[sesWaipunsaws]

Excerpted from the article:

Shot:

ATP: The shot that really made all the difference for Federer came in the fourth round of the French Open against Tommy Haas. Down two sets to love and facing a break point at 3-4, Federer let fly with an inside-out forehand that caught the line. Federer said he knew then and there that he was going to win the tournament.

WTA: It might not have been pretty, but Serena Williams’s lunging backhand volley against Elena Dementieva in a Wimbledon semifinal saved match point. Even if it clipped the net, it was a winner.


Upsets:

ATP: No debate necessary for the men: Soderling’s victory over Nadal at Roland Garros

WTA: It was the combined effect of Melanie Oudin’s run of upsets at the U.S. Open that made the biggest impression. The 17-year-old American knocked off three imposing Russians: Dementieva, Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova

Comebacks:

WTA: Clijsters, the first unranked player to win a major singles title since Evonne Goolagong in 1977, is the obvious choice, but in any other season, the prize would have gone to Kimiko Date Krumm, the Japanese icon who won a tournament in Seoul at 38 after taking a nearly 12-year break from the game between 1996 and 2008.

ATP: Haas might have failed to close the deal against Federer in Paris, but he did get the job done against Marin Cilic and Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in reaching the semifinals at 31. For the year, he improved his ranking 66 spots, finishing at No. 18, and gave purists continued pleasure with his complete, all-court game.

Flops:

ATP: Ernests Gulbis

WTA: Ana Ivanovic

Match of the Year:

WTA: Clijsters’ victory over Serena in the U.S. Open semifinals was more than a match. It was a spectacle wrapped up in a scandal. Clijsters kept her cool, and Williams most certainly did not as she threatened and swore at a lineswoman for calling a foot fault. Clijsters never had to win match point, but her brilliant play certainly brought Williams to the boiling point.

ATP: Federer-Roddick (Wimbledon) gets the nod on the strength and length of the occasion. Even if Federer didn’t play his best, he served brilliantly. And Roddick, who will probably never get so close to another major singles title, was such a class act in defeat.



Discussion of other considered players/matches in the categories, and full article at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/sp...1&pagewanted=2

[CicyHannyCeli]

Agree on the ATP and WTA flops.

[Ephedrine]

Agree on the ATP and WTA flops.

Mmm hmm.

[dXI9XFOA]

I think the US Open semifinals may have been more drama that didn't relate to ability, but the actual WTA match of the year was definitely Serena d. Dementieva at Wimbledon......I ADORE Elena but even though she lost, that was the best women's match I had seen in a while, which is what truly makes a match the best of the year, not an outburst down match point.

[bobibnoxx]

I think the US Open semifinals may have been more drama that didn't relate to ability, but the actual WTA match of the year was definitely Serena d. Dementieva at Wimbledon......I ADORE Elena but even though she lost, that was the best women's match I had seen in a while, which is what truly makes a match the best of the year, not an outburst down match point.

I agree, but, to be fair, the level of tennis in that match was really, really high before Serena's outburst. Tennis-wise, it was the best match I saw at the open, and I much prefer men's tennis and don't care for Kim or Serena