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Graf had probably the best forehand and best movement in tennis history. She also had a great serve. These weapons enabled her to have such a GOAT contender career. Most of the time she didn't need a topspin backhand. But I think as has been said on this forum she lost some matches as a result...

I don't think we should talk as if Borg really should have several slams from 82-84 and Connors none. Borg was simply finished due to burn out and that's how it is. He declined and Connors improved. I doubt Borg would have won any slams in 82 to 84. He got hammered by Noah for the loss of three...

Henman never played Eastbourne. It became a men's event after his retirement. Most of his career at the top the only grass court tournaments he played were Queen's and Wimbledon. He occasionally played Nottingham. If he had played as many grass court tournaments as he played hard court, he would...

There weren't many grass court tournaments for Henman to win.

She got to as high as number 5 in the world in 1984. In 83 she reached the French Open and US Open semi finals, got to the Australian Open quarters in 83, and the Wimbledon quarters in 84. She had wins over the likes of Austin, Mandlikova and Shriver. She gave Navratilova a big scare in the...

These are the years when the ATP number 1 has not had the most tournament wins that year: 1975 Ashe had most wins: Connors was number 1 1977 Vilas had most wins: Connors was number 1 1982: Lendl had most wins: McEnroe was number 1 1983: Wilander had most wins: McEnroe was number 1 1988: Becker...

I don't agree that Wimbledon was bigger than the US Open in 1978. I think they were on a par. I say this even as an Englishman.

In 1974 Connors was number one by a country mile. I give 1975 to Ashe. I think Connors was the number one for 1976 quite comfortably, given he and Borg split the two big slams at the time, but Connors won 5 more tournaments than Borg, won their head to head, and had a comfortably better in...

No way was Borg number one in 1976. Borg and Connors won a slam each but Connors won 12 titles to Borg's 7, and won their head to head. Most experts give 76 to Connors.

I give the number 1 for 1978 to Navratilova. I believe Evert was still a better player than her, but they won the same number of slams with Navratilova winning 4 more titles. 4 more titles is a significant gap. How much a player plays impacts their year and is part of the game. A player who...

This was a rare win for Borg over Connors, but Connors won the vast majority of their exhibitions in this time period.

From 79-81 Borg dominated Connors because Borg won free points on his big serve, while Connors won few free points on his serve, Borg would always make fewer errors than Connors, and get alot of shots back other players couldn't get back. In 82 onwards Connors dominated Borg in exhibitions...

Ferrero had a strange career: 3 years in the top five and then eight years with year end rankings ranging from 17-55. He spent more years in the top 30 than anywhere else. Do injuries explain this completely? He was close in age to Federer but obviously was finished long before him. When Ferrero...

Ashe beat Hewitt, Gottfried, Borg, Roche and Connors for the title: very impressive.

This match is rarely talked about. But it was a very important match. Borg on paper had a very good chance to win. Borg was the higher seed. Their head to head was even. Borg had beaten Ashe two years earlier on grass at Forest Hills so he had a chance to win in 1975 on grass. The third set was...

I would put the following players ahead of Vilas: Laver, Rosewall (yes I believe his open era achievements were greater than Vilas), Newcombe, Nastase, Ashe, Connors, Borg, McEnroe, Lendl, Wilander, Becker, Edberg, Sampras, Courier, Agassi, Kuerten, Hewitt, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray. I...

I don't agree with you here. Borg's disastrous comeback at 34 doesn't reduce his standing in his game, though his premature retirement at 25 (I consider 1981 his true retirement) does reduce his standing. People judge Borg on his great career in 1974-1981. Connors added to his standing by...

I certainly remember Ashe criticising Connors' serve, overhead, forehand, and ability to handle no pace. I agree with Connors that Ashe had a point about Connors' serve but not the other stuff. Connors' overhead was actually very good, as was his forehand, and I don't believe slow balls were a...

I give it to Jones just, because she won far more singles titles, and most importantly because she was far better on clay than Wade and far better on grass than Wade was on clay. I think Wade was more talented but Jones made more of her potential and ultimately won more.

I am English and my memory goes back more than 40 years and in that time period Ann Jones and her wins are barely talked about. Virginia Wade is far more famous as is her Wimbledon win. Perhaps this is because Wade is the last British woman to win Wimbledon. I think Ann Jones should be more...

I read it in a book of Ashe's when I was a boy many years ago. Because it was so long ago I am not sure what book it was. I am sure Connors is not misquoting him in his own autobiography.

Ashe published his criticism after his Wimbledon final win. I do think Connors is right in saying if he had as many weaknesses as Ashe claimed it's strange he won so much.

I remember reading Ashe saying this.

Ashe only beat Connors once and lost to Connors every time after the 75 Wimbledon final. Lendl's domination over Connors was more due to Connors' aging than anything else

This is what Connors said in his autobiography, 'The Outsider': Understandably, Arthur was desperate to win in South Africa, maybe more so than in any other tournament. I later read that he had identified the weaknesses in my game that he intended to exploit. They were as follows: My serve...

The French Open in the 70s was definitely far more important than the Australian Open. It just wasn't as big as Wimbledon and the US Open. That changed by the 80s.

Tennis is not like boxing where it is dangerous to carry on when aging and declining. It's very rare for a tennis pro to be crippled because they played too long. Therefore it doesn't really matter if a player doesn't play great in the twilight of their career. Take Andy Murray who has played at...

I don't think Vilas trumps Kuerten as an all court player. Kuerten won a Masters Series title on hard and the ATP Finals indoors. Those are very big non clay titles. You say Vilas won a slam on grass but my point is that his Australian Open titles weren't big wins. They were about the level of...

I voted Kuerten for several reasons, most importantly because I honestly believe his 3 slams are more impressive than Vilas' four. This is because Vilas' 2 Australians were won at a time when the Australian had such weakened fields that it was only a slam in name. It was not considered a big...

I am told that Boris Becker and Aaron Krickstein both managed to win from 2 sets behind an amazing ten times. Anyone know anyone who beat or matched ten times?