Grand Slams - Where a player beat three All Time Greats in Same Tournament - Which one was most impressive?

M

McEnroeisanartist

Hall of Fame
What Grand Slams has a player beat three (at the time or future) All Time Greats in Same Tournament? All Time Great being the player won 6 or more Grand Slams in their careers.

Some that come to mind:

1980 US Open - McEnroe defeated Lendl, Connors, Borg
1984 US Open - McEnroe defeated Edberg, Connors, Lendl
1985 Wimbledon - Curren defeated Edberg, McEnroe, Connors
1987 US Open - Lendl defeated McEnroe, Connors, and Wilander
1989 French Open - Chang defeated Sampras, Lendl, Edberg
1990 US Open - Sampras defeated Lendl, McEnroe, Agassi
1992 Wimbledon - Ivanisevic defeated Lendl, Edberg, Sampras

Honorable Mention to
Stich 1991 Wimbledon defeated Courier, Edberg, Becker
Sampras 1993 Wimbledon defeated Agassi, Becker, Courier

Which one was most impressive?
 
I would vote for Chang. He was a 17 year old kid and almost unknown at the time he pulled off that hat-trick (albeit beating Sampras on clay was not all that much of an upset).
 
Your best thread in a while, OP.
You can add the poll, it would be better.

For me is McEnroe, Us Open 1980.
(y)
 
McEnroeisanartist said:
What Grand Slams has a player beat three (at the time or future) All Time Greats in Same Tournament? All Time Great being the player won 6 or more Grand Slams in their careers.

Some that come to mind:

1980 US Open - McEnroe defeated Lendl, Connors, Borg
1984 US Open - McEnroe defeated Edberg, Connors, Lendl
1985 Wimbledon - Curren defeated Edberg, McEnroe, Connors
1987 US Open - Lendl defeated McEnroe, Connors, and Wilander
1989 French Open - Chang defeated Sampras, Lendl, Edberg
1990 US Open - Sampras defeated Lendl, McEnroe, Agassi
1992 Wimbledon - Ivanisevic defeated Lendl, Edberg, Sampras

Honorable Mention to
Stich 1991 Wimbledon defeated Courier, Edberg, Becker
Sampras 1993 Wimbledon defeated Agassi, Becker, Courier

Which one was most impressive?
Click to expand...
I would vote this goes in the former pro section.

I would vote for Curren at 1985 Wimbledon as players closerer to prime. Curren's serve was unstoppable until the final with Becker. Absolutely crushed Connors and McEnroe. All three of the victims were Wimbledon champs in their career as well.
 
2001 Us Open_ Hewitt defeat Roddick,Kafelnikov and Sampras in a row.
Anyway, Ivanisevic run at 2001 WIM was probably toughest ever.
Johnson,Moya,Roddick,Rusedski,Safin,Henman and Rafter.
 
What about Gaston Gaudio run at RG 2004?
Canas,Novak,Enqvist,Andreev,Hewitt,Nalbandian and Coria.
Quite epic.
 
When you're considering most impressive I think you have to consider the context - a lot of these all time greats were not yet all time greats when they played these matches, some of them had long since past the point where beating an all time great means much, some of them were not especially great on a particular surface regardless of their overall reputation.

Honestly, I think of your choices I would go with Sampras at Wimbledon in 93!

Others worth noting - Cash at Wimbledon in 87, though that has a lot of the same issues as your picks, Edberg at the US Open in 92, though there's a lot of flirting with the definition of all time great there.

My all time fave off the top of my head might be Guga knocking off the 94, 95, and 96 Roland Garros champions en route to winning the title there in 97.
 
lud said:
2001 Us Open_ Hewitt defeat Roddick,Kafelnikov and Sampras in a row.
Anyway, Ivanisevic run at 2001 WIM was probably toughest ever.
Johnson,Moya,Roddick,Rusedski,Safin,Henman and Rafter.
Click to expand...
2001 was memorial because Goran finally won Wimbledon after several painful defeats in finals, but saying it's the toughest draw ever is a huge exaggeration in my opinion, there were far tougher draws. Also, the only truly elite grass court player he beat was Rafter (Roddick was still very young).

However, his run in 1992 was way more impressive, he beat Lendl, Edberg and Sampras on his way to the final and lost only after five sets. Had he beaten Agassi in the final, it would've been probably the most impressive victory of all time in a major (on a level with Mac's USO 1980).
 
ibbi said:
When you're considering most impressive I think you have to consider the context - a lot of these all time greats were not yet all time greats when they played these matches, some of them had long since past the point where beating an all time great means much, some of them were not especially great on a particular surface regardless of their overall reputation.

Honestly, I think of your choices I would go with Sampras at Wimbledon in 93!

Others worth noting - Cash at Wimbledon in 87, though that has a lot of the same issues as your picks, Edberg at the US Open in 92, though there's a lot of flirting with the definition of all time great there.

My all time fave off the top of my head might be Guga knocking off the 94, 95, and 96 Roland Garros champions en route to winning the title there in 97.
Click to expand...

Guga would probably be mine as well now that you say that because he was a complete unknown who was ranked outside the top 60 and beat 3 former RG champions to win the title. It's hard to top that.
 
ZiggyStardust said:
I vote for 1980 US Open. I think the average strength of the three ATGs on the surface at that time is the highest of those listed.
Click to expand...

I think it deserves to be mentioned as one of the more impressive physical feats in tennis history:
Thursday: beats Lendl in 4 sets
Friday: loses 5 set doubles final
Saturday: beats Connors in 5 sets, ends late in the day
Sunday: 4pm start for final, not much recovery. Beats Borg in 5(who hadn't lost a 5 setter in 6 years).

And some people here keep comparing Kyrgios to Mac?
 
Some of the list hardly count because when the was player some of those all time greats were nowhere near greats yet. From some examples below, in 1980 Lendl was still 4 years away from winning his first major. In 93 Agassi for example had only won a single major. In 1989 Sampras was still over a year away from winning his first.
McEnroeisanartist said:
1980 US Open - McEnroe defeated Lendl, Connors, Borg..
Sampras 1993 Wimbledon defeated Agassi, Becker, Courier
1989 French Open - Chang defeated Sampras, Lendl, Edberg
Click to expand...

This is probably the best one. The least accomplished ATG beaten was Wilander who had won 4 majors by this stage.
McEnroeisanartist said:
1987 US Open - Lendl defeated McEnroe, Connors, and Wilander
Click to expand...
 
Frаuderer beating GOAT contenders MUGydenko, Kiefer, and MUGdatis to win AO06. Truly a hard-earned win in the strongest of eras.
 
Too bad Djokovic can't beat himself. he went through both the Fedals in USO 2011. Both playing very good if not there best.

Don't think it gets any harder than that.
 
Bobby Jr said:
Some of the list hardly count because when the was player some of those all time greats were nowhere near greats yet. From some examples below, in 1980 Lendl was still 4 years away from winning his first major. In 93 Agassi for example had only won a single major. In 1989 Sampras was still over a year away from winning his first.


This is probably the best one. The least accomplished ATG beaten was Wilander who had won 4 majors by this stage.
Click to expand...

I think context is important. I followed the game pretty closely circa 1987. Mac was considered washed up, Connors was past his prime(and very old by the standards of the time, it was a surprise he even made the semis) Lendl was a dominant world #1, he was expected to win those matches.
 
Moose Malloy said:
I think context is important. I followed the game pretty closely circa 1987. Mac was considered washed up, Connors was past his prime(and very old by the standards of the time, it was a surprise he even made the semis) Lendl was a dominant world #1, he was expected to win those matches.
Click to expand...
It's not about how they were playing at the time. If it was it would be "ATGs in their peak/prime." It is about players who were ATGs. Calling someone like Lendl in 1980 who was years away from his first grand slam win an ATG kinda ruins the whole concept of achievements versus future achievements.

Grand slams are the main factor in making a player an ATG. If they didn't have them at the time then they can hardly be labelled as such in hindsight when looking at specific tournaments.

It's would be like if Sampras had beaten Federer at Wimbledon in 2001. No-one regarded Federer as an ATG. Only years later he became one. Same is true of the examples I gave.
 
JMac 1980 IMHO. Now, the tricky part is will we ever see a player who could beat all big 3 at a major????
 
Bobby Jr said:
It's not about how they were playing at the time. If it was it would be "ATGs in their peak/prime." It is about players who were ATGs. Calling someone like Lendl in 1980 who was years away from his first grand slam win an ATG kinda ruins the whole concept of achievements versus future achievements.

Grand slams are the main factor in making a player an ATG. If they didn't have them at the time then they can hardly be labelled as such in hindsight when looking at specific tournaments.

It's would be like if Sampras had beaten Federer at Wimbledon in 2001. No-one regarded Federer as an ATG. Only years later he became one. Same is true of the examples I gave.
Click to expand...

That's putting it in black & white. Here's that hint of blurred grey in between.

If their former selves prior to becoming ATG's played @ the same or very near same ATG level @ the time then i'd still count it. If they were just youthful & not playing @ that level then no.
 
Rafa's come close, probably just missing someone like a Murray to complete the set of three. Even Murray is borderline, if anything a lower teir ATG but there isn't anyone else in the Fedalovic era that would be considered close to an ATG

2006 RG - Rafa beat Federer, Djokovic & Hewitt
2007 RG - Rafa beat Federer, Djokovic, Hewitt, Moya & DelPotro
 
Bobby Jr said:
Some of the list hardly count because when the was player some of those all time greats were nowhere near greats yet. From some examples below, in 1980 Lendl was still 4 years away from winning his first major. In 93 Agassi for example had only won a single major. In 1989 Sampras was still over a year away from winning his first.


This is probably the best one. The least accomplished ATG beaten was Wilander who had won 4 majors by this stage.
Click to expand...
But in 87 McEnroe and Connors were already past their primes
 
Raining hopes said:
But Fedal in a HC slam.

A Very good Federer on HC.
A very good Nadal, defending champ, on his favorite HC slam

That's incredibly tough.
Click to expand...
Had he played those matches fully he might have had less gas in the tank against Fraud and Fraud pulling the victory :unsure:
But RAFA can't defend non-clay titles
 
Im(moral) Winner said:
But in 87 McEnroe and Connors were already past their primes
Click to expand...
You're playing it out like it's a debate about primes. It's not, ATGs is about accumulated accomplishments. When you're a year before your prime you're not an ATG. When you're 5 years after your prime you are still an ATG.
 
Bobby Jr said:
You're playing it out like it's a debate about primes. It's not, ATGs is about accumulated accomplishments. When you're a year before your prime you're not an ATG. When you're 5 years after your prime you are still an ATG.
Click to expand...
I'm referring to the OP's question which one is the most impressive part.
 
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