The top 20 in February 2004

[Rhino]

I thought this was funny:

1. Roger Federer
2. Juan Carlos Ferrero
3. Andy Roddick
4. Guillermo Coria
5. Andre Agassi
6. Rainer Schuettler
7. Carlos Moya
8. David Nalbandian
9. Mark Philippoussis
10. Paradorn Sricaphan
11. Tim Henman
12. Seb Grosjean
13. Lleyton Hewitt
14. Nic Massu
15. Sjeng Shalken
16. Jiri Novak
17. Gustavo Kuerten
18. Martin Verkerk
19. Tommy Robredo
20. Agustin Calleri

In fact the 2nd highest still active player I could find was Feli Lopez at number 33!

 

[Tennisanity]

Truly the king of kings is Roger Federer. He's no pretender.

 

[fedtennisphan]

I thought this was funny:

1. Roger Federer
2. Juan Carlos Ferrero
3. Andy Roddick
4. Guillermo Coria
5. Andre Agassi
6. Rainer Schuettler
7. Carlos Moya
8. David Nalbandian
9. Mark Philippoussis
10. Paradorn Sricaphan
11. Tim Henman
12. Seb Grosjean
13. Lleyton Hewitt
14. Nic Massu
15. Sjeng Shalken
16. Jiri Novak
17. Gustavo Kuerten
18. Martin Verkerk
19. Tommy Robredo
20. Agustin Calleri

In fact the 2nd highest still active player I could find was Feli Lopez at number 33!

Tommy Robredo is still active.

 

[Deleted member 756514]

Atleast Novak is still in top 20.

 

[Rhino]

Tommy Robredo is still active.

Ahh yes, so he is, I thought he'd retired but he's been playing on the challenger tour.

 

[tennis_pro]

Good job, Robredo.

 

[Indio]

Youzhny is also still active, and, of course, so is Nadal. who defeated Federer in Miami in 2004.

 

[JackGates]

Yeah, look at those talented names. Moya, Kuerten, Agassi, Hewitt, Ferrero, Coria,Roddick, Henman.

This is not a weak era.

 

[fedtennisphan]

Youzhny is also still active, and, of course, so is Nadal. who defeated Federer in Miami in 2004.

Of course. I forgot about them because neither was in the top 20 when Federer first became no. 1.

 

[Deleted member 756486]

No Safin?

 

[Steve0904]

No Safin?

Safin was a bit below the top 20 at this point. I think he had been injured most of 2003 and was ranked 86 (IIRC) before he made the AO Final that year.

 

[HazBeen18]

Yeah, look at those talented names. Moya, Kuerten, Agassi, Hewitt, Ferrero, Coria,Roddick, Henman.
This is not a weak era.

Agreed, that list is fairly stacked with decent players... some of them Hall of Famers.

 

[Rhino]

Agreed, that list is fairly stacked with decent players... some of them Hall of Famers.

Yes, everyone in the top 9 then was at least a slam finalist (although Coria had to wait until RG). But if you look at todays top 10 you have guys like Zverev, Dimitrov, Thiem, Goffin, Sock, Carreno Busta. All good players but those six guys have zero slam finals between them!

 

[Deleted member 756486]

Yes, everyone in the top 9 then was at least a slam finalist (although Coria had to wait until RG). But if you look at todays top 10 you have guys like Zverev, Dimitrov, Thiem, Goffin, Sock, Carreno Busta. All good players but those six guys have zero slam finals between them!

The fact that he’s a top 10 player is proof that this era is the weakest yet.

 

[toby55555]

Tommy the only one younger than Fed?

And Grosjean.

And Roddick.

 

[underground]

No Safin?

No because he was pretty low ranked when he reached the AO final.

It was quite funny because Fed and Safin met shortly after in Dubai R1.

 

[Rhino]

Another interesting thing is the age difference.

The top 10 on Monday will look like this (age in brackets):

1. Roger Federer (36.5)
2. Rafa Nadal (31.7)
3. Marin Cilic (29.3)
4. Grigor Dimitrov (26.7)
5. Sasha Zverev (20.8)
6. Dom Thiem (24.4)
7. David Goffin (27.1)
8. Jack Sock (25.3)
9. JM Del Potro (29.3)
10. Sam Querrey (30.3) or Kevin Anderson (31.7)

(#10 is a guess because Carreno Busta lost in Buenos Aires and I guess Querrey, Anderson, or Nishikori wins in New York).

So the average age will be 28+

The average age in Feb 2004 was 24.8

 

[The Green Mile]

Yep, the guy has serious longevity going on. Debuted in 1998, the only other guy in at least the top 200 who played their first main tour match in the same year, was Feli Lopez.

 

[fedtennisphan]

Another interesting thing is the age difference.

The top 10 on Monday will look like this (age in brackets):

1. Roger Federer (36.5)
2. Rafa Nadal (31.7)
3. Marin Cilic (29.3)
4. Grigor Dimitrov (26.7)
5. Sasha Zverev (20.8)
6. Dom Thiem (24.4)
7. David Goffin (27.1)
8. Jack Sock (25.3)
9. JM Del Potro (29.3)
10. Sam Querrey (30.3) or Kevin Anderson (31.7)

(#10 is a guess because Carreno Busta lost in Buenos Aires and I guess Querrey, Anderson, or Nishikori wins in New York).

So the average age will be 28+

The average age in Feb 2004 was 24.8

Times change. Older doesn’t mean you can’t play anymore.

 

[cluckcluck]

Agreed, that list is fairly stacked with decent players... some of them Hall of Famers.

Nah, total weak era. Bunch of posers if you ask the VB.

 

[Fedeonic]

Tommy the only one younger than Fed?

And Grosjean.

And Roddick.

From that ranking, only Roddick, Coria, Nalbandian and Robredo are younger than Federer.

 

[JoshuaPim]

The fact that he’s a top 10 player is proof that this era is the weakest yet.

Srichaphan was No 10 then, a match between those two would be pretty close I'd imagine.

 

[Druss]

Just looking at that list of top 15 back in 2004:
Federer, Ferrero, Roddick, Coria, Agassi, Moya, Nalbandian, Philippoussis, Henman, Grosjean, Hewitt (and Kuerten just outside)...quite impressive if you ask me.
Compare that to now, or even the last 3 years....makes me cringe!

NB: Some serious clay-courters back then too!

 

[Thundergod]

From that ranking, only Roddick, Coria, Nalbandian and Robredo are younger than Federer.

Feels so weird that 3 of them have been long gone.

 

[Batzmo]

I thought this was funny:

1. Roger Federer
2. Juan Carlos Ferrero
3. Andy Roddick
4. Guillermo Coria
5. Andre Agassi
6. Rainer Schuettler
7. Carlos Moya
8. David Nalbandian
9. Mark Philippoussis
10. Paradorn Sricaphan
11. Tim Henman
12. Seb Grosjean
13. Lleyton Hewitt
14. Nic Massu
15. Sjeng Shalken
16. Jiri Novak
17. Gustavo Kuerten
18. Martin Verkerk
19. Tommy Robredo
20. Agustin Calleri

In fact the 2nd highest still active player I could find was Feli Lopez at number 33!

But but but i thought nadal and djokovic were federers main rival/era. Ahhhh bamos brigrade in meltdown ahhhh

 

[HazBeen18]

What's amazing is how many of those players are now coaches or mentors to other players... they are literally from a different generation of tennis. Incredible.

 

[Red Rick]

I get it. Dude is old. Tour is sick, weak, injured and miserable.

 

[ghostofMecir]

I get it. Dude is old. Tour is sick, weak, injured and miserable.

If this isn’t satire then you don’t get it at all as per usual.

 

[zagor]

Man, that was such a solid top 10. Shame it went south for a lot of them after that season.

Gotta find that 2004 AO Safin-Agassi QF to re-watch. They were hitting the fuzz out of the ball.

 

[metsman]

Man, that was such a solid top 10. Shame it went south for a lot of them after that season.

Gotta find that 2004 AO Safin-Agassi QF to re-watch. They were hitting the fuzz out of the ball.

stupid ball striking for 3 sets, fizzled out a bit after that.

 

[zagor]

stupid ball striking for 3 sets, fizzled out a bit after that.

Well hard to keep up that level of hitting, I remember the average groundstroke speed being something ridiculous. What a great tourney on the whole 2004 AO was, so much depth back then.

 

[mike danny]

Man, that was such a solid top 10. Shame it went south for a lot of them after that season.

Gotta find that 2004 AO Safin-Agassi QF to re-watch. They were hitting the fuzz out of the ball.

Ferrero, Coria, Schuettler, Moya, Phillippoussis, Srichapan were the ones completely finished after 2004

 

[mike danny]

Well hard to keep up that level of hitting, I remember the average groundstroke speed being something ridiculous. What a great tourney on the whole 2004 AO was, so much depth back then.

Depth and 2004 in the same sentence? How can you say something like that? Don't you know that tennis began in 2008?

 

[Meles]

Good job, Robredo.

Goatredo

 

[qindarka]

Ferrero, Coria, Schuettler, Moya, Phillippoussis, Srichapan were the ones completely finished after 2004

Coria was still relevant in 2005. He reached the finals of Monte Carlo and Rome, losing to Nasal. Also close to reaching the US Open semis.

And while Ferrero was never an elite player again, he still has his moments, wouldn't say completely finished.

 

[BigServer1]

Man looking at that top 20 compared to now...and realizing that a two slam winner in Safin wasn’t even on the list.

People called that part of a weak era. Can anyone find an overall better top 20 in the last 15 years? Maybe ‘05 because it’s many of the same guys but it adds Safin and Nadal? Still part of the weak era though. Trolls.

 

[skip1969]

Fed gets the prize for crazy longevity. No doubt.

TT went into steep decline/weak era mode way before he did. Now he's back to number 1 . . . and we still stink.

 

[abmk]

Man, that was such a solid top 10. Shame it went south for a lot of them after that season.

Gotta find that 2004 AO Safin-Agassi QF to re-watch. They were hitting the fuzz out of the ball.

SF, not QF

its there on youtube.

 

[Deleted member 307496]

I get it. Dude is old. Tour is sick, weak, injured and miserable.

Tour was sick, weak and injured when Murray was No. 1 too.

Broady, Lu, Millman, Kyrgios, Tsonga (30+ years old), Berdych and Raonic are all world beaters yeah?

 

[Deleted member 307496]

Ferrero, Coria, Schuettler, Moya, Phillippoussis, Srichapan were the ones completely finished after 2004

IIRC Scud lost to a 14 year old boy in 2006 and that's when he decided to call it quits.

 

[roysid]

There were seven other players who were in top 100 in 2004 who are still in top 100 now

 

[roysid]

Nadal, feliciano, Berdych, youzhny, ferrer, karlovic and gasquet

 

[Druss]

Well hard to keep up that level of hitting, I remember the average groundstroke speed being something ridiculous. What a great tourney on the whole 2004 AO was, so much depth back then.

....and many on here like to claim that tennis has become more power based!

 

[zagor]

....and many on here like to claim that tennis has become more power based!

Well, they claim a lot of things. Hard to take much of it seriously when just this week in Rotterdam we have a 36-34 year old SF match. Fed is one thing but Seppi worked those youngsters like a pro, despite all their super evolved stroke mechanics and never before seen levels of athleticism.

The Zverev match was especially hilarious, how to beat an overhyped blonde giraffe? Hit to his FH 70% of the times. The future of tennis right there.

 

[Druss]

Well, they claim a lot of things. Hard to take much of it seriously when just this week in Rotterdam we have a 36-34 year old SF match. Fed is one thing but Seppi worked those youngsters like a pro, despite all their super evolved stroke mechanics and never before seen levels of athleticism.

The Zverev match was especially hilarious, how to beat an overhyped blonde giraffe? Hit to his FH 70% of the times. The future of tennis right there.

Oh I hear you. Zverev is the same age now as when Safin beat Sampras for the USO title. That Safin would make a complete mockery of even the best Zverev version....Tennis is evolving my a*rs^!