Statystyki robią wrażenie. Spójrzcie ile rekordów zostało ustanowionych albo wyrównanych relatywnie niedawno, na naszych oczach, czyli niby wtedy, kiedy tenis przeżywał kryzys, rzekomo wywołany dominacją duetu "Fedal".

Take a look back at the best five players and best doubles team of the past decade. Performances between the years of 2000 to 2009 only have been considered.

1. Roger Federer

Roger Federer, possibly the greatest player ever to grace the game, has dominated men’s tennis since the turn of the millennium, winning a record-breaking 15 Grand Slam titles. In July 2003, at the age of 21, the Swiss delivered on his early promise by capturing his first major crown at Wimbledon. What followed in the next six years has been truly remarkable.

The Basel native went on to win a further five Wimbledon titles, including five successive victories between 2003-07. Since 2004, his dominance at The All England Club has only been interrupted by arch rival Rafael Nadal in an epic final in 2008 that was hailed as one of the greatest matches ever. Federer also exerted his dominance at the US Open, where he won the title five times in a row between 2004-08, with his run finally ending against Juan Martin del Potro in a five-set thriller in the 2009 final. He won three Australian Opens in 2004, ’06 and ’07 and completed the set at Roland Garros this year, defeating Robin Soderling to become the sixth man in history to win the career Grand Slam.

Federer has been a near constant at the top of the South African Airways ATP Rankings. He first clinched the top spot on 2 February, 2004 and would stay there for a record 237 consecutive weeks before being dethroned by Nadal on 18 August, 2008. The right-hander reclaimed top spot on 6 July, 2009 and at the end of the season was crowned ATP World Tour Champion for the fifth time in six years – becoming only the second player (Ivan Lendl in 1989) to reclaim the year-end South African Airways ATP Ranking after losing it for a year.

2. Rafael Nadal

NadalIn recent years, Rafael Nadal has emerged as the strongest challenger to Federer’s dominance and has established one of the most gripping rivalries in the history of men’s tennis with the Swiss. The Spaniard, who proudly displays the silhouette of a bull’s horns on his tennis shoes, has been the undoubted King of Clay in the past five years. Of the Spaniard’s 36 tour-level titles, 25 have come on his surface of choice.

The Mallorcan’s clay-court dominance has been at its zenith at Roland Garros, where he first made his debut in 2005. He won his first 31 matches at the clay-court major, capturing four successive titles, before his run came to and end at the hands of Robin Soderling in the fourth round this year. But it is not only on clay that the left-hander has excelled. He became the first Spaniard since Manuel Santana 1966 to win Wimbledon when he dethroned five-time champion Federer in 2008 and won his first hard-court major at the ‘09 Australian Open, once again defeating Federer.

The Manacor native, who has the following of a rock star, became the first Spaniard in the history of the South African Airways ATP Rankings (since 1973) to finish as ATP World Tour Champion in 2008 and has featured in three of his nation’s four Davis Cup triumphs.

3. Lleyton Hewitt

HewittThe feisty Australian burst onto the scene in the late '90s, becoming the youngest winner on the ATP World Tour when he won his home-town title in Adelaide at the age of 16 years, 10 months in January 1998, and was the man to beat as the new millennium rolled in.

With his famous cry of “Come On!” punctuating his every success and donning a back-to-front baseball cap, Hewitt won his first Grand Slam title at the 2001 US Open, signalling a changing of the guard as he dismissed Pete Sampras in the final. That same year, he became the youngest player (20 years, eight months) and the first Australian to be crowned ATP World Tour Champion in the history of the South African Airways ATP Rankings. The following year he held aloft the Wimbledon trophy after defeating David Nalbandian and once again went on to finish at ATP World Tour Champion. (Federer is the only other player to finish ATP World Tour Champion multiple times this decade.)

The right-hander, also a runner-up at the 2004 US Open and ’05 Australian Open, has been a Davis Cup stalwart and is Australia’s most successful singles player. He was part of Australia's 2003 Davis Cup title-winning team.

4. Andre Agassi

AgassiAndre Agassi retired in 2006 but his impact early in the decade guaranteed him a place in our Top 5 list. Agassi won three Australian Opens in 2000, ’01 and ’03 and in May 2003, at 33, he became the oldest player in the history of the South African Airways ATP Rankings (since 1973) to hold the No. 1 ranking. Agassi also won seven of his record 17 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles during the decade, including the Cincinnati crown at 34. Agassi, who at 35 pushed Roger Federer to four sets in the 2005 US Open final, also finished in the year-end Top 10 for six consecutive years between 2000-2005.

Agassi’s legacy extended far beyond the tennis court, however. From the beginning of his career as a brash showman, Agassi had always been one of the game’s highest-profile players, but in the 2000s he consolidated his growing reputation as a statesman. Who could cheer against a 33-year-old legend who could still beat the best that the new generation had to offer? He also became arguably the biggest sporting philanthropist on the planet, raising tens of millions of dollars for the foundation that provides funding for his charter school, the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, which provides free schooling for underprivileged children in Las Vegas.

5. Andy Roddick

RoddickAndy Roddick has faced the full weight of America’s expectation throughout his career, as he looks to emulate the success of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, and the charismatic Texan has unblinkingly embraced the task. Consistently strong results at the highest level have seen the 27 year old finish in the Top 10 of the South African Airways ATP Rankings for the past eight years; Roger Federer is the only other player to have accomplished that feat. Roddick has won 27 tour-level titles, including winning at least one ATP World Tour title each year for nine years in a row.

The standout season for Roddick was 2003, when he won his first Grand Slam title – fittingly on home soil – at the US Open, defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final. Later that year, he became the youngest American (21 years, three months) to claim the crown of ATP World Tour Champion in the history of the South African Airways ATP Rankings (since 1973).

The following year, Roddick suffered the first of three heartbreaks in the Wimbledon final, all at the hands of Roger Federer, but led the United States to its first Davis Cup final (l. to Spain) since 1997. He realised his life-long dream of winning the Davis Cup three years later as the United States defeated Russia.

Doubles Team of the Decade: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan

BryansDynamic American doubles duo Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have, without doubt, been the best doubles team of the decade. Since winning their first ATP World Tour title at Memphis in 2001, the twins have gone on to amass 56 tour-level titles between them, the fourth-best tally in the Open Era. They are just five wins behind all-time leaders Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde and, at 31, look likely to top the Woodies' mark, perhaps as early as 2010.

The charismatic Californians, whose trademark celebration is a chest bump, have won seven Grand Slam doubles crowns, beginning with Roland Garros in 2003 – the same year that they became the first brothers to finish ATP World Tour Doubles Champions, a crown they have earned five times in the past seven years. In 2005, they became the second team in 50 years to reach the final of all four Grand Slam championships in the same year and completed the career Grand Slam a year later with their first victory at Wimbledon. Also key players in the United States' Davis Cup team, they clinched the Cup for their nation in 2007 with victory in the doubles rubber over Russia.

Not content with dominating the doubles scene in the decade, the Bryans have also wielded their musical talents by forming the Bryan Bros. Band and released their first album, “Let It Rip” – featuring the vocals of Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic -in 2009.

Honorable Mentions

Pete Sampras: Sampras’ outstanding career was winding down as the decade began. His record six consecutive year-end No. 1 finishes and 12 of his 14 Grand Slam titles came in the 1990s. But the American did win his seventh Wimbledon title in 2000 and, after finals defeats in 2000 and ‘01, Samprashe won his fifth US Open title in 2002. Sampras won just three of his 64 career titles in the decade.

Marat Safin: Safin won 14 of his 15 career titles in the decade, including his stunning US Open title win (d. Sampras) in 2000 and the 2005 Australian Open (d. Hewitt). After his seven-title haul in 2000, Safin looked as though he could become the dominant player of the decade. But he would win just seven more titles in the next nine years, and none in the near four-year period after his Australian Open triumph and his retirement late this year.

Gustavo Kuerten: Guga had a huge impact at the start of the decade, winning his second and third Roland Garros titles in 2000-2001. In 2000 he became the first South American to be crowned ATP World Tour Champion when he beat Agassi and Sampras in the semi-finals and final of the-then Tennis Masters Cup (now Barclays ATP World Tour Finals) in Lisbon. He won 11 titles in 2000 and ’01, but just four titles after that as a hip injury robbed him of many more good years.

Nikolay Davydenko: One of the hardest workers and most consistent players on the ATP World Tour, Davydenko has reaped the rewards by winning 19 ATP World Tour titles since 2003 and recording five year-end Top 6 finishes in the South African Airways ATP Rankings. The Russian has an impressive 19-5 record in ATP World Tour Finals and, showing that he is ever-improving, clinched his biggest title to date at last month’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The only notable absentee from his glittering array of silverware is a Grand Slam title.

David Nalbandian: The Argentine is worthy of an honorable mention on account of finishing in the Top 10 of the South African Airways ATP Rankings for five consecutive years between 2003-07 and reaching the 2002 Wimbledon final (l. to Hewitt). The former World No. 3 has won 10 ATP World Tour titles and on top form has always been able to trouble the world’s best players. In 2005 he rallied from a two-set deficit to defeat Roger Federer and win the-then Tennis Masters Cup and also claimed back-to-back ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in Madrid and Paris in 2007. But, like Safin, many tennis fans believe Nalbandian should have won more titles in the decade given his immense talent.

Juan Carlos Ferrero: Before the arrival of Rafael Nadal, Juan Carlos Ferrero was the man to beat on clay. In a four-year span at the start of the decade, the Spaniard’s clay-court credentials included the 2003 Roland Garros title (d. Verkerk), a runner-up finish (l. to Costa) at the clay-court major in ‘02 and two semi-final efforts in ’01 and ‘00 plus three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophies. The right-hander peaked at No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings on 8 September, 2003 and proved his versatility by also reaching the US Open final (l. to Roddick) on hard court that year. However, hampered by injuries, the Spaniard suffered a let down in following years and endured a title drought of more than five years before hitting back in 2009 with victory in Casablanca.

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Teoretycznie słuszne i uzasadnione - jednak moim zdaniem Powinien być w top-5 Guga zamiast Roddicka.

Kwestia jest oczywiście do szerokiego przedyskutowania. Wczoraj sobie układałem top-10 ostatnich 10 lat i umieściłem Roddicka na 8 miejscu, ale to po prostu zależy od tego, co jest dla Nas "ważniejsze", jakie osiągnięcia tenisowe bardziej cenimy czy też jaki mamy stosunek do innych elementów, składających się na postrzeganie danego gracza (np styl gry, osobowość itp).

W moim przypadku działa następująca zależność:
Wygrany Szlem > #1 rankingu > Turniej Mistrzów > Finał WS > Turniej Masters

Każdy to widzi inaczej, podkreślam - to jest MOJA opinia.

Gustavo Kuerten to bez wątpienia jedna z najbardziej wyróżniających się postaci przełomu wieków. Brazylijczyk od 2000 roku wygrał 2 turnieje WS (2x Roland Garros), a sezon 2000 zakończył jako #1, co zostało przypieczętowane wspaniałym sukcesem w Lizbonie, gdzie Guga wygrał Turniej Mistrzów, ogrywając pod drodze Samprasa i Agassiego (odpowiednio 1/2 i finał). Na topie w XXI wieku był krótko (w 2002 roku rozpoczął się cykl operacji prawego biodra), ale wyniki wg mnie imponujące.

Za Roddickiem przemawia fakt, że zanotował aż 4 finały WS, jednak ja mam "olimpijskie" preferencje i dla mnie zawsze 2 złota będą znaczyć więcej niż 1 złoto i 4 srebra, choć oba osiągnięcia są wielką sprawą.

#1 - 13 tygodni Roddicka do 43 Kuertena.

Andy wygrał 4 turnieje Masters, Guga 3 (Hamburg 2000, Monte Carlo 2001 i Cincinatti 2001), różnica więc niewielka.

Obaj gracze mają za sobą swoją historię i swoje dokonania, mnie po prostu bardziej przekonują wyniki Kuertena, jak i w ogóle Jego tenis dużo bardziej do mnie przemawia niż gra Roddicka. Stąd też umieściłbym Brazylijczyka w gronie 5 najlepszych graczy mijającego 10-lecia.

Near Misses Of The Decade

Take a look back at the Top 5 most dramatic near misses of the past decade.

1. Guillermo Coria Misses 2 Match Points in the 2004 Roland Garros Final

  Guillermo Coria came into an all-Argentine final against Gaston Gaudio at 2004 Roland Garros as favourite to win his first Grand Slam title. The 22 year old had won 37 of his past 38 matches on clay and had dropped just one set (against Tim Henman in the semi-finals) en route to the final. With Gaudio crippled by nerves, Coria looked on course for a crushing victory as he raced to a 6-0, 6-3 lead. Gaudio fought back to force a fifth set, but was still forced to save two match points before sealing victory 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6 to become the first Argentine to win Roland Garros since Guillermo Vilas in 1977. It was a heart-wrenching loss for Coria and his first defeat in 19 matches against Argentine opponents.

2. Andy Roddick Loses to Roger Federer in the 2009 Wimbledon Final

  Andy Roddick came the closest yet to capturing the coveted Wimbledon crown in 2009 when he pushed Roger Federer to 16-14 in the longest fifth set in a final in Grand Slam history. The American had been thwarted by Federer in the 2004-05 Wimbledon finals, but looked set to lay his demons to rest with a devastating serving display for which Federer had no answer until the final game of the four-hour, 16-minute match.

Attempting to overturn his 2-18 record against Federer, Roddick was on the verge of taking a two-set lead against the Swiss when he muffed a backhand volley at 6-2 in the tie-break. Federer won the last six points of the tie-break to level the match. Undeterred, Roddick maintained his impenetrable serving to keep Federer at bay and was within touching point of victory as he held two break points at 8-8 in the final set. But that was to be his last chance for victory as Federer held on and finally made his break through in the 30th game of the fifth set, after 37 straight service holds from Roddick, to break the American’s heart and claim his record-breaking 15th Grand Slam crown. The final score: 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14.

3. Mathieu, France 2 Points From 2002 Davis Cup Title

Playing in his first Davis Cup tie, Paul-Henri Mathieu was on the brink of becoming a national hero in France when he led Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny in the decisive fifth rubber of the 2002 Davis Cup final. Playing in front of a raucous partisan crowd at the Palais Omnisports Paris Bercy, Mathieu had powered to a commanding two-set lead and looked set to bring home France’s 10th Davis Cup title.

Youzhny refused to yield, though, and exposed Mathieu’s vulnerabilities with changes of pace to claw his way back into the match. Mathieu led by a service break in the fourth set, and was two points from victory when leading 5-4 with deuce on Youzhny’s serve, but his fellow 20 year old – a late replacement for Yevgeny Kafelnikov - held his nerve and hit back to clinch a dramatic victory in four hours and 27 minutes. Youzhny, who was playing just his second live rubber, became the first player in the 102-year history of the competition to rally from a two-set deficit in a fifth and decisive match in a Davis Cup final. Final score: 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

4. Michael Russell’s 4th Rd. loss to Gustavo Kuerten at Roland Garros, 2001

Tennis, like life, is full of ‘what ifs?’. And one can only wonder if Michael Russell’s career would have taken a different trajectory had Gustavo Kuerten’s forehand landed long – instead of catching the baseline – when the young American held match point in the fourth round of Roland Garros in 2001.

Having become the first player in history to qualify at four consecutive Grand Slam events, then-23-year-old Russell took out former champion Sergi Bruguera in the second round and looked like dismissing defending champion Kuerten in straight sets when he held a match point at 5-3 in the third set. But Kuerten’s shot caught the baseline and the Brazilian went on to take the set in a tie-break and finish strongly to close out a 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3, 6-1 win.

Kuerten, who was the reigning ATP World Tour Champion, would go on to win his third Roland Garros crown and cement his place in tennis history. Russell jumped to No. 88 after Roland Garros but soon fell out of the Top 100 and it was not until February 2007 that he topped his career-high ranking, eventually rising as high as No. 60.


5. Pat Rafter’s Consecutive Wimbledon Finals Defeats, 2000 & 2001

Pat Rafter arguably boasted the best net game of his generation, yet he never won Wimbledon even when it was still the domain of serve/volleyers. But the Australian came awfully close two times at the start of the decade. In the 2000 final, after holding out Andre Agassi in five pulsating sets in the semi-finals, he led Pete Sampras by a set and 4-1 on Rafter’s serve in the second-set tie-break. But Sampras stormed back to win 6-7(10), 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2 in near darkness at 8.57 p.m. and claim his seventh and final Wimbledon crown - and a then-record 13th Grand Slam title.

The following year Rafter also took out Agassi in another five-set semi-final thriller for a place in the final against Goran Ivanisevic. Unlike Sampras’ unbeaten record in Wimbledon finals, Ivanisevic was 0-3 in Wimbledon deciders and needed a wildcard to play in the 2001 tournament. In a rain-delayed final played on Monday, Rafter led two sets to one and in the fifth set was within two points of victory when the Croatian served at 6-7, 15-30 before Ivanisevic rallied to win 9-7 in the fifth set, which at the time was the longest fifth set in Wimbledon finals history. The match was Rafter’s last at The All England Club.

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Dla mnie niesamowicie sztuczna klasyfikacja jednak, bo jak już kogoś ocenia, to branie pod uwagę tylko pewnego wycinka kariery jest bez sensu. Jakby tu Agassiemu doliczyć sezon tylko 99, czyli RG, USO, finał Wimbla i nr 1 na koniec roku, byłby jak dla mnie numerem 2 nawet. No, ale skoro już się uparli...
Ja subiektywnie bym dał Safina jako numer 4 (a nawet może 3, skoro łysemu liczymy wyłącznie od 2000 r.); ma 2 wygrane WS i 2 finały, a najlepszej fomie prezentował tenis jakościowo lepszy niż Hewitt i Roddcik. Gugi nie będę popierać ze względy na uczulenie na kartofle.

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TOP 10 RECORDS & ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE DECADE

What are the 10 greatest records and achievements during the past decade? Check out our picks and see why Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal dominate the list.

1. Roger Federer’s dominance at Grand Slam level was the most significant achievement of the first decade of the new century. During the decade Federer became the only player in history to win five straight titles at two Grand Slam tournaments, dominating Wimbledon from 2003-07 and the US Open between 2004-08. The Swiss also became the only man to reach all four Slam finals in the same year three times. When Federer won the 2009 Roland Garros title he became just the sixth man in history to complete a career Grand Slam. Federer has reached 22 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals, more than double the length of the next-best Open Era streak (Ivan Lendl’s 10 straight semi-finals).

2. Roger Federer was crowned ATP World Tour Champion five times during the decade, tying Jimmy Connors’ five finishes as year-end No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings and edging to within one of Pete Sampras’ six (consecutive) No. 1 finishes. Federer set a record for most consecutive weeks at No. 1 (237) and will end 2009 on 263 (non consecutive) weeks in the top spot, within 23 weeks of Sampras’ all-time record of 286 weeks.

3. Rafael Nadal’s four consecutive Roland Garros titles is a stunning feat. The Spaniard won on debut in 2005 and won 31 consecutive matches before big-hitting Swede Robin Soderling upset him in a fourth-set tie-break in the fourth round this year.

4. Roger Federer’s 24 consecutive victories in finals he played between late 2003 and late 2005 is a record that is likely to stand the test of time. Federer’s streak was finally broken by David Nalbandian in the final of Tennis Masters Cup in 2005, when Nalbandian rallied from two sets down to beat Federer in a fifth-set tie-break.

5. Rafael Nadal became the first man since Bjorn Borg 28 years before him to claim the elusive Roland Garros-Wimbledon double in 2008. (Federer repeated the feat in 2009). In a banner year Nadal also won Olympic gold that season.

6. Andre Agassi, at 33, became the oldest player to hold the No. 1 South African Airways ATP Ranking in 2003. Agassi’s feats of longevity were an inspiration during the decade. In the decade he won 16 titles, including three Australian Opens (at age 29, 30 and 32) and a 17th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati as a 34 year old.

7. Roger Federer’s 173-9 match record in 2005-06 makes our Top 10 list. Federer produced unrivaled back-to-back seasons of brilliance in the middle of the decade. He went 81-4 in 2005 and 92-5 in ’06, winning 23 titles during that span, including five Grand slam titles and eight ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns.

8. Rafael Nadal’s imposing clay-court streak during the decade was breathtaking. Nadal, who owns a 181-16 career win-loss record on clay, won more than 11 matches for each one he lost on the surface. He amassed an 81-match winning streak between 2005-07. His record in best-of-five-set matches on clay is 49-1 and he has won 24 of 26 finals on the surface.

9. Lleyton Hewitt is the only man other than Federer to be crowned ATP World Tour Champion two straight years during the decade: in 2001 when he won the US Open and Tennis Masters Cup (now Barclays ATP World Tour Finals) and in 2002 when he Wimbledon and Tennis Masters Cup. Hewitt held the No.1 South African Airways ATP Ranking for 75 consecutive weeks – including for the entire 2002 season – and 80 weeks in total. Hewitt remains the youngest player (at 20 years, 8 months) to be crowned ATP World Tour Champion.

10. Rafael Nadal‘s record at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments is astonishing. Before turning 23 in June, Nadal had won 15 of the ATP World Tour’s premier tournaments between 2005-09. He trails Federer by just one and all-time leader Agassi by two titles. (Agassi won his record 17th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title as a 34 year old.)


Honorable Mentions

Gustavo Kuerten became the first Brazilian to be crowned ATP World Tour Champion at a dramatic Tennis Masters Cup in Lisbon in 2000. Kuerten did what no other player had previously done – beaten Agassi and Sampras back-to-back in the semi-finals and final – to win the title and lock up the year-end No. 1 South African Airways ATP Ranking.

Nicolas Massu winning singles and doubles gold at the 2004 Olympics.

Roger Federer’s 65-match grass-court winning streak beginning in Halle in 2003 and ending with his 2008 Wimbledon final loss to Nadal may never be equaled, given the short grass-court season.

Rafael Nadal reaching 400 match wins faster than any other active player is worthy of note. Nadal reached his 400th win from 491 matches, topping Federer and Hewitt, who both needed 520 matches to register their 400th wins.

Rivalries Of The Decade

1. Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal

Given Roger Federer's domination of the decade, it's almost frightening to contemplate what other records he would have set had it not been for the emergence of Rafael Nadal, with whom the Swiss shares one of tennis’ greatest-ever rivalries. Since winning their first meeting at the Sony Ericsson Open in 2004, Nadal has established a 13-7 head-to-head lead over Federer, with 16 of those 20 meetings coming in ATP World Tour and Grand Slam championship finals.

Different in so many ways, they nonetheless share an unparalleled will to win that has made for some riveting clashes – none more so than what many fans rate as the greatest match ever, the 2008 Wimbledon final. Nadal has held Federer’s number in three Roland Garros finals, and it looked as though the Swiss would always get his revenge on grass, having denied Nadal in the 2006-07 Wimbledon finals. That was until a rain-interrupted clash that finished in near-darkness at 9:15 p.m., when Nadal prevailed 9-7 in the fifth set of a four-hour, 48-minute match to dethrone the five-time defending champion.

They have played just twice since that epic encounter, with Nadal once more besting Federer over five sets in the 2009 Australian Open final and the Swiss defeating Nadal on clay for just the second time in the final of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open a few months later.

2. Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi

Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi contested just six of their 34 career meetings in the decade, but they had three very memorable clashes at Grand Slam level. (Interestingly, Agassi and Sampras met a total of just seven times in Grand Slam play during their rivalry from 1989-2002.)

In the 2000 Australian Open semi-finals, Agassi came from two-sets-to-one down to beat Sampras 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(0), 7-6(5), 6-1 en route to the title. Sampras, who hit 37 aces, routed Agassi 7-0 in the third-set tie-break and was within two points of victory when serving at 5-4 in the fourth-set tie-break. In the same year Agassi enjoyed a straight-sets win over Sampras in the Indian Wells and Sampras, AgassiLos Angeles finals – notching a three-match winning streak against the six-time ATP World Tour champion for the first and only time in his career. Agassi also narrowed his head-to-head deficit against his arch rival to a 14-17 win-loss record and looked capable of levelling the series.

But Sampras would have the final say, winning their last three encounters. A fourth meeting in 2001 in the US Open quarter-finals was one of the best matches of the decade, if not of all-time. Played under lights in front of a highly-engaged New York crowd, neither player dropped serve in a match that featured tie-breaks in all four sets. Before the start of the fourth-set ‘breaker, the crowd rose as one to cheer the two combatants, who left nothing on the court. Agassi made just 19 unforced errors in the match but couldn’t crack the steely focus of Sampras, who by match’s end had held serve for 87 consecutive games in the tournament.

Fittingly, it was Agassi on the other side of the net in the final match of Sampras’ career: the 2002 US Open final. Having endured a two-year, 33-tournament title drought (stretching back to Wimbledon 2000), 31-year-old Sampras battled his countryman for the trophy both wanted so badly. A beaten finalist the previous two years, Sampras knew that this was likely his last chance to extend his then-record haul of Grand Slam titles to 14. Sampras served up 33 aces and saved break points in two games in a dramatic fourth set to win 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to extend his perfect US Open record against Agassi to 4-0.

3. Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic

Nadal, Djokovic In just over three-and-a-half years, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have already clashed 21 times, with the Spaniard coming out on top on 14 occasions. Nadal has won all four of their meetings in ATP World Tour Finals and has never lost to the Serb on clay (9-0), including a memorable victory in the semi-finals of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open this year. In the longest best-of-three-set match on the ATP World Tour in Open Era history, Nadal and Djokovic delivered on the potential of their rivalry with a pulsating four-hour, three-minute clash that saw the Spaniard save three match points to edge victory. The devastating defeat for Djokovic did not knock the wind out of his sails, though; as he went on to win his following three meetings with Nadal – all in straight sets on hard courts

4. David Nalbandian vs. Roger Federer

David Nalbandian is one of very few players who can boast a competitive head-to-head record with Nalbandian, FedererRoger Federer, only trailing the Swiss maestro 8-10 since their first meeting at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in 2002 – when he crushed Federer for the loss of just three games. On his day, Nalbandian is more than a match for Federer and has held the Swiss’ number on the biggest of stages.

The Argentine recorded the biggest win of his career as he rallied from a two-set deficit to top Federer in a fifth-set tie-break in the final of the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup (now known as the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals) and, during a hot streak for Nalbandian at the close of 2007, Federer twice more fell victim to his Argentine rival with back-to-back losses at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Paris. Those three victories were anomalous with the pattern the rivalry had been following, though. Since winning their first five clashes, Nalbandian had begun to fall away from Federer and has lost seven of their past 10 meetings.

5. Patrick Rafter vs. Andre Agassi

Rafter, AgassiPat Rafter and Andre Agassi played three of the most memorable Grand Slam semi-finals of the decade. With the Australian’s athletic serve and volley style pitted against the lethal Agassi returns and passing shots, theirs was one of the most entertaining and compelling rivalries the game has seen. Rafter won back-to-back five-set semi-finals over Agassi at Wimbledon in 2000-01. In the latter clash, Agassi served for the match at 5-4 in the fifth only to see Rafter break back and eventually win 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 8-6. The stage, the contrasting styles and extraordinary quality of tennis compelled both men to play some of their best-ever tennis.

At the Australian Open in 2001, Rafter had his sights set on snapping a then-25-year title drought for Australian men at their home Grand Slam. With unheralded Frenchman Arnaud Clement waiting in the final, the Rafter-Agassi clash was widely considered to be the defacto final. After three high-octane sets in which he attacked the net at all costs, Rafter held the edge as Aussie fans whipped themselves into a frenzy. But Rafter was losing so much sweat that he started to suffer from cramps while the super-fit Agassi reaped the benefits of his grueling pre-season with fitness guru Gil Reyes in Las Vegas. Agassi went on to win 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-3.

In other key meetings, Agassi easily ousted Rafter in the 1995 Australian Open fourth round en route to the title. And Rafter beat Agassi in four sets in the 1997 US Open fourth round en route to the first of his back-to-back crowns at Flushing Meadows.

Agassi finished with a 10-5 edge in their 15 meetings between 1993 and 2001.

Fabrice Santoro vs. Marat Safin

Call this a guilty pleasure, but the Fabrice Santoro-Marat Safin rivalry is one of the most perplexing Safinhead-to-head series the game has seen. Santoro’s double-handed slice-and-dice chicanery drove Safin to within an inch of his sanity during his career. Looking at their games, Safin had an overwhelming advantage in shot making firepower, not to mention in physical presence. But Santoro had cunning.

After improving his record against Safin to 5-0 with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 win at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Santoro said: “Someday he's going to crush me… It's just a matter of time”. Safin finally beat Santoro in their next meeting at Roland Garros the following year by the unusual score line of 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 0-6, 6-1. But Santoro held a 7-2 edge at the end of 2009 when both players retired.

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