Wimbledon's 10 most memorable matches

[gh]

of the last 50 years, as chosen by tennis writer

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 189RFV.DTL

[Cyril]

Tomorrow's matches should be special. Some great quarters....

Fed may have his hands full with the 6'10" Karlovic who is serving some real bombs and has yet to be broken in this tournament.

Rodick who is playing very well, will have a good challenge against a rejuvenated Hewitt who is playing great.

Murray should have an easier time against Ferereiro but Murray isn't looking real sharp.

Djokovic should also have a great challenge against Haas.

If Fed can win the title this year he will go down as holding the record of 15 GSs....the GOAT title will get inceasingly hard to argue against.

[Jnathletics]

1. Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7, men's final, 2008

This was one of the worst matches ever. There was nothing exciting about it at all. Two guys serving big and with no returns. The games were very uncompetitive with the server usually winning easily (what there was 3 breaks in the match?). There were no long games with multiple deuces, no comeback sets where the lead or momentum changed. Heck, Federer only one sets by breaking a point or two. I think the ground's crew action from the rain delays was more eventful.

There were many of the Graf, Navratilova, Evert matchs that were way better.

For examples
1985 Martina Navrátilová over Chris Evert 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 (looked at first as if Chrissy might finally beat Martina)
1988 Steffi Graf over Martina Navrátilová 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 (Steffi over throws the Queen of Grass and goes on to win 6 of the next 8)
1991 Steffi Graf over Gabriela Sabatini 6-4, 3-6, 8-6 (if memory serves correct this one was an epic, with a couple multiple game breaks during a set.)
1993 Steffi Graf over Jana Novotná 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-4 (Jana was up a break in the 3rd and I think Graf won 4 of the last 5 games as Jana fell apart.)
2005 Venus Williams over Lindsay Davenport 4-6, 7-6(4), 9-7

1982 Jimmy Connors over John McEnroe 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 ( I thought I heard stories of the two yelling at each other, but this may not have been the match?)
1985 Boris Becker over Kevin Curren 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-4 (wasn't Becker just a teenager and it was like a shock he even made the finals, let alone win?)

Just to name a few better ones.

[gh]

1. Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7, men's final, 2008

This was one of the worst matches ever. There was nothing exciting about it at all. Two guys serving big and with no returns. The games were very uncompetitive with the server usually winning easily (what there was 3 breaks in the match?). There were no long games with multiple deuces, no comeback sets where the lead or momentum changed. Heck, Federer only one sets by breaking a point or two. I think the ground's crew action from the rain delays was more eventful. ....

I don't claim to be any kind of tennis expert, but this is certainly a contrarian view to everything I've read/heard anywhere else!

[nevetsllim]

1. Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7, men's final, 2008

This was one of the worst matches ever. There was nothing exciting about it at all. Two guys serving big and with no returns. The games were very uncompetitive with the server usually winning easily (what there was 3 breaks in the match?). There were no long games with multiple deuces, no comeback sets where the lead or momentum changed. Heck, Federer only one sets by breaking a point or two. I think the ground's crew action from the rain delays was more eventful.

Just be thankful they have slowed the grass down! The Sampras era in the 1990s was grim viewing. I don't know about other tennis fans but even as a fan of the serve & volley game, I find watching Queens club so tedious because the grass is too fast and the balls barely bounce, thus making rallies impossible.

I was at Wimbledon for the first three days and had a wonderful time! Buying ground passes is just as exciting (probably more exciting) than the main showcourts and there was one day where the line-up on the non-ticketed court three was better than Court 1. Best matches were Mahut v. Vliegen on the men's side and Mattek-Sands v. Stosur and Radwanska v. Martinez Sanchez on the women's.

[nevetsllim]

My predictions for the final;

Federer to beat Murray in four sets. Roger seems to have regained his aura and is playing without any pressure having finally equalled Sampras's Grand Slam haul and doing it at Roland Garros. With Nadal out, Djokovic wilting as we speak and Murray probably not able to match Federer over five-sets, I think it's all plain sailing for Rog.

Venus to beat Serena in two. No matter how poor Venus's form is, she's just a delight to watch at Wimbledon. I'd love Serena to win Wimbledon and Venus to win the USO but Venus is better than everyone, including Serena on grass because her game is just tailor-made for this surface.

Men's doubles - top seeds Bryan/Bryan and no.2 seeds Nestor/Zimonjic progressed into the semi-finals in three sets and none of them have showed much frailty but I will be interested to see how Fish and Blake perform against Nestor/Zimonjic in the semis.

Women's doubles - whoever wins Williams/Williams v. Black/Huber will win the title.

[nevetsllim]

Anyone see Serena save two match-points to beat Dementieva 6-7 7-5 8-6? One of the best women's matches for quite some time.

[Jnathletics]

Anyone see Serena save two match-points to beat Dementieva 6-7 7-5 8-6? One of the best women's matches for quite some time.

Thanks for ruining it for me, I had it taped. :wink:

[EPelle]

My personal favourite of the past 50 years -- the #2 pick of Goran Ivanisevic d Pat Rafter 6-3 3-6 6-3 2-6 9-7 in 2001. Best nail-biter I've watched in years in any two-man battle.

[toyracer]

Number four on the list (which is not in order of ranking btw) is my pick. That Borg vs McEnroe was one for the ages, and no script -writer could have even dreamed of the fourth set.

[BillVol]

For anybody from the Chattanooga area, the 1979 final was the best and most heartbreaking. Our city's own Roscoe Tanner lost in five sets to Bjorn Borg in the first "Breakfast at Wimbledon" -- the first-ever live broadcast of The Championships in the US. I remember Bud Collins calling Tanner the "Lookout Mountain hillbilly." Collins obviously didn't know that Lookout Mountain is, as Sports Illustrated described it, "one of America's most moneyed enclaves." There is nothing hillbilly about Lookout Mountain. Obnoxious easterners don't have a clue about the South, but that's beside the point. Roscoe has had a lot of problems in recent years, but that doesn't take away from his fine career.

Tanner, by the way, signed a regional letter of intent to play college tennis at Tennessee for coach Louis Royal. Tanner and Royal are both graduates of Chattanooga's Baylor School, several years apart. The rules were different back then, and Tanner wound up at Stanford. Cardinal coach Dick Gould credits Tanner for getting the great Stanford tennis program started.

BTW, I agree with the poster who commented on the Federer-Nadal final. This is not tennis we are watching anymore. Give these guys wooden rackets with small heads and let's see how they do against Rod Laver.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Wimbl ... 7s_Singles

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ ... /index.htm

[gh]

This one is colored by the Federer quest for #15, but after three sets today, this is becoming one of my all-time faves. Partic when Roddick won the first set and was up 6-2 (?) in the tiebreak of the second and the Federer machine started to roll.

[EPelle]

Now that he has the French title has been secured, he's going to play with so much less pressure the rest of his career.

[gh]

Whew! Got to the office in time for the fifth set, turned on my TV for the first time in months, realized I never bought a converter box for the rabbit ears. Thank goodness for live streaming.

[gh]

Then there are the problems associated with online streaming! Since the NBC feed anda the Universal feed on our front page went dead at the same time, I'd guess the presence of Roddick in the fifth set is causing an OD for the NBC servers.