Late night stat crunching

James P · Feb 20, 2021

So, I was crunching some numbers to try to see the average number of entries a Slam champion attempted prior to his first title and I thought I'd share what I found. I only used people born after 1950 and Open Era data, so as to eliminate people mid-career when the OE started (1968 for those unaware). There have been 47 Slam champions that met the limited threshold. How to read this..."Slam Entry #" is the number of total entries into ALL of the 4 individual Slam tournaments, whereas "Event Entry #" is the number of total entries into that individual tournament alone. So, in Roger Federer's case, he was in his 17th Slam event and his 5th Wimbledon when he reached his first title.

Name	Nation	First Title	Slam Entry #	Event Entry #	Total Titles
Federer, Roger	SUI	03 WC	17	5	20
Nadal, Rafael	ESP	05 FO	6	1	20
Djokovic, Novak	SRB	08 AO	13	4	17
Sampras, Pete	USA	90 USO	8	3	14
Borg, Bjorn	SWE	74 FO	6	2	11
Agassi, Andre	USA	92 WC	15	3	8
Connors, Jimmy	USA	74 AO	10	1	8
Lendl, Ivan	USA	84 FO	18	7	8
McEnroe, John	USA	79 USO	7	3	7
Wilander, Mats	SWE	82 FO	3	1	7
Becker, Boris	GER	85 WC	4	2	6
Edberg, Stefan	SWE	85 AO	11	3	6
Courier, Jim	USA	91 FO	10	3	4
Vilas, Guillermo	ARG	77 FO	17	6	4
Kuerten, Gustavo	BRA	97 FO	3	2	3
Murray, Andy	GBR	12 USO	28	8	3
Wawrinka, Stan	SUI	14 AO	36	9	3
Bruguera, Sergi	ESP	93 FO	14	5	2
Hewitt, Lleyton	AUS	01 USO	14	3	2
Kafelnikov, Yevgeny	RUS	96 FO	11	4	2
Kriek, Johan	USA	81 AO	10	1	2
Nastase, Ilie	ROU	72 USO	12	3	2
Rafter, Patrick	AUS	97 USO	20	5	2
Safin, Marat	RUS	00 USO	10	3	2
Cash, Pat	AUS	87 WC	17	5	1
Chang, Michael	USA	89 FO	5	2	1
Cilic, Marin	CRO	14 USO	29	6	1
Costa, Albert	ESP	02 FO	26	9	1
Del Potro, Juan Martin	ARG	09 USO	14	4	1
Edmondson, Mark	AUS	76 AO	3	2	1
Ferrero, Juan Carlos	ESP	03 FO	13	4	1
Gaudio, Gaston	ARG	04 FO	21	6	1
Gerulaitis, Vitus	USA	77 AO	12	1	1
Gomez, Andres	ECU	90 FO	27	11	1
Ivanisevic, Goran	CRO	01 WC	48	14	1
Johansson, Thomas	SWE	02 AO	25	8	1
Korda, Petr	CZE	98 AO	34	9	1
Krajicek, Richard	NED	96 WC	22	6	1
Moya, Carlos	ESP	98 FO	10	3	1
Muster, Thomas	AUT	95 FO	27	10	1
Noah, Yannick	FRA	83 FO	17	7	1
Panatta, Adriano	ITA	76 FO	16	8	1
Roddick, Andy	USA	03 USO	12	4	1
Stich, Michael	GER	91 WC	10	3	1
Tanner, Roscoe	USA	77 AO	19	1	1
Teacher, Brian	USA	80 AO	19	3	1
Thiem, Dominic	AUT	20 USO	27	7	1

This is all basic information, but I used it to generate Means, Medians, Highs, and Lows for each of the three statistical categories.

	Slam Entry #	Event Entry #	Total Titles
Mean	16.085	4.681	3.957
Median	14	4	2
High	48	14	20
Low	3	1	1

So, the average amount of time it takes to reach a first title is roughly 16 Slam entries. Ironically enough, Medvedev is in his 16th Slam. Other NextGen'rs, of note: Kyrgios 26th, Khachanov 17th, Coric 24th, Zverev 22nd, Rublev 14th, Tsitsipas 14th, Shapovalov 14th, Auger-Aliassime 7th, Sinner 5th. I mostly did this just to see where people were at on their road to achievement. It's now pretty clear Kyrgios and Coric, neither of whom were probable candidates to title, are behind the curve, as is Zverev. If there are any errors, I apologize. I did most of this manually.

Discuss or Disgust

-NN- · Feb 20, 2021

Discus.

Thanks for compiling - interesting to observe. Nadal was a freak prodigy, and such early success was much more commonplace in the 70s and 80s.

Gary Duane · Feb 20, 2021

James P said:
So, I was crunching some numbers to try to see the average number of entries a Slam champion attempted prior to his first title and I thought I'd share what I found. I only used people born after 1950 and Open Era data, so as to eliminate people mid-career when the OE started (1968 for those unaware). There have been 47 Slam champions that met the limited threshold. How to read this..."Slam Entry #" is the number of total entries into ALL of the 4 individual Slam tournaments, whereas "Event Entry #" is the number of total entries into that individual tournament alone. So, in Roger Federer's case, he was in his 17th Slam event and his 5th Wimbledon when he reached his first title.

Name Nation First Title Slam Entry # Event Entry # Total Titles
Federer, Roger SUI 03 WC
17
5
20
Nadal, Rafael ESP 05 FO
6
1
20
Djokovic, Novak SRB 08 AO
13
4
17
Sampras, Pete USA 90 USO
8
3
14
Borg, Bjorn SWE 74 FO
5
2
11
Agassi, Andre USA 92 WC
15
3
8
Connors, Jimmy USA 74 AO
10
1
8
Lendl, Ivan USA 84 FO
19
7
8
McEnroe, John USA 79 USO
7
3
7
Wilander, Mats SWE 82 FO
3
1
7
Becker, Boris GER 85 WC
5
2
6
Edberg, Stefan SWE 85 AO
8
3
6
Courier, Jim USA 91 FO
10
3
4
Vilas, Guillermo ARG 77 FO
17
6
4
Kuerten, Gustavo BRA 97 FO
3
2
3
Murray, Andy GBR 12 USO
28
8
3
Wawrinka, Stan SUI 14 AO
36
9
3
Bruguera, Sergi ESP 93 FO
14
5
2
Hewitt, Lleyton AUS 01 USO
14
3
2
Kafelnikov, Yevgeny RUS 96 FO
11
4
2
Kriek, Johan USA 81 AO
8
1
2
Nastase, Ilie ROU 72 USO
12
3
2
Rafter, Patrick AUS 98 USO
20
5
2
Safin, Marat RUS 00 USO
10
3
2
Cash, Pat AUS 87 WC
17
5
1
Chang, Michael USA 89 FO
5
2
1
Cilic, Marin CRO 14 USO
29
6
1
Costa, Albert ESP 02 FO
26
9
1
Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 09 USO
14
4
1
Edmondson, Mark AUS 76 AO
3
2
1
Ferrero, Juan Carlos ESP 03 FO
13
4
1
Gaudio, Gaston ARG 04 FO
21
6
1
Gerulaitis, Vitus USA 77 AO
12
1
1
Gomez, Andres ECU 90 FO
27
11
1
Ivanisevic, Goran CRO 01 WC
48
14
1
Johansson, Thomas SWE 02 AO
25
8
1
Korda, Petr CZE 98 AO
34
9
1
Krajicek, Richard NED 96 WC
22
6
1
Moya, Carlos ESP 98 FO
10
3
1
Muster, Thomas AUT 95 FO
27
10
1
Noah, Yannick FRA 83 FO
17
7
1
Panatta, Adriano ITA 76 FO
16
8
1
Roddick, Andy USA 03 USO
12
4
1
Stich, Michael GER 91 WC
10
3
1
Tanner, Roscoe USA 77 AO
15
1
1
Teacher, Brian USA 80 AO
19
3
1
Thiem, Dominic AUT 20 USO
27
7
1

This is all basic information, but I used it to generate Means, Medians, Highs, and Lows for each of the three statistical categories.

Slam Entry # Event Entry # Total Titles
Mean 15.915 4.681 3.957
Median 14 4 2
High 48 14 20
Low 3 1 1

So, the average amount of time it takes to reach a first title is roughly 16 Slam entries. Ironically enough, Medvedev is in his 16th Slam. Other NextGen'rs, of note: Kyrgios 26th, Khachanov 17th, Coric 24th, Zverev 22nd, Rublev 14th, Tsitsipas 14th, Shapovalov 14th, Auger-Aliassime 7th, Sinner 5th. I mostly did this just to see where people were at on their road to achievement. It's now pretty clear Kyrgios and Coric, neither of whom were probable candidates to title, are behind the curve, as is Zverev. If there are any errors, I apologize. I did most of this manually.

Discuss or Disgust

Nice work, and some of the results are very surprising. But I think perhaps using only one event is just about useless when it is the AO at a time when many players did not usually play it.

JaoSousa · Feb 20, 2021

James P said:
So, I was crunching some numbers to try to see the average number of entries a Slam champion attempted prior to his first title and I thought I'd share what I found. I only used people born after 1950 and Open Era data, so as to eliminate people mid-career when the OE started (1968 for those unaware). There have been 47 Slam champions that met the limited threshold. How to read this..."Slam Entry #" is the number of total entries into ALL of the 4 individual Slam tournaments, whereas "Event Entry #" is the number of total entries into that individual tournament alone. So, in Roger Federer's case, he was in his 17th Slam event and his 5th Wimbledon when he reached his first title.

Name Nation First Title Slam Entry # Event Entry # Total Titles
Federer, Roger SUI 03 WC
17
5
20
Nadal, Rafael ESP 05 FO
6
1
20
Djokovic, Novak SRB 08 AO
13
4
17
Sampras, Pete USA 90 USO
8
3
14
Borg, Bjorn SWE 74 FO
5
2
11
Agassi, Andre USA 92 WC
15
3
8
Connors, Jimmy USA 74 AO
10
1
8
Lendl, Ivan USA 84 FO
19
7
8
McEnroe, John USA 79 USO
7
3
7
Wilander, Mats SWE 82 FO
3
1
7
Becker, Boris GER 85 WC
5
2
6
Edberg, Stefan SWE 85 AO
8
3
6
Courier, Jim USA 91 FO
10
3
4
Vilas, Guillermo ARG 77 FO
17
6
4
Kuerten, Gustavo BRA 97 FO
3
2
3
Murray, Andy GBR 12 USO
28
8
3
Wawrinka, Stan SUI 14 AO
36
9
3
Bruguera, Sergi ESP 93 FO
14
5
2
Hewitt, Lleyton AUS 01 USO
14
3
2
Kafelnikov, Yevgeny RUS 96 FO
11
4
2
Kriek, Johan USA 81 AO
8
1
2
Nastase, Ilie ROU 72 USO
12
3
2
Rafter, Patrick AUS 98 USO
20
5
2
Safin, Marat RUS 00 USO
10
3
2
Cash, Pat AUS 87 WC
17
5
1
Chang, Michael USA 89 FO
5
2
1
Cilic, Marin CRO 14 USO
29
6
1
Costa, Albert ESP 02 FO
26
9
1
Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 09 USO
14
4
1
Edmondson, Mark AUS 76 AO
3
2
1
Ferrero, Juan Carlos ESP 03 FO
13
4
1
Gaudio, Gaston ARG 04 FO
21
6
1
Gerulaitis, Vitus USA 77 AO
12
1
1
Gomez, Andres ECU 90 FO
27
11
1
Ivanisevic, Goran CRO 01 WC
48
14
1
Johansson, Thomas SWE 02 AO
25
8
1
Korda, Petr CZE 98 AO
34
9
1
Krajicek, Richard NED 96 WC
22
6
1
Moya, Carlos ESP 98 FO
10
3
1
Muster, Thomas AUT 95 FO
27
10
1
Noah, Yannick FRA 83 FO
17
7
1
Panatta, Adriano ITA 76 FO
16
8
1
Roddick, Andy USA 03 USO
12
4
1
Stich, Michael GER 91 WC
10
3
1
Tanner, Roscoe USA 77 AO
15
1
1
Teacher, Brian USA 80 AO
19
3
1
Thiem, Dominic AUT 20 USO
27
7
1

This is all basic information, but I used it to generate Means, Medians, Highs, and Lows for each of the three statistical categories.

Slam Entry # Event Entry # Total Titles
Mean 15.915 4.681 3.957
Median 14 4 2
High 48 14 20
Low 3 1 1

So, the average amount of time it takes to reach a first title is roughly 16 Slam entries. Ironically enough, Medvedev is in his 16th Slam. Other NextGen'rs, of note: Kyrgios 26th, Khachanov 17th, Coric 24th, Zverev 22nd, Rublev 14th, Tsitsipas 14th, Shapovalov 14th, Auger-Aliassime 7th, Sinner 5th. I mostly did this just to see where people were at on their road to achievement. It's now pretty clear Kyrgios and Coric, neither of whom were probable candidates to title, are behind the curve, as is Zverev. If there are any errors, I apologize. I did most of this manually.

Discuss or Disgust

Roscoe Tanner won a slam??

Nadal>>>>>Federer · Feb 20, 2021

suprised players like Arod and Delpo took less slams to win their first one compared to Fed and Lendl

edit but very interesting stats! thanks for sharing

James P · Feb 20, 2021

Gary Duane said:
Nice work, and some of the results are very surprising. But I think perhaps using only one event is just about useless when it is the AO at a time when many players did not usually play it.

Yeah, agreed. The numbers skew pre-1975 or so, but it's easier just to pretend the AO was always important. I suppose it could be broken out further, though.

Gary Duane · Feb 20, 2021

James P said:
Yeah, agreed. The numbers skew pre-1975 or so, but it easier just to pretend the AO was always important. I suppose it could be broken out further, though.

No need to break down more, because the total record of all slams pretty much gives us the bigger picture. To me it's mostly about how many slams players enter before they win one. I would only tend to discount someone like Edmonson, who won the AO so early and won very little else.

James P · Feb 20, 2021

Basically, Medvedev, Khachanov, Rublev, Tsitsipas, and Shapovalov are right in their prime moment in their careers to title for the first time, meanwhile FAA and Sinner still have some seasoning available to them, quite a bit to be completely fair to them. That was the information I hoped to derive from this number crunching.

Waspsting · Feb 20, 2021

Nice - thanks for sharing

Small correction. Rafter's first was '97, not '98

James P · Feb 20, 2021

Waspsting said:
Nice - thanks for sharing

Small correction. Rafter's first was '97, not '98

Thanks, I will correct that. Luckily nothing else is incorrect!

Deleted member 688153 · Feb 20, 2021

James P said:
Basically, Medvedev, Khachanov, Rublev, Tsitsipas, and Shapovalov are right in their prime moment in their careers to title for the first time, meanwhile FAA and Sinner still have some seasoning available to them, quite a bit to be completely fair to them. That was the information I hoped to derive from this number crunching.

Yep that's what I was looking for when I clicked on the thread. Cheers

Lleytonstation · Feb 20, 2021

James P said:
So, I was crunching some numbers to try to see the average number of entries a Slam champion attempted prior to his first title and I thought I'd share what I found. I only used people born after 1950 and Open Era data, so as to eliminate people mid-career when the OE started (1968 for those unaware). There have been 47 Slam champions that met the limited threshold. How to read this..."Slam Entry #" is the number of total entries into ALL of the 4 individual Slam tournaments, whereas "Event Entry #" is the number of total entries into that individual tournament alone. So, in Roger Federer's case, he was in his 17th Slam event and his 5th Wimbledon when he reached his first title.

Name Nation First Title Slam Entry # Event Entry # Total Titles
Federer, Roger SUI 03 WC
17
5
20
Nadal, Rafael ESP 05 FO
6
1
20
Djokovic, Novak SRB 08 AO
13
4
17
Sampras, Pete USA 90 USO
8
3
14
Borg, Bjorn SWE 74 FO
5
2
11
Agassi, Andre USA 92 WC
15
3
8
Connors, Jimmy USA 74 AO
10
1
8
Lendl, Ivan USA 84 FO
19
7
8
McEnroe, John USA 79 USO
7
3
7
Wilander, Mats SWE 82 FO
3
1
7
Becker, Boris GER 85 WC
5
2
6
Edberg, Stefan SWE 85 AO
8
3
6
Courier, Jim USA 91 FO
10
3
4
Vilas, Guillermo ARG 77 FO
17
6
4
Kuerten, Gustavo BRA 97 FO
3
2
3
Murray, Andy GBR 12 USO
28
8
3
Wawrinka, Stan SUI 14 AO
36
9
3
Bruguera, Sergi ESP 93 FO
14
5
2
Hewitt, Lleyton AUS 01 USO
14
3
2
Kafelnikov, Yevgeny RUS 96 FO
11
4
2
Kriek, Johan USA 81 AO
8
1
2
Nastase, Ilie ROU 72 USO
12
3
2
Rafter, Patrick AUS 97 USO
20
5
2
Safin, Marat RUS 00 USO
10
3
2
Cash, Pat AUS 87 WC
17
5
1
Chang, Michael USA 89 FO
5
2
1
Cilic, Marin CRO 14 USO
29
6
1
Costa, Albert ESP 02 FO
26
9
1
Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 09 USO
14
4
1
Edmondson, Mark AUS 76 AO
3
2
1
Ferrero, Juan Carlos ESP 03 FO
13
4
1
Gaudio, Gaston ARG 04 FO
21
6
1
Gerulaitis, Vitus USA 77 AO
12
1
1
Gomez, Andres ECU 90 FO
27
11
1
Ivanisevic, Goran CRO 01 WC
48
14
1
Johansson, Thomas SWE 02 AO
25
8
1
Korda, Petr CZE 98 AO
34
9
1
Krajicek, Richard NED 96 WC
22
6
1
Moya, Carlos ESP 98 FO
10
3
1
Muster, Thomas AUT 95 FO
27
10
1
Noah, Yannick FRA 83 FO
17
7
1
Panatta, Adriano ITA 76 FO
16
8
1
Roddick, Andy USA 03 USO
12
4
1
Stich, Michael GER 91 WC
10
3
1
Tanner, Roscoe USA 77 AO
15
1
1
Teacher, Brian USA 80 AO
19
3
1
Thiem, Dominic AUT 20 USO
27
7
1

This is all basic information, but I used it to generate Means, Medians, Highs, and Lows for each of the three statistical categories.

Slam Entry # Event Entry # Total Titles
Mean 15.915 4.681 3.957
Median 14 4 2
High 48 14 20
Low 3 1 1

So, the average amount of time it takes to reach a first title is roughly 16 Slam entries. Ironically enough, Medvedev is in his 16th Slam. Other NextGen'rs, of note: Kyrgios 26th, Khachanov 17th, Coric 24th, Zverev 22nd, Rublev 14th, Tsitsipas 14th, Shapovalov 14th, Auger-Aliassime 7th, Sinner 5th. I mostly did this just to see where people were at on their road to achievement. It's now pretty clear Kyrgios and Coric, neither of whom were probable candidates to title, are behind the curve, as is Zverev. If there are any errors, I apologize. I did most of this manually.

Discuss or Disgust

Look, a lot of information here. Nicely done... after reading your OP and analyzing the data, I have come to the conclusion that this data says Fed is the TIGER.

Milanez82 · Feb 21, 2021

I guess Ivanisevic record will be tough to break

DIMI_D · Feb 21, 2021

Ex

James P said:
So, I was crunching some numbers to try to see the average number of entries a Slam champion attempted prior to his first title and I thought I'd share what I found. I only used people born after 1950 and Open Era data, so as to eliminate people mid-career when the OE started (1968 for those unaware). There have been 47 Slam champions that met the limited threshold. How to read this..."Slam Entry #" is the number of total entries into ALL of the 4 individual Slam tournaments, whereas "Event Entry #" is the number of total entries into that individual tournament alone. So, in Roger Federer's case, he was in his 17th Slam event and his 5th Wimbledon when he reached his first title.

Name Nation First Title Slam Entry # Event Entry # Total Titles
Federer, Roger SUI 03 WC
17
5
20
Nadal, Rafael ESP 05 FO
6
1
20
Djokovic, Novak SRB 08 AO
13
4
17
Sampras, Pete USA 90 USO
8
3
14
Borg, Bjorn SWE 74 FO
5
2
11
Agassi, Andre USA 92 WC
15
3
8
Connors, Jimmy USA 74 AO
10
1
8
Lendl, Ivan USA 84 FO
19
7
8
McEnroe, John USA 79 USO
7
3
7
Wilander, Mats SWE 82 FO
3
1
7
Becker, Boris GER 85 WC
5
2
6
Edberg, Stefan SWE 85 AO
8
3
6
Courier, Jim USA 91 FO
10
3
4
Vilas, Guillermo ARG 77 FO
17
6
4
Kuerten, Gustavo BRA 97 FO
3
2
3
Murray, Andy GBR 12 USO
28
8
3
Wawrinka, Stan SUI 14 AO
36
9
3
Bruguera, Sergi ESP 93 FO
14
5
2
Hewitt, Lleyton AUS 01 USO
14
3
2
Kafelnikov, Yevgeny RUS 96 FO
11
4
2
Kriek, Johan USA 81 AO
8
1
2
Nastase, Ilie ROU 72 USO
12
3
2
Rafter, Patrick AUS 97 USO
20
5
2
Safin, Marat RUS 00 USO
10
3
2
Cash, Pat AUS 87 WC
17
5
1
Chang, Michael USA 89 FO
5
2
1
Cilic, Marin CRO 14 USO
29
6
1
Costa, Albert ESP 02 FO
26
9
1
Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 09 USO
14
4
1
Edmondson, Mark AUS 76 AO
3
2
1
Ferrero, Juan Carlos ESP 03 FO
13
4
1
Gaudio, Gaston ARG 04 FO
21
6
1
Gerulaitis, Vitus USA 77 AO
12
1
1
Gomez, Andres ECU 90 FO
27
11
1
Ivanisevic, Goran CRO 01 WC
48
14
1
Johansson, Thomas SWE 02 AO
25
8
1
Korda, Petr CZE 98 AO
34
9
1
Krajicek, Richard NED 96 WC
22
6
1
Moya, Carlos ESP 98 FO
10
3
1
Muster, Thomas AUT 95 FO
27
10
1
Noah, Yannick FRA 83 FO
17
7
1
Panatta, Adriano ITA 76 FO
16
8
1
Roddick, Andy USA 03 USO
12
4
1
Stich, Michael GER 91 WC
10
3
1
Tanner, Roscoe USA 77 AO
15
1
1
Teacher, Brian USA 80 AO
19
3
1
Thiem, Dominic AUT 20 USO
27
7
1

This is all basic information, but I used it to generate Means, Medians, Highs, and Lows for each of the three statistical categories.

Slam Entry # Event Entry # Total Titles
Mean 15.915 4.681 3.957
Median 14 4 2
High 48 14 20
Low 3 1 1

So, the average amount of time it takes to reach a first title is roughly 16 Slam entries. Ironically enough, Medvedev is in his 16th Slam. Other NextGen'rs, of note: Kyrgios 26th, Khachanov 17th, Coric 24th, Zverev 22nd, Rublev 14th, Tsitsipas 14th, Shapovalov 14th, Auger-Aliassime 7th, Sinner 5th. I mostly did this just to see where people were at on their road to achievement. It's now pretty clear Kyrgios and Coric, neither of whom were probable candidates to title, are behind the curve, as is Zverev. If there are any errors, I apologize. I did most of this manually.

Discuss or Disgust

Excellent post very interesting, I believe Med will definitely be slam champion maybe this years US open or AO 22. Probably his next final I don’t see him loosing it good experience for him

Milanez82 · Feb 21, 2021

DIMI_D said:
Ex

Excellent post very interesting, I believe Med will definitely be slam champion maybe this years US open or AO 22. Probably his next final I don’t see him loosing it good experience for him

US open he has a good shot
At AO as long as Djokovic keeps on Goating it, he is a level below

Nostradamus · Feb 21, 2021

James P said:
So, I was crunching some numbers to try to see the average number of entries a Slam champion attempted prior to his first title and I thought I'd share what I found. I only used people born after 1950 and Open Era data, so as to eliminate people mid-career when the OE started (1968 for those unaware). There have been 47 Slam champions that met the limited threshold. How to read this..."Slam Entry #" is the number of total entries into ALL of the 4 individual Slam tournaments, whereas "Event Entry #" is the number of total entries into that individual tournament alone. So, in Roger Federer's case, he was in his 17th Slam event and his 5th Wimbledon when he reached his first title.

Name Nation First Title Slam Entry # Event Entry # Total Titles
Federer, Roger SUI 03 WC
17
5
20
Nadal, Rafael ESP 05 FO
6
1
20
Djokovic, Novak SRB 08 AO
13
4
17
Sampras, Pete USA 90 USO
8
3
14
Borg, Bjorn SWE 74 FO
5
2
11
Agassi, Andre USA 92 WC
15
3
8
Connors, Jimmy USA 74 AO
10
1
8
Lendl, Ivan USA 84 FO
19
7
8
McEnroe, John USA 79 USO
7
3
7
Wilander, Mats SWE 82 FO
3
1
7
Becker, Boris GER 85 WC
5
2
6
Edberg, Stefan SWE 85 AO
8
3
6
Courier, Jim USA 91 FO
10
3
4
Vilas, Guillermo ARG 77 FO
17
6
4
Kuerten, Gustavo BRA 97 FO
3
2
3
Murray, Andy GBR 12 USO
28
8
3
Wawrinka, Stan SUI 14 AO
36
9
3
Bruguera, Sergi ESP 93 FO
14
5
2
Hewitt, Lleyton AUS 01 USO
14
3
2
Kafelnikov, Yevgeny RUS 96 FO
11
4
2
Kriek, Johan USA 81 AO
8
1
2
Nastase, Ilie ROU 72 USO
12
3
2
Rafter, Patrick AUS 97 USO
20
5
2
Safin, Marat RUS 00 USO
10
3
2
Cash, Pat AUS 87 WC
17
5
1
Chang, Michael USA 89 FO
5
2
1
Cilic, Marin CRO 14 USO
29
6
1
Costa, Albert ESP 02 FO
26
9
1
Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 09 USO
14
4
1
Edmondson, Mark AUS 76 AO
3
2
1
Ferrero, Juan Carlos ESP 03 FO
13
4
1
Gaudio, Gaston ARG 04 FO
21
6
1
Gerulaitis, Vitus USA 77 AO
12
1
1
Gomez, Andres ECU 90 FO
27
11
1
Ivanisevic, Goran CRO 01 WC
48
14
1
Johansson, Thomas SWE 02 AO
25
8
1
Korda, Petr CZE 98 AO
34
9
1
Krajicek, Richard NED 96 WC
22
6
1
Moya, Carlos ESP 98 FO
10
3
1
Muster, Thomas AUT 95 FO
27
10
1
Noah, Yannick FRA 83 FO
17
7
1
Panatta, Adriano ITA 76 FO
16
8
1
Roddick, Andy USA 03 USO
12
4
1
Stich, Michael GER 91 WC
10
3
1
Tanner, Roscoe USA 77 AO
15
1
1
Teacher, Brian USA 80 AO
19
3
1
Thiem, Dominic AUT 20 USO
27
7
1

This is all basic information, but I used it to generate Means, Medians, Highs, and Lows for each of the three statistical categories.

Slam Entry # Event Entry # Total Titles
Mean 15.915 4.681 3.957
Median 14 4 2
High 48 14 20
Low 3 1 1

So, the average amount of time it takes to reach a first title is roughly 16 Slam entries. Ironically enough, Medvedev is in his 16th Slam. Other NextGen'rs, of note: Kyrgios 26th, Khachanov 17th, Coric 24th, Zverev 22nd, Rublev 14th, Tsitsipas 14th, Shapovalov 14th, Auger-Aliassime 7th, Sinner 5th. I mostly did this just to see where people were at on their road to achievement. It's now pretty clear Kyrgios and Coric, neither of whom were probable candidates to title, are behind the curve, as is Zverev. If there are any errors, I apologize. I did most of this manually.

Discuss or Disgust

If you are good at this like you seem to be,,, would you make a great computer programmer ?? Their starting salary is around $175,000 per year. and after 5 years or so,, you will be making ~$300,000 minimum

Waspsting · Feb 21, 2021

James P said:
Thanks, I will correct that. Luckily nothing else is incorrect!

no problem. You've put together something interesting and I'm happy to help

I think you've compiled the list assuming order of Slams every year was the same as it is now?

1969-1976, the order was same as now
In 1977, Australian Open was played twice - first Slam of the year and also last (Tanner won the first @JaoSousa )
From '78-'85, it was the last Slam of the year
From '87-present... same order as now (except 2020)

Some small mistakes come up without accounting for the bolded part

For example, Lendl should be 18, Becker 4, Edberg 11, Kriek 10, Teacher 18 (there might be more)

Borg should be 6. He played in the main draw of a greater than 128 man event at '72 US and lost first match (which was part of the tournament, not a qualifying match)

mike danny · Feb 21, 2021

Nice work. Much appreciated.

Keep 'em coming

mike danny · Feb 21, 2021

I thought Nadal was a freak of nature, but what about Wilander? He seems to be the best in this department.

AnOctorokForDinner · Feb 21, 2021

mike danny said:
I thought Nadal was a freak of nature, but what about Wilander? He seems to be the best in this department.

They don't make 'em like that anymore.

Two months later, Wilander played the famous Davis Cup match vs McEnroe where he came back all the way from the verge of a straight-set loss to end up barely losing 9-7 6-2 15-17 3-6 8-6. A deciding rubber, played on carpet against one of the BOATs on that surface (McEnroe shares the record carpet winning streak with Lendl at 65), on US soil with a vocal partisan crowd that intimidated linesmen into favouring Americans with their calls (in particular, the out call that gave Mac the final service break looked strongly in), yet this unassuming teenager very nearly won. To me, it's the sort of loss that's greater than many wins, given all the circumstances that favoured McEnroe, and none that favoured Wilander, from location to surface to age. So yeah, our age peers and juniors could never.

mike danny · Feb 21, 2021

AnOctorokForDinner said:
They don't make 'em like that anymore.

Two months later, Wilander played the famous Davis Cup match vs McEnroe where he came back all the way from the verge of a straight-set loss to end up barely losing 9-7 6-2 15-17 3-6 8-6. A deciding rubber, played on carpet against one of the BOATs on that surface (McEnroe shares the record carpet winning streak with Lendl at 65), on US soil with a vocal partisan crowd that intimidated linesmen into favouring Americans with their calls (in particular, the out call that gave Mac the final service break looked strongly in), yet this unassuming teenager very nearly won. To me, it's the sort of loss that's greater than many wins, given all the circumstances that favoured McEnroe, and none that favoured Wilander, from location to surface to age. So yeah, our age peers and juniors could never.

Wow, and no tiebreaks too

Meanwhile, Tsitsi at 22.5 has a worse stamina than an 18 year old Wilander.

mike danny · Feb 21, 2021

AnOctorokForDinner said:
They don't make 'em like that anymore.

Two months later, Wilander played the famous Davis Cup match vs McEnroe where he came back all the way from the verge of a straight-set loss to end up barely losing 9-7 6-2 15-17 3-6 8-6. A deciding rubber, played on carpet against one of the BOATs on that surface (McEnroe shares the record carpet winning streak with Lendl at 65), on US soil with a vocal partisan crowd that intimidated linesmen into favouring Americans with their calls (in particular, the out call that gave Mac the final service break looked strongly in), yet this unassuming teenager very nearly won. To me, it's the sort of loss that's greater than many wins, given all the circumstances that favoured McEnroe, and none that favoured Wilander, from location to surface to age. So yeah, our age peers and juniors could never.

Also, I'm wondering how well were people receiving the introduction of tiebreaks since at that time they were a major change in the rules of the game like we haven't seen since.

Also, how come that match was played with no tiebreaks? The GS had already introduced them by then.

Phoenix1983 · Feb 21, 2021

Milanez82 said:
I guess Ivanisevic record will be tough to break

Maybe that's the one Kyrgios is gunning for?

James P · Feb 21, 2021

Waspsting said:
no problem. You've put together something interesting and I'm happy to help

I think you've compiled the list assuming order of Slams every year was the same as it is now?

1969-1976, the order was same as now
In 1977, Australian Open was played twice - first Slam of the year and also last (Tanner won the first @JaoSousa )
From '78-'85, it was the last Slam of the year
From '87-present... same order as now (except 2020)

Some small mistakes come up without accounting for the bolded part

For example, Lendl should be 18, Becker 4, Edberg 11, Kriek 10, Teacher 18 (there might be more)

Borg should be 6. He played in the main draw of a greater than 128 man event at '72 US and lost first match (which was part of the tournament, not a qualifying match)

Thank you. I just found an easier way I could have done this yesterday more accurately, but pretty sure you found all the instances where I was wrong. I corrected them.

James P · Feb 21, 2021

Nostradamus said:
If you are good at this like you seem to be,,, would you make a great computer programmer ?? Their starting salary is around $175,000 per year. and after 5 years or so,, you will be making ~$300,000 minimum

I don't know diddly about computer programming. I know a lot about creating spreadsheets and their utility for pulling out information.

AnOctorokForDinner · Feb 21, 2021

mike danny said:
Also, I'm wondering how well were people receiving the introduction of tiebreaks since at that time they were a major change in the rules of the game like we haven't seen since.

Also, how come that match was played with no tiebreaks? The GS had already introduced them by then.

There was some criticism of course, particularly over the probabilistic nature of tiebreaks making them relatively random, which was eventually assuaged by the universal adoption of the 'first to 7 + advantage by 2' scheme, replacing the 'first to 5 with sudden death' that was initially used by some tournaments, notably the USO, that had been duly lambasted as unfairly favouring whoever serves first (because sudden death means that if it's 4-4, whoever wins the next point wins TB, and the player serving at 4-4 has the advantage). Players soon came to see tiebreaks as helpful as they cut down on very long matches where no one could break for a long time. (I get applying the same logic to removing advantage deciding sets too, only shame AO put this weird super tiebreak at 6-6 rather than 12-12 like Wimbledon. Anyway, the real shame is culling the BO5 format anywhere except slams...)

By 1978 I think all other tournaments adopted tiebreaks in non-deciding sets, however Davis Cup held out the longest, finally accepting tiebreaks in 1988.

Fun fact: it may seem like all BO3 events accepted deciding set tiebreaks straight away, unlike BO5, but that is in fact not entirely true. Queen's was the last to quietly introduce a deciding tiebreak in 1996, probably prompted by Sampras-Göllner SF in 1995 (6-7 6-2 13-11).

	Slam Entry #	Event Entry #	Total Titles
Mean	15.915	4.681	3.957
Median	14	4	2
High	48	14	20
Low	3	1	1

Late night stat crunching

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