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
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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