>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.
Re the questions for your podcast, Jeff
a couple that would interest me would be:
1) who would you have chosen as your top 10 prior to the exercise and did the end results surprise you at all
2) knowing the results now, would you change your algorithm at all, what retrospective flaws did you find if any?
Thanks for doing this, Jeff, it has been a pleasure to read all year, and I even agreed with your top three women and the order they appeared in, and the order of the 'big three' men, I can't really judge them against Laver, who I was too young to watch. The last article was really interesting, so much I didn't know about the first 2/3rds of Rod's career.
Wishing you, and indeed everyone on the board, a Happy Christmas and New Year.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Fabulous!
I've not had time to read many of the write-ups yet, but it's on my "to do" list!
Thank you so much Jeff - a brilliant project and many of the names have taken me back to my childhood memories!
I just found this set of pages and had a quick read through. It certainly brought back memories. As a child I used to suffer very badly from hay fever and asthma in June and July, so when we got a TV in the early 50s it provided me with an escape from from sneezing and wheezing. I shut the doors and windows and watched Wimbledon for two weeks. I certainly watched the 1953 final and might have started watching as early as 1950 as I remember some of the names. I remember Little Mo and several other greats from that era. I really caught the bug though in 1954 when I decided at the outset that a certain Egyptian was going to win the the mens title and followed him right through to the final. I remember feeling very let down when the pro circuit got going and lots of top players players like Laver disappeared from the Wimbledon scene. Laver came back later and won a couple more times but I don't think he was quite the player he had been before. I used to love watching Sabatini play. I was trying to learn the loop shot at Table Tennis at the time and Sabatini was playing the loop shot at tennis, most impressive. Borg was another topspinner who I watched a lot.
He didn't make the 128 but I know he was commented on at one stage . The 1951 Wimbledon mens singles champion Dick Savitt died on 6th January 2023. He was 95 . He also won the 1951 Australian Championship.
He didn't make the 128 but I know he was commented on at one stage . The 1951 Wimbledon mens singles champion Dick Savitt died on 6th January 2023. He was 95 . He also won the 1951 Australian Championship.
Dick Savitt's obituary has just appeared in the Telegraph 28th January,
For those who enjoyed this, Amazon are running a series about the WTA Greatest 50 players - they have done 50-41 and 40-31 so far, presumably it is in 5 parts. Not sure (as I havent watched it) where the British players will appear or who (it is based on 1973 onwards) so maybe Virginia Wade will be the only one (hard to see anyone else making a top 50?).