Whats your top 10 of all time now (men)

[Drob]

 

[Ivan69]

Another record broken by the greatest Novak!

 

[Dan Lobb]

Of course the Gonzalez of 1948 had no friends w the dough to help him go to Wimbledon (and possibly RG, etc.). His wealthiest friend at that time was probably Frank Shields, who came up from the working class and was not of "upperclass level" wealth. And in 1948, Shields had just met Gonzalez. As the man said, think about where Richard came from. In 1948 he was practically unknown. Years later he would have wealthy, famous acquaintances or friends. Years later.

Of course Gonzalez played Wimbledon every chance he had to do so. Played RG a half-dozen times.

Of course Gonzalez played plenty in Europe. Just check the records in The Professional Tennis Archive. Gonzalez skipped Wembley and RG in 1959 to try to hurt Jack Kramer's pocketbook. Ditto in 1960. I think he was trying to get at Kramer in 1960 but he was also talking retirement around that time, so I am not sure of his motivation in 1960. Otherwise, for his pro career, he went to Europe as much as we would expect him too. Went down under frequently, also. Never ducked a duel. Never avoided a surface. His final season, 1961, he played all the Brit-Euro tournaments. After his comeback, he competed in Europe and Britain in 1964. In 1965, Gonzalez did not go to Europe after playing 20 tournaments in Australia and the USA. 1966-67 Gonzalez was clearly a part-time competitor. But he went to England to cop the BBC tournament in '66 and to participate at the Wimbledon Pro in '67, as a poster noted.

In the early years of the Open Era Gonzalez remained a part-time competitor. Doesn't much matter if he did not go to the Continent in those years. He picked his spots - mostly the ones with the big paycheck possibilities - and scored some big upsets and decent cash. And the four trips to Wimbledon 1968-72 is correctly reported.

Gonzales did duck a few.

Did not show at the Cleveland U.S. Pro in 1950,, which is a bit of a surprise. I still do not know why. Gonzales won the Philadelphia U.S. Pro Indoor that year so he did have a chance to win it at Cleveland.

Gonzales also skipped the Cleveland U.S. Pro in 1951. Again, I do not know why he did that. Have never understood. That tournament was on cement, which was a good surface for Gonzales. And Cleveland that year carried with it an official world number one ranking for the winner, who was Kovacs that year.

Perhaps he was following Kramer's example in 1949, when Kramer skipped the U.S. Pro at Forest Hills. Again, there is no logical explanation for Kramer skipping that tournament, and it cost him the official world number one pro ranking for 1949 which went to Riggs, the winner at Forest Hills. Kramer never talked about that, complete silence.

Gonzales also skipped Kooyong in December 1959, which cost him another world championship title and a $10,000 payday if he had won it, the biggest payday for any tournament to that time. Again, there was no explanation. Just said that he wanted to spend Christmas with his girlfriend. I guess Gonzales was a sentimentalist at heart.

 

[Hard Court]

Because of the constant changes of organization, equipment, surfaces, tournaments, etc. it so hard to rate players in in tennis. Tilden, Budge, Kramer, Gonzales, Laver, Borg, Sampras, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are all interchangeable in the Top 10. I give Budge some leeway for WWII which some don't.

 

[Drob]

Kind of agree with you.

 

[LttlElvis]

In no particular order

1. Djokovic
2. Federer
3. Nadal
4. McEnroe
5. Borg
6. Connors
7. Sampras
8. Agassi
9. Laver
10. Rosewall

Can’t quantify it, but McEnroe is the greatest ever

 

[pirhaksar]

1. Djokovic
2. Federer
3. Nadal
4. Laver
5. My guy Pete …no FO is why he is lower for me
6. Borg
7. Mcnroe
8. Lendl
9. Connors
10. Agassi

 

[Dan Lobb]

1. Djokovic
2. Federer
3. Nadal
4. Laver
5. My guy Pete …no FO is why he is lower for me
6. Borg
7. Mcnroe
8. Lendl
9. Connors
10. Agassi

What happened to Pancho and Ken?

 

[borg number one]

In no particular order:

Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Sampras, Borg, Laver, Gonzalez, Kramer, Budge and Tilden. Honorable Mentions: Lendl, Connors, McEnroe, Hoad and Perry.