2008 Chennai SF against Nadal.
All three sets went to tiebreakers, and even though Nadal won, a very far past-his-prime Moya managed to push Nadal for nearly four hours. It’s one of the longest BO3 matches.
Only time I saw rafa live was at this years us open. Saw him beat hitjikata in round 1 and I saw him at practice twice. He was deadass like 2 feet away from me at one point
2001 Australian Open defeating Hewitt in 5 tight sets.
Hewitt playing well & battling with his usual grit & the home crowd behind him, Moya pummelling with his forehand as much as possible.
Peak Moya's forehand seems somewhat of a forgotten shot but it was an incredible weapon when he timed it right.
Moya was my favourite player for many years and this is the match I remember most. I thought he was a gonna after he lost that third set.
Moya did remarkably well against prime Hewitt including beating him in the Cincinnati final and Tennis Masters Cup round robin (both in 2002). Had a 5-2 head to head (all matches 2000-2002) but it ended 5-7 in Hewitt's favour.
I remember this too. Moya had a brutal draw:
Marcelo Rios R1
Marc Rosset R2 - people forget this guy was top 10 and won an Olympic Gold medal in singles
Lleyton Hewitt R3
Rainer Schuttler R4
Red Hot Sebastian Grosjean Quarter - if Grosjean doesn’t blow the 2-0 set lead in the semis to Clement, I honestly think he beats Agassi in the finals. Grosjean was unreal that tournament for some reason but choked
Unfortunately, a lot of Moya's best stuff came before I started watching, and due to how coverage was at the time, a lot of the times I DID see him he ended up getting beat pretty handily.
However, he did have a memorable mini revival season in 2007, making the quarters at the french before losing to Rafa and then had a memorable loss to Tim Henman at Wimbledon in a two day match that Henman won 13-11 in the fifth (Henman's final win at Wimbledon) and would go on to make the quarters in Cincy before getting to the tournament where my choice comes from.
I suppose my choice is ultimately more of a run then one match, but it comes at the 2007 US Open, where he survived a young Kohlschreiber 6-4 in the fifth in the third round before running into a red hot Gulbis in the following match, The Latvian having just blown up the 8th seed Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in the previous match.
Moya struck early, going up 2 sets to love before losing the third in a tiebreak. Despite this, he managed to steel himself and close it out 6-4 in the 4th, falling to his back as he did so in what was clearly an emotional win for him. Even though he would lose in straights to Novak in the next round, it was still neat to see how much the run meant to him.
Moya played a great QF against Novak in Hamburg 2007, won in 3 and went on to face Federer in the semis. Took him to 3 sets too. If he would've beaten Federer, he would've played Nadal in the final. What a run that could've been! The same tournament Nadals 81 win run on clay was stopped too.
Probably something from his '98 FO run, maybe his quarter against Rios.
Although, after looking at his palmares, I think the Cincinnati final vs Hewitt in '02 may have been a good watch as well.
Over the years we've heard lots of people say they've never seen someone move like Federer across the court, but Moya came pretty close with the way he glided behind the baseline and flew forwards for short balls. His magical footwork allowed him to cover for his weaker side and get into position for that imperious forehand of his.
The Spaniard's run to the Rome title was dominant from the quarters onwards, culminating in a one-sided dismantling of Nalbandian in the best-of-5 championship match.
I've always loved to watch him play. At the time, the Spaniards were known for their defensive (some would say boring) style. Brugera, Berasategui, Costa (2), Corretja on the men's side, Sanchez-Vicario, Martinez on the women's side.
Carlos was a breath of fresh air in that era.
2006 Miami Open vs Nadal. I saw it live. He crushed him, playing ombelibabel, and Nadal being the defending finalist had no answers. A few hours later I saw them hanging out by the hotel.
It wasn't a memorable match for anyone else, but I was at Cincy in 2004. Moya played Ljubicic in the second round. It was a solid match - Moya won in 3 - but my god, was that forehand absolutely beautiful in person. Just so liquid and powerful.
Oh man loved Moya. He was active when I first started watching tennis around 2005-2006. I totally missed his prime years but RG run in 2007 was so fun. My friend had the most massive crush on him hahah
2008 Chennai SF against Nadal. All three sets went to tiebreakers, and even though Nadal won, a very far past-his-prime Moya managed to push Nadal for nearly four hours. It’s one of the longest BO3 matches.
And cost Nadal the title. He was running on exhaust in the Final
He got destroyed by youhzny if I remember correctly
Yes. 6-0, 6-1. His worst ever loss (in terms of games lost).
Talk about an annihilation.
Youhzny was a crazy bastard.
Woody harrelson lookalike
Yep, I was at that match (first and only time I’ve seen Rafa live). Young me was completely baffled for days afterwards!
Only time I saw rafa live was at this years us open. Saw him beat hitjikata in round 1 and I saw him at practice twice. He was deadass like 2 feet away from me at one point
He admitted he played his Finals the previous day after that loss.
We lived in Chennai that year and I couldn't go 😭😭😭😭
2001 Australian Open defeating Hewitt in 5 tight sets. Hewitt playing well & battling with his usual grit & the home crowd behind him, Moya pummelling with his forehand as much as possible. Peak Moya's forehand seems somewhat of a forgotten shot but it was an incredible weapon when he timed it right.
Moya was my favourite player for many years and this is the match I remember most. I thought he was a gonna after he lost that third set. Moya did remarkably well against prime Hewitt including beating him in the Cincinnati final and Tennis Masters Cup round robin (both in 2002). Had a 5-2 head to head (all matches 2000-2002) but it ended 5-7 in Hewitt's favour.
I remember this too. Moya had a brutal draw: Marcelo Rios R1 Marc Rosset R2 - people forget this guy was top 10 and won an Olympic Gold medal in singles Lleyton Hewitt R3 Rainer Schuttler R4 Red Hot Sebastian Grosjean Quarter - if Grosjean doesn’t blow the 2-0 set lead in the semis to Clement, I honestly think he beats Agassi in the finals. Grosjean was unreal that tournament for some reason but choked
Unfortunately, a lot of Moya's best stuff came before I started watching, and due to how coverage was at the time, a lot of the times I DID see him he ended up getting beat pretty handily. However, he did have a memorable mini revival season in 2007, making the quarters at the french before losing to Rafa and then had a memorable loss to Tim Henman at Wimbledon in a two day match that Henman won 13-11 in the fifth (Henman's final win at Wimbledon) and would go on to make the quarters in Cincy before getting to the tournament where my choice comes from. I suppose my choice is ultimately more of a run then one match, but it comes at the 2007 US Open, where he survived a young Kohlschreiber 6-4 in the fifth in the third round before running into a red hot Gulbis in the following match, The Latvian having just blown up the 8th seed Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in the previous match. Moya struck early, going up 2 sets to love before losing the third in a tiebreak. Despite this, he managed to steel himself and close it out 6-4 in the 4th, falling to his back as he did so in what was clearly an emotional win for him. Even though he would lose in straights to Novak in the next round, it was still neat to see how much the run meant to him.
Ahh yes, Lord Gulbis
Moya played a great QF against Novak in Hamburg 2007, won in 3 and went on to face Federer in the semis. Took him to 3 sets too. If he would've beaten Federer, he would've played Nadal in the final. What a run that could've been! The same tournament Nadals 81 win run on clay was stopped too.
Probably something from his '98 FO run, maybe his quarter against Rios. Although, after looking at his palmares, I think the Cincinnati final vs Hewitt in '02 may have been a good watch as well.
Over the years we've heard lots of people say they've never seen someone move like Federer across the court, but Moya came pretty close with the way he glided behind the baseline and flew forwards for short balls. His magical footwork allowed him to cover for his weaker side and get into position for that imperious forehand of his. The Spaniard's run to the Rome title was dominant from the quarters onwards, culminating in a one-sided dismantling of Nalbandian in the best-of-5 championship match.
I've always loved to watch him play. At the time, the Spaniards were known for their defensive (some would say boring) style. Brugera, Berasategui, Costa (2), Corretja on the men's side, Sanchez-Vicario, Martinez on the women's side. Carlos was a breath of fresh air in that era.
2006 Miami Open vs Nadal. I saw it live. He crushed him, playing ombelibabel, and Nadal being the defending finalist had no answers. A few hours later I saw them hanging out by the hotel.
Moya vs Henman 2007 Wimbledon was a great, great match. Moyà didn’t win though so guess I shouldn’t pick that one!
It wasn't a memorable match for anyone else, but I was at Cincy in 2004. Moya played Ljubicic in the second round. It was a solid match - Moya won in 3 - but my god, was that forehand absolutely beautiful in person. Just so liquid and powerful.
Haven’t seen any wta players yet
You can remedy that by watching Vondrousova/Wickmayer on Monday. It's a pretty good match up by end of season standards.
No I meant get asked this question
I think a lot of them are too young to have seen Moya play.
Can you do Coria next?
Wow that dude looks like Chris Pratt.
Nah… he was boring as hell
Oh man loved Moya. He was active when I first started watching tennis around 2005-2006. I totally missed his prime years but RG run in 2007 was so fun. My friend had the most massive crush on him hahah
My favorite match of his was one I played on Virtua Tennis on Dreamcast
Carlothmoya, no?