Best individual season of Open Era?

[smoledman]

Open Era - Laver 1969
ATP Era(1973 to present) - Federer 2006

Next best in ATP Era - 2010 Nadal, 2011 Djokovic, 2007 Federer

[Semi-Pro]

I still think Rafa's 2008 season exceeds his 2010 season despite winning 1 less slam

[smoledman]

You can argue Nadal's 2008 is equivalent to 2010 because the gold medal = a slam. Also the gold medal was on the same surface as the US Open.

[pc1]

A lot of other possibilities, Connors in 1974 won three out of three majors entered. He couldn't enter the French Open because players who played WTT weren't allowed to enter. He was either 99-4 or 93-4 for the year.

McEnroe in 1984 won Wimbledon and the US Open with an 82-3 won-lost record. He won 13 tournaments out of 15 entered. He destroyed people, not just beat them that year.

A few of Borg's seasons in the late 1970's deserve great consideration.

It's a long time ago but Djokovic's 2011 season deserves great consideration also. Any old timers remember 2011? lol.

Maybe the best season of the Open Era was Steffi Graf's 1988 season with the Golden Slam. And of course many of Martina Navratilova's seasons from 1982 to 1986. Margaret Court won the Grand Slam in 1970 and many of Chris Evert's season are up there also.

[smoledman]

Many legendary seasons in the Open Era. Difficult to compare the modern era where the Australian Open is in January and on hardcourt since 1988 to before.

[BauerAlmeida]

Federer's 2006.

But I don't think 2007 was his second best. 2004 was a bit better despite losing earlier in RG and in 2005 he was playing at his best, although ironically he won one less slam that year and didn't win the TMC.

[underground]

Originally Posted by smoledman

You can argue Nadal's 2008 is equivalent to 2010 because the gold medal = a slam. Also the gold medal was on the same surface as the US Open.

Errm...no? The only bo5 match he had to play was against Gonzalez.

[Gizo]

Obviously Laver's 1969 is the best, with him completing grand slam and winning the biggest titles available to him on grass, clay, hard courts and carpet. No other player has won all 4 majors, or won the biggest titles on 4 different surfaces, in one single season in the open era.

Federer's 2006, with him either winning or finishing as the runner-up in 16 out of the 17 events he entered, and McEnroe's 1984 when he won 96.5% of his matches, round off the top 3 in my opinion.

[RF20Lennon]

Laver federer Mac djokovic IMO

[timnz]

Originally Posted by smoledman

You can argue Nadal's 2008 is equivalent to 2010 because the gold medal = a slam. Also the gold medal was on the same surface as the US Open.

No, olympics=750 points, slam = 2000 points

[NadalAgassi]

Laver in 1969 of course. Grand Slam >>>> no Grand Slam.

Second best would be Connors in 1974. Didnt lose an important match all year and was unfairly robbed of a chance at the Grand Slam by a jaded rival group.

Third best would be McEnroe in 1984. An insane match record which nobody has matched today, complete dominance of big matches vs legends, and the only big match or big event he didnt win was that French he had won but completely choked away, as the Australian was a relative afterthought at the time (except for the purposes of the Grand Slam).

the rest of my top 10 would be:

4. Nadal 2010 (won the biggest event of the year on every surface, huge)
5. Federer 2006 Great overall record but 0 clay titles.
6. Djokovic 2011
7. Federer 2005 lost 3 of the 5 biggest events of year, but incredible M-W record second to only McEnroe's 84 I believe.
8. Nadal 2008 (considering I consider the Olympics atleast on par with the WTF, a major title on each surface again)
9. Wilander 1998
10. McEnroe 1981

Federer in 2004 had too many early round defeats for a historic year, and in 2007 he had a number of really bad losses (eg- Canas in 2 hard court Masters in a row, then Volandri in a 3rd straight Masters).

[ledwix]

Originally Posted by timnz

No, olympics=750 points, slam = 2000 points

Just like how 1968/9, 1973, and whatever year the AO became the season opener slam are turning points in tennis history, 2008 may be the turning point for the Olympics. Its value in points is still low, but I could see it as a 1250 soon because on average people tend to see it as such.

[merlinpinpin]

Rosol 2012 should be considered, too, at least according to Trolling Day & Knight. As h2h in slams is the only thing that matters, he has now established himself as being greater than RNadal in the GOAT debate, and by a fair margin, too, with a 100/ w/l ratio in the matches that opposed him to the Spaniard.

Now, is he could just break the top 100...

Edit: he has! Soaring at #89, wow!

Definitely one of the top seasons of the open era, then, and even IN HISTORY. GOATish stuff, Lukas!

[DragonBlaze]

Originally Posted by NadalAgassi

Laver in 1969 of course. Grand Slam >>>> no Grand Slam.

Second best would be Connors in 1974. Didnt lose an important match all year and was unfairly robbed of a chance at the Grand Slam by a jaded rival group.

Third best would be McEnroe in 1984. An insane match record which nobody has matched today, complete dominance of big matches vs legends, and the only big match or big event he didnt win was that French he had won but completely choked away, as the Australian was a relative afterthought at the time (except for the purposes of the Grand Slam).

the rest of my top 10 would be:

4. Nadal 2010 (won the biggest event of the year on every surface, huge)
5. Federer 2006 Great overall record but 0 clay titles.
6. Djokovic 2011
7. Federer 2005 lost 3 of the 5 biggest events of year, but incredible M-W record second to only McEnroe's 84 I believe.
8. Nadal 2008 (considering I consider the Olympics atleast on par with the WTF, a major title on each surface again)
9. Wilander 1998
10. McEnroe 1981

Federer in 2004 had too many early round defeats for a historic year, and in 2007 he had a number of really bad losses (eg- Canas in 2 hard court Masters in a row, then Volandri in a 3rd straight Masters).

I just find that hard to take seriously when Nadal had more losses in 2010 alone compared to Federer in 2005 and 2006 COMBINED.

Also you mention Federer's 2007 having "bad losses" and thus not including it in the list whatsoever. Yet still, Fed's record that year (68-9) is better than Nadal's 2010 (71-10). PLUS Federer won 8 titles (4/5 "big events" and final of the last) whereas Nadal had 7 titles (3/5 "big events" and one final, and one quarter final).

Further still, let's take a look at the "bad losses" from each year.

Fed's 2007 - the two Canas, and one Volandri. The other were as follows - One Djoker, 2 Nalby, 2 Rafa, nothing truly bad there.

Nadal's 2010 - Davydenko (after winning the first set 6-0 no less), Ivan ljubicic, Roddick, Lopez, Baghdatis, Garcia-Lopez, Melzer. Also 2x Murray and Federer which aren't bad.

Normally I wouldn't even consider Nadal's loss to Davydenko a bad one on HC since Davy owns Nadal on HC, but damn after winning that first set 6-0 to lose from there was pretty horrible. Suffice the rest of his losses are just as bad as Fed's 2007 except that there were more!

Considering how close Fed's 2007 to Nadal's 2010, I can see it plausible to put Rafa's season higher since he won on 3 different surfaces. However if you're going to say Nadal winning on 3 diff surfaces is going to magically leapfrog him over Fed's 2006, nevermind the gap in accomplishments (12 titles, 16/17 finals, 4/5 big events etc etc etc), well you might as well just be saying you like Nadal better Federer. Which is fair enough because you do and I notice you did atleast say "the rest of my list" and didn't proclaim it as fact. However then don't berate someone whose opinion it is that Fed's 2006 is better than Laver's 1969 (and someone surely will say it in this thread. Mind you, I'm not saying that).

[sonicare]

Djokovic 2011..

He owned Nadal who was playing his best tennis ever in 6 finals across 3 surfaces.

Owned federer 4-1 too

[merwy]

Originally Posted by sonicare

Djokovic 2011..

He owned Nadal who was playing his best tennis ever in 6 finals across 3 surfaces.

Owned federer 4-1 too

This. You know you've played an amazing season when you've beaten the (former) #1 six times in a row and you've beaten the GOAT 4 out of 5 times.

[kOaMaster]

Originally Posted by merwy

This. You know you've played an amazing season when you've beaten the (former) #1 six times in a row and you've beaten the GOAT 4 out of 5 times.

Just want to mention it:
Federer won 6 out of 6 matches vs Hewitt in 2004 and bageled him five times in those 6 matches, including twice in a final and four of those in grand slams.

Further: Won twice vs Agassi, three times vs Roddick (1 bagel), three times vs Safin, twice vs Moya

And there was no loss against any of those mentioned above (this was the top 5 end of 2004).

Overall: 74-6.

[Agassifan]

Originally Posted by Semi-Pro

I still think Rafa's 2008 season exceeds his 2010 season despite winning 1 less slam

What was his W/L record for 2008? End thread.

[kiki]

Laver 1969
Mc Enroe 1984
Connors 1974
Wilander 1988
Sampras 1983
Federer 2006
Nadal 2010
Djokovic 2011
Lendl 1986/87
Nastase 1973
Vilas 1977
Becker 1989
Rosewall 1971/72, in the first half, winning Ao and WCT finals back to back
but those last two basically on clay, since Nastase played a better grass court season back in 1972.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by kiki

Laver 1969
Mc Enroe 1984
Connors 1974
Wilander 1988
Sampras 1983
Federer 2006
Nadal 2010
Djokovic 2011
Lendl 1986/87
Nastase 1973
Vilas 1977
Becker 1989
Rosewall 1971/72, in the first half, winning Ao and WCT finals back to back
but those last two basically on clay, since Nastase played a better grass court season back in 1972.

Sampras in 1993, obviously.