who was the real nº 1 in 1971?

[kiki]

1971 will go down as one of the most disputed years as far as nº1 position concerns.IMO, 6 players had results to claim for that position and a seventh, Rod Laver, was considered the real number one even if he " only" reached the WCT final but lost it.Of course, he won a very big event, the Italian Open against jan Kodes.

Rosewall had agreat first half of the year, winning the AO ( Ashe) and Dallas (Laver) and he also reached the Wimbly semis (Newcombe)

Newcombe was considered the nº 1 for 1970 but in 71 he " only" repeated at Wimbledon, but beating two competitors for the nº 1 position: Stan Smith and Ken Rosewall.

Smith won Forest Hills and lost the Wimbledon final to Newcombe and the Masters to Nastase.Nasty won the Masters but was roundly beaten at the Roland Garros final by Jan Kodes, who also lost the US Open final match to Smith.But Kodes had beaten , the current nº 1 John Newcombe in the earlier rounds.

Ashe, finally, lost the AO final to Rosewall, and also lost to the australian veteran in the WCT semifinals.He made the semis at FH before losing to Kodes.

It is a merry go round with 7 all time classics going at each other.

I don´t think there has been a more competitive year with that depth of top players, except maybe in the late 50´s and early 80.

 

[krosero]

Rino Tommasi’s year-end list, just for starters:

Rosewall
Laver
Newcombe
Smith
Nastase
Kodes
Ashe
Okker
Drysdale
Riessen

I have Nastase's stats handy (these are from jeffreyneave): won 11 out of 22 tournaments plus 13 out of 14 Davis Cup matches. He won the year-end Masters.

11 titles would put Nastase ahead of everyone else overall, I believe, though of course he won no majors so he can't be #1.

Bud Collins has Laver and Rosewall each with 7 titles, Smith with 6, Newcombe with 5.

 

[BobbyOne]

1971 will go down as one of the most disputed years as far as nº1 position concerns.IMO, 6 players had results to claim for that position and a seventh, Rod Laver, was considered the real number one even if he " only" reached the WCT final but lost it.Of course, he won a very big event, the Italian Open against jan Kodes.

Rosewall had agreat first half of the year, winning the AO ( Ashe) and Dallas (Laver) and he also reached the Wimbly semis (Newcombe)

Newcombe was considered the nº 1 for 1970 but in 71 he " only" repeated at Wimbledon, but beating two competitors for the nº 1 position: Stan Smith and Ken Rosewall.

Smith won Forest Hills and lost the Wimbledon final to Newcombe and the Masters to Nastase.Nasty won the Masters but was roundly beaten at the Roland Garros final by Jan Kodes, who also lost the US Open final match to Smith.But Kodes had beaten , the current nº 1 John Newcombe in the earlier rounds.

Ashe, finally, lost the AO final to Rosewall, and also lost to the australian veteran in the WCT semifinals.He made the semis at FH before losing to Kodes.

It is a merry go round with 7 all time classics going at each other.

I don´t think there has been a more competitive year with that depth of top players, except maybe in the late 50´s and early 80.

kiki, There was no real No.1 that year. I rank Smith, Rosewall and Newcombe tied on top.

It's interesting that for four years in a row (1970 to 1973) there was no clear-cut No.1.

 

[kiki]

Rino Tommasi’s year-end list, just for starters:

Rosewall
Laver
Newcombe
Smith
Nastase
Kodes
Ashe
Okker
Drysdale
Riessen

I have Nastase's stats handy (these are from jeffreyneave): won 11 out of 22 tournaments plus 13 out of 14 Davis Cup matches. He won the year-end Masters.

11 titles would put Nastase ahead of everyone else overall, I believe, though of course he won no majors so he can't be #1.

Bud Collins has Laver and Rosewall each with 7 titles, Smith with 6, Newcombe with 5.

Take out Drysdale and Riessen and replace them with Roche and Gimeno...and what have you got?

Easily, the greatest top ten in history.There can be great top tens in the pro era of the late 50´s, the early 80´s, the middle 80´s and the middle 90´s...but I´ll always pick 1971.

 

[kiki]

kiki, There was no real No.1 that year. I rank Smith, Rosewall and Newcombe tied on top.

It's interesting that for four years in a row (1970 to 1973) there was no clear-cut No.1.

That´s what I mean for competitiveness