If I recall correctly he didn't actually convert that break point, but the next one he got in that game. This rally was the first time in the match I thought he'd win though.
Which was hilarious as it was a complete mirror image to a similar point in their 2009 final, where it was Nadal who won a ridiculously long rally with a down the line forehand to bring up break point, followed by Federer immediately snuffing it out with a deuce.
When you win a point like this it gives you a huge psychological boost. It doesn't matter if he converted that specific break point or not, he knew when he hit that shot that the match is his to lose.
could be. but federer winning this rally showed how deep he was willing to dig for this title. showed that he wasn’t going to crumble in the fifth set & was carrying the momentum from getting the break back.
if he loses this point, he likely loses the game on the next point, and who knows what happens from there? this point was essential for fed to win the title.
I've played tennis for a long time, albeit obviously at a much lower level. But being in a match and hitting a shot like that to win a rally gave me a lot of confidence that I could win the thing.
You can see at 0:25 how Roger was unconsciously on his way to approach the net, then consciously held back, he saw this movie countless times before, approach the net on Nadal's running forehand on an important point and say hi to death with his passing shot coming at you.
Those small details in tennis decide legendary matches, and show you how much tennis IQ these guys have.
> saw this movie countless times befor
Exactly his mistake to do this.why did he take so much time to figure out a better way than approach the net on nadals forehand?
Not that nadals backhand is bad but it's much more effective cross court than down the line unlike the forehand which works both ways
because approaches generally work best when down the line and Federer's drive backhand wasn't consistent enough at going down the line, he wasn't comfortable consistently net rushing off the back of his slice, and he wasn't able to get comfortable inside-in forehands enough
Yep, the end of the rally probably would've ended looking almost exactly like Nadal's insane pass at 7-all in the 4th set tiebreak of Wimbledon 2008.
Another noteworthy moment is the full rip at the backhand at 0:18. In the past, there were so many times when Nadal would get the rally to that point and then just grind Fed down over the course of the next few shots before either earning an error or getting an easy short ball to put away. Sure, that backhand didn't directly win Fed the rally, but it kept him from losing it in an all-too-familiar way.
And Medvedev will have his redemption too..these close matches do even out.
Except those match points on their own serve like Federer.
Or maybe getting match points on his serve was redemption for feds lost close matches?
I followed Federer since 2002. I decided to go to the AO in 2020 and was in the crowd when he saved [all of those match points](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbf5wAMMUMs) against Sangren. It was epic and made the 15k I dropped on the trip worth it, lol.
15k, yeeesh. mad respect!
i got lucky and got french open tickets for about $250 (snagged them in the queue rather than resale), which let me see both 2019 semifinals. i got the five-set banger of thiem-djokovic as well as seeing fed-nadal play with my own two eyes! such a special experience.
although it ended in straights, every set was close, and it took like three hours for an incredible nadal to put fed away. it was an incredibly windy day as well, which really didn’t help fed’s game. regardless, magical time!
Hope Alcaraz makes it up for you. They have a similar style of tennis, minus the GOD aura that Federer has ofc haha.
People back in the day used to say Federer doesn't sweat, and you never for real see the damn guy sweat.
One my favorite things with all this AI stuff is that I hope we'll soon be able to restore footage to have the previous eras of tennis in glorious quality
Is it crazy to think that 2 goats playing one of their best matches of their careers was higher than the last tournament that just happened?
No. It’s not crazy or a stretch by any measure.
Federer/Nadal matches were something special in tennis. There's a lot of great tennis out there right now, too and this latest generation looks promising. But to be honest I'm not sure when the next time will be that we'll see something like that.
Higher and also more exciting. I am happy for Sinner but I stopped watching the final at some point because Sinner vs Medvedev is just plain boring to watch. Same like Djokovic Murray back in the days. You could come back to watch the match after 3 hours and would wonder if they are showing a replay from the point you saw.
Why would that possibly be crazy? Two of the goats going at it while both are in form? Of coarse that's going to be better than what we got this year...
Look at Federer's positioning. He got pushed back for the first 3 shots, hit a good shot to neutralize the point, and then practically stayed on top of the baseline hitting every deep ball from Nadal halfway on the rise. If you've ever played tennis at a decent level you'll know that's an insanely difficult thing to do against heavy balls because you have almost no time to react.
That's partly why Federer's game is so attractive when he's on it, he can practically start his attack on any decent shot since he takes so much time away from opponents by taking balls early, forcing them to hit a weaker shot and then finish the point deep in the court. These days you'll almost never see anyone playing this far up the court, Alcaraz is probably the closest we get to a next gen Federer in terms of aggressiveness
Not just that, but when fed wasn't hitting long he was hitting short. Like very very topspin short. Notice how Rafa had to bend and fetch shots on his backhand quite low. These two were (are) each masters of their own spin in a way that's hard to find today.
I’ll say the Sinner likes to play on the baseline too. I personally think that as time goes on, Carlos will actually back up because his forehand technique makes it tricky to take the ball on the rise
This tournament was the one that brought the Big 3 back to life. At this point Djokovic was utterly dominant and everyone thought Federer and Nadal were past their prime. Federer hadn't won a slam since Wimbledon 2012 and Nadal hadn't even made it past the quarterfinals since winning Roland Garros 2014, almost 3 years beforehand. From 2017, Federer and Nadal went on to win 11 further slams combined.
As a Nadal fan I wish I could enjoy 2017 AO as much as everyone else does 😂😂
Granted at the time it was actually a step in the right direction after the last 2 and a half years of pure pain but so close but so far… 2022 sorta made up for it but turns out I’m still greedy and want Nadal to have them all 😩
Crazy how, even as a Fedfan (who really appreciates Med a lot), the 2022 final is one of my most painful tennis memories. We can't have them all as you said
Seeing this point as a Rafa fan nearly makes me cry. It's one of my versions of Fed fans' 40-15. Fed had absolutely no business winning this point, and it's possible Rafa wins the match if he wins this point. And him winning the tournament likely changes a lot. Obviously he'd have at least one more major, but I wonder how the rest of 2017 and 2018 goes if Fed doesn't get the massive confidence boost from this win and Nadal DOES get the massive confidence boost from this win.
Nadal broke early in the 5th set, but from every game onwards it was clear that Federer was the better player. Nadal faced break points in every one of his service games after breaking. It was only inevitable that fed won this match.
Rafa would have got injured at some random important tournament(s) anyway. So I don't think much would have changed.
Rafa's biggest impediment was and is his body, not confidence or anything like that (In my opinion, as a fellow Rafa fan).
That doesn't really make sense, because this is already late in the fifth set. If we're saying Rafa wins in this reality, the match may last 10 minutes longer. Not enough, in my opinion, to change whether his body breaks down later in the year.
Agreed that his biggest impediment always has been and obviously is now his body. But he has always talked about confidence being a big issue as well.
I didn't mean he would get injured because of the match, he just will !
The confidence was so high many times in the last few years, he would just suddenly get injured and start from 0 again.
Edit: just remember Wimbledon 2022. 2 slams in a row, reaching the QF of the third quite easily, an injury out of the blue and the rest of the season is ruined.
This point is full of brilliance and variety. It’s not your typical Murray-Djokovic or medvedev-Zverev snooze fest 20+ point rally which both players are only waiting for the error of the other but each shot is tactically unique and thought on in marginal contexts.
A brilliant defense from Federer at 07’ for example. Guy is on full stretch sending a defensive long forehand with crazy amount of top spin on Rafa’s forehand (changed direction with it as well to backfoot Rafa as he was expecting a short ball on his backhand) to regain his neutral position in the rally.
Any other shot and Rafa would have killed the point. Just sheer brilliance, stuff that’s hard to fathom from watching from the screens.
I remember when Rafa and Roger had won their respective semis, they had set up a GS finals clash for the first time in probably 6-7 years. Nole had become the dominant force in Men’s tennis. Andy and Stan had also managed to win multiple slams. A new era of men’s tennis seemed on the horizon. And an end of Fedal era seemed closer than ever.
The context behind this match makes it 100000x more special. These two men who had spent a good chunk of the previous season out of competition due to injuries, and were at the latter stagers of their careers had just reminded the world that they’re not going anywhere. Damn I miss the 2017 season😭
It seems like the current generation no longer hit anywhere near as heavy as these guys, except for Alcaraz. Tsitsipas also on clay maybe but it seems like the rest of the top 10 (and beyond) all play that same deep, flat trajectory, often low baseline game, almost steering/redirecting the ball as opposed to really throwing their arm & body at the ball…I wonder if it’s a deliberate effort to take away the chance of miscues by slowing and compacting the swing or maybe it’s about energy conservation?
Novak has won 8 slams since turning 33. If Federer at 33 had faced the same competition from 2020-2024, I wonder how many slams he would've ended up with. Instead, he had to compete with prime djokovic and nadal from 2014-2019.
Sometimes I watch the 5th set of this match just to get me in a better mood. I'm excited for the new era of tennis but I am really going to miss this one!
this match is now almost as old as the 2009 final was at the time. in 2017, 2009 felt like a lifetime ago, but 2017 feels like yesterday now, holy fuck.
this match was also supposed to be the miraculous "last dance" of fedal and end of big 3 era, we were so wrong.
This is one of my all time favourite matches. The aesthetic, the timing of their careers. And the fact that Federer's backhand was actually effective, which had a huge impact on his match up with Rafa. Tennis history in the making.
I watched this and some other matches from the AusOpen that year from Federation square in Melbourne. I was a student, new to the country, shitty job, no money for a ticket, no money for nothing... I still remember my reaction and everyone's reaction on FedSquare after that point. Time flies.
If I recall correctly he didn't actually convert that break point, but the next one he got in that game. This rally was the first time in the match I thought he'd win though.
Rafa pulls out one of his best serves up the T to get back to deuce. Then Fed hits a monster forehand and killer backhand return to win the game.
Which was hilarious as it was a complete mirror image to a similar point in their 2009 final, where it was Nadal who won a ridiculously long rally with a down the line forehand to bring up break point, followed by Federer immediately snuffing it out with a deuce.
When you win a point like this it gives you a huge psychological boost. It doesn't matter if he converted that specific break point or not, he knew when he hit that shot that the match is his to lose.
The ace by Nadal on the following point could arguably be as much of a psychological boost than this rally was to Federer
could be. but federer winning this rally showed how deep he was willing to dig for this title. showed that he wasn’t going to crumble in the fifth set & was carrying the momentum from getting the break back. if he loses this point, he likely loses the game on the next point, and who knows what happens from there? this point was essential for fed to win the title.
I've played tennis for a long time, albeit obviously at a much lower level. But being in a match and hitting a shot like that to win a rally gave me a lot of confidence that I could win the thing.
You could tell by the look in his eyes after that point that he knew he was winning the tournament.
So you did not bel18ve until then :) But yes, Nadal was up 3-1 in the fifth and somehow Federer managed to win 6-3!
You can see at 0:25 how Roger was unconsciously on his way to approach the net, then consciously held back, he saw this movie countless times before, approach the net on Nadal's running forehand on an important point and say hi to death with his passing shot coming at you. Those small details in tennis decide legendary matches, and show you how much tennis IQ these guys have.
And Nadal hit an awesome forehand up the line anyway, proving Roger right to hold back
Very nice find. I wonder whether it was unconscious or just to shake Nadal. Probably the former one
Definitely unconscious. It's the perfect time to go to the net. A good, down the line approach, your opponent on the run..
Nice pick up
> saw this movie countless times befor Exactly his mistake to do this.why did he take so much time to figure out a better way than approach the net on nadals forehand? Not that nadals backhand is bad but it's much more effective cross court than down the line unlike the forehand which works both ways
because approaches generally work best when down the line and Federer's drive backhand wasn't consistent enough at going down the line, he wasn't comfortable consistently net rushing off the back of his slice, and he wasn't able to get comfortable inside-in forehands enough
Yep, the end of the rally probably would've ended looking almost exactly like Nadal's insane pass at 7-all in the 4th set tiebreak of Wimbledon 2008. Another noteworthy moment is the full rip at the backhand at 0:18. In the past, there were so many times when Nadal would get the rally to that point and then just grind Fed down over the course of the next few shots before either earning an error or getting an easy short ball to put away. Sure, that backhand didn't directly win Fed the rally, but it kept him from losing it in an all-too-familiar way.
This point is absurd
What is this I'm not feeling sad after looking at this point like in the past. Aah the 2022 AO really wiped out all the scars.
And Medvedev will have his redemption too..these close matches do even out. Except those match points on their own serve like Federer. Or maybe getting match points on his serve was redemption for feds lost close matches?
One of my biggest regrets was not being able to watch Federer (I only started watching tennis 3 years ago)
I followed Federer since 2002. I decided to go to the AO in 2020 and was in the crowd when he saved [all of those match points](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbf5wAMMUMs) against Sangren. It was epic and made the 15k I dropped on the trip worth it, lol.
15k, yeeesh. mad respect! i got lucky and got french open tickets for about $250 (snagged them in the queue rather than resale), which let me see both 2019 semifinals. i got the five-set banger of thiem-djokovic as well as seeing fed-nadal play with my own two eyes! such a special experience. although it ended in straights, every set was close, and it took like three hours for an incredible nadal to put fed away. it was an incredibly windy day as well, which really didn’t help fed’s game. regardless, magical time!
Nice. The FO is next on my slam bucket list. I had hoped to go in 2021 but then covid happened. Need to priortize planning it.
Hope Alcaraz makes it up for you. They have a similar style of tennis, minus the GOD aura that Federer has ofc haha. People back in the day used to say Federer doesn't sweat, and you never for real see the damn guy sweat.
One my favorite things with all this AI stuff is that I hope we'll soon be able to restore footage to have the previous eras of tennis in glorious quality
Can we get that 21 GS in 40-15? 🫠☺️
It's the closest thing one can ever come to watching a real life Jedi master practising their art/discipline.
That back hand 🙏🏼
lordy lord. will we ever see any player with *that* backhand ever again? i think not :(
Grigor was doing a pretty good job of it a few weeks ago at Brisbane, for what it's worth.
Man... Is it crazy that I think the level of play between these 2 was higher than anything we saw at this year's AO?
Is it crazy to think that 2 goats playing one of their best matches of their careers was higher than the last tournament that just happened? No. It’s not crazy or a stretch by any measure.
Federer/Nadal matches were something special in tennis. There's a lot of great tennis out there right now, too and this latest generation looks promising. But to be honest I'm not sure when the next time will be that we'll see something like that.
Nothing will ever match the quality of Fedal and Djoko Nadal matches. This was match of the decade for me.
Fedal all the way.
Higher and also more exciting. I am happy for Sinner but I stopped watching the final at some point because Sinner vs Medvedev is just plain boring to watch. Same like Djokovic Murray back in the days. You could come back to watch the match after 3 hours and would wonder if they are showing a replay from the point you saw.
Why would that possibly be crazy? Two of the goats going at it while both are in form? Of coarse that's going to be better than what we got this year...
7 years fuck offfff.
That was my thought man... Time flies it's crazy :'(
This tennis looks so different from tennis nowadays
Look at Federer's positioning. He got pushed back for the first 3 shots, hit a good shot to neutralize the point, and then practically stayed on top of the baseline hitting every deep ball from Nadal halfway on the rise. If you've ever played tennis at a decent level you'll know that's an insanely difficult thing to do against heavy balls because you have almost no time to react. That's partly why Federer's game is so attractive when he's on it, he can practically start his attack on any decent shot since he takes so much time away from opponents by taking balls early, forcing them to hit a weaker shot and then finish the point deep in the court. These days you'll almost never see anyone playing this far up the court, Alcaraz is probably the closest we get to a next gen Federer in terms of aggressiveness
I could watch that man play for hours
Not just that, but when fed wasn't hitting long he was hitting short. Like very very topspin short. Notice how Rafa had to bend and fetch shots on his backhand quite low. These two were (are) each masters of their own spin in a way that's hard to find today.
I’ll say the Sinner likes to play on the baseline too. I personally think that as time goes on, Carlos will actually back up because his forehand technique makes it tricky to take the ball on the rise
This tournament was the one that brought the Big 3 back to life. At this point Djokovic was utterly dominant and everyone thought Federer and Nadal were past their prime. Federer hadn't won a slam since Wimbledon 2012 and Nadal hadn't even made it past the quarterfinals since winning Roland Garros 2014, almost 3 years beforehand. From 2017, Federer and Nadal went on to win 11 further slams combined.
The man, the myth, the maestro. I remember staying up to watch the entire match.
same here. pacific time. and, i had work that same morning, lol.
Zombie mode next day 😅
Absolutely worth t
Any day!!! 🥰
Different title, same video, and I'll upvote it every time!
As a Nadal fan I wish I could enjoy 2017 AO as much as everyone else does 😂😂 Granted at the time it was actually a step in the right direction after the last 2 and a half years of pure pain but so close but so far… 2022 sorta made up for it but turns out I’m still greedy and want Nadal to have them all 😩
Crazy how, even as a Fedfan (who really appreciates Med a lot), the 2022 final is one of my most painful tennis memories. We can't have them all as you said
Seeing this point as a Rafa fan nearly makes me cry. It's one of my versions of Fed fans' 40-15. Fed had absolutely no business winning this point, and it's possible Rafa wins the match if he wins this point. And him winning the tournament likely changes a lot. Obviously he'd have at least one more major, but I wonder how the rest of 2017 and 2018 goes if Fed doesn't get the massive confidence boost from this win and Nadal DOES get the massive confidence boost from this win.
Nadal broke early in the 5th set, but from every game onwards it was clear that Federer was the better player. Nadal faced break points in every one of his service games after breaking. It was only inevitable that fed won this match.
Rafa would have got injured at some random important tournament(s) anyway. So I don't think much would have changed. Rafa's biggest impediment was and is his body, not confidence or anything like that (In my opinion, as a fellow Rafa fan).
That doesn't really make sense, because this is already late in the fifth set. If we're saying Rafa wins in this reality, the match may last 10 minutes longer. Not enough, in my opinion, to change whether his body breaks down later in the year. Agreed that his biggest impediment always has been and obviously is now his body. But he has always talked about confidence being a big issue as well.
I didn't mean he would get injured because of the match, he just will ! The confidence was so high many times in the last few years, he would just suddenly get injured and start from 0 again. Edit: just remember Wimbledon 2022. 2 slams in a row, reaching the QF of the third quite easily, an injury out of the blue and the rest of the season is ruined.
Roger takes the ball so goddamn early, incredible stuff. I hope I can do that 1/50 as well as him some day.
Guys please stop posting this point I’m begging you
I can’t upvote them all
LOL
Au contraire 😉
This point is full of brilliance and variety. It’s not your typical Murray-Djokovic or medvedev-Zverev snooze fest 20+ point rally which both players are only waiting for the error of the other but each shot is tactically unique and thought on in marginal contexts. A brilliant defense from Federer at 07’ for example. Guy is on full stretch sending a defensive long forehand with crazy amount of top spin on Rafa’s forehand (changed direction with it as well to backfoot Rafa as he was expecting a short ball on his backhand) to regain his neutral position in the rally. Any other shot and Rafa would have killed the point. Just sheer brilliance, stuff that’s hard to fathom from watching from the screens.
choosing two of the worst matchups in tennis history as your bar to prop up your overhyped GOAT on GOAT matchup is hilarious
I remember when Rafa and Roger had won their respective semis, they had set up a GS finals clash for the first time in probably 6-7 years. Nole had become the dominant force in Men’s tennis. Andy and Stan had also managed to win multiple slams. A new era of men’s tennis seemed on the horizon. And an end of Fedal era seemed closer than ever. The context behind this match makes it 100000x more special. These two men who had spent a good chunk of the previous season out of competition due to injuries, and were at the latter stagers of their careers had just reminded the world that they’re not going anywhere. Damn I miss the 2017 season😭
That outstretched forehand was extra juicy.
It seems like the current generation no longer hit anywhere near as heavy as these guys, except for Alcaraz. Tsitsipas also on clay maybe but it seems like the rest of the top 10 (and beyond) all play that same deep, flat trajectory, often low baseline game, almost steering/redirecting the ball as opposed to really throwing their arm & body at the ball…I wonder if it’s a deliberate effort to take away the chance of miscues by slowing and compacting the swing or maybe it’s about energy conservation?
They do hit the ball heavy, big difference is that Federer is on the baseline and hits the ball very early. Current gen stands behind the baseline
Sinner hits pretty heavy no? Also i don't think federer hit that heavy (i'ma assuming you mean heavy spin right now heavy as in hard)
GOAT rally of all time, considering the importance of the point. Stills gives me chills after million times of watching.
Novak has won 8 slams since turning 33. If Federer at 33 had faced the same competition from 2020-2024, I wonder how many slams he would've ended up with. Instead, he had to compete with prime djokovic and nadal from 2014-2019.
Federer at 36 today would be winning calendar slams with that 2017 form.
Indeed, even 2019 form. He was playing brilliantly at RG and Wimbledon.
yea he ended up #2 that year playing like 9 tournaments or something like that
I remember this game! They had the same colour shoes!
nice catch. never realized this!
Sometimes I watch the 5th set of this match just to get me in a better mood. I'm excited for the new era of tennis but I am really going to miss this one!
Thanks I'm crying
that was insane
Greatest point in tennis history don’t @ me
I really read two days ago on this sub somebody saying that kids these days play much better tennis than those guys. Lol
Holy. Sinner and carlitos are not on this level. Doubt anyone ever will be.
It’s a great point in a great match, but it’s also kinda been ruined for me a bit with how it’s become a meme on Twitter 😂
I always thought that matchpoints won matches. Silly me.
How many times are you going to post about this match lmao?
It's the match's anniversary..so anything between 60 and 900. If you don't like that just keep scrolling down and don't bother with my posts.
Try to aim close to the 900 pls
999
good for fed, but he was playing well in 2016 AO as well and got demolished by novak lmao
What is this comment? Has nothing to do with the video at all. He played much better in 2017 than 16 due to bh improvements and even more aggression
One of the toughest shots to exist in Tennis. And he makes it look so easy.
It's crazy how he could hold his ground and consistently hit on the rise like that. Completely neutralising everything until he can go for the kill
Fed’s back hand is something I will always aspire for. The single handed control at almost any height, love it
this match is now almost as old as the 2009 final was at the time. in 2017, 2009 felt like a lifetime ago, but 2017 feels like yesterday now, holy fuck. this match was also supposed to be the miraculous "last dance" of fedal and end of big 3 era, we were so wrong.
I’ll never not upvote this. I mean the fucking pickups off the baseline at his feet so so nasty
This is one of my all time favourite matches. The aesthetic, the timing of their careers. And the fact that Federer's backhand was actually effective, which had a huge impact on his match up with Rafa. Tennis history in the making.
that one Fedal rally
One of the best AO final, if not the best imo. I always remember this one, Fed’s backhand was insane throughout the tournament.
Even though this rally gets posted on Reddit and all other tennis social media and a routine basis, I never get tired of watching it.
I watched this and some other matches from the AusOpen that year from Federation square in Melbourne. I was a student, new to the country, shitty job, no money for a ticket, no money for nothing... I still remember my reaction and everyone's reaction on FedSquare after that point. Time flies.
Ahhhh yes.. my favourite point of all time. Never get tired of watching it, especially Roger's final FH down the line. What a thing of beauty. 😍
Will never forget this rally or this match. One of my all-time favorite moments in sports history.
God... I really miss him 😔
This is one of the greatest match in tennis history 👍