Quarantine Deep Dives - Quality Wins at a GS Event

eldanger25

Hall of Fame
Hello all - my best to you and yours in tumultuous times. To pass the days and pay homage to the greats of our beloved sport, I dug into a question that had interested me: what I'm calling "quality" wins at a given major championship during the Open Era (they're all quality on some level of course).

I've defined "quality" wins as follows: a great player's career wins at a particular grand slam event that were earned (1) at the quarterfinal stage onward, and (2) against an opponent who was either or both (a) a past or future winner at that particular slam, and/or (b) won 2 or more major championships across his career.

These are "quality" wins because they were against opponents who had or have had non-fluke success at the majors across their careers (i..e., at least two title-winning runs), or at least earned one title at the particular major championship in question; as well, by requiring the match to be at the quarterfinal stage or later, it supports that both players were in good form (i.e., made it well into the second week of the tournament before facing each other) during that edition of the tournament. I thought about making the cutoff the 4R instead of the QF stage (so it's just all second week matches), and others are welcome to add those stats, but it seemed to me that starting with the quarterfinals - where the winner has the honor of reaching the final weekend of the slam, as well as having won "his quarter," felt appropriate in the end for my (totally personal) definition of "quality."

A few items of note:

1. I'm sure there are lots of other ways to define or narrow this down, but these seemed like reasonable parameters to me. I've included certain caveats where appropriate for certain players - mostly the 60s and 70s generation of stars who didn't see fit to attend all 4 majors by custom, and instead built out the sport regionally and globally, pitted various tours against one another to drive up appearance fees etc., and generally had a blast until the alphabet soup of governing bodies banded together and shut the party down (in the form of running Borg out of the sport in 1982/83 rather than letting him pick and choose his calendar while he battled a heavy case of burnout and fatigue).

2. For the current generation of stars, the numbers are subject to increase if and when the kids finally make the Big Three walk the plank. Djokovic/Nadal in particular stand to add more wins to this calculation if and when Thiem wins RG, Medvedev starts gobbling majors, etc.

3. I did the stats only for players who won 2 or more major championships during their careers, with one exception: Johan Kriek, who I'm treating as a slam winner for purposes of calculating AO quality wins against him, but whose two wins in Australia came during the deepest dip in attendance (1980-82, when none of the Top 4 of each of those seasons attended). On the other hand, a quick tip of the hat to 1x slam winner Goran Ivanisevic, who managed 7 quality wins at Wimbledon alone, and 8 total, which equals or exceeds several Open Era multislam winners. His 2001 Wimbledon title was wonderfully earned and well deserved.

4. Limited to players who competed most or all of their careers during the Open Era (so basically starting with the Ashe/Newk/Nastase/Smith era, and excluding Laver/Rosewall generation, in fairness to the latter, whose numbers just wouldn't fairly compare).

Anyway, here goes, in order of total "quality" wins; first post begins with the generation of players born in the 1960s through the present, which neatly coincides with the vast majority of stars playing all 4 majors again. Next post will be for the cluster of Open Era greats born in the 1940s and 1950s, who came of age during the tumultuous first 15 years of the Open Era, when it was common to skip 1-2 majors a year (i.e., Connors never attending all 4 majors in a single season; Borg only doing so 1x).

I: Four Majors a Year Era (Players Born in 1960 onward)

1. Novak Djokovic, Quality Wins: 31


Australian Open

2008 SF, d. Roger Federer
2011 SF, d. Roger Federer
2011 F, d. Andy Murray
2012 SF, d. Andy Murray
2012 F, d. Rafael Nadal
2013 F, d. Andy Murray
2015 SF, d. Stan Wawrinka
2015 F, d. Andy Murray
2016 SF, d. Roger Federer
2016 F, d. Andy Murray
2019 F, d. Rafael Nadal
2020 SF, d. Roger Federer

AO Total: 12

Roland Garros

2012 SF, d. Roger Federer
2015 QF, d. Rafael Nadal
2015 SF, d. Andy Murray
2016 F, d. Andy Murray

RG Total: 4

Wimbledon

2011 F, d. Rafael Nadal
2014 F, d. Roger Federer
2015 F, d. Roger Federer
2018 SF, d. Rafael Nadal
2019 F, d. Roger Federer

Wimbledon Total: 5

United States Open

2008 QF, d. Andy Roddick
2010 SF, d. Roger Federer
2011 SF, d. Roger Federer
2011 F, d. Rafael Nadal
2012 QF, d. Juan Martin Del Potro
2013 SF, d. Stan Wawrinka
2014 QF, d. Andy Murray
2015 SF, d. Marin Cilic
2015 F, d. Roger Federer
2018 F, d. Juan Martin Del Potro

Open Total: 10


T2. Rafael Nadal, Quality Wins: 30

Australian Open

2009 F, d. Roger Federer
2012 SF, d. Roger Federer
2014 SF, d. Roger Federer

AO Total: 3

Roland Garros

2005 SF, d. Roger Federer
2006 QF, d. Novak Djokovic
2006 F, d. Roger Federer
2007 QF, d. Carlos Moya
2007 SF, d. Novak Djokovic
2007 F, d. Roger Federer
2008 SF, d. Novak Djokovic
2008 F, d. Roger Federer
2011 SF, d. Andy Murray
2011 F, d. Roger Federer
2012 F, d. Novak Djokovic
2013 QF, d. Stan Wawrinka
2013 SF, d. Novak Djokovic
2014 SF, d. Andy Murray
2014 F, d. Novak Djokovic
2017 F, d. Stan Wawrinka
2019 SF, d. Roger Federer

RG Total: 17

Wimbledon

2007 SF, d. Novak Djokovic
2008 QF, d. Andy Murray
2008 F, d. Roger Federer
2010 SF, d. Andy Murray
2011 SF, d. Andy Murray

Wimbledon Total: 5

United States Open

2010 F, d. Novak Djokovic
2011 QF, d. Andy Roddick
2011 SF, d. Andy Murray
2013 F, d. Novak Djokovic
2017 SF, d. Juan Martin Del Potro

Open Total: 5


T2. Roger Federer, Quality Wins: 30

Australian Open

2004 F, d. Marat Safin
2005 QF, d. Andre Agassi
2010 F, d. Andy Murray
2011 QF, d. Stan Wawrinka
2014 QF, d. Andy Murray
2017 SF, d. Stan Wawrinka
2017 F, d. Rafael Nadal

AO Total: 7

Roland Garros

2011 SF, d. Novak Djokovic
2019 QF, d. Stan Wawrinka

RG Total: 2

Wimbledon

2004 QF, d. Lleyton Hewitt
2005 SF, d. Lleyton Hewitt
2006 F, d. Rafael Nadal
2007 F, d. Rafael Nadal
2008 SF, d. Marat Safin
2012 SF, d. Novak Djokovic
2012 F, d. Andy Murray
2014 QF, d. Stan Wawrinka
2015 SF, d. Andy Murray
2019 SF, d. Rafael Nadal

Wimbledon Total: 10

United States Open

2004 QF, d. Andre Agassi
2004 F, d. Lleyton Hewitt
2005 SF, d. Lleyton Hewitt
2005 F, d. Andre Agassi
2006 F, d. Andy Roddick
2007 QF, d. Andy Roddick
2007 F, d. Novak Djokovic
2008 SF, d. Novak Djokovic
2008 F, d. Andy Murray
2009 SF, d. Novak Djokovic
2015 SF, d. Stan Wawrinka

Open Total: 11


4. Pete Sampras, Quality Wins: 25

Australian Open

1994 SF, d. Jim Courier
1995 QF, d. Jim Courier

AO Total: 2

Roland Garros

1996 QF, d. Jim Courier

RG Total: 1

Wimbledon

1992 QF, d. Michael Stich
1993 QF, d. Andre Agassi
1993 SF, d. Boris Becker
1993 F, d. Jim Courier
1994 F, d. Goran Ivanisevic
1995 SF, d. Goran Ivanisevic
1995 F, d. Boris Becker
1997 QF, d. Boris Becker
1998 F, d. Goran Ivanisevic
1999 F, d. Andre Agassi
2000 F, d. Patrick Rafter

Wimbledon Total: 11

United States Open

1990 QF, d. Ivan Lendl
1990 SF, d. John McEnroe
1990 F, d. Andre Agassi
1992 SF, d. Jim Courier
1995 SF, d. Jim Courier
1995 F, d. Andre Agassi
2000 SF, d. Lleyton Hewitt
2001 QF, d. Andre Agassi
2001 SF, d. Marat Safin
2002 QF, d. Andy Roddick
2002 F, d. Andre Agassi

Open Total: 11


5. Ivan Lendl, Quality Wins: 22

Australian Open

1989 QF, d. John McEnroe
1990 F, d. Stefan Edberg
1991 SF, d. Stefan Edberg

AO Total: 3

Roland Garros

1981 QF, d. John McEnroe
1984 QF, d. Andres Gomez
1984 SF, d. Mats Wilander
1984 F, d. John McEnroe
1985 SF, d. Jimmy Connors
1986 QF, d. Andres Gomez
1987 QF, d. Andres Gomez
1987 F, d. Mats Wilander

RG Total: 8

Wimbledon

1987 SF, d. Stefan Edberg

Wimbledon Total: 1

United States Open

1982 SF, d. John McEnroe
1983 QF, d. Mats Wilander
1985 SF, d. Jimmy Connors
1985 F, d. John McEnroe
1986 SF, d. Stefan Edberg
1987 QF, d. John McEnroe
1987 SF, d. Jimmy Connors
1987 F, d. Mats Wilander
1988 SF, d. Andre Agassi
1989 SF, d. Andre Agassi

Open Total: 10
 
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6. Andre Agassi, Quality Wins: 20

Australian Open

1995 QF, d. Yevgeny Kafelnikov
1995 F, d. Pete Sampras
1996 QF, d. Jim Courier
2000 SF, d. Pete Sampras
2000 F, d. Yevgeny Kafelnikov
2001 SF, d. Patrick Rafter

AO Total: 6

Roland Garros

1990 QF, d. Michael Chang
1991 SF, d. Boris Becker
1992 QF, d. Pete Sampras

RG Total: 3

Wimbledon

1992 QF, d. Boris Becker
1992 SF, d. John McEnroe
1992 F, d. Goran Ivanisevic
1999 QF, d. Gustavo Kuerten
1999 SF, d. Patrick Rafter

Wimbledon Total: 5

United States Open

1988 QF, d. Jimmy Connors
1989 QF, d. Jimmy Connors
1990 SF, d. Boris Becker
1995 SF, d. Boris Becker
1999 SF, d. Yevgeny Kafelnikov
2002 SF, d. Lleyton Hewitt

Open Total: 6


7. Mats Wilander, Quality Wins: 18

Australian Open

1983 QF, d. Johan Kriek
1983 SF, d. John McEnroe
1983 F, d. Ivan Lendl
1984 QF, d. Stefan Edberg
1984 SF, d. Johan Kriek
1985 QF, d. Johan Kriek
1988 SF, d. Stefan Edberg
1990 QF, d. Boris Becker

AO Total: 8

Roland Garros

1982 F, d. Guillermo Vilas
1983 QF, d. John McEnroe
1984 QF, d. Yannick Noah
1985 SF, d. John McEnroe
1985 F, d. Ivan Lendl
1987 QF, d. Yannick Noah
1987 SF, d. Boris Becker
1988 SF, d. Andre Agassi

RG Total: 8

Wimbledon

None

United States Open

1987 SF, d. Stefan Edberg
1988 F, d. Ivan Lendl

Open Total: 2


8. Stefan Edberg, Quality Wins: 14

Australian Open

1985 SF, d. Ivan Lendl
1985 F, d. Mats Wilander
1990 SF, d. Mats Wilander
1992 QF, d. Ivan Lendl
1993 SF, d. Pete Sampras

AO Total: 5

Roland Garros

1989 SF, d. Boris Becker

RG Total: 1

Wimbledon

1988 F, d. Boris Becker
1989 SF, d. John McEnroe
1990 SF, d. Ivan Lendl
1990 F, d. Boris Becker

Wimbledon Total: 4

United States Open

1991 SF, d. Ivan Lendl
1991 F, d. Jim Courier
1992 QF, d. Ivan Lendl
1992 F, d. Pete Sampras

Open Total: 4


9. Boris Becker, Quality Wins: 13

Australian Open

1991 F, d. Ivan Lendl
1996 QF, d. Yevgeny Kafelnikov

AO Total: 2

Roland Garros

1987 QF, d. Jimmy Connors
1991 QF, d. Michael Chang

RG Total: 2

Wimbledon

1986 F, d. Ivan Lendl
1988 QF, d. Pat Cash
1988 SF, d. Ivan Lendl
1989 SF, d. Ivan Lendl
1989 F, d. Stefan Edberg
1990 SF, d. Goran Ivanisevic
1993 QF, d. Michael Stich
1995 SF, d. Andre Agassi

Wimbledon Total: 8

United States Open

1989 F, d. Ivan Lendl

Open Total: 1


10. Jim Courier, Quality Wins: 11

Australian Open

1992 F, d. Stefan Edberg
1993 QF, d. Petr Korda
1993 F, d. Stefan Edberg

AO Total: 3

Roland Garros

1991 QF, d. Stefan Edberg
1991 F, d. Andre Agassi
1992 SF, d. Andre Agassi
1994 QF, d. Pete Sampras

RG Total: 4

Wimbledon

1993 SF, d. Stefan Edberg

Wimbledon Total: 1

United States Open

1991 QF, d. Pete Sampras
1991 SF, d. Jimmy Connors
1992 QF, d. Andre Agassi

Open Total: 3
 
T11. Andy Murray, Quality Wins: 8

Australian Open

2010 QF, d. Rafael Nadal
2013 SF, d. Roger Federer

AO Total: 2

Roland Garros

2016 SF, d. Stan Wawrinka

RG Total: 1

Wimbledon

2013 F, d. Novak Djokovic

Wimbledon Total: 1

United States Open

2008 QF, d. Juan Martin Del Potro
2008 SF, d. Rafael Nadal
2012 QF, d. Marin Cilic
2012 F, d. Novak Djokovic

Open Total: 4


T11. Stan Wawrinka, Quality Wins: 8

Australian Open

2014 QF, d. Novak Djokovic
2014 F, d. Rafael Nadal

AO Total: 2

Roland Garros

2015 QF, d. Roger Federer
2015 F, d. Novak Djokovic
2017 SF, d. Andy Murray

RG Total: 3

Wimbledon

None

United States Open

2013 QF, d. Andy Murray
2016 QF, d. Juan Martin Del Potro
2016 F, d. Novak Djokovic

Open Total: 3


13. Gustavo Kuerten, Quality Wins: 6

Australian Open

None

Roland Garros

1997 QF, d. Yevgeny Kafelnikov
1997 F, d. Sergi Bruguera
2000 QF, d. Yevgeny Kafelnikov
2000 SF, d. Juan Carlos Ferrero
2001 QF, d. Yevgeny Kafelnikov
2001 SF, d. Juan Carlos Ferrero

RG Total: 6

Wimbledon

None

United States Open

None


T14. Marat Safin, Quality Wins: 4

Australian Open

2004 SF, d. Andre Agassi
2005 SF, d. Roger Federer
2005 F, d. Lleyton Hewitt

AO Total: 3

Roland Garros

None

Wimbledon

None

United States Open

2000 F, d. Pete Sampras


T14. Sergi Bruguera, Quality Wins: 4

Australian Open

None

Roland Garros

1993 QF, d. Pete Sampras
1993 F, d. Jim Courier
1994 SF, d. Jim Courier
1997 SF, d. Pat Rafter

RG Total: 4

Wimbledon

None

United States Open

None


T16. Lleyton Hewitt, Quality Wins: 3

Australian Open

None

Roland Garros

None

Wimbledon

None

United States Open

2001 QF, d. Andy Roddick
2001 SF, d. Yevgeny Kafelnikov
2001 F, d. Pete Sampras

Open Total: 3


T16. Pat Rafter, Quality Wins: 3

Australian Open

None

Roland Garros

None

Wimbledon

2000 SF, d. Andre Agassi
2001 SF, d. Andre Agassi

Wimbledon Total: 2

United States Open

1998 SF, d. Pete Sampras

Open Total: 1


T16. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Quality Wins: 3

Australian Open

None

Roland Garros

1995 QF, d. Andre Agassi
1996 SF, d. Pete Sampras

RG Total: 2

Wimbledon

None

United States Open

2001 QF, d. Gustavo Kuerten

Open Total: 1

Coming Soon: Quality Wins, Open Era champs born before 1960
 
II: Partial Attendance Era (Open Era Players born in the 1940s and 1950s)

1. Jimmy Connors, Quality Wins: 17


Australian Open (appeared 2x, 1974-75)

None

Roland Garros (banned/skipped, 1974-78)

1985 QF, d. Stefan Edberg

RG Total: 1

Wimbledon

1974 QF, d. Jan Kodes
1974 F, d. Ken Rosewall
1977 SF, d. John McEnroe
1982 F, d. John McEnroe
1984 SF, d. Ivan Lendl

Wimbledon Total: 5

United States Open

1974 F, d. Ken Rosewall
1975 SF, d. Bjorn Borg
1976 QF, d. Jan Kodes
1976 SF, d. Guillermo Vilas
1976 F, d. Bjorn Borg
1977 QF, d. Manuel Orantes
1978 SF, d. John McEnroe
1978 F, d. Bjorn Borg
1982 SF, d. Guillermo Vilas
1982 F, d. Ivan Lendl
1983 F, d. Ivan Lendl

Open Total: 11


T2. Bjorn Borg, Quality Wins: 15

Australian Open (1 appearance, 1974)

None

Roland Garros (skipped 1977)

1975 SF, d. Adriano Panatta
1975 F, d. Guillermo Vilas
1978 F, d. Guillermo Vilas
1981 F, d. Ivan Lendl

RG Total: 4

Wimbledon

1976 QF, d. Guillermo Vilas
1976 F, d. Ilie Nastase
1977 QF, d. Ilie Nastase
1977 F, d. Jimmy Connors
1978 F, d. Jimmy Connors
1979 SF, d. Jimmy Connors
1980 F, d. John McEnroe
1981 SF, d. Jimmy Connors

Wimbledon Total: 8

United States Open

1976 QF, d. Manuel Orantes
1976 SF, d. Ilie Nastase
1981 SF, d. Jimmy Connors

Open Total: 3


T2. John McEnroe, Quality Wins: 15

Australian Open (5x appearances total, 1983, 1985, 1989-90, 1992)

None

Roland Garros

1984 SF, d. Jimmy Connors

RG Total: 1

Wimbledon

1980 SF, d. Jimmy Connors
1981 F, d. Bjorn Borg
1983 SF, d. Ivan Lendl
1984 SF, d. Pat Cash
1984 F, d. Jimmy Connors
1989 QF, d. Mats Wilander

Wimbledon Total: 6

United States Open

1979 SF, d. Jimmy Connors
1980 QF, d. Ivan Lendl
1980 SF, d. Jimmy Connors
1980 F, d. Bjorn Borg
1981 F, d. Bjorn Borg
1984 SF, d. Jimmy Connors
1984 F, d. Ivan Lendl
1985 SF, d. Mats Wilander

Open Total: 8


4. John Newcombe, Quality Wins: 10

Australian Open

1975 F, d. Jimmy Connors

AO Total: 1

Roland Garros (skipped 1970-72, 1974-75)

None

Wimbledon (skipped 1972-73, 1975)

1970 QF, d. Roy Emerson
1970 F, d. Ken Rosewall
1971 SF, d. Ken Rosewall
1971 F, d. Stan Smith

Wimbledon Total: 4

United States Open (skipped 1975-76)

1970 QF, d. Arthur Ashe
1973 QF, d. Jimmy Connors
1973 SF, d. Ken Rosewall
1973 F, d. Jan Kodes
1974 QF, d. Arthur Ashe

Open Total: 5


5. Arthur Ashe, Quality Wins: 4

Australian Open (4 appearances total, 1970-71, Jan. 1977, 1978)

None

Roland Garros (skipped 1972, 1975, 1977)

None

Wimbledon (skipped 1972-73, 1977)

1975 QF, d. Bjorn Borg
1975 F, d. Jimmy Connors

Wimbledon Total: 2

United States Open

1969 QF, d. Ken Rosewall
1972 QF, d. Stan Smith

Open Total: 2


T6. Ilie Nastase, Quality Wins: 3

Australian Open (1 appearance, 1981)

None

Roland Garros (skipped 1976, 1978, 1980)

1971 QF, d. Stan Smith

RG Total: 1

Wimbledon

1972 QF, d. Jimmy Connors

Wimbledon Total: 1

United States Open

1972 F, d. Arthur Ashe

Open Total: 1


T6. Stan Smith, Quality Wins: 3

Australian Open (3 appearances 1970, 1976, Dec. 1977)

None

Roland Garros

None

Wimbledon

1972 SF, d. Jan Kodes
1972 F, d. Ilie Nastase

Wimbledon Total: 2

United States Open

1971 F, d. Jan Kodes

Open Total: 1


T6. Jan Kodes, Quality Wins: 3

Australian Open (no appearances)

None

Roland Garros

1971 F, d. Ilie Nastase

RG Total: 1

Wimbledon

None

United States Open

1971 SF, d. Arthur Ashe
1973 SF, d. Stan Smith

Open Total: 2


9. Guillermo Vilas, Quality Wins: 2

Australian Open (appeared 1977-81)

None

Roland Garros

1982 QF, d. Yannick Noah

RG Total: 1

Wimbledon

None

United States Open

1977 F, d. Jimmy Connors

Open Total: 1
 
Fun metric but bull. 2020 AO Federer counts but 2004/09 WB Roddick doesn't, nuff said.

Thanks for the feedback. Not meant to capture all there is to capture, and of course all title fight victories (like the 2004 and 2009 finals against Roddick) are self-evidently quality wins. I'd be fine with adding all GS title fight wins to the total; just wanted to capture faceoffs b/w strong players during late rounds of slams.
 
You spent a lot of time and effort on this and good job laying it all out. Interesting to look at it when you break everything down and look back over the years/decades of tennis.
 
Appreciate the effort. I feel like calling it quality wins implies some sort of quality from the opponent - in which case this list actually should look quite different :p
 
Yeah, thanks for compiling this! Gives a nice broad view of players' various levels of success at the majors. Definitely has some oddities (Wawrinka counts as a quality win at Wimbledon but Roddick doesn't!), but that's pretty much inevitable for any strict, simple quantitative metric like this.

I'd be interested to see how some of the single-slam winners stack up. I just counted 7 quality wins for Ivanisevic at Wimbledon – that's nuts! I think plenty of one-time slam winners would have more quality wins than any of those two-slam winners from your first list.
 
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