Some aspects of Lendl’s results are extraordinarily impressive. The Wikepedia article on him lists a bunch under the heading “Career Achievments”. I will comment only on the most striking (to my mind) but the combination of ALL the achievements listed there make him perhaps the most impressive player (result-wise) in the history of tennis after Laver.
1. He reached a record 19 grand slam finals (winning 8) at a time when the 4 grand slams had acquired their status as the 4 most important tournaments.
2. He reached at least one grand slam final for 11 consecutive years (tied with Sampras).
In an article recently posted here, there is a very relevant comment about the nature of his GS finals, which is seldom mentioned:
http://www.1stserve.com/legacy.asp
“Ivan reached 19 grand slam signals finals, more than any other male player in the open era, he won 8 of them, but a closer look will reveal the fact that he lost 10 of those finals to 5 of the greatest champions in the open era, Borg, Connors, McEnroe, Willander and Becker. Pete Sampras, the greatest tennis player the game has seen so far, has a total of 12 grand slams, 7 of them were against players who not only were never number one, but players who never won a single grand slam tournament, of the remaining 5, three of them were against Andre Agassi. How many slams would Ivan have won if he had faced players of that caliber? Of the 19 Grand Slam finals, Ivan faced, players who were multiple slam winners and former number ones, 15 times.”
This is an excellent point. Who were those players? They were: Borg, Connors, McEnroe,
Wilander, Edberg and Becker
And he faced some of them in the semis of other slams. It is sometimes said that he did not face strong enough competition in his career. The facts don’t bear it out.
3. Lendl reached a far-away record of 9 straight Master’s finals (winning 5, tied with Sampras) plus 3 semifinals. The fact that the field at the Master’s contains the 8 or 12 best players for the year speaks for itself with regard to this accomplishment.
4. He reached the US Open finals 8 straight years.
5. He has the highest number of consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals appearances (14) and the second highest number of GS semifinals (10).
6. Second after Sampras in total number of weeks (270) as number one, and third after Connors and Federer in most consecutive weeks as number one.
7. Second longest winning streak (44)
8. Longest winning streak indoors (66)
9. Highest number of consecutive finals reached (18)
10. Second most tournaments won in a single year (15 in 1982; Vilas won 16 in 1977 but probably facing less strong competition).
11. Only male player to have won more than 90% of his matches in FIVE different years (this may well be the most astounding statistic of them all). And only male player to have won at least 90 matches in three different years.
12. Second most single titles (144) after Laver. Of these, only 94 are listed by the ATP, but the remaining 59 contain usually pretty strong fields, most often with 8 players or more). ATP lists Connors as the top title winner (109) admitting many tournaments that were ridiculously below the quality of those not admitted for Lendl.
Finally, let's take a look at Lendl's match record against his top contemporaries throught he 80s. We exclude Borg to be fair, because his last match with Lendl was 1981, at the very early stages of Lendl's career.
Lendl-Agassi 6-2
Lendl-Becker 11-10
Lendl-Cash 5-3
Lendl-Chang 5-2
Lendl-Connors 22-1
Lendl-Courier 4-0
Lendl-Edberg 13-14
Lendl-McEnroe 23-15
Lendl-Wilander 15-7
His only losing record against his contemporaries in the 80s is against Edberg, and it is a near tie (13-14)
The combination of all these facts (and others mentioned in the wikipedia article) leaves me completely speechless. I don’t think the weight of the facts can quite be matched.
In view of all that, Lendl has to be considered without a doubt the most systematically under-rated player in the history of the game.
1. He reached a record 19 grand slam finals (winning 8) at a time when the 4 grand slams had acquired their status as the 4 most important tournaments.
2. He reached at least one grand slam final for 11 consecutive years (tied with Sampras).
In an article recently posted here, there is a very relevant comment about the nature of his GS finals, which is seldom mentioned:
http://www.1stserve.com/legacy.asp
“Ivan reached 19 grand slam signals finals, more than any other male player in the open era, he won 8 of them, but a closer look will reveal the fact that he lost 10 of those finals to 5 of the greatest champions in the open era, Borg, Connors, McEnroe, Willander and Becker. Pete Sampras, the greatest tennis player the game has seen so far, has a total of 12 grand slams, 7 of them were against players who not only were never number one, but players who never won a single grand slam tournament, of the remaining 5, three of them were against Andre Agassi. How many slams would Ivan have won if he had faced players of that caliber? Of the 19 Grand Slam finals, Ivan faced, players who were multiple slam winners and former number ones, 15 times.”
This is an excellent point. Who were those players? They were: Borg, Connors, McEnroe,
Wilander, Edberg and Becker
And he faced some of them in the semis of other slams. It is sometimes said that he did not face strong enough competition in his career. The facts don’t bear it out.
3. Lendl reached a far-away record of 9 straight Master’s finals (winning 5, tied with Sampras) plus 3 semifinals. The fact that the field at the Master’s contains the 8 or 12 best players for the year speaks for itself with regard to this accomplishment.
4. He reached the US Open finals 8 straight years.
5. He has the highest number of consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals appearances (14) and the second highest number of GS semifinals (10).
6. Second after Sampras in total number of weeks (270) as number one, and third after Connors and Federer in most consecutive weeks as number one.
7. Second longest winning streak (44)
8. Longest winning streak indoors (66)
9. Highest number of consecutive finals reached (18)
10. Second most tournaments won in a single year (15 in 1982; Vilas won 16 in 1977 but probably facing less strong competition).
11. Only male player to have won more than 90% of his matches in FIVE different years (this may well be the most astounding statistic of them all). And only male player to have won at least 90 matches in three different years.
12. Second most single titles (144) after Laver. Of these, only 94 are listed by the ATP, but the remaining 59 contain usually pretty strong fields, most often with 8 players or more). ATP lists Connors as the top title winner (109) admitting many tournaments that were ridiculously below the quality of those not admitted for Lendl.
Finally, let's take a look at Lendl's match record against his top contemporaries throught he 80s. We exclude Borg to be fair, because his last match with Lendl was 1981, at the very early stages of Lendl's career.
Lendl-Agassi 6-2
Lendl-Becker 11-10
Lendl-Cash 5-3
Lendl-Chang 5-2
Lendl-Connors 22-1
Lendl-Courier 4-0
Lendl-Edberg 13-14
Lendl-McEnroe 23-15
Lendl-Wilander 15-7
His only losing record against his contemporaries in the 80s is against Edberg, and it is a near tie (13-14)
The combination of all these facts (and others mentioned in the wikipedia article) leaves me completely speechless. I don’t think the weight of the facts can quite be matched.
In view of all that, Lendl has to be considered without a doubt the most systematically under-rated player in the history of the game.
