15 Greatest Achievements in Tennis History as of 1981

[timnz]

Wilding

Sorry I should have wrote McEnroe was the 1st player to win 3 straight US Championships since Tilden. Much was made of this fact at the time, Mac was sort of speechless when it was mentioned.



Again, the thread topic was what Tennis Magazine in 1981 chose as the best achievements in tennis history. I find it hard to believe that Wilding's claycourt record was widely known then, that's more of a discovered record in the internet age (and even then, all you can come up with are estimates of his streak, not exact numbers, which we do have on Evert)

Just because it was obsure to the writers in 1981, doesn't make it any less an historical achievement. We know there were around 25-30 clay tournaments wins in that 4 year period - so the maths is pretty easy.

 

[Mustard]

You are so right, great perspective to look at.Laver won 4 Wimbledons in a row, because he couldn´t play it in between 1962 and 1968.Hopefully, Borg was aware of that and he always said he was chasing Laver, not Perry.

We can even count the Wimbledon Pro tournament of 1967, which was won by Laver. Does that mean Laver has 5 Wimbledon titles and that Rosewall was a 5-time Wimbledon runner-up?

As for Borg, I thought he was chasing William Renshaw's 6 straight Wimbledon titles?

 

[BTURNER]

Just because it was obsure to the writers in 1981, doesn't make it any less an historical achievement. We know there were around 25-30 clay tournaments wins in that 4 year period - so the maths is pretty easy.

No its not, even looking at some of Everts official tournament wins, you find she actually only played three matches. On one occasion she won a tourney but only beat two people. No way can we know how many rounds Wilding played to win those titles.

 

[kiki]

Hingis nº1 at 16...

 

[Dan Lobb]

Many of the commentators in the 70s and 80s never looked really on the winners list of the big tournaments, especially on the big holes and the things, which were apparently missing. 1945 to 1968 very few champions defended their major titles (at Wim only Hoad, Laver and Emerson), let alone built streaks of en suite wins. Tilden was pre pro era, and in that pro-am peridod only Emerson was an exception - no wonder, because he didn't turn pro. So it was some new experience, when Borg, Connors or later Sampras won majors for longer periods. The pros however had long streaks of wins, Gonzalez won 8 US pros (however you rate them), Rosewall 8 French pros, 5 Wembleys, Laver 5 US pros, 4 Wims plus 4 Wembleys (plus 2 open Wembleys) and so on. But those pro streaks were seldom mentioned, people spoke of the lost records. Gonzalez got more famous for his open match win over Pasarell than his long pro reign. Interesting enough, that even Dan Maskell was more Wimbledon and amateur orientated in his alltime list, although he was a pro of the first hour and himself banned from all majors.

Actually, Gonzales and Hoad got more famous for their victories at Forest Hills Pro than any of the so-called pro majors, which were not really majors at all.

 

[urban]

Hoad actually got famous for his amateur victories at majors and Davis Cup. I think, nobody would notice him for his lone pro Forest Hills victory. Gonzalez fame is really built on his mano a mano series in the 50s. After his initial defeat by Kramer, he beat Trabert, Rosewall and Hoad in succession. All the pros rated the Wembley London pro as their unofficial Championships. It was the only pro event that was sanctioned by the ILTF.