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JonH comes home


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Greatest Players of All Time - according to Tennis Abstract
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www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2022/05/14/the-tennis-128-no-85-svetlana-kuznetsova/

A recent player at 85

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JonH comes home


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I havent got my own list yet - Ill aim at my own top 50 now! But Im pretty certain Kuznetsova would have been nowhere near my top 128!

Another fascinating read though and her ability to play long 3 setters , and win, surprised me as I didnt recall that about her- my view was always she was a bit flaky in the way of a Novotna or many other inconsistent slam winners that took one or two titles at that level!

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GAMEOVER


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She was on my list. She's one of those players who has disappeared without a formal  announcement of  retirernent. 



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JonH comes home


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GAMEOVER wrote:

She was on my list. She's one of those players who has disappeared without a formal  announcement of  retirernent. 

 Its funny isnt it- I just never ever rated her, Id see her name and be very indifferent! 



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GAMEOVER


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JonH comes home wrote:
GAMEOVER wrote:

She was on my list. She's one of those players who has disappeared without a formal  announcement of  retirernent. 

 Its funny isnt it- I just never ever rated her, Id see her name and be very indifferent! 

 Unfortunately I associate  her with her being in the Eastbourne draw for  a number of years when she seemed to make little effort. 



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JonH comes home


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Something to note as Djoko reaches 1000 wins

Record as of 1,000th Win:
1. Jimmy Connors 1,000-164
2. Ivan Lendl 1,000-199
3. Rafael Nadal 1,000-201
4. Novak Djokovic 1,000-203
5. Roger Federer 1,000-227

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JonH comes home


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Be interested to see where Connors, Lendl and Borg, McEnroe end up on this list.

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jsackmann


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Connors really is one of the trickiest guys to rate. Some people forget about him entirely in GOAT debates, but then you have stats like this. There was an academic paper a few years ago (maybe by a physicist? I don't remember the field, just that it was very technical) that rated Connors #1 among Open Era men. I think the method (accidentally) gave too much weight to longevity, and it's possible the results would be different now that we have a few more years of Djokovic and Nadal near the top. But still... another example of how there are far more players who seem to deserve a spot in the top ten than there are spots in the top ten!

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JonH comes home


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jsackmann wrote:

Connors really is one of the trickiest guys to rate. Some people forget about him entirely in GOAT debates, but then you have stats like this. There was an academic paper a few years ago (maybe by a physicist? I don't remember the field, just that it was very technical) that rated Connors #1 among Open Era men. I think the method (accidentally) gave too much weight to longevity, and it's possible the results would be different now that we have a few more years of Djokovic and Nadal near the top. But still... another example of how there are far more players who seem to deserve a spot in the top ten than there are spots in the top ten!

 He must be. Its interesting how ones views on these things are coloured by the era you most closely relate to. For me, first tennis i recall is really Borg v Nastase in 1976 final at Wimbledon. 1977 and onwards I really got into it. So Borg was my hero, but also McEnroe, Connors. Lendl as a player no, nor Wilander, but Becker and Edberg and Sampras and Agassi. After them, my support went to Tim Henman and no one really until Andy. 

so all of them would be on my all time greats list and near the top (ok, bar Tim!) but its largely because of proximity to me and my time as a real fan! 

my personal pecking order was Mac , Borg and Connors as a fan. But Id rate them Borg, McEnroe and Connors in terms of all time greatness. And boy, did they create a spectacle. the BBC one year changed its schedules to televise the Stockholm Open final live on BBC when Borg played McEnroe. And the McEnroe v Connors final at Wembley around 1981 ish was a spectacle in so many good and bad ways! 



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JonH comes home


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My greatest year ever , looking at your criteria Jeff, was 1984 and Mac. Dont know if that reflects in PEAK ELO but I guess it was
My era. The greatest 5 years was 1976 through 1980 for Borg. Back to back French and Wimbledon , not playing a warm up, against grass court specialists. Wow.

Greatest career performance was either Rosewall or Laver. One of those.

If I had to put one up there as the best ever it would be Borg with Rosewall second, ahead of todays motley bunch !

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JonH comes home


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My all time top 5 men and women would probably be Borg, Rosewall, Laver, Navratilova and Graf - but I couldnt rate the men v women against each other

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jsackmann


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Haha, today's motley bunch indeed. I wish I had seen more Rosewall--he certainly made an impression on every knowledgeable fan who ever watched him. Borg-vs-McEnroe is interesting -- I thought it was clear-cut, and the numbers were much closer than I expected.

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JonH comes home


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After chatting about Connors, we get a player in the Connors mould of baseline slugger and terrier combined

www.tennisabstract.com/blog/2022/05/17/the-tennis-128-no-84-lleyton-hewitt/

Hewitt is a hard one to know where to place, he had longevity, decent success and was a Davis Cup here for the Aussies. Definitely top 100 but perhaps will get forgotten as time passes by?

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JonH comes home


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Compiled my list of the top 25 men and top 25 women, so a top 50 in effect (assuming it is split equally and I have no reason to believe it wont be!).

The only person on my top 50 that has appeared so far is Shirley Fry who I had coming in around the mid 40's or so - but she is on the list in general and it is very fine margins I am sure. So I replaced her in my list of 50 (given she is already taken) , lets see how many of the remaining 83 players coincide with my list - to date, she is the only one of around 45 that have appeared that I would have placed at the top end.

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JonH comes home


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PS I only have 2 British players in my top 50 men and women , both men, Fred Perry and Andy I have just nestling in there .

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