasquet at Wimbledon). I suppose this suggests that there's room for another post, somewhere along the way, of the year's ten closest matches - and if it were kept to 5-setters, the job would be pretty manageable.
That might be a job to undertake with the help of Greg Sharko, about whom I have some sad news. Greg recently lost his mother, and has taken a little time off to mourn. One insignificant side effect of that is that the post I planned to do with his help has been on hold, at least until he returns to work, probably next week. Meanwhile, I'm sure he'd appreciate your thoughts and prayers. He's been a great help to TennisWorld, and I don't think there's a single person in tennis who doesn't think that Greg is the best thing to hit tennis since the Prince Pro.
And one blogging note: I'm out Friday through Sunday, although I'll probably auto-post something for Saturday morning. Rosangel is on track to start posting from the BlackRock Masters as of Thursday (PM), and Jackie-Oh will have a Deuce Club post tomorrow. So stick around, read through MA's list, and have at it!
-- Pete
Ten Best Men's Five-Set Matches of 2008:
1 - Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7; Wimbledon, F:
Nadal lost just 4 games to Federer in the French Open final; just a few weeks later, at Wimbledon, he had three break points while up 6-4, 6-4, 3-3 (0-40) only to see Roger come up with clutch points to save the game - and set. Nadal wasted 2 match points in the 4th set, but he refused to surrender to the moment and ended up winning his first major (outside France) as darkness descended on Wimbledon.
*
2 - Roger Federer def. Janko Tipsarevic, 6-7(5), 7-6(1), 5-7, 6-1, 10-8; Australian Open, R32:*
With Roger serving 2nd in the final set, he had to hold serve 4 times to stay in the match. When the score was 8-all, Roger rallied from 40-0 to break and he proceeded to serve it out.
*
3 - Lleyton Hewitt defeated Marcos Baghdatis, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-3; Australian Open, R32:*
This match ended at 4:33 AM local time due to the backlog on Rod Laver arena (the no. 2 match, above, was the main culprit). The dramatic heart: Lleyton had 2 chances to serve it out in the 4th, but Marcos battled back to win the set in a tiebreak and forced a deciding set.
*
4 - James Blake def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; Davis Cup, QF*:
Mathieu served for the match in the fifth, but Blake played the best 2 return games I've ever seen from him as he won the last 4 games of the match. This match also took the pressure off the Bryan brothers, as they were by no means guaranteed a W against Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra in the next day's doubles.
*
5 - Phillipp Kohlschreiber def. Andy Roddick, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(9), 6-7(3), 8-6; Australian Open, R32:*
Kohlschreiber had over 100 winners in this epic, but he was unable to continue at that level in his next match, a loss to Jarkko Nieminen.
6 - David Nalbandian def. Robin Soderling, 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 6-4, 9-7; Davis Cup, QF:
Although few thought Sweden would win even one rubber against a powerful Argentina squad, Robin won his first day singles and ended up one set removed from sending the tie into the decisive, fourth singles.
*
7 - Rainier Schuettler def. Arnaud Clement, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-7(7), 8-6; Wimbledon, QF:*
This battle was suspended overnight, ensuring that neither of the men could sleep easily with a career-highlight semifinal round appearance at stake.
*
8 - Andy Murray def. Richard Gasquet, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-4; Wimbledon, R16:*
Gasquet served for the match, but Murray rallied to win - establishing the tone for his excellent run of results in the second half of the season.
*
9 - Roger Federer def. Igor Andreev, 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; United States Open, R16:*
Federer almost blew a 5-1 lead in the 2nd set tiebreaker, but he managed to win it when Igor missed - barely - a forehand passing shot. By then, the "decline" of Federer was a common talking point, but his experience in majors won him the match - and it helped him get his 5th consecutive United States Open crown.
*
10 (tie) - Kei Nishikori def. David Ferrer, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, US Open, R32:*
Even though Nishikori tagged Blake to win Delray Beach in February, this match really tested his stamina on the big stage - in fact, following Kei's win over Juan Monaco in Round 1, some commentators questioned his stamina. Ferrer rallied from two sets down to even this match, but Kei had plenty of leg (and arm) left, and he made the most of them as he found ways to win the critical points of the fifth set.
*
10 (tie) - Gilles Muller def. Nicolas Almagro, 6-7(3), 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(6), 7-5; US Open, R32:*
After Almagro won the first two sets, I didn't expect another rally from Muller, who had already performed a remarkable turnaround against Tommy Haas. He did it though, and after dispatching Almagro, Gilles went on to beat Nikolay Davydenko and push Roger Federer in the quarterfinals.
!Seppi Best of the rest:
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Novak Djokovic def. Roger Federer 7-5,6-3,7-6(5); Australian Open, SF
David Ferrer def. Lleyton Hewitt, 6-2,3-6,3-6,6-3,6-4; French Open, R32
Mikhail Youzhny def. Radek Stepanek, 7-5,6-7(5),6-4,6-7(4),6-3; Wimbledon, R32
Marat Safin def. Andreas Seppi, 7-6(5),3-6,7-6(3),6-4; Wimbledon, R32
Mario Ancic def. David Ferrer, 6-4,6-4,6-7(5),7-6(3); Wimbledon, R32
Feliciano Lopez def. Marcos Baghdatis 5-7,6-2,3-6,7-6(4),8-6; Wimbledon, R16
Mario Ancic def. Fernando Verdasco, 3-6,4-6,6-3,6-4,13-11; Wimbledon, R16.
Tommy Haas def. Richard Gasquet, 6-7(3),6-4,5-7,7-5,6-2; US Open, R128
Juan Martin Del Potro def. Gilles Simon, 6-4,6-7(4),6-1,3-6,6-3; US Open, R32
Novak Djokovic def, Tommy Robredo, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; US Open, R16
Gilles Muller def. Nikolay Davydenko, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(10); US Open, R16
David Ferrer def. Andy Roddick, 7-6(5), 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 8-6; Davis Cup, SF
Fernando Verdasco def. Jose Acasuso, 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1; Davis Cup, F*