20 for 20: No. 14, Djokovic d. Federer, 2011 U.S. Open

Last year, for the 50th anniversary of TENNIS Magazine, we focused on the past. Given the tome of stories we’d told, and the trove of players and matches we’d witnessed over the past half-century, it was only natural to look back.

And it was comical to even consider doing something similar this year, for the 20th anniversary of TENNIS.com. So we’re taking the opposite approach, and instead focusing on the future. All throughout the week, we’ll be talking about what’s next for the sport, the website and much more.

It wouldn’t be an anniversary, though, without a countdown. But how do you count down events that haven’t yet happened? By predicting what will come to be.

With that said, we present TENNIS.com’s 20 for 20: Twenty matches that we’ll still be talking about twenty years from now. We’ve restricted this list to matches that have taken place in the last 10 years—or, as 20 for 20 author Steve Tignor has put it, “The Golden Decade.” (If you haven’t read our 50th Anniversary Moments or Tournament of Champions, also written by Steve, I implore you to do so.)

It has been a bountiful time for tennis since TENNIS.com’s inception, and it’s anyone’s guess what the next 20 years will bring. But we believe that each of these matches will sustain the test of time.—Ed McGrogan, Senior Editor

Lightning can’t strike twice? Don’t tell that to Roger Federer. In 2010, in a five-set semifinal at Flushing Meadows, he held two match points against Novak Djokovic, only to see the Serb haul off and hit two winners and eventually come back to win. Somehow, the same unlikely scenario, in the same round, would play out on the same court in New York the following year. Again, Federer reached match point twice, this time on his serve at 5-3 in the fifth set. Again, Djokovic hauled off on a huge forehand to save one of them, then went on to win the last four games, the match, and eventually the tournament.

But it was the way Djokovic saved one of those match points that makes this one the comeback we remember. With Federer serving at 5-3, 40-15, Djokovic jumped on a mediocre first serve and rocketed it into the far corner for a winner. It happened so fast that no one in Arthur Ashe Stadium was sure if the ball had landed in or out. Djokovic, who had listened to the crowd cheer for Federer all day, took the opportunity to demand some love of his own. He lifted his arms, and the fans responded. Not long after, they were were cheering him again as the victor.

Djokovic’s shot had been an incredible risk, and incredible piece of timing, but it took Federer’s unhappy description it to make it immortal.

“It’s just the way he returns that. It’s just not a guy who believes much, you now, anymore in winning,” said Federer, who was still trying to come to grips with his repeat defeat at Djokovic’s hands. “...Just gets the lucky shot at the end, and off you go.”

Federer’s bitter words set off a debate: Was Djokovic’s shot—it would soon be known as The Shot—just luck? The Serb didn’t dispute his good fortune, but he also said it wasn’t the first time he had gone for an all-or-nothing return and come back with it all.

“Yeah, I tend to do that on match points,” Djokovic said, “It kinda works.”

The bottom line was that, yes, you have to be a little lucky to make that shot at that moment, but you have to be good, too. To do it two years in a row, you have to be Djokovic.

Lightning hadn’t struck Federer twice. Djokovic had.