Best Tennis Match Ever?

Now that Wimbledon 2008 is a little over a week old and various pros have pronounced the Wimbledon men's final as the best ever, enough time has passed to ask whether it was the best or not.

That depends on how you define "best". Were there great strokes hit in the match? Yes. Was it tension filled? Yes. Were both players pushed to the limit? Yes.

This match went the distance, five sets, 9-7 in the fifth, with the match ending as the light was fading.

Still, there was something that was a little vaguely dissatisfying, and most of that had to do with Federer's own play. Nadal is so good off the ground that Federer only had one effective shot which was his inside out forehand, which he hit for numerous winners. Otherwise, if he got into an angle rally, Nadal was better there and Federer would struggle to even keep up.

It's not like the classic serve-and-volleyer against a baseliner where the serve-and-volleyer kept pressuring the baseliner to hit passing shot after passing shot. That scenario assumes that the serve and volleyer can make it to net, and that the passer has an opportunity to pass. It's somewhat equal.

Federer couldn't even completely rely on coming to net and hoping Nadal would hit a bad pass, though Federer did come to net, and Nadal did whiff occasionally. Federer went to the strategy that worked best for him. Prevent Nadal from hitting his angles, and hope to open the court and hit winners.

That's a tough strategy to keep up, especially when you aren't pressuring your opponent on his serve. Federer came up with big serves, but Nadal held serve by his superior groundstrokes. It was a strategy that relied on Federer being on his game throughout.

And, he was somewhat close. The first two sets had Federer with numerous break chances. It would be one thing if Nadal hit great winners to save his serve, which he did occasionally, but more often, Federer would whiff a second serve return. He didn't seem to be able to hit solid returns, perhaps credit to Nadal's improving serve that didn't produce aces, but didn't give Federer chances to hit winners back either.

Indeed, the match flowed based on Federer's mood. If he was on form as he was early in the second set, he was winning games easily, and putting pressure on Nadal. If he was off, as in most of the first set, late in the second, and early in the third set, he was getting in 0-30 holes and having to do a Sampras (i.e., hit aces) to get out of messes. Sampras didn't seem to mind that aces require the least interaction with his opponent. If he could serve all aces to win a tournament, so what? So what if he was so good at the one part of the game he could control.

Federer is a good server, but he's not Sampras. He relies on his groundstrokes and occasionally a volley to win points. He returns pretty well. He is mentally strong, except when it comes to Nadal, where he goes for his shots, and if they land in, he looks great, and if it clips the net or goes wide, it looks like he's a beginner. Would he need such an extreme strategy if he were playing anyone besides Nadal?

Sampras had the luxury that he could keep up in a rally with Agassi, at least, for a few points at a time. You never felt that Agassi could dominate him like Lendl would often dominate McEnroe from the backcourt, like Nadal dominates Federer if the rally heads a certain direction. Federer plays strokes to prevent Nadal from whaling away on his shots, not because he thinks he can outhit Nadal. The best way for him to outhit Nadal is if he doesn't touch the ball at all.

And at times, his timing is so on, that even Nadal can't compete, but this is only if the star align. Sometimes, as in the French Open, where the balls bounce higher and where it's harder to hit winners, Federer can get overwhelmed. Federer once had a dominant set, but then Nadal got back into his game, and then Fed can't keep up.

I wonder if the Seles-Graf match might not have been better. Both were a little more evenly matched. If Graf struggled it was because she couldn't easily attack with her sliced backhand. She defended reasonably well off that side and ran around it quite well to attack with her forehand, a strategy that Federer often takes too.

If you measure greatness by the drama, then yes, this was up there. Federer was trying to pull one out of the magic hat, avoid a break of his own serve, and take his chances in the tiebreak. The first tiebreak went well with a good lead. The second was lucky when Nadal showed hints of nerves and let Federer back into the tiebreak. The fifth set would have gone to a tiebreak too, except Wimbledon doesn't have tiebreaks in the fifth.

Federer claimed that the light was an issue for him, but his inability to break was an even bigger issue. Nadal could at least say that Federer hits a bigger serve, which he does.

Some of the shots that the players came up with were amazing, something that you couldn't quite say about the Williams sisters. As much as they bludgeon the ball, they don't come up with crazy angles, or creative ideas. They blast the ball up the middle and wait for one or the other to hit into the net.

In the end, it's up there, more for drama, then a completely even battle between two players hitting greater and greater shots, but more the ups-and-downs of one player trying to hit risky great shots versus one who hits a safe great shot (Nadal).

This means, it could have been better, but certainly no more dramatic than it turned out to be.