One of the greatest single games of all time

That really was a service game for the ages by Wawrinka in the third game of the 5th set. 30 points total and lasting 21 minutes in length. There were 13 deuces with Djokovic losing 5 break points and Wawrinka losing 8 game points. There were some absolutely stunning shots as well in the game with to be fair the majority of them being hit by Wawrinka. A stat man might look at this Wawrinka v Djokovic matchup and think well it is so one sided as Novak has won the last 12 matches. But with Stan lifting his level and having a real chance to qualify for London the margin is razor thin. In terms of single game of tennis I can't remember off the top of my head any other game at least recently that has been so tense. Any other contenders you guys can remember?

Im pretty sure youve written a derivative of this after every Djoko "Michelle"(Pfeiffer), as the Aussies call it... I personally thought it was dramatic, but the quality wasnt always high enough for that honour to be given

Novak plays a lot of great matches kingraf, part of that is due to his own tendency to go on walkabouts as the Aussies call it.... I think this is his 28th 5th set warand he has won 21 of them I believe. In fact, I have never made this declaration about one specific game or declared any djokovic match as the greatest of all time. The rest of your references are as obscure as Cazorla and Silva (lol!). I have to say that is one thing that attracts me at times he just throws his opponent breaks you think hell that last service game he just played with those forehand errors and double faults I could have broken the world #1. If you watch Djokovic as I have you will often notice even against weaker opposition that his first service game is often a war of attrition as Novak struggles to find the box. It is almost like he doesn't feel the match has started till he is a break down and this tendency has cost him big time while making him very enjoyable to watch. Having to fight from 2 sets down against Troicki of all people in 2010 comes to mind. But this tendency of his has cost him at least one or two slams I think in that he turns routine matches in to struggles quite often and punishes himself with a couple of tough early round matches only to play a bit flat in the final. I think the war with Del Po hurt him a bit against Murray although I think Murray is the better grass courter in general, other examples also come to mind like his wars of attrition against Fed at the USO in the semis. He plays a lot of really brutal semis in particular.

kingraf wrote:I'm pretty sure you've written a derivative of this after every Djoko "Michelle"(Pfeiffer), as the Aussies call it... I personally thought it was dramatic, but the quality wasn't always high enough for that honor to be given

Agree Kingraf. Socal just LOVES to write any fawning little thing about his Novak (and I think Socal really does believe Djokovic belongs to him.. ). It wasn't the single greatest game of all time - or one of them, or whatever else. Who even thinks in such terms?? Do we have to parse a match that finely in order to have a reason to fawn like this?? With tongue in cheek, one can always look at the inverse of the game and wonder why a current World #1 playing a guy he owns had to go through a 21-minute game and still couldn't break him?

antonico wrote:

kingraf wrote:I'm pretty sure you've written a derivative of this after every Djoko "Michelle"(Pfeiffer), as the Aussies call it... I personally thought it was dramatic, but the quality wasn't always high enough for that honor to be given

Agree Kingraf. Socal just LOVES to write any fawning little thing about his Novak (and I think Socal really does believe Djokovic belongs to him.. ). It wasn't the single greatest game of all time - or one of them, or whatever else. Who even thinks in such terms?? Do we have to parse a match that finely in order to have a reason to fawn like this?? With tongue in cheek, one can always look at the inverse of the game and wonder why a current World #1 playing a guy he owns had to go through a 21-minute game and still couldn't break him?

Ok I know I'll write about the players you people like, why don't you and kingraf come up with topics you think are appropriate. If either of you actually examined my record of posts on this website instead of speaking from your dirty place you would realize that a rather small percentage of my threads are positive Djokovic threads. A much smaller percentage than the Fedal fan club or murray fans. I started this thread as a question to see if anyone else remembers particularly memorable games that tilted back and forth in 5 set matches, apparently instead of contributing positively you have to level accusations of fawning, well if you don't like my thread. I thought your last post was crap, so i guess we are even.

Socal - mate my comment wasnt written in bad taste. It was merely an observation. It wasnt a critique of you, or your articles. I certainly wasnt suggesting you possess feelings of ownership over Djokovic, and I apologize if you took it in an insulting manner.

Stan Df'd in that game, and chucked a few unforgiveable UEs, for that reason, and its lack of importance (Wasnt in a final, or a match-saving service) I dont have it up high.

So stats alone don't say the actual story, if thats the case 12-0 of Wawrinka would have lied what was ahead, similarly Rafa's stats are damn good, but this doesn't mean his level at the start till Wimbledon is best ever.

28 five set matches signify one more thing Djoko struggles to walk past his opponents and underdogs at the peak of his career and needs a lot of 5 set marathon to actually out last them and not out class them, something Fed and Sampras wouldn't have struggled this much against underdogs at their peaks, if this is the case once Djoko's stamina prowess starts to vade he might struggle big time I guess, no wonder his stats are not as stunning as it was in 2011.

kingraf wrote:Socal - mate my comment wasnt written in bad taste. It was merely an observation. It wasnt a critique of you, or your articles. I certainly wasnt suggesting you possess feelings of ownership over Djokovic, and I apologize if you took it in an insulting manner.

Stan Df'd in that game,  and chucked a few unforgiveable UEs,  for that reason, and its lack of importance (Wasnt in a final, or a match-saving service) I dont have it up high.

No it is ok Kingraf no harm intended on my part either, it is funny I rarely ever do a positive thread about Djokovic you can check my threads and in fact this thread is only indirectly about Djokovic as one half of two players who played 21 minute knuckle clenching game in the fifth. I was more ticked with Antonico's fawning comment, the fact is I think the fact that the man is playing in his 4th straight USO final we might be allowed some fawning. Funny nearly every paid write up talks extensively about that interesting game in the 5th game but this seems to not pass muster as a quality thread topic. So in synopsis, this article is hardly fawning, and if I want to fawn over my favorite player or anyone else in a thread topic I won't be clearing my topics with the critic formerly known as Antonico.

Well I disagree in regards to your comments regarding that game, I think it was pivotal. I think it took a lot of zip out of the wawrinka serve and a lot of zip out of Wawrinka's legs. Players on the court have a limited amount of mental and physical strength in their tank and I think the fight he put up in that game went a long way to doing wawrinka in. So it was pivotal although not in the way we typically think of as pivotal, ie the guy winning it goes on to win the match or the set.

Agree re: the amount of strength left in the tank... I just think Wawrinka was on reserve, from the moment he took the MTO, I thought the game might have been a turning point, but the second I saw Nole's next serving game, I knew it had just delayed the inevitable. I quite understand why the game has gotten so much press, as it was a very good game (I said as much in real-time i.e on the USO thread). Wawrinka had served sub 50% for four sets prior to this, Im not sure how much zip his serve had left.. In the end its a testament to his fortitude that he went five on as poor a serving day as I can remember in a mens Semi, and an even bigger one to his mental space right now that he clawed his way out of that game. Im just not sure "great" is what it was.

Also, theres no way that writing praise articles of Djokovic winning fivers could be fawning. He's played in what, three for the year? Not a lot of chances, thats the main reason why it stuck with me.

socal1976 wrote: If you watch Djokovic as I have you will often notice even against weaker opposition that his first service game is often a war of attrition as Novak struggles to find the box. It is almost like he doesn't feel the match has started till he is a break down and this tendency has cost him big time while making him very enjoyable to watch.

Oh how true this is. I kind of half disagree though - it's exciting in hindsight but I usually find it agony to sit through!

And how nice to see antonico back offering his wonderful insights.

socal1976 wrote:Ok I know I'll write about the players you people like, why don't you and kingraf come up with topics you think are appropriate. If either of you actually examined my record of posts on this website instead of speaking from your dirty place you would realize that a rather small percentage of my threads are positive Djokovic threads. A much smaller percentage than the Fedal fan club or murray fans. I started this thread as a question to see if anyone else remembers particularly memorable games that tilted back and forth in 5 set matches, apparently instead of contributing positively you have to level accusations of fawning, well if you don't like my thread. I thought your last post was crap, so i guess we are even.

"Examined (your) record of posts on this website"?? Uh..I think most of us would rather walk on hot coals than do something as tedious as indulge your self aggrandizement by reading post after post of your prognostications, followed inevitably by the follow up posts of you telling everyone here just how prescient you thought you were. And I surely did use the word fawning, appropriately in this case. You over blow the importance of a long game - and then trot out the standard hyperbole of "...greatest of all time" nonsense. How many matches have you actually seen? Have any of them been outside of your own lifetime? To apply such a grandiose, overwrought description of the 3rd game of Set 5 being "One of the greatest of all time" is nothing but fawning! To start a thread on such a topic is clearly not about the topic, or any ramifications of such a thing. It's all about you.

Post of the year. Finally antonico has cracked socals deluded self-indulgent lone world. As i've said once socal keeps his djoko poster in his bathroom mirror, but also a pic of Federer in his wallet so he can be his fan when he is with his friends clubing.

Sad really. Even nitb had more mojo than socal.

Jahu, you are a pointless wum. I hope he doens't listen to you.

I thought it was the game of the tournament, but agree with some of the counter points as well, and "all time" is bandied about too much. Maybe if it had happened at 6-5.

Henman Bill wrote:Jahu, you are a pointless wum. I hope he doens't listen to you.

I thought it was the game of the tournament, but agree with some of the counter points as well, and "all time" is bandied about too much. Maybe if it had happened at 6-5.

If Wawrinka would have gone on to win the game it could have been said that way, but that game played no importance in the match results as he was broken twice after that, so clearly the hype is way too much for a normal game.

antonico wrote:

socal1976 wrote:Ok I know I'll write about the players you people like, why don't you and kingraf come up with topics you think are appropriate. If either of you actually examined my record of posts on this website instead of speaking from your dirty place you would realize that a rather small percentage of my threads are positive Djokovic threads. A much smaller percentage than the Fedal fan club or murray fans. I started this thread as a question to see if anyone else remembers particularly memorable games that tilted back and forth in 5 set matches, apparently instead of contributing positively you have to level accusations of fawning, well if you don't like my thread. I thought your last post was crap, so i guess we are even.

"Examined (your) record of posts on this website"?? Uh..I think most of us would rather walk on hot coals than do something as tedious as indulge your self aggrandizement by reading post after post of your prognostications, followed inevitably by the follow up posts of you telling everyone here just how prescient you thought you were. And I surely did use the word fawning, appropriately in this case. You over blow the importance of a long game - and then trot out the standard hyperbole of "...greatest of all time" nonsense. How many matches have you actually seen? Have any of them been outside of your own lifetime? To apply such a grandiose, overwrought description of the 3rd game of Set 5 being "One of the greatest of all time" is nothing but fawning! To start a thread on such a topic is clearly not about the topic, or any ramifications of such a thing. It's all about you.

Funny every single write up in the newspapers and online mention that game in multiple paragraphs and give it a great deal of attention but I suppose when I mention it its fawning. Listen Antonico so you get the picture, I chew up wums and trolls like you and then when I crap them out they come out smarter than they went in. The next thread you start that people care to comment on it will be your first.

About my tennis knowledge buddy I have played and watched thousands upon thousands of matches, as I stated before the byproducts of my bum know more about tennis than you do and are probably more charming. And by the way are you slow mentally? I mean you seem to have a reading comprehension problem I didn't say it was the greatest game of all time, I said it was "one" and if you understand english, which seems to be the problem, you would understand that if you start a sentence with "one of" you are not claiming it is the greatest but "one" of a group of all time great games. Maybe if you got off your high horse and actually could figure out how to properly read a thread you could come to understand it and maybe just maybe come up with a smart reply. Baby steps, Antonico, Baby steps.

Stick
To
The
Tennis
And
Stop
Slagging
Each
Other
Off

Thank you  

Jahu wrote:Post of the year. Finally antonico has cracked socals deluded self-indulgent lone world. As i've said once socal keeps his djoko poster in his bathroom mirror, but also a pic of Federer in his wallet so he can be his fan when he is with his friends clubing.

Sad really. Even nitb had more mojo than socal.

Post of the century, post of the millenium, why I think that was the greatest post since  a few milliseconds after the big bang and when neutrons started to form. God you are a stale, unimaginative, and boring as drinking distilled water while chewing on dry wonder bread. And what a corny and plagiarized stupid poster in your bathroom joke. That silly taunt has been used and is played out on sports websites. Since the days of dial up people have used that against fans of other players to dismiss them as fan boys. I am glad you care so much about planet earth that you are now recycling a line that has not been original since the collapse of the Soviet union.

falzy21 wrote:Stick
To
The
Tennis
And
Stop
Slagging
Each
Other
Off

Thank you  

Would like to talk about the great 5 set match and the game in question Falzy but all I get are insults and dishonesty from the get go from this individual and I feel that I can not respond. I don't know or care about this individual and wish that he would focus on the actual tennis as you say.


What did you think of the match? Did you get a chance to watch it?

All this greatest this or that is nonsense. If we're on about best game ever then the Djokovic / Federer game in the third set of W 2012 tops it, and the same for Murray / Federer in the final which was even bigger, especially since that one was a break and represented the moment the final was decided.

However neither are worth 'best this or that' labels. To argue implies one has watched all the matches ever, which is just obviously lame.

Great match Socal, Wawrinka hit soo many shots for little reward, due to Djokovic's ridiculous defense, nobody has ever been able to soak up pressure and variation like that, he's world unique at that, Stan played his part though and it was what I hoped for, a fascinating close encounter.

Listen Socal its simple, what they said you wasnt acceptable on a forum, its a personal insult to you for your admittedly strong opinion, thats NOT right. On the other hand the way to deal with that is to report them and politely ask them to not stoop to that, not to just reply in kind. If you did that IC wouldnt constantly try and wind you up, hes doing it because he knows he gets a response.

bogbrush wrote:All this greatest this or that is nonsense. If we're on about best game ever then the Djokovic / Federer game in the third set of W 2012 tops it, and the same for Murray / Federer in the final which was even bigger, especially since that one was a break and represented the moment the final was decided.

However neither are worth 'best this or that' labels. To argue implies one has watched all the matches ever, which is just obviously lame.

I agree that was bigger because of the circumstances. Again BB, I didn't say it was the greatest, I said "one of". It could be number #4 or 144# on the list. I like superlatives in my discussions and a bit of hyperbole from time to time.

falzy21 wrote:Great match Socal, Wawrinka hit soo many shots for little reward, due to Djokovic's ridiculous defense, nobody has ever been able to soak up pressure and variation like that, he's world unique at that, Stan played his part though and it was what I hoped for, a fascinating close encounter.

Listen Socal its simple, what they said you wasnt acceptable on a forum, its a personal insult to you for your admittedly strong opinion, thats NOT right. On the other hand the way to deal with that is to report them and politely ask them to not stoop to that, not to just reply in kind. If you did that IC wouldnt constantly try and wind you up, hes doing it because he knows he gets a response.

Stan has really improved in the last few months since signing up to work with Magnus Norman who is now the hottest property in coaching as I think he has Dimitrov in his academy and was with Soderling during his greatest success. I am not that confident going into the final as Djokovic was really struggling to find his higher gears in that match against stan until maybe half way through it. If it was a three set match he would be out right now, but that is what makes Novak so hard against these lower ranked guys to put him out over 5 sets because he can go into lock down mode like you said and absorb the pressure and still find away to make you keep hitting more and more balls, till he gets his opportunity to strike.

Hes not confident enough it seems at the moment on the aggression, his defence is still stellar. If Nadals dlh forehand is on and he doesnt get his attack together, then yeah he could be in real trouble

falzy21 wrote:Hes not confident enough it seems at the moment on the aggression, his defence is still stellar. If Nadals dlh forehand is on and he doesnt get his attack together, then yeah he could be in real trouble

Nadal has changed it up recently as a result of what happened in 2011 he plays a much more attacking game on hardcourts than he used to. It is interesting that his injuries I think have helped Nadal develop as an attack player especially on hardcourt. Nadal knows that he has to attack on a hardcout, why? Simple his body has a ticking clock in his knees that give him lets a few thousand optimal hours of hardcourt play left before they can take no more. So like a cruel mistress the hardcourts punish Nadal's body forcing him to play as many quick points as he can possibly play. He can not afford the time out there to routinely play 20 shots plus rallies on that surface. Not only does it not pay tactically for Nadal but even physically it will shorten his peak.

falzy21 wrote:On the other hand the way to deal with that is to report them and politely ask them to not stoop to that, not to just reply in kind. If you did that IC wouldnt constantly try and wind you up, hes doing it because he knows he gets a response.

You confused me here big time  , are you trying to portray me in dim light or bright light  I never wind up anybody I just place my arguments like you and every body do . 

falzy21 wrote:Hes not confident enough it seems at the moment on the aggression, his defence is still stellar. If Nadals dlh forehand is on and he doesnt get his attack together, then yeah he could be in real trouble

Believe me Novak's form would be completely different in the finals to what we saw in semi's, what I noticed is Novak is not interested in playing all these Warinka's at the moment he wants Rafa, he wants to beat him badly in a final, just wait n watch come Monday he gonna really go for his shots and will be ultra aggressive as well.

Like HE pointed it out long time back aiming for FO for quite a while and losing it on a whisker hurt him badly, Djoko is angry inside and calm outside a scenario I see similar to MonteCarlo finals, when everybody wrote of Djoko before finals he came and thrashed Rafa out. I want Rafa to win and nail the year end no.1 in USO itself but my head says Djoko will win it.  

socal1976 wrote:

bogbrush wrote:All this greatest this or that is nonsense. If we're on about best game ever then the Djokovic / Federer game in the third set of W 2012 tops it, and the same for Murray / Federer in the final which was even bigger, especially since that one was a break and represented the moment the final was decided.

However neither are worth 'best this or that' labels. To argue implies one has watched all the matches ever, which is just obviously lame.

I agree that was bigger because of the circumstances. Again BB, I didn't say it was the greatest, I said "one of". It could be number #4 or 144# on the list.  I like superlatives in my discussions and a bit of hyperbole from time to time.

No, that's cool.

I know you don't mind it all going postal   a hyperbolic thread title will generally do it.

bogbrush wrote:the same for Murray / Federer in the final which was even bigger, especially since that one was a break and represented the moment the final was decided.

This one would be right up there. 40-0 to Murray but Federer gets the break via about 10 deuces. I remember just laughing incredulously when he won that game.

bogbrush wrote:

socal1976 wrote:

bogbrush wrote:All this greatest this or that is nonsense. If we're on about best game ever then the Djokovic / Federer game in the third set of W 2012 tops it, and the same for Murray / Federer in the final which was even bigger, especially since that one was a break and represented the moment the final was decided.

However neither are worth 'best this or that' labels. To argue implies one has watched all the matches ever, which is just obviously lame.

I agree that was bigger because of the circumstances. Again BB, I didn't say it was the greatest, I said "one of". It could be number #4 or 144# on the list.  I like superlatives in my discussions and a bit of hyperbole from time to time.

No, that's cool.

I know you don't mind it all going postal   a hyperbolic thread title will generally do it.

Yes BB, Roger does bring out some of my best work, or if you would like some of my most manic descents into madness.