Interesting thoughts. I dont think Sampras had weak opposition at Wimbledon though. Becker, Ivanisevic (who would be a 4 or 5 time Wimbledon Champ without Pete), Agassi (who usually played well at Wimbledon), is already substantial competition there, along with other challengers who were excellent on grass, like Rafter, Krajicek, Philipoussis, Henman. At the U.S Open it could be argued Sampras had fairly weak competition, but he did go 4-0 vs Andre Agassi there, all years Agassi was playing very well, and Agassi being one of the best hard courters of the Open Era himself, so that is solid evidence of his abilities there IMO.
I agree with you on the others though. Bill Tilden seemed to play Bill Johnson in the final of the U.S Open every single year which doesnt speak much to the depth then, especialy as it is not like the other Bill is considered an all time great. Granted he was older by then, but once people like Cochet, LaCoste, began to emerge, and he began playing someone other than the other Bill in every single final, he was immediately not dominant, and rarely even winning.
I agree there wasnt much depth on grass during the height of Borg's dominance. His only real competition was Connors, who wasnt exactly a grass specialist, despite his excellent resume on the surface. That is until McEnroe began to emerge as a major force, which at Wimbledon atleast wasnt even until 1980 (in general late 79, sometime after Wimbledon). On clay he didnt have that much competition either, his main rival was Vilas who could get barely get any games off him.
I would also say Federer at the peak of his dominance had very little worthy opposition. Roddick, Hewitt, and Safin were his main competition off of clay in 2004/early 2005, then in late 2005-early 2007 that was downgraded further to Davydenko, Nalbandian, and Ljubicic as his main competition on non clay surfaces. Only when Nadal began to become a contender on grass and hard courts, and Djokovic emerged, did Federer begin to have some semblance of worthy competition.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn`t call it Federer`s opposition weak at all during the 2004 season. It was a very strong top 4 if you ask me.
Federer- reaching his prime (although not his peak) , with some of the highest displays ever seen, especially on hardcourts
Roddick- IMO playing his best tennis ever (even better than the year before), huge serve and forehand combo, although his backhand was pretty much a mess back then
Hewitt- he lost only to the eventual champion at the four majors. IMO the second best player of the year, playing the best tennis of his life (yes even better than his 2 seasons as number 1).
Safin- great form in the beginning and the end of the year. reached the peak of his level during the TMC (and the AO next season)
Besides you had Coria and Moya being a force on clay, Henman playing his best tennis in the last 5 years, an old but still competitive Agassi and a dangerous Nalbandian. i don`t know how to rate Gaudio, because when on he could toy with almost anybody on clay, but he was wayyyyy inconsistent.
But if this is not proof enough of the strenght of this field lets take a quick look at some other top 4.
2003- Roddick, Federer, Ferrero, Agassi (as i said, good but past his prime)
2002- Hewitt, Agassi, Safin, Ferrero
2001- Hewitt, Kuerten, Agassi, Kafelnikov
2000- Kuerten, Safin, Sampras, Norman
1999- Agassi, Kafelnikov, Sampras, Enqvist
1998- Sampras, Rios, Corretja, Rafter
1997- Sampras, Rafter, Chang, Bjorkman
1996- Sampras, Chang, Kafelnikov, Ivanisevic
1995- Sampras, Agassi, Muster, Becker
So IMO you would have to go back at least 9 years to find an equally stronger top 4 (and could be debatable too because becker was 3 or 4 years past his prime and Muster was a mug outside clay). You may have a case regarding 2005 and 2006 seasons. But surely no about 2004 season
