Best record in non-grand slam major tournaments since 1970

[timnz]

Masters 1000 tournaments have only been called as such since 1990. That arbitary date of commencement leaves out a lot of open era history of great tournament play.

I thought it would be good to analyze who were the players with the best tournament records in the top level tournaments outside of the grand slams. I came across this great post describing the grand prix championship series tournaments:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prix_Tennis_Championship_Series_1970-1989

They seem an ideal place to work out some equivalency to masters level tournaments.

To these lists of tournaments we could add the tournaments that were above masters level but below grand slam level (in prestige). I think that the only tournaments that qualify, since 1970, in that category would be the WCT finals and the season end masters tournament.

So the players having the best totals appear to be:

Lendl - 29 tournaments. 22 championship series tournaments + 2 WCT championships + 5 season end masters tournaments

McEnroe - 27 tournaments. 19 championship series tournaments + 5 WCT championships + 3 season end masters tournaments

Connors - 22 tournaments. 19 championship series tournaments + 2 WCT championships + 1 season End masters tournament

Federer - 22 tournaments. 17 masters 1000 events + 5 season end tournaments

Nadal - 19 tournaments. 19 masters 1000 events.

Borg - 18 tournaments. 15 championship series tournaments + 1 WCT championship + 2 season end masters tournaments

Interesting observation. Laver won 9 events after the age of 31 ! Bet no-one is going to break that record.

For a great chart showing championship series/masters 1000 events since 1970 go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_Masters_Series_records_and_statistics

For WCT finals record go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCT_Finals

For season end masters go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATP_World_Tour_Finals

 

[urban]

Interesting list. Its to be said, that the Grand Prix originally was founded in 1970by the ILTF and Jack Kramer to counter the concept of the WCT, who started a new series of pro tournaments with 32 contract players, and the Grand Prix included many more tournaments than shown here. Richey was the leading Grand Prix player in 1970.
I would agree with most of the events here. Going by the Tennis World year books, the best sources for early open tennis, a few events were more prominent than some here mentioned. I would place the German Open at Hamburg over the Monte Carlo event until at least the mid 70s. Johannesburg SA open, Italian open, German open were the most prominent traditional Champs outside the majors. Wembley British Covered Courts, and Philadelphia US pro open were the most prominent indoor events. Then came Paris, Stockholm and Salisbury US indoors. LA South West pacific (Berkeley in 1971), later Las Vegas, US pro at Boston (with different surfaces) were the most prominent hard court events, with Fort Worth Colonial, Washington Star International (har tru) and other events in the US in the second row.
I would also include some prominent events from 1968 and 69, which are mentioned above, including LA, Boston, Wembley, SA open, Italian, German open and some Madison Square Garden events.

 

[Dan Lobb]

Interesting list. Its to be said, that the Grand Prix originally was founded in 1970by the ILTF and Jack Kramer to counter the concept of the WCT, who started a new series of pro tournaments with 32 contract players, and the Grand Prix included many more tournaments than shown here. Richey was the leading Grand Prix player in 1970.
I would agree with most of the events here. Going by the Tennis World year books, the best sources for early open tennis, a few events were more prominent than some here mentioned. I would place the German Open at Hamburg over the Monte Carlo event until at least the mid 70s. Johannesburg SA open, Italian open, German open were the most prominent traditional Champs outside the majors. Wembley British Covered Courts, and Philadelphia US pro open were the most prominent indoor events. Then came Paris, Stockholm and Salisbury US indoors. LA South West pacific (Berkeley in 1971), later Las Vegas, US pro at Boston (with different surfaces) were the most prominent hard court events, with Fort Worth Colonial, Washington Star International (har tru) and other events in the US in the second row.
I would also include some prominent events from 1968 and 69, which are mentioned above, including LA, Boston, Wembley, SA open, Italian, German open and some Madison Square Garden events.

Although Richey was the leader in points for the 1970 Grand Prix series, he was not the 1970 Grand Prix Champion. That was decided by the year-end event, and it was Stan Smith who won that title of Grand Prix Champion.

Grand Prix tennis circuit - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org