The best men's matches at the Australian Open 2020
Which matches have stuck with you from the Australian Open 2020? For us it was mainly these ...
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Dec 01, 2020, 07:59 pm
Rafael Nadal - Nick Kyrgios, 6: 3, 3: 6, 7: 6 (6), 7: 6 (4) - round of 16
Has there ever been a bad game between Rafael Nadal and Niyk Kyrgios? Okay: With this pairing, the euphoria is already great in advance. Too crazy the first meeting of the two at Wimbledon 2014 , when Kyrgios, still completely unknown, surprised Nadal. Or that in Acapulco 2019, when Kyrgios started his personal Nadal feud . And the Wimbledon match the same year he tried to shoot Nadal .
The round of 16 in Melbourne was overshadowed by the tragic death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, in whose shirt Kyrgios warmed up. The match? No personal blow - and at a high level. Nadal said afterwards: "If he plays like he does today, with this positive attitude, he gives the sport good things. I like the Nick Kyrgios that we saw during this tournament." And Kyrgios found that he had "made progress as a person".
Dominic Thiem - Alexander Zverev, 3: 6, 6: 4, 7: 6 (3), 7: 6 (4) - semi-finals
A balanced game in which in the end Thiem was the better man in the decisive tiebreaks. "It's surreal. What a great start to the season," he said happily after the exciting, but not consistently high-class game. The reward: the third Grand Slam final overall, the first in Australia for the Lichtenwörther. Who pulled away with the victory in a direct comparison to Zverev to 7-2.
Roger Federer - John Millman, 4: 6, 7: 6 (2), 6: 4, 4: 6, 7: 6 (8), 3rd round
Nobody took the game really seriously, despite Millman's victory over Federer at the 2018 US Open. At that time, Millman had won a real heat and humidity battle, at the end of which Federer admitted that he was only happy to be allowed off the pitch.
Federer scattered a lot this time, in the end the match break (up to 10) had to decide. The Australian was already leading 8: 4 before Federer celebrated one of his biggest comebacks - also because Millman got nervous and gave up his two mini breaks with avoidable forehand errors. Federer, meanwhile, played a controlled offensive, got himself the match point to 9: 8 and finished the game with a forehand winner that Millman had put on him. The 100th victory for the maestro at the Australian Open - and one of his closest.
Novak Djokovic - Dominic Thiem, 6: 4, 4: 6, 2: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4 - final
It was a typical Djokovic match! The Djoker seemed helpless and helpless when Dominic Thiem had made the double break in the third set and got the physio. But by the end of the third round, Djokovic had regained his intensity. Perhaps the decisive ball: At 3: 4 in the fourth round, Thiem shot a forehand in Djokovic's run and put the subsequent volley into the net - instead of a safe 30: 0 it was 15:15. Djokovic made the break, served in no time to equalize the set. And left nothing to burn in the fifth sentence.
Thiem had to continue to wait for the first major triumph - this should follow in the late year at the US Open.
Roger Federer - Tennys Sandgren, 6: 3, 2: 6, 2: 6, 7: 6 (8), 6: 3
How many lives does this Roger Federer have? That is probably what some of Federer's second Houdini act at the Australian Open 2020 asked themselves.
Sandgren did not use seven match balls - despite injury (he had to leave the place in the third set), Federer always fought off the first three match balls at 4: 5 in round four, in the tie-break at 3: 6 the next, and another at 6 : 7. And finally used his chance to equalize sentences. "You have to be a bit lucky sometimes. I don't really deserve that today, but I'm still here ... and I'm very happy," said Federer afterwards. But it didn't go any further for him: The thigh injury didn't allow much in the semifinals against Djokovic, Federer left the place after three rounds against the eventual winner despite chances to take an early 5-1 lead in set 1. In retrospect, it was his last match in 2020.