Great Players - what are their biggest achievements and biggest gaps in their Resumes?

[timnz]

Lets have a polite discussion

Let's assume that active players retired today....what their resume's would look like.

Sampras - Biggest Achievements - 14 Slams, 6 YE #1's - Biggest gaps - No French Open, relatively low numbers of Masters 1000 wins

Nadal - Biggest Achievements - 14 Slams including 9 French Open's, record co-holder of 27 Masters 1000's - Biggest gaps - No Word Tour Finals

Federer - Biggest Achievements - Record 17 Slams , 27 Slam finals, 302 Weeks at number 1, Record 6 WTF's, 18 out of 19 straight slam finals, best record in history at Wimbledon singles (10 Finals winning 7) - Biggest gap - no Singles Gold at Olympics (I don't think that is much of a gap at all, but some do)

Djokovic - Biggest Achievements - 11 Slams, 5 WTF's, record co-holder of 27 Masters 1000's - Biggest gap - No French Open, no Cincinatti (not really a gap at all, but the only thing holding him back from a Career Golden Masters which would be a huge achievement first man since Lendl (who did the equivalent) to do so)

Murray - Biggest Achivements - 2 Slams, 7 Runner-ups, 1 Olympic singles gold, Davis Cup - Biggest gaps - No FO, No AO, No WTF, Not achieved (yet) number 1 ranking

McEnroe - Biggest Achievements - 7 Slams, 5 WCT Finals, 3 WTF's, great doubles record, great Davis Cup record - Biggest gaps - NO FO, NO AO

Lendl - Biggest Achievements - 8 Slams, 19 Slam finals (measure of great consistency), 5 WTF, 2 WCT Finals, 270 Weeks number 1, equivalent to Career Golden Masters having won all the slots of Masters 1000 equivalents - Biggest Gap - Wimbledon

Connors - Biggest Achievements - 8 Slams, 2 WCT Finals, 1 WTF, 268 Weeks number 1, US Open winner on 3 surfaces, Most dominant Senior Tour player of the 1990's - Biggest Gap - No FO, no European Clay Court title (got very close at Monte Carlo in 1981 though)

Agassi - Career Grand Slam biggest gap - No Grand Slam Cup (though some don't rate this - I saw many matches - and players fought extremely hard to win this) - closes he got was 5 set loss to Rios in the final in 1998.

Borg - 5 Straight Wimbledons, 6 French Opens (3 times channel slam), 2 WTF's, 1 WCT Finals - Biggest Gaps - No USO (4 times finalist though), No AO (hard to say this is a gap since AO wasn't really regarded as a major back then - and he only played it once when he was 17)

 

[mattosgrant]

I don't think no Olympic singles gold is the biggest gap for Federer at all. It would either be only 1 French Open title (it just stands out relative to his dominance on other surfaces, and Laver was more dominant and successful on all the major surfaces than Federer was on clay, Nadal was probably more successful on all the major surfaces of today than Fed on clay too, and Djokovic has a good chance to be eventually). Either that or his very weak head to head record against Nadal, a contemporary and fellow major ATG, and his biggest rival. You could also make a case of no Monte Carlo or Rome title, it basically means he has won the 3 biggest clay events only 1 total time combined. Take your pick, but it sure as heck is not the Olympic singles gold, no way. Maybe on an emotional level for him (you would have to ask him) but that is it.

 

[duaneeo]

Nadal gaps: No WTF title, never ended the year #1 consecutively, never defended a grass or hard title.

Djokovic gaps: No RG title, only 2 US Open titles (arguably the greatest HC player ever?), no Cincinnati title (ditto), ended the year #1 (twice) having won just one slam title.

 

[RunDatGame]

Nadal gaps: No WTF title, never ended the year #1 consecutively, never defended a grass or hard title.

Djokovic gaps: No RG title, only 2 US Open titles (arguably the greatest HC player ever?), no Cincinnati title (ditto), ended the year #1 (twice) having won just one slam title.

No RG title is the only hole in Novaks results and thats it. The rest is nonsense.

 

[timnz]

I don't think no Olympic singles gold is the biggest gap for Federer at all. It would either be only 1 French Open title (it just stands out relative to his dominance on other surfaces, and Laver was more dominant and successful on all the major surfaces than Federer was on clay, Nadal was probably more successful on all the major surfaces of today than Fed on clay too, and Djokovic has a good chance to be eventually). Either that or his very weak head to head record against Nadal, a contemporary and fellow major ATG, and his biggest rival. You could also make a case of no Monte Carlo or Rome title, it basically means he has won the 3 biggest clay events only 1 total time combined. Take your pick, but it sure as heck is not the Olympic singles gold, no way. Maybe on an emotional level for him (you would have to ask him) but that is it.

Good points. I have to admit that if I had to choose - I'd rather he win Monte Carlo/Rome (since he has been runner-up in both 4 times) that the Olympic gold.

 

[NatF]

Nadal - biggest hole only 3 YE #1's

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

Olympic gold is not hole, certainly not bigger than RG or wtf.
I agree with Mattosgrant that winning only one out of MC , Rome and RG may look like hole but certainly not big.

 

[D.Nalby12]

Murray - Just holes and holes everywhere.

 

[Russeljones]

Federer's gap - no calendar year Slam
Everyone else's gap - they are not Federer.

 

[Bender]

I prefer to look for gaps in many WTA players.

The gap in the Nadal's hair parting looks to be getting bigger with each tournament.

I know of a Noah that doesn't like him, but is there a Moses that I'm not aware of?

 

[Nonsense]

Cincy is not a hole. If it is, then the others also have two Masters each missing.

Only two major pieces missing for Novak are RG and Olympic gold.

Other Big 3 are fine.

 

[nowhereman]

Federer - biggest achievement - 7 Real Slams(and counting, hopefully)

 

[Russeljones]

I prefer to look for gaps in many WTA players.

The gap in the Nadal's hair parting looks to be getting bigger with each tournament.

I know of a Noah that doesn't like him, but is there a Moses that I'm not aware of?

Reminds me of the BB King joke.

His old lady got her cheeks inked, a B on each one. When he got home, she wasted no time flashing her surprise. His reaction was a rather reserved "Who's Bob?"

 

[I am the Greatest!]

Murray, gap gap gap. So many holes.

Federer's biggest career gap is that he has no Calendar Year Grand Slam. He should have had it if you consider his dominance on the tour back then and on all surfaces. He was that dominant and everyone expected him to get the Grand Slam. Well, I guess you can't have it all.

Borg, that early retirement, preventing him to win more Slams.

For Sampras, we all know this.

McEnroe, only, ONLY SEVEN SLAMS FOR F*CK'S SAKE! HE SHOULD HAVE MORE CONSIDERING HIS TALENT!

Nastase should have won more Slams, I don't know how many, but he should have won more.

Lendl - that Wimbledon. You can argue that he still dream of holding that trophy even today.

Connors - it's not really his fault, but he was not allowed to join the French, no?

Nadal, injuries? LOL. Single Slam dominance. At least that's what most people are thinking.

That's all I can of for now.

 

[Jonas78]

I dont know if you by gaps in their resumes also mean other factors than titles. If so, i think it may also be correct to look at:

Season win percentage (domination):
I believe John McEnroe is best in open era with 96.47% in 1984. Then follows Jimmy Connors and 2xFederer in 05 and 06. Then Borg in 79 with 93.33% and Djokovic 2015 with 93.18%. Nadal is probably the one who mainly hasnt been as dominating as other top slam winners. Of course the relevance of this is up for discussion because of the competition at the time (weak/strong era).

H2H:
Funny someone hasnt mentioned that. Of course im thinking of the current situation, Fedalovic. Although this has been discussed on multiple threads (and me beeing a fan of Federer), the 11-23 vs Nadal is obviously one of the biggest gaps in Federers resume, although most people agree that the numbers are somewhat skewed (mostly because of the clay-factor). Nadal was also ahead of Nole pre-"collapse" late 2014, but i believe Nole is ahead Nadal since 2010 (12-9??). I havent gone into the numbers of the other champions of the past.

Big match:
Have to mention it, Nadal beeing 9-2 vs Fed and 9-4 vs Nole at slams, although you could argue its somewhat skewed because of the clay-factor.
Nadal: SF reached 23, Finals: 20, Slams won: 14
Fed: 39, 27, 17
Djokovic: 29, 19, 11
Nadal isnt only king of clay, he is the Big Match King

 

[Smasher08]

Nadal - Biggest Achievements - 14 Slams including 9 French Open's, record co-holder of 27 Masters 1000's - Biggest gaps - No Word Tour Finals, never finished YE#1 in consecutive years & never defended a title off of clay

Added a couple of things.

 

[Smasher08]

Federer - biggest achievement - 7 Real Slams(and counting, hopefully)

and . . . came the closest of any player during the Open Era to winning the "ULTIMATE" ACHIEVEMENT IN TENNIS: THE DOUBLE CAREER SLAM

(4x RU)