What do we do now that the 2015 season is over and tennis is in its all-too-brief December recess? Go back and watch the best matches of the year, of course. Over the next two weeks, I’ll count down my 10 favorite contests, accompanied by video highlights, of this season.
No. 10: The Day the Circus Came to Town—Kyrgios d. Federer, Madrid
No. 9: New York Knockdown—Azarenka d. Kerber, U.S. Open
No. 8: Cup Runneth Over, and Over, and Over—Mayer d. Souza, Davis Cup
No. 7: Stan Mans Up—Wawrinka d. Djokovic, Roland Garros
No. 6: Simona Finds the Power—Halep d. Azarenka, U.S. Open
No. 5: Sending the Open Into Orbit—Fognini d. Nadal, U.S. Open
No. 4: Richard the...Lion-Hearted?—Gasquet d. Wawrinka, Wimbledon
No. 3: The Serena & Simona Show—Williams d. Halep, Miami
*No. 2: Vincanity—Vinci d. Williams, U.S. Open
No. 1: Fierce and Fiercer—Williams d. Azarenka, Wimbledon<em>*</em>
There are nerve-wracking matches, and then there are those that, when they’re over, leave your fingers shaking so much that you can barely tweet out the final score. That was the case for me, anyway, in the chaotic moments after Roberta Vinci’s head-spinning 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Serena Williams in the U.S. Open semifinals. Even now, watching the 12-minute clip below, I can feel the tension of that day all over again.
Was Vinci’s victory, which stopped Serena two matches short of completing the first calendar-year Grand Slam in 27 years, the greatest upset of all time? It’s in the conversation. Looking back, it’s also fair to say that Vinci-Williams was a quintessential example of a "trap game." For Serena, this match, against an unheralded and unpreposessing 32-year-old Italian, was sandwiched between two higher-profile events.
Two nights earlier, Serena had survived a drainingly emotional three-set quarterfinal win over her sister, Venus. The next evening, in the sold-out prime-time final, she was scheduled to play what promised to be another emotional wringer, with the world watching and the Grand Slam on the line. In between, there was only Vinci, a woman who had failed to win a set from Serena in their four previous matches, and who was playing her first Grand Slam semifinal. Unfortunately for Serena, Vinci made the most of the opportunity.
Here’s a look back at our second-best match of 2015, and the season's most dramatic afternoon.