Grand slam final dream matches between past and present

[Warriorroger]

Men:
AO: Rod Laver vs Patrick Rafter
FO: Roger Federer vs Pete Sampras
WI: Boris Becker vs Rafael Nadal
US: Andre Aggasi vs Jimmi Connors

Women:
AO: Martina Navratilova vs Martina Hingis
FO: Gabriela Sabatini vs Amelie Mauresmo
WI: Monica Seles vs Arantxha Sanchez Vicario
US: Steffi Graf vs Kim Clijsters

Men's double: clay
Boris Becker/Stefan Edberg - John Mcenroe/Nadal

Women's double: hardcourt
Martina Navratilova/Martina Hingis - The William sisters

Mixed double: indoor
Pete Sampras/Gabriela Sabatini - Roger Federer/Steffi Graf

 

[Joe Pike]

Men:
AO: Rod Laver vs Patrick Rafter
FO: Roger Federer vs Pete Sampras
WI: Boris Becker vs Rafael Nadal
US: Andre Aggasi vs Jimmi Connors

Women:
AO: Martina Navratilova vs Martina Hingis
FO: Gabriela Sabatini vs Amelie Mauresmo
WI: Monica Seles vs Arantxha Sanchez Vicario
US: Steffi Graf vs Kim Clijsters
...

Graf beat Clijsters 6-2 6-2 in a slam some years ago.

Graf vs. Henin - that would be the match!

 

[prestige18]

why isnt the fed sampras match on grass or even on hard, and why isnt nadals match on clay against borg, just my two cents, and i dont think even the french crowd could help mauresmo be any good on clay

 

[legolas]

AO: Elena Dementieva vs Steffi graf
FO: Gabriela Sabatini vs Amelie Mauresmo
W: Federer vs Sampras
USO: Agassi vs Rafter

 

[Warriorroger]

why isnt the fed sampras match on grass or even on hard, and why isnt nadals match on clay against borg, just my two cents, and i dont think even the french crowd could help mauresmo be any good on clay

For some players I though it would be exiting to watch them on their least favorite surface.

 

[GrassCourtFan]

Becker-Nadal on grass would just be anticlimactic - straight-set demolition by Becker, IMO...


I'd love to see Federer-Sampras at Wimbledon.

 

[superman1]

Federer vs Sampras in Wimbledon final...wow. I'd pick a young Sampras to win that.

Tony Roche vs Federer...?
Borg vs Sampras
Laver vs Sampras
Agassi vs McEnroe
Kuerten vs Nadal

 

[GrassCourtFan]

Kuerten vs Nadal would be awesome. On clay, I presume? Great claycourters duking it out...

Those other four you mention wouldn't even be close.

If you gave them all modern racquets, the modern guys would win easily. If you gave them all wooden racquets, the old guys would win easily.

 

[joe sch]

Men:
AO & USO: Rod Laver vs John McEnroe (home & home exciting SV'ers)
W: Roger Federer vs Pete Sampras (power and skill on the grass)
FO: Thomas Muster vs Rafael Nadal (the dirt monsters)
US: Andre Aggasi vs Jimmi Connors (baseline bangers with some attitude)



Men's double: USO
The Bryans v John Mcenroe/Fleming (new school v old school)

Mixed double: USO
Agassi/Graf - Connors/Evert (this would be a fun group)

 

[superman1]

We're not really thinking about the racquets, just the talent.

I think Agassi would blow Connors away at any point in their careers. No one can out-baseline Agassi. If he was faster on his feet, he would be as unstoppable as Federer.

 

[35ft6]

Each playing at their best --

Wimbledon: Sampras versus Laver... Sampras versus McEnroe... Sampras versus Borg... Federer versus Borg, Mac, Becker or Sampras...

French: Nadal versus Lendl... Guga versus Nadal... Borg versus Nadal... Guga versus Borg...

US Open: Federer versus Sampras, Lendl, Mac, Connors, or Edberg... Roddick versus Federer... Roddick versus Lendl or Connors...

Most of these matchups I'd like to see just to provide some answers.

 

[joe sch]

We're not really thinking about the racquets, just the talent.

I think Agassi would blow Connors away at any point in their careers. No one can out-baseline Agassi. If he was faster on his feet, he would be as unstoppable as Federer.

Very true, its very hard to compare tennis players from the wood, early graphite and present eras so you really need to imagine how the matchups would have played out based on the players abilities and techniques. This is actually a handicap for most of the current champions since they do not play allcourt games.

With the above considerations in mind, I think that connors could compete very competitively with any champion of any era since he is one of the few champions in tennis history that has beat the best allcourt players and serve/volley'ers. Borg, McEnroe & Agassi would be others champs that meets these requirements.

 

[pound cat]

Safin v. Jimmy Connors AO

That would be a racket smasher

 

[Grimjack]

I think Agassi would blow Connors away at any point in their careers.

If only they had played a 5-set classic at the US Open when connors was 38 years old, then we'd know for sure.

"You're a legend; he's a punk."

Agassi won, but it was ANYTHING but a blowout. And Connors was ancient. At the height of their respective powers, this would have been a war every time.