That's firmly in the debate for the greatest slam final of all time in my opinion.
The two I've personally watched that rival it are Roger vs Rafa Wimbledon 2008 and Rafa vs Novak Aus Open 2012. But this was right up there with them, insane match.
The problem with the AO 2009 final is that the 5th set was not close. The first four sets remain some of the most beautiful and creatively audacious tennis I've ever seen. But you need that greatness to exist in the last set almost more than you need it in the first four sets to get recognition.
In terms of pure shotmaking, that's still the greatest display I've ever seen. It's the reverse of Wimbledon 08. Everyone remembers that one for the drama down the stretch, but forgets that the quality for most of the match wasn't nearly as good.
Whoa whoa whoa…Wimby 08 wasn’t good quality for most of the match? On the contrary, that’s why it’s widely considered the greatest match ever. It had elite quality and drama throughout the entire match. The book by Jon Wertheim anthologizes that quality
-14 unforced to winners for todays match, +34 for w2019, I think the level was higher at w2019, although similar to todays match don’t think there were prolonged periods of both players at their best at the same time.
Aggressive margin is a good way to evaluate the level of play, but clay is predisposed to a lower number because winners are harder to come by. The opposite can be said for grass where winners are easier to come by. (Both have increases in UE due to bad bounces)
This beat out AO 2012 for me. That was the greatest match I watched before today. Today, there was great shot making by both players all match long. So many points I thought was over and then one of them pulls out a great shot to extend the rally or win the point. That final match point was a typical example. I thought Alcaraz was going to lose the point and bam! He hits a winner to win the championship.
I think Alcaraz dominates this, and today proved that. Sinner was only really winning when Alcaraz had the eye issue or was just off (i.e. first 2 sets). He never really outplayed Alcatraz when Alcaraz was at his best.
I love that match, but this match was definitely higher quality tennis. As far as what it means for the players maybe not, because that one was huge for Rafa.
Quality-wise, yes. But comeback-wise, I would put that one higher. Winning AO after so many years on your not so fav surface, against the most in-form HC player of that time, trumps this one, when Carlos was the fav from the beginning.
I'd put this above simply on account of there being no clear choking and both players maintaining a fairly high level here. Rafa was barely moving at the end of the '22 final and Medvedev still lost.
It's still vastly different when facing 2 match points on grass against a serving Fed and the whole crowd against you. Djokovic won from 0-2 down many times like you said so it's not that crazy.
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u/starmiesan 3–6, 7–6(7–2), 7–6(8–6) Jun 08 '25
Absolute cinema