The OtherArena

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17247

Did not get a chance to watch it. On vacation back in DC, and Lee and I were up to something or other during most of the Open.

guren · Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 1205

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17247

The Last Stand of course is going five sets. Both happy and annoyed that I stayed up to watch this live. :P

guren · Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 1205

I ended up watching the match in a sports bar in Roppongi. My nerves are fried and I still can't quite comprehend everything I witnessed.

So John, was the 5th set the most important set in the history of tennis? There is a good chance that it was.

glenn

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17247

Hard to say. I'm biased to another era, so I'd say either the 5th set of the 1980 US Open Final or any of the last three sets of the 1984 French Open Final. We would have had a single season slam if either broke the other way. Mac's 1984 season would have been the male GOAT season, and Borg arguably would be the GOAT if he slammed in 1980.

Well, of we're going by total bias, the 3rd set of a certain 4th round match of the women's side of the French Open is arguably the most important. Perfect Season. Kathy Horvath... damn. :)

But yeah, this one was really big. GOAT arguments will point at this, unless Joker sustains his 2015-2016 level of play for a few more years (i.e. 5 slams in 2 seasons) and then plucks some more here and there.

guren · Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 1205

This guy. What a privilege it has been to watch him play. I already can't wait for the U.S. Open.

guren · Joined: 31 Jul 2006 Posts: 1205

So Federer and Nadal split the four grand slams, with Roger winning the Australian and Wimbledon, and Rafa the French and U.S. Open. It's incredible that this happened in 2017, fourteen years since Federer's first grand slam title, and twelve years since Nadal's. I am really interested to see what kind of form these two bring into the 2018 Australian Open, assuming Federer doesn't retire.

glenn

jdw · Site Admin Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 17247

Looking at the last post, Roger and Rafa split the next two after it... and Joker has won 4 out of the 5 since then. Only Rafa's near-unending string of titles in Paris braking that up.

Add that 5th set to Glenn's collection of possibly historically impactful 5th sets.

Amazing match to watch.