Slam finals/semifinals against top5

[Lew II]

Slam finals/semifinals against top5 (minimum 7 matches)

Del Potro / Cash 87.5%
Ferrer / Tsonga 85.7
McEnroe 73.33
Roche / Gerulaitis 72.7
Wawrinka 69.2
Djokovic 68.9
Murray 68.8
Edberg / Roddick / Ferrero 66.7
Becker 64.3
Cilic / Tanner / Berdych 62.5
Federer 59.2
Connors 58.7
Hewitt / Chang 58.3
Lendl 57.4
Rosewall 57.1
Wilander 56.0
Kafelnikov 55.6
Nadal 55.0
Ivanisevic / Safin / Rafter 54.5
Courier 52.9
Borg 51.5
Agassi 51.2
Laver / Martin 50.0
Sampras 43.9
Kriek 42.9
Newcombe 41.2
Ashe 40.0
Stich 37.5
Kodes 36.4
Vilas 30.0
Nastase 27.3
Bruguera 14.3
Smith 12.5

 

[robthai]

Del Potro Goathood confirmed.

 

[Lew II]

Del Potro's QF/SF/F opponents:

Federer x5
Nadal x4
Djokovic x3
Cilic x2
Murray
Wawrinka
Ferrer
Isner



Maybe the unluckiest player ever with injuries and competition.

 

[RS]

Del Potro's QF/SF/F opponents:

Murray
Federer
Federer
Nadal
Federer
Federer
Federer
Djokovic
Djokovic
Wawrinka
Nadal
Nadal
Nadal
Djokovic



Maybe the unluckiest player ever with injuries and competition.

What about Lendl competition? He has got to one of the most unlucky as well.

 

[Pheasant]

What about Lendl competition? He has got to one of the most unlucky as well.

Lendl is the unluckiest by far. He was constantly facing legends like Becker, McEnroe, and Edberg on fast surfaces that favored serve and volley players. He also got a dose of Borg, Connors, and Wilander. Towards the end of his career, he got Courier, Agassi, and Sampras.

Two slams during the majority of his prime were player on his worst surface(by far his worst).

 

[RS]

Lendl is the unluckiest by far. He was constantly facing legends like Becker, McEnroe, and Edberg on fast surfaces that favored serve and volley players. He also got a dose of Borg, Connors, and Wilander. Towards the end of his career, he got Courier, Agassi, and Sampras.

Two slams during the majority of his prime were player on his worst surface(by far his worst).

1980s was maybe the best decade also.

 

[Antonio Puente]

Wawrinka 69.2
Djokovic 68.9
Murray 68.8

Unfortunately this is the problem for Djoker. Look who is above him and right below him. What do you know, it's Djoker's four missing slams.

 

[Lew II]

Unfortunately this is the problem for Djoker. Look who is above him and right below him. What do you know, it's Djoker's four missing slams.

He's 8-2 against Murray at Slams.

 

[Antonio Puente]

He's 8-2 against Murray at Slams.

Yes, the classic thrillers vs. Murray in Melbourne account for much of Djoker's high percentage.

Unfortunately when it comes to Djoker's slam count, he's 1-2 vs. Murray in slam finals outside Melbourne.

 

[tennis_pro]

Nadal should get downgraded for Schuttler, Puerta, Youzhny, Gasquet and freaking Berrettini.

 

[Third Serve]

Nadal should get downgraded for Schuttler, Puerta, Youzhny, Gasquet and freaking Berrettini.

Puerta doped in the final so that already pushes him up a couple of spots.

 

[tennis_pro]

Puerta doped in the final so that already pushes him up a couple of spots.

One Puerta doesn't cancel out all the mug draws that he's had over the years.

 

[Third Serve]

One Puerta doesn't cancel out all the mug draws that he's had over the years.

Yeah, just exclude him from the list and replace him with Anderson if that’s what you want.

 

[tennis_pro]

Yeah, just exclude him from the list and replace him with Anderson if that’s what you want.

That's what I want, yes.

 

[buscemi]

Newcombe 41.2

Where are you getting this number for Newcombe? Bearing in mind that there were no official rankings before 1973, I'd say he had the following top 5 wins/losses in Major SF/F:

1969 Australian Open: beat Roche, lost to Laver​

1969 U.S. Open: lost to Roche​

1970 Wimbledon: beat Rosewall​

1970 U.S. Open: lost to Rosewall​

1971 Wimbledon: beat Rosewall, beat Smith​

1973 U.S. Open: beat Rosewall​

1975 Australian Open: beat Connors​

That's 6-3 (66.67%). Are you also including pre-Open Era Majors?

 

[NoleFam]

Poor Del Potro. No wonder he could only win one Slam.

 

[Lew II]

Yes, the classic thrillers vs. Murray in Melbourne account for much of Djoker's high percentage.

Unfortunately when it comes to Djoker's slam count, he's 1-2 vs. Murray in slam finals outside Melbourne.

And why Melbourne doesn't count?

Djokovic didn't underperform against Murray. He is arguably the player that troubled Murray the most. Check the reaction of Murray's mom when Djokovic was eliminated in 2016 Wimbledon.

 

[Lew II]

Where are you getting this number for Newcombe? Bearing in mind that there were no official rankings before 1973, I'd say he had the following top 5 wins/losses in Major SF/F:

1969 Australian Open: beat Roche, lost to Laver​

1969 U.S. Open: lost to Roche​

1970 Wimbledon: beat Rosewall​

1970 U.S. Open: lost to Rosewall​

1971 Wimbledon: beat Rosewall, beat Smith​

1973 U.S. Open: beat Rosewall​

1975 Australian Open: beat Connors​

That's 6-3 (66.67%). Are you also including pre-Open Era Majors?

71WI Smith and 73UO Rosewall were not top5.

 

[buscemi]

71WI Smith and 73UO Rosewall were not top5.

There were no rankings in 1971, but Smith came into Wimbledon 1971 having won WTF in 1970 and having made the QF of the 1970 U.S. Open and the 1971 French Open. I would say he was easily top 5. Rosewall was the #5 seed at the 1973 U.S. Open, with the seeds being set just before the start of the ATP rankings.

 

[Lew II]

There were no rankings in 1971, but Smith came into Wimbledon 1971 having won WTF in 1970 and having made the QF of the 1970 U.S. Open and the 1971 French Open. I would say he was easily top 5. Rosewall was the #5 seed at the 1973 U.S. Open, with the seeds being set just before the start of the ATP rankings.

Smith was #9 and Rosewall was #6 in the rankings available on UltimateTennisStatistics.

They might be not as precise as the ATP rankings, but this is what we have.

 

[Sport]

Lendl is the unluckiest by far. He was constantly facing legends like Becker, McEnroe, and Edberg on fast surfaces that favored serve and volley players. He also got a dose of Borg, Connors, and Wilander. Towards the end of his career, he got Courier, Agassi, and Sampras.

Two slams during the majority of his prime were player on his worst surface(by far his worst).

? No offense, but those guys amount 19 Slams... among the 3. Nadal alone amounts 19 Slams, and the Big 3 as a whole 55.

In addition, Lendl only faced Borg once in Slams in his whole career, so it is misleading to include Borg as part of his competition.

And from the AO 1991 onwards he was old and done, with or without Sampras and Agassi. So it is not like Sampras and Agassi were constantly stopping him in the 1990s.

While Lendl did have strong competition, it cannot be compared to Del Potro's competition.

 

[Pheasant]

1980s was maybe the best decade also.

I agree. The diverse surfaces, along with the legends in that decade made it extremely tough. It's my favorite decade by far.

When I was a teenager, Lendl was labled a choker, due to starting out 0-4 in slam. But if we look at his first four slam final opponents, nothing could be further from the truth.

1st slam final: 1981 vs Borg at the FO. Borg hadn't drop a set at the FO since 1979. Baby 21 year Lendl pushed peak Borg to 5 sets at the FO. That was a great performance.
2nd slam final: lost to Connors at the USO. Connors won 5 USO titles and is arguably the GOAT of the USO
3rd slam final: lost to Connors at the USO
4th slam final: lost to McEnroe in 1984, the year Mac set the all-time record for highest winning pct(record still stands). This was Mac's best event(4 USO titles).

Note: Borg was 0-2 vs Connors in USO finals and 0-2 vs McEnroe in USO finals.

 

[buscemi]

I agree. The diverse surfaces, along with the legends in that decade made it extremely tough. It's my favorite decade by far.

When I was a teenager, Lendl was labled a choker, due to starting out 0-4 in slam. But if we look at his first four slam final opponents, nothing could be further from the truth.

1st slam final: 1981 vs Borg at the FO. Borg hadn't drop a set at the FO since 1979. Baby 21 year Lendl pushed peak Borg to 5 sets at the FO. That was a great performance.
2nd slam final: lost to Connors at the USO. Connors won 5 USO titles and is arguably the GOAT of the USO
3rd slam final: lost to Connors at the USO
4th slam final: lost to McEnroe in 1984, the year Mac set the all-time record for highest winning pct(record still stands). This was Mac's best event(4 USO titles).

Note: Borg was 0-2 vs Connors in USO finals and 0-2 vs McEnroe in USO finals.

Lendl's 4th loss in a Major was to Wilander, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 at the 1983 Australian Open. That was a reasonably bad loss given the scoreline and given that Lendl had just straight setted Wilander at the U.S. Open a few months earlier

 

[Lew II]

Murray in 2010-13 and Wawrinka in 2014-16 both beat Nadal and Federer too at Slams too, not just Djokovic. Yet people want to act like they were no dangers for them...

Plus Djokovic sure struggled with Wawrinka more than he should have, but not with Murray. He is 8-2 against Murray meeting him only in his peak years 2011-16. If not for Djokovic, Murray is the favourite to win all of these slams:

2012 UO
2013 AO
2013 WI
2014 UO
2015 AO
2015 RG
2016 RG
2016 WI

And why not have a chance for 2011, 2012 and 2016 AO. He did beat Federer and Nadal at AO, he could do it again.

 

[Mainad]

And why Melbourne doesn't count?

Djokovic didn't underperform against Murray. He is arguably the player that troubled Murray the most. Check the reaction of Murray's mom when Djokovic was eliminated in 2016 Wimbledon.

Judy anticipating a 2nd Wimby title for her boy?