Wimbledon 2007: 5 Most Memorable Matches

Now that Wimbledon 2007 is history, I want to follow in the footsteps of Mary Carillo and John McEnroe and provide a list of Mad Professah's Most Memorable Moments at Wimbledon 2007 (with apologies to On The Baseline news):


1. R. Federer SUI (1) d. R. Nadal ESP (2), 7-6(7) 4-6 7-6(3) 2-6 6-2, Final.

Regardless of who won this match, history would be made in that something would have been done for the first time since 1980: Either Federer would be the first person since Bjorn Borg to win 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles or Nadal would be the first to win the French Open and Wimbledon double in the same year.


This match is the most memorable of the tournament for me because of the closeness of the match with the stakes so high. In addition, both Federer and Nadal both played well, with Nadal arguably playing better in the first three sets but unfortunately losing two of the three in tiebreakers, mostly thanks to Federer's more effective serve (24 aces and 38 unreturnables).

It was clear to me (and probably most people who watched the match) that Nadal can win this tournament, that he does have the game which can defeat Federer on just about any surface and that he probably will defeat Federer at a Grand Slam other than Roland Garros, sooner rather than later.


2. V. Williams USA (23) d. M. Sharapova RUS (2), 6-1 6-3, 4th Round.

To me this was an even more memorable match than Venus' win over Marion Bartoli in the final for her fourth Wimbledon title a few days later, because just a few days before she had been staring defeat in the face at the hands of Akiko Morigami when the Japanese player served for the match at 5-3 in the third set. By winning the last four games of that match, Venus was able to set up a rematch with the reigning U.S. Open champion and current World #2 who had beaten her in a heartbreakingly close match ni Miami earlier this year. She made ample use of the opportunity, turning her game around and for the first time in the tournament (and possibly the year) she played a match with more winners than errors (22 to 14). Sharapova for the third time this year had absolutely no chance against a Williams sister. This time she only lost 6-3, 6-1. But by showing that she could easily dispatch Sharapova, Venus sent the signal that other high ranked players, #5 Svetlana Kuznetsova and #6 Ana Ivanovic and possibly even #1 Justine Henin would have fared no differently.

3. S. Williams USA (7) d. D. Hantuchova SVK (10), 6-2 6-7(2) 6-2, 4th Round.

The most dramatic moment of the tournament occurred during this unsurprising matchup between the hard-hitting Slovak Daniela Hantuchova and the most powerful female player on the planet after Serena was cruising along at 6-1, 5-5, 15-15 when suddenly she experienced a massive cramp in her left calf muscle which caused her to collapse to the ground.

Despite what Serena-haters have been saying ("She faked the injury!" "She was over-dramatic! She used gamesmanship!") there's no question in my mind Serena was in extreme pain. It took incredible guts to play on despite very limited mobility and force a tiebreaker until the rains came down and granted a 2-hour reprieve which she could use to regroup. In the third set, despite injuring herself again (which no-one saw!) she was still able to overpower a rather good grasscourt opponent.

4. N. Djokovic SRB (4) d. M. Baghdatis CYP (10), 7-6(4) 7-6(9) 6-7(3) 4-6 7-5, Quarterfinal.

To me this was the best men's match of the fortnight. A five-hour classic of high quality tennis from two extremely talented and emotive combatants. The 20-year-old Serbian phenom, the heir apparent to Federer and Nadal who is currently the third best player in the world versus the flashy Cypriot shotmaker who is two years older and has already been two Grand Slam semifinals and a Grand Slam final and is attempting to return to the top of the game after the emotional rollercoaster such early heady success landed him on.n In the end Baghdatis had more winners 74 to 58 but also more errors, 60 to 50, than Djokovic who had 17 breakpoints to Baghdatis' 8 but they both converted just 5 times. At 4-4 in the final set, the total number of points won was tied, but the Serbian ended up winning 7 more, and thus the match.

5. M. Bartoli FRA (18) d. J. Henin BEL (1), 1-6 7-5 6-1, Semifinal.


The upset of the year, and possibly the decade. The completely unheralded French player, who is shunned by the French Tennis Federation and managed and coached by her father in a completely unorthodox manner, knocked out the World's #1 player, after previously beating the World's #3 player two rounds before--both times coming back from a set and break down! Bartoli plays with two hands on both sides and takes the ball early. She's also a tenacious fighter which compensates for her less than stellar fitness, although she is faster around the court than she looks thanks to heightened "ball awareness." Henin had been even-odds or better to win her first grass court championship, especially after the defending champion Mauresmo was dismissed in the 4th round, but Bartoli was a 100-to-1 shot. Absolutely no one thought that after Henin had won the first set easily at 6-1, and come back in the second set to lead 4-3 that she would lose the match but Bartoli won 10 of the last twelve games from that point. An incredible win and a devastating loss for the Belgian.

UPDATE 07/11/2007
Craig has added pictures to the version of this article I posted to his Tennis Blog, which also includes bonus "honorable mentions."