Well the ATP tennis season is finally over for another year as it concluded the other day with the final of the Davis cup between France and Switzerland, which I will quickly mention.
Going into this tie, Switzerland were the heavy favourites, which was no surprise even though on the first day both countries took a point each, with Stan Wawrinka and Gael Monfils victorious in both their matches against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Roger Federer respectively, with Monfils particularly who played an incredible match against Roger Federer to win in straight sets 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. On the second day the Swiss boys, Stan and Rog took a crucial lead in the doubles as they beat the French pairing of Richard Gasquet and Julienne Benneteau in straight sets 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. And in what proved to be the final decisive rubber which was between Roger Federer and Richard Gasquet and despite some nice tennis from Gasquet it was a one horserace with Roger outclassing the Frenchman and winning the title for his country in 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. So its a big well done to Switzerland on winning their maiden Davis cup title, which sees Roger Federer add to an already incredible trophy collection, although he insisted after the win that he had won enough in his career and it wasn't for him and "this one is for the boys". And with this victory no doubt Roger will go confidently into 2015 with the belief that he can win another major and on that basis it would be hard to argue with that and the same also goes for Stan Wawrinka who put in a great performance as well at the tie.
Sooooo now we get onto the main purpose of this post and it will cover the best men's tennis matches of 2014 so I will split it over two posts as I will cover the top 10 matches of the year as there has been some great tennis this year, even if the year end championships ended on an anti-climax. But despite that there is still plenty to choose from over the last 11 months, so let's get to it and have a look as I start the countdown.....
10. BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells Final, Novak Djokovic d. Roger Federer, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
So right at number 10 was the second clash of the season between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, which proved to be something of a slow burner but turned into a thrilling contest as it went on. Roger going into the final had been in scintilating form and he carried on that form in the first set as he played near perfect tennis in breaking Nole's serve and grabbing it. In the 2nd set Novak started his fightback as he managed to get a break of serve and secured the second set to push the match into a decider. And in the final set Nole took the early break as Roger trailed by a break but at 5-4 with Nole serving for the match, Roger played a spectacular game and broke serve and from here a tiebreak decided the match with Roger spraying some loose shots which cost him the title and it saw Novak claim his first title of 2014 in Indian Wells. This was a highly entertaining contest between what is currently the world's two best players and it was testament again to Novak's incredible ability to fight back from any down position to go on and claim his first title of the season after what had been a very atypical slow start to his season having been denied his title defence at the Australian open only two months prior to this. Roger probably must have been kicking himself after losing the final and he would again come close to winning another Masters final in Monte Carlo only to again come up short, but he would later on in the year have his day in Cincinnati and again in Shanghai when he claimed the Masters events there. So overall this was an excellent final and well worth putting in here at No.10.
9. Rio Open semi final, Rafael Nadal d. Pablo Andujar, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (12-10)
In the earlier part of the season this epic contest saw Rafa take one of his fellow Spaniard's, Pablo Andujar in what proved to be a real thriller where Rafa was pushed to the absolute limit of his champion abilities before he eventually emerged victorious. The match saw Andujar start off the stronger of the two as pummelled Rafa's second serves back at him and played a superb set of tennis to break him twice to take the opener. In the 2nd set Rafa started to find his range and bossed Andujar from the baseline as he confidently took the match into a 3rd set. And in the deciding set we got a thrilling contest from both men who battled it out hammers and tongs to try and reach the final and it went into an amazing epic tiebreak which saw momentum swing to and fro before Rafa emerged triumphant in the breaker winning 12-10 to end a superb match. There is no doubt this was a great contest with both men going at it full tilt and there certainly were several moments where it looked like Rafa's fellow countryman had his number, but in the end Rafa showed his champion qualities and dug out a terrific win and he went on to win the title, providing again his status as the greatest clay court player to have played the game and so this match sits comfortably here at No.9.
8. US Open quarter final, Kei Nishikori d. Stanislas Wawrinka, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (7-5), 6-4
The final grand slam of the season certainly had its fair share of surprises and two rather unlikely finalists, one of them being Kei Nishikori, who played his part in this remarkable match which was probably the best match from the US Open this year. On paper Stan probably looked the likely favourite here especially as Nishikori had played a gruelling five setter in the previous round against Milos Raonic, but the Japanese player proved to be more than up to the task to go another round as the two men went toe to toe in this lengthy contest, which featured many great baseline rallies. Stan took the initiative early on as he broke Nishikori to take the opening set but the tables turned in the 2nd when Nishikori broke Stan to level the match after the Swiss double faulted. In the 3rd set play went by serve and we got a tiebreak which was topsy turvey but in the end Kei took the set and two sets to one lead. In the 4th set play again went on serve into a tiebreak but this time Stan took the initiative and got the minibreak to seal the breaker and take the match into a 5th and deciding set, which after an enthralling 4 hours and 15 minutes saw Nishikori seal the deal and his place in the last four of the US Open. With this match Kei Nishikori really showed that he is an emerging force in the game and he also showed real grit and determination to beat Stan in what proved to be his 2nd consecutive five set match after he defeated Raonic. Stan couldn't really have done much more here either as he played his part in what was an exhilirating match and one of the best of the tournament.
7. Wimbledon championships quarter final, Novak Djokovic d. Grigor Dimitrov, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (9-7)
Next at No.8 is this great clash which saw Novak Djokovic, the then World No.2 take on the rising Bulgarian star, Grigor Dimitrov, who had just stunned the defending champion, Andy Murray in the previous round. And right from the get go both men were out to play as Dimi showed Nole what he had although he went down a break in the opener which saw Novak close it out. In the 2nd set however, Dimitrov started to gain some momentum as he took advantage of a sloppy service game from Nole and he went on to level at a set all. And in the 3rd set both men played some wondeful tennis as they kept slipping and sliding all over the place on the court and play went to a tiebreak with Nole comfortably taking it 7-2 to grab the two sets to one lead. In the 4th set again both men went at it full tilt and there was no let up from Dimitrov who again pushed the match into a tiebreak where he gained some set points to take the match into a 5th set but ultimately let them slip as Nole proved too good again in the key moments and he sealed his place in the semi finals with a hard fought and memorable win. This really was a highly entertaining and high quality encounter from both guys and again it shows just how good a player Novak Djokovic really is that he can overcome just about anything as Dimitrov really threw everything he had at him, showing he too could become a future slam winner and there is no doubt this match deserves to be in here.
6. ATP World Tour Finals semi final, Roger Federer d. Stanislas Wawrinka, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6)
In what was a pretty disappointing tournament, the year end championships really didn't live up to expectations overall as too many matches were decided in straight sets, and easy straight sets for that matter, which must have left some of the punters in the crowd a bit disgruntled at the lack of a real contest. However this all Swiss semi final clash more than made up for that as after Roger Federer's straight set obliteration of Andy Murray he far from had it his own way when Stan Wawrinka came out all guns blazing as he broke Roger twice in the opening set, although Rog wrestled back one of the breaks, but Stan held onto the other to take the set. In the 2nd set Federer came under serious fire again from Stan who threatened to break Fed's serve yet again but the maestro held on and at 6-5, Rog fashioned a break of his own to level the match. And in the 3rd set Stan went up a break early on and even was serving for the set when Roger saved three match points and broke back to level 5-5. Play then went into a tense tiebreak where again Stan had a match point but he squandered it and before he knew it the tables were turned and Roger sealed the match on his first match point to land his place in the final after battling for 2 hours and 48 minutes. There is no doubt this was a great encounter between two great rivals and Stan once again showed his good form after suffering a dip during the season he reminded us all again why he won the Australian open. But in the end Stan just wasn't able to quite close the door on his good friend as Rog just would not be denied his place in the final. There was also some controversy during the match in the final set where Stan accused Roger's wife, Mirka, in calling out during his serve and she was audibly heard on the recording of the match saying "crybaby" when Federer was getting ready to serve. This lead to a backstage row between Rog and Stan but in the end it was all put aside and it also lead to Roger's withdrawal from the final as he sustained a back injury during the final set tiebreak. It was a pity that such a great match had a disappointing outcome with the crowd being denied a potentially classic final between Djokovic and Federer but the match itself did make up for the lack of high quality matches that went before so it certainly deserves to be on the list.
Right so that's it for the first part next up is the part two and the countdown from 5 to 1.
See you in a bit!
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