10 Best Tennis Matches of All Time | Tips.GG Ranking

At 9.15pm on 6 July 2008, Roger Federer’s forehand dropped into the net and Rafael Nadal fell onto grass so dark that Hawk-Eye had already switched itself off. It was Nadal’s fourth championship point of the match, and Centre Court had been playing tennis, on and off, since mid-afternoon.

Matches like that are why arguments about the best tennis matches of all time never really end. Length alone does not settle it, and neither does the trophy: three of the ten matches below were won by the player who won fewer points, and two by the player who won fewer games. What lifts a contest above a very good five-setter is the combination of stakes, sustained quality, and the handful of points that could have sent the whole thing the other way.

This is our definitive ranking — ten matches spanning 1980 to 2025, judged on what they asked of the players and what they left behind.

Criteria for Ranking the Greatest Tennis Matches of All Time

Every list like this carries some subjectivity, so it helps to say what we weighted and what we did not.

The primary metric is quality sustained under maximum pressure — not the highest peak, but the level two exhausted players held for four, five or eleven hours. A brilliant one-set flurry does not qualify; a match where both players kept finding answers deep into a decider does.

From there we weighed stakes and consequence, the margin between winning and losing, historical significance, and endurance records. Where a match sits on the all-time list of longest matches matters, but a marathon with mediocre tennis ranks below a shorter contest played at a higher level. There is exactly one deliberate exception to that rule, and we flag it at No. 7.

Everything here is checked against official tournament archives at Wimbledon, Roland-Garros and the Australian Open, ATP and WTA match statistics, and contemporary reporting from AP, ESPN, CNN and Tennis.com.

The 10 Best Tennis Matches of All Time

Ten matches, five decades, three Grand Slam venues: Wimbledon takes six places, Roland-Garros three and the Australian Open one, with no US Open match making the cut. Part of the reason is structural. New York has settled deciding sets with a tiebreak since 1970, so it has never produced the 8-6, 9-7 and 70-68 finishes that shaped half this list — though two of the ten were themselves decided by final-set tiebreaks, so the rule is not the whole explanation. The best US Open match we considered is in the honourable mentions below. Some entries are here for their quality, some for their sheer improbability, and one is here because it forced the sport to rewrite its rules.

We count down from No. 10 to the match that most players, coaches and commentators still name first.

10. Roger Federer def. Andy Roddick

Wimbledon 2009, final · 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14

Roddick played the match of his life and lost it on a single point. He took the first set, led 6-2 with four set points in the second-set tiebreak, and then held serve in every game until the 77th and last one of the afternoon. Federer broke once all day and it was enough. Pete Sampras had flown in from California to watch the record he had held for seven years disappear, with Björn Borg and Rod Laver beside him in the Royal Box.

• 77 games, the most ever played in a Grand Slam final — a record the 2022 rule change made permanent
• Roddick won 39 games to Federer’s 38 and still lost
• The only Grand Slam final in which the beaten player was broken just once
• Federer’s 50 aces were a career best, one short of Ivo Karlović’s Wimbledon record of 51
• His record-breaking 15th major, and it returned him to world No. 1

9. Venus Williams def. Lindsay Davenport

Wimbledon 2005, final · 4-6, 7-6(4), 9-7

Venus arrived at this final ranked 16th in the world and seeded 14th, two years without a Grand Slam semi-final behind her. Davenport, the world No. 1, served for the title at 6-5 in the second and was broken at love. In the third, leading 5-4 and receiving, she got her second chance: Venus double-faulted at 30-30 to hand her a championship point, then erased it with a backhand winner down the line. Venus broke for 8-7 and served out the longest women’s final Wimbledon has ever staged. She remains the only woman in the Open Era to win the Wimbledon title after facing championship point.

• Two hours and 45 minutes — the longest women’s singles final in Wimbledon history
• First woman since Helen Wills in 1935 to win the Wimbledon title from championship point down
• Lowest-ranked Wimbledon champion at the time, a record she broke herself in 2007
• Her fifth major, and her first since the 2001 US Open

8. Chris Evert def. Martina Navratilova

Roland-Garros 1985, final · 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5

Navratilova had won 20 of their previous 23 meetings and their last four Grand Slam finals, including a 6-3, 6-1 rout on this same court a year earlier. Evert served for the match at 6-5 in the second, was broken, and lost the tiebreak. At 5-5 in the third she fell 0-40 behind on her own serve, saved all three break points, held, and broke for the title. It remains the defining match of the rivalry that built the modern women’s game — Navratilova and Evert sit third and fifth in our ranking of the best female tennis players of all time.

• Evert’s sixth French Open title and 17th major singles title
• Ended a run of four straight major final defeats to Navratilova
• Returned Evert to world No. 1 for the first time since June 1982
• Widely rated the finest match of an 80-meeting rivalry

7. John Isner def. Nicolas Mahut

Wimbledon 2010, first round · 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 70-68

This is not the best-played match on the list, and it is the one entry that breaks our own rule: it is ranked on scale and consequence rather than on quality. It is also the most extraordinary thing that has ever happened on a tennis court. Eleven hours and five minutes across three days on Court 18, 183 games, both records that still stand and almost certainly cannot be broken. The fifth set alone ran eight hours and 11 minutes — longer than any complete match ever played before it. The scoreboard, programmed to display nothing beyond 47-47, simply stopped.

• Both men served more than 100 aces; the previous single-match record was 78
• Mahut won 502 points to Isner’s 478 and lost
• The fifth set produced 138 games and 711 points
• Isner was beaten in straight sets in the second round, in 74 minutes
• Helped force the rule change: Wimbledon and the Australian Open introduced deciding-set tiebreaks in 2019, and in 2022 all four majors settled on a common format, a 10-point tiebreak at 6-6

6. Monica Seles def. Steffi Graf

Roland-Garros 1992, final · 6-2, 3-6, 10-8

Still widely regarded as the finest women’s match played in Paris. The third set alone ran 18 games and 91 minutes, with Graf saving five match points — four of them in a single game at 5-3 — before Seles finally converted her sixth some 45 minutes later. What gives it a second life is what came next: less than a year later Seles was stabbed by a spectator in Hamburg and did not return to competition for more than two years.

• Two hours and 43 minutes for Seles’s third consecutive French Open title
• Her sixth major, and the first woman in the Open Era to win three straight in Paris
• The 18-game final set was the most in a women’s final there since 1956
• The last great chapter of a rivalry that should have defined the decade

5. Novak Djokovic def. Rafael Nadal

Australian Open 2012, final · 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5

Five hours and 53 minutes, finishing at 1.37am: this is still the longest Grand Slam final ever played, and the longest match in Australian Open history. Nadal led by a break at 4-2 in the fifth and could not hold it. By the trophy ceremony both men were physically finished, and organisers broke with protocol by bringing out chairs so they could sit through the speeches. “Good morning everybody,” Nadal deadpanned as he began his runner-up speech at 1.50am.

• The longest major final on record, beating the 1988 US Open final by almost an hour
• Their seventh consecutive final meeting, and Djokovic’s seventh straight win over Nadal
• Djokovic’s third Australian Open title and third major in a row
• The peak of a rivalry that produced more meetings than any other in men’s tennis

4. Novak Djokovic def. Roger Federer

Wimbledon 2019, final · 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3)

The first Wimbledon final played under the new 12-12 deciding-set tiebreak, and it needed every inch of it. Federer broke for 8-7 in the fifth, served at 40-15 for the championship, and lost both points; Djokovic broke back and eventually took the tiebreak 7-3. The arithmetic is brutal. Federer won 218 points to 204, hit 94 winners to 54 and 25 aces to 10, broke serve seven times to Djokovic’s three, and lost.

• Four hours and 57 minutes — the longest singles final in Wimbledon history
• First man since Bob Falkenburg in 1948 to win the Wimbledon title after facing championship point, and the first to do it at any major since Gastón Gaudio in 2004
• Federer won 36 games to Djokovic’s 32 and still lost
• Djokovic’s fifth Wimbledon title and 16th major
• The last Grand Slam final of Federer’s career

3. Carlos Alcaraz def. Jannik Sinner

Roland-Garros 2025, final · 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(10-2)

Two sets down and facing 0-40 at 3-5 in the fourth, Alcaraz saved three championship points on his own serve, then broke Sinner as the Italian served for the title in the next game and turned a coronation into an epic. In the fifth he was broken serving for it himself at 5-4, and had to win the match in a third tiebreak instead, which he took 10-2. At five hours and 29 minutes it is the longest Roland-Garros final ever played, and the second-longest major final of the Open Era. Sinner won more points, 193 to 192.

• Beat the previous Roland-Garros record, set by Wilander in 1982, by 47 minutes
• Third man in the Open Era to save a championship point and still win a major, after Gastón Gaudio in 2004 and Djokovic in 2019
• The first man to save championship points and win the Roland-Garros final, and the first time Alcaraz had won any major match from two sets down
• Ended Sinner’s undefeated record in Grand Slam finals
• Alcaraz’s fifth major and fifth win from five major finals

2. Björn Borg def. John McEnroe

Wimbledon 1980, final · 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(16), 8-6

Borg vs McEnroe set the template every great rivalry has followed since: the ice-cool Swedish baseliner against the volatile American serve-volleyer, who was booed onto Centre Court after his rows with officials in the semi-final against Jimmy Connors. The fourth-set tiebreak ran 34 points and roughly 20 minutes, McEnroe saving five championship points inside it — seven across the match — before taking it 18-16. Most players would have folded. Borg lost two points in seven service games in the decider.

• Borg’s fifth consecutive Wimbledon title and 10th major, in three hours and 53 minutes
• McEnroe saved seven championship points in total and still lost
• The fourth-set tiebreak is routinely called the greatest ever played
• McEnroe collected the runner-up trophy to overwhelming applause from the crowd that had jeered him on

1. Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer

Wimbledon 2008, final · 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7

This is the match most people mean when they talk about the best tennis match ever played, and it earns the billing on every count. Nadal took the first two sets, then watched Federer save two championship points in a fourth-set tiebreak the Swiss trailed 5-2 and eventually won 10-8. Rain delayed the start and stopped play twice more. When they came back for the decider the light was fading so badly that Hawk-Eye stopped functioning, and the referee was ready to suspend if the set ran much longer. Federer saved a third championship point serving at 5-6; then, at 7-7, Nadal broke for the first time since the second set and served it out, ending it at 9.15pm when Federer netted a forehand. Nadal and Federer sit second and third in our ranking of the best male tennis players of all time.

• Four hours and 48 minutes of play, the longest Wimbledon final until 2019
• Nadal won 209 points to Federer’s 204 across an entire afternoon and evening
• Ended Federer’s five-year Wimbledon reign and his 65-match winning streak on grass
• First man since Björn Borg to win Roland-Garros and Wimbledon in the same year
• The last Wimbledon final played without a Centre Court roof

Honourable Mentions

Six more that would headline almost any other list.

Novak Djokovic def. Jannik Sinner — Australian Open 2026, semi-final · 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. At 38, a year after losing all four major semi-finals, Djokovic saved 16 of the 18 break points he faced to beat the two-time defending champion for the first time in six meetings, finishing at 1.32am after four hours and nine minutes. Sinner hit 26 aces to Djokovic’s 12, won 12 more points and lost. Two days later Djokovic lost the final to Alcaraz.

Carlos Alcaraz def. Alexander Zverev — Australian Open 2026, semi-final · 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 7-5. At five hours and 27 minutes, the longest semi-final in Australian Open history and the third-longest match ever played at Melbourne Park. Alcaraz was two points from victory in the third set before his right leg gave way, lost the next two sets, then reeled off four straight games from 3-5 down in the fifth to become the youngest man in the Open Era to reach the final of all four majors. He won that final too, completing the career Grand Slam younger than anyone before him.

Roger Federer def. Rafael Nadal — Australian Open 2017, final · 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Seeded 17th and six months out of the game after knee surgery, the 35-year-old Federer went 1-3 down in the fifth against the one opponent who had always found him out, then won the last five games for an 18th major — his first in four and a half years. Nadal challenged the final forehand; the replay showed it in.

Rafael Nadal def. Novak Djokovic — Roland-Garros 2013, semi-final · 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7(3), 9-7. Four hours and 37 minutes of what many still call the best clay-court match ever played, between the two men who owned the surface, decided 9-7 in the fifth on Nadal’s way to a record eighth title.

Serena Williams def. Victoria Azarenka — US Open 2012, final · 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. Azarenka served for the championship at 5-4 in the third; Serena won the last four games for her first US Open title in four years and her 15th major.

Billie Jean King def. Bobby Riggs — Battle of the Sexes 1973 · 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. Not the best tennis on this page, but arguably the most consequential match ever played. King’s straight-sets win in front of 30,472 people in the Houston Astrodome and roughly 50 million American television viewers did more for the professional women’s game than any result before or since.

Rankings like this move. One five-setter next season could displace any of them.

Legacy and Future of the Greatest Tennis Matches

Two things stand out about this list. The first is that several of its records are now permanent. Since 2022 every major has ended a deciding set with a tiebreak at 6-6, so Isner–Mahut’s 70-68 and the 77 games of Federer–Roddick can never be beaten. The marathon era is closed.

The second is how recent the top end has become. The 2025 Roland-Garros final went straight in at No. 3, and the 2026 Australian Open produced two matches good enough for this page in the space of a single day. Alcaraz and Sinner contested three major finals in a row after Paris before Djokovic broke the run in Melbourne; at 38, he was still capable of beating the reigning champion and world No. 2 over five sets.

Does that make pure endurance less decisive? Probably. What replaces it is density — more points at a higher level per hour than any previous generation could sustain. On the evidence of Paris 2025, the next entry on this list is a matter of when, not if.