I really liked 1992 and 1996, Clijsters 2001 one not bad either. 2014 was pretty competitive.
1999 was more about drama than anything, Hingis losing the plot.
i liked 1996 because Arantxa cried during her speech after being booed by the salivating dogs that were the French audience for her moonballing earlier in the tournament :happy: but tho it was 10-8 in the 3rd also, for some reason Graf-Sanchez matchups never had the drama and intensity of Seles-Graf finals, esp. pre-knife.
it's 1992 for me.
2001 was an ugly chokefest by both full of fuckery. 2014-5 were no great shakes either
1999 had that great meltdown obviously, and a final victory for Graf the legend.
1987, Graf def. Navratilova 6-4, 4-6, 8-6... two absolute legends of the game in a battle royale!!! Martina was Fuhrerious after losing from 5-3 up in the third (must have reminded her of when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia)
Seles & Graf had such an intense personal rivalry at that time that it just elevated the tension of their matches beyond the others. It felt like an event every time they were due to face off pre-stabbing.
My personal favorite was 1985 with Chris beating Martina 7-5 in the third. Chris had lost so many slam finals in a row to Martina she finally prevailed and followed that up with a win over Martina the following year to take her record seventh French crown and 18th grand slam title.
Also loved Francesca's win over Sam, first ever by an Italian. I got chills when she played that brilliant stab backhand volley winner in the second set tiebreak that brought the crowd to its feet.
Of those on the board I would take the Seles and Capriati wins, pure grit and determination and two of my other favorite players, amongst many.
I'd say the 1992 one. Then the 1996 and the 2014 ones.
The 1999 was as dramatic as it gets, but it is not as good as these ones.
I didn't find the 2001 too spectacular, even if the score was so close. Last year final was bad IMHO, it was only a matter of how long it'd take Serena to focus enough to run away with the title.
It's funny how RG went from having a lot of different winners especially after Henin retired to having Maria and Serena establishing themselves here and winning the last 4 years...
The 2014 final was amazing to be honest, one of the best in recent years. Last year's final was great too.
1992 for me. I was only a year old when the match was played but from watching the highlights, this match had it all. High quality play and drama to boot. It's become easy to overlook just how intense the Graf-Seles rivalry was pre-stabbing. It was almost, almost, as defining for the sport at that time as Federer-Nadal has been in the 00s, and this was the best final these two played against each other.
As others have mentioned, '99 was more about drama than high-quality play. Apart from it being Graf's last slam win, the match is best remembered for:
1. when Martina had that call (which was in btw) and crossed the net to point to the correct mark, got the point penalty and started to lose her head. The first set and a half up to that point was about Hingis doing enough to stay ahead of a mediocre Graf. After the call, Graf sensed something might be on and started playing tougher/making things more physical on the more important points; and, of course,
2. the infamous underarm serve (and volley) when Hingis was match point down.
The only good rallies they had lasted about 4 games in the middle of the second set. After Hingis served for it at 5-4 and imploded, she started forcing things out of sheer desperation and Graf just steam rolled her from then on in.
Not really sure why 2015 is even in the poll? Even with Serena's mental fart in the second set and the beginning of the third, the match was entirely on her racket and she always looked like she had several more gears to go to than Lucie.
Despite both having long final sets, the quality of play during the 1996 and 2001 finals wasn't consistent throughout and they had turned into slogfests by the end.
2014 was definitely one of the best slam finals we've had for a while but if Sharapova hadn't had that blip in the second set it would not have been particularly remarkable.
If I had to put them in order: 1992, 1999, 2014, 1996, 2001, 2015.
86 and 87 were dead cert classics. 1992 was amazing. A regular contender for best final ever. 2014 was the best final in recent years by some way. 1999 was a different beast altogether.
Greatest finals IMO are: 1992, 1985, 1987 and 1973.
The 1992 final wasn't the best match Seles and Graf played in quality, that was the 1993 Australian final. But it had drama, tension and atmosphere and there was quality also. Two great players on clay not giving an inch. The final set was high drama and high quality.