Livedeath
Professional
Before I venture in depth of the way ATG played in their top years first I would like to give a brief description of whom I consider ATG's. The definition could vary from person to person but here is mine
"A player who has been at the helm of the rankings, won against top players in the most prestigious tournaments, is the proud winner of the best tournaments tennis circuit has to offer, and was among the best players in a season for a good number of years."
We quite often talk or discuss about ATGs and their games and compare their respective stats with each other, even if they are from different generations, but we know that they don't have always played great in their career, like for example an ATG could have started slow which is true in most cases if not all, or during the middle of their career their form plunged to a level where they were not in the contention of the best players in a season, or in their twilight years their performance dipped considerably owing to lack of interest in sport or mother nature making her presence felt , hence their overall achievements, stats and various aspects with whom we acknowledge them gets affected, hence I was intrigued of how about if we consider their best years in which they were able to produce great tennis and were still in the best players list for the whole season.
I was in a dilemma to whether I should consider their best years as grand slam winning years or years in which they were top 5. There are numerous instances in which players who won the GS but were not the best players for the whole year, for instance take the case of Agassi in 1992 where he won the Wimbledon but was ranked 9th, and Sampras he won US Open but was ranked 13th, or the case of Becker in 1996, he did won the AO but was inconsistent for the whole year and played much less tennis, hence I settled for the years in which they were able to secure year end top 5 for a season.
I have created a list of players who fall in this category, namely (in no particular order)
Pete Sampras
Years in top 5: 10
GS, Masters and other top titles performance, and results against vs No 1, top 4, top 5, top 8, top 10 and top 20 during this period
Andre Agassi
Years in top 5: 8
GS, Masters and other top titles performance, and results against vs No 1, top 4, top 5, top 8, top 10 and top 20 during this period
Bjorn Borg
Years in top 5: 8
"A player who has been at the helm of the rankings, won against top players in the most prestigious tournaments, is the proud winner of the best tournaments tennis circuit has to offer, and was among the best players in a season for a good number of years."
We quite often talk or discuss about ATGs and their games and compare their respective stats with each other, even if they are from different generations, but we know that they don't have always played great in their career, like for example an ATG could have started slow which is true in most cases if not all, or during the middle of their career their form plunged to a level where they were not in the contention of the best players in a season, or in their twilight years their performance dipped considerably owing to lack of interest in sport or mother nature making her presence felt , hence their overall achievements, stats and various aspects with whom we acknowledge them gets affected, hence I was intrigued of how about if we consider their best years in which they were able to produce great tennis and were still in the best players list for the whole season.
I was in a dilemma to whether I should consider their best years as grand slam winning years or years in which they were top 5. There are numerous instances in which players who won the GS but were not the best players for the whole year, for instance take the case of Agassi in 1992 where he won the Wimbledon but was ranked 9th, and Sampras he won US Open but was ranked 13th, or the case of Becker in 1996, he did won the AO but was inconsistent for the whole year and played much less tennis, hence I settled for the years in which they were able to secure year end top 5 for a season.
I have created a list of players who fall in this category, namely (in no particular order)
Pete Sampras
Years in top 5: 10
GS, Masters and other top titles performance, and results against vs No 1, top 4, top 5, top 8, top 10 and top 20 during this period
Andre Agassi
Years in top 5: 8
GS, Masters and other top titles performance, and results against vs No 1, top 4, top 5, top 8, top 10 and top 20 during this period
Bjorn Borg
Years in top 5: 8
Last edited: