The ATP has picked their best five matches of the year. As much as I would love to agree with them, they're so fucking wrong. Or they're right, which makes my heart break even more.
For my money, here is the Official Forty Deuce List of ATP Matches That Made Me Stain My Couch:
- Nole d. Fed, 5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5, USO SF: Like I said, I would totally love to slot Rafa and Muzz here (heh), but THIS WAS A GRAND SLAM SEMIFINAL. Everyone was keen on seeing Fed through to face Rafa and no one, NO ONE, even gave Nole a chance in this match. CBS tweeted that Fed had won before the match was even over! Sure, the level of play was up and down, wheras Rafa/Muzz was high quality from start to finish. But I will never forget that high inside-out forehand that Nole crushed to save match point. A career definining swing, that was.
- Rafa d. Muzz, 7-6 3-6 7-6, WTF SF: From the first point to the last, this was the highest quality tennis match of the year, no doubt. Could you imagine if the WTFs were best of five?
- Fer d. Daveed, 5-7, 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(4), USO 4R: Four hours and 23 minutes of ridiculous and, at times, headcasey tennis, punctuated with this, the shot of the year.
- Sod d. Fed, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, RG QF: This was the match that made me eat my words about Sod. He was ridonk. And I don't think Fed played that badly, either. This wasn't one of those Federror displays. Sod was just in the red the whole time. The loss snapped Fed's Slam semi streak of like, 8,000 straight, too. So it was kind of a big deal.
- Baggy d. Fed, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(4), IW 3R: Fed was up 4-1 in the third and this was the first match since 2006 that he would lose after holding match points. Honestly, I don't even remember if the whole match was all that great. But I was at a Mexican restaurant watching the third set surrounded by some obnoxious Fed fans who stood in disbelief as Fed let his lead slip away and Marcos played some ridiculous tennis to bag the win. What I do remember is oohing and ahhing as they battled that last set and Marcos reminding me why he was "Marcos Baghdatis". Oh, I also remember Gwen Stefani looking supes bored.
So basically what we've learned is that I really enjoy watching Fed lose.
Pop off on your selections in the comments.
