pc1
G.O.A.T.
Agassi's ground stroke shotmaking was top 2-3 all time, IMO. He had the greatest backhand in tennis history and one of the best forehands. But, he didn't have the mobility to put that shotmaking to its best use. Agassi explains that he had a congenital lumbar spine defect that affected his mobility as he got older, which can clearly be seen. It seems to me that Agassi was hitting the ball better than ever in the late 90's, early 2000's, but, his mobility decline offset that. He compensated well by standing in close and cutting off angles. But, against players like Sampras and Federer, Agassi's lack of world class mobility was exposed.
1. Laver
2. Federer
3. Sampras
4. Borg
5. Gonzales
6. Nadal
7. Lendl
8. McEnroe
9. Connors
10. Agassi
PS: I would also say that Agassi's peak level of play might have been higher than Lendl, McEnroe or Connors. But, it was too sporatic, and not sufficiently sustained, to give him full credit for that. Compare Borg, whose career was short, but, it was virtually all peak with a ridiculous winning percentage, especially at the majors with 11 titles out of 27 attempts.
Nevertheless, I can't see Rosewall with a winning record against anyone in my top 10.
All hard to say. If we look at Sampras for example, Rosewall would competitive on all fast surfaces with Pete Sampras as he was against Laver. Remember Rosewall even in his mid to later thirties was able to defeat Roche in the 1970 US Open final on grass and he was able to defeat John Newcombe in the semi before that. These are two of the finest fast court players of all time. Roche was in his prime. However on clay I think Rosewall would win a very good percentage of the matches against Sampras. It's very possible Rosewall would defeat Sampras most of the time if they played equally on all surfaces.
I read about a practice set (if memory serves) Lendl played against Rosewall about 1980 or so. Rosewall was about 46 and Lendl about 20 but one of the top players in the world I believe. I understand it was a great set and Lendl won by 6-4. Now it doesn't necessarily mean anything I guess but it does show that an old Rosewall was competitive with a tournament tough Lendl. It was against a pre peak Lendl but it also was a way past prime Rosewall. I understand the rallies were fantastic from observer.
Agassi used to have a lot of problems with Miloslav Mecir. He once mentioned years ago (probably changed his opinion later) that Mecir was the one who gave him the most problems. Odd thing is that according to ATP records they only played once. A player like Mecir with great mobility and the ability to control the rally apparently bothered Agassi. Mecir didn't have the biggest serve in the world but neither did Agassi although Agassi could pop in some powerful serves. I think Rosewall in his prime could very well do the same thing as Mecir did to Agassi.
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