Myself and Exre both had Martina second; Gameover was a sturdy 12th!
Not sure if any of us can get the top 2?
I think I rated Steffi and Martina lower than I should have done because of rating too highly the players from bygone eras Lenglen, Moody and Connolly who were all virtually unbeatable when they played. At least I can remember Rod Laver playing. I still think Maureen Connolly was the greatest female player ever but her short career is a big factor against her. The same applies to Monica Seles in the what if department .
I love this close to the narrative Jeff. Made me emotional in fact
At Wimbledon in 1993, Steffi expected to meet Navratilova in the final, but the veteran was ousted by Jana Novotná in the semis. "I'm disappointed she's not there," she said. After taking advantage of Novotná's collapse for the title, Graf wanted to keep playing. She sent a note to Martina asking for a private match behind closed doors. My kingdom for a mobile phone: Navratilova was out golfing.
Graf was still thinking about it a year later. Journalist Sally Jenkins asked for her idea of a perfect tennis match. Wimbledon, Centre Court, Navratilova, she said. No fans. They wouldn't even keep score: "It is just for us."
"I'd do it in a second," Martina replied. "We'd play the tennis of our lives."
-- Edited by JonH comes home on Monday 19th of December 2022 09:45:13 PM
So Evre has the top 5 and has the final 2 to 5 in the right order, having them all just the one place higher at 1 to 4 wirh Laver then being his #5. Very good
Well done to GAMEOVER for getting the #1, and to Jon on taking such a full part - rather more than I did to any real degree.
Thanks a lot to Jeff for this whole exercise and to Jon for promoting it on the forum. I haven't been reading the individual summaries but I think I will go through them in the next week or two. Sounds as if they will be a really good trad.
>this close to the narrative Jeff. Made me emotional in fact
thank you -- me too! I halfway wish that Steffi had been number one, so those could've been the last lines of the entire thing.
>Thanks a lot to Jeff for this whole exercise
Likewise. I really appreciate the interest, enthusiasm, and support from you all here.
>What is Jeff going to turn his attention to now?
(a) I have a few historical projects in mind ... but after Rod, I might need to hibernate for a few weeks ;)
(b) On friday, a friend and I will record a podcast in which he'll ask me a lot of questions (maybe 128 questions!?) about the project. If you have anything you'd like to hear us talk about, please let me know in the next few days and I'll add it to the list.
So Evre has the top 5 and has the final 2 to 5 in the right order, having them all just the one place higher at 1 to 4 wirh Laver then being his #5. Very good
Well done to GAMEOVER for getting the #1, and to Jon on taking such a full part - rather more than I did to any real degree.
Thanks a lot to Jeff for this whole exercise and to Jon for promoting it on the forum. I haven't been reading the individual summaries but I think I will go through them in the next week or two. Sounds as if they will be a really good trad.
>this close to the narrative Jeff. Made me emotional in fact
thank you -- me too! I halfway wish that Steffi had been number one, so those could've been the last lines of the entire thing.
>Thanks a lot to Jeff for this whole exercise
Likewise. I really appreciate the interest, enthusiasm, and support from you all here.
>What is Jeff going to turn his attention to now?
(a) I have a few historical projects in mind ... but after Rod, I might need to hibernate for a few weeks ;)
(b) On friday, a friend and I will record a podcast in which he'll ask me a lot of questions (maybe 128 questions!?) about the project. If you have anything you'd like to hear us talk about, please let me know in the next few days and I'll add it to the list.
Yes, it has been brilliant - its been the backdrop to my year, Jeff, and made it very memorable.
Fantastic article on Steffi. I'm very excited to see the final article on Rod Laver since as evidenced by my prediction of him at #5, I just didn't have a full appreciation of the things he did during his five peak years as a professional from 63 to 67. The fact that he was able to end his amateur career so dominantly and start the Open Era so dominantly perhaps should've been pretty solid evidence that he was Pretty Good in the years in-between, but I just never expected that his Elo numbers could compete with Steffi and her monstrous 2601 peak! In fact I thought they'd fall short of Djokovic too.