15 Greatest Achievements in Tennis History as of 1981

[joe sch]

Originally Posted by Nadal_Power

That would be great if someone can make that list

I only know that Rosewall and Gonzales won ATP titles after 40th birthday, between 1969-1975.. and no one will do it again

Its been done in doubles since 1975

[kiki]

To me one single achievement that shows what an inmense champion Borg was:

I still can´t believe how Borg, 4 times winner in a row at Wimbly, and knowing he was on the edge of surpassing Laver for a record 5 th consecutive title, loses that tie break against his relentless prosecutor (Mc Enroe), after holding so many match balls....and recovers to win...8-6¡¡¡ in the fifth¡¡¡.I don´t think that has been equalled.

He was dammaged in his stomach, had the unbelievable pressure to achieve a record surpassing his all time idol Rod Laver, loses like 7 or 8 match balls in that mysthique tie breaker...and wins in the fifth 8-6¡¡¡

[rufus_smith]

Gavin White, 39, and Jeganathan Ramasamy,48, both played tennis for a total of 37 hours and 32 minutes, breaking a previous world record for the longest singles tennis match ever played.

1/25/10

[timnz]

Originally Posted by robow7

Evert's 125 consecutive clay court wins, 1973-1979

That's really amazing!

Why don't they count Wildings consecutive clay court wins from Mid-1910 to Mid-1914 which must be of that order of magnitude as well. (Around 25-28 tournaments around 4 to 5 rounds a tournament?)

[Moose Malloy]

Why don't they count Wildings consecutive clay court wins from Mid-1910 to Mid-1914 which must be of that order of magnitude as well. (Around 25-28 tournaments around 4 to 5 rounds a tournament?)

Didn't you just discover that info on Wilding a year or 2 ago? you really think anyone in 1981 knew that? or what surfaces he won on? There wasn't nearly as much known about pre Open Era records back then as there is today(besides the famous streaks of Tilden, Lenglen etc)

The internet has really been a game changer as far as tennis history. In 1981 the only thing most fans knew about Laver was that Laver won 2 Grand Slams(I highly doubt anyone, including Laver, was aware of his 200 career titles then, some which were recently discovered. Pro Grand Slams weren't in any record book then as far as I know. Commentators surely didn't talk about them. No wikepedia. So where did fans or writers not named Bud Collins get their info?)

Was just watching the '79 AO Final recently. The Australian commentators were talking about how rare it was for anyone to repeat there. They were going through the champion lists & said, "wow, I'm surprised Laver never repeated." Not one mention of his being banned from majors from 6 years, just 'surprise' that he never repeated!

I see this in a lot of old matches(70s/80s) commentators didn't mentioned the bannings of so many great players from the majors when any of their names came up. They would just say what they won, not what they could have won. TV Commentator Jack Kramer didn't say anything about Rosewall being banned from so many US championships when he won the USO in '70, just 'isn't that great, Kenny wins this title 14 years after he last won it.'

The way the media(even Dan Maskell who's seen it all) covered Borg winning 4 straight Wimbledons ("he's passed Perry!" not the disclaimer that Perry, Laver etc were banned from some Wimbledons) and Mac equaling Tilden with 3 straight US Championships in '81 sort of show how differently pre Open era history was presented at the time.

[hoodjem]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

. . . and Mac equaling Tilden with 3 straight US Championships in '81 . . .

I thought Tilden had 6 straight US championships.?!

[timnz]

Originally Posted by boredone3456

Evert at one point went 200-1 or something close on clay because after Austin snapped the 125 streak Evert won her next 70 something matches on clay. To lose only 1 match on a surface in like 8 years is truly amazing. I don't think even Rafa's numbers on clay now are close to what Evert did on dirt.

Again, wildings numbers are close to everts

[Moose Malloy]

I thought Tilden had 6 straight US championships.?!

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, wildings numbers are close to everts

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)

[urban]

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.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

Didn't you just discover that info on Wilding a year or 2 ago? you really think anyone in 1981 knew that? or what surfaces he won on? There wasn't nearly as much known about pre Open Era records back then as there is today(besides the famous streaks of Tilden, Lenglen etc)

The internet has really been a game changer as far as tennis history. In 1981 the only thing most fans knew about Laver was that Laver won 2 Grand Slams(I highly doubt anyone, including Laver, was aware of his 200 career titles then, some which were recently discovered. Pro Grand Slams weren't in any record book then as far as I know. Commentators surely didn't talk about them. No wikepedia. So where did fans or writers not named Bud Collins get their info?)

Was just watching the '79 AO Final recently. The Australian commentators were talking about how rare it was for anyone to repeat there. They were going through the champion lists & said, "wow, I'm surprised Laver never repeated." Not one mention of his being banned from majors from 6 years, just 'surprise' that he never repeated!

I see this in a lot of old matches(70s/80s) commentators didn't mentioned the bannings of so many great players from the majors when any of their names came up. They would just say what they won, not what they could have won. TV Commentator Jack Kramer didn't say anything about Rosewall being banned from so many US championships when he won the USO in '70, just 'isn't that great, Kenny wins this title 14 years after he last won it.'

The way the media(even Dan Maskell who's seen it all) covered Borg winning 4 straight Wimbledons ("he's passed Perry!" not the disclaimer that Perry, Laver etc were banned from some Wimbledons) and Mac equaling Tilden with 3 straight US Championships in '81 sort of show how differently pre Open era history was presented at the time.

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.

[timnz]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

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]

Originally Posted by kiki

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]

Originally Posted by timnz

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]

Originally Posted by urban

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.