Is Mac had won the French in 84..
- Thread starter GuyForget
- Start date
insideoutforehanders
Hall of Fame
Wasn't he banned from the event for something else that happened that year?
Looks like McEnroe could have appealed and played the Australian Open, but chose to play Davis Cup instead:
''If I make an appeal,'' he said, ''I could miss the Davis Cup final, but would be able to play the Australian Open. But I'd rather play the Davis Cup final.''
I'm guessing if McEnroe won the first three legs of the Grand Slam that we would have opted to play the Australian Open.
BauerAlmeida
Legend
This would be an important factor, regardless of the status of the AO at the time.
Winning the other 3 still doesn't equal winning a Grand Slam, though it's interesting that nobody managed to win RG, Wimbledon and USO in the days that AO was seen as a lesser event, so they could argue that they won a Grand Slam even without it (Nastase came quite close too).
Mustard
Bionic Poster
Against Jarryd in Stockholm, when he smashed those glass bottles?
Mats Wilander played both the 1984 Australian Open, and the 1984 Davis Cup final in Sweden, and won both.
Obviously.
Mustard
Bionic Poster
Jimmy Connors in 1974 won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open, tried to play the French Open but was banned.
Mac's 42 day suspension following his behaviour in Stockholm, was reduced to 21 days (a condition was that he didn't play in any exhibitions during those 21 days), allowing him to play in both in the Australian Open and Davis Cup final.
Many of Mac's suspensions, including that one most likely, were by choice. When he wanted a break, such as near the back end of 1984 when he was getting tired, he'd behave badly on purpose to exceed the fine limit and trigger the resulting suspension. That saved him the hassle of withdrawing from tournaments he couldn't be bothered to play in. So I think it's pretty likely that had the grand slam been on the line after the US Open / ahead of the Australian Open, he wouldn't have got suspended in-between in the first place.
If he’d won the first 3 majors of the year, it's difficult to say what his scheduling should have been to maximise his chances of winning the Australian Open 2-3 months later, striking a balance between sufficient rest and sufficient match action to keep sharp. There were no grass court tune-ups for the AO, with Sydney held the week after (the same week as the Davis Cup final). There were indoor tournaments in Australia in Sydney (a highly regarded tournament) and Melbourne in October, but then then 5 a week gap until the AO started, and so he couldn't have spent all that time Down Under. I've said this many times, but before the ATP standardisation in 1990, the set-up of tennis was significantly less conducive to allowing players to prepare for and peak at the grand slams.
Many of Mac's suspensions, including that one most likely, were by choice. When he wanted a break, such as near the back end of 1984 when he was getting tired, he'd behave badly on purpose to exceed the fine limit and trigger the resulting suspension. That saved him the hassle of withdrawing from tournaments he couldn't be bothered to play in. So I think it's pretty likely that had the grand slam been on the line after the US Open / ahead of the Australian Open, he wouldn't have got suspended in-between in the first place.
If he’d won the first 3 majors of the year, it's difficult to say what his scheduling should have been to maximise his chances of winning the Australian Open 2-3 months later, striking a balance between sufficient rest and sufficient match action to keep sharp. There were no grass court tune-ups for the AO, with Sydney held the week after (the same week as the Davis Cup final). There were indoor tournaments in Australia in Sydney (a highly regarded tournament) and Melbourne in October, but then then 5 a week gap until the AO started, and so he couldn't have spent all that time Down Under. I've said this many times, but before the ATP standardisation in 1990, the set-up of tennis was significantly less conducive to allowing players to prepare for and peak at the grand slams.
sandy mayer
Professional
If McEnroe had won RG 84 then he certainly goes up the all time rankings. He probably would have ended up winning the grand slam. However if his post 84 career stays the same he couldn't possibly be a contender for GOAT when you compare his overall record to Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Laver and even Sampras.
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If we're assuming he wins the 1984 Australian Open as well, I think the answer is yes, at least for the Open Era (I'm excluding Laver and everyone older).
Now, McEnroe has the CYGS and 9 total Majors. Assuming all else stays the same, McEnroe is now 88-3 in 1984, which would be, then and now, the best season in men's tennis history.
The only real question would be Borg with 11 Majors vs. McEnroe with 9 Majors. But I'd take the CYGS + winning all 4 Majors vs. Borg never winning the Australian Open, the U.S. Open, or any Major on hard courts (part and parcel of never winning the U.S. Open).
Mustard
Bionic Poster
Rafa doing his Mr. Spock impression there
