martinezownsclay
Hall of Fame
Players back then ALWAYS won more tournaments back then anyway. Not saying it was due to the competition, and no way am I one of those who automatically says competition today is way harder than back then, and if anything many of the fields from back then were stronger than some of the recent fields. More likely something due to the tour format, the number of tournaments with only 3 rounds (which don't exist, even in small tournaments from say 1990 onwards), the less physical nature of the game, etc... But it is so consistent it can't be coincidence. So I always take tournament counts with a grain of salt comparing players pre around 1985 to post, the same way I take slam counts with a grain of salt as those favor the post 1985 players when players were focusing on all 4 majors more consistently.There is no way any number of small titles can make up for a six slam deficit. Also Pete has the way better YEC record and was clearly the best player of his generation, while Connors trails the H2H against most great players (Borg 8-15, Lendl 13-22, Mac 14-20). We can of course say, he had an age disadvantage against Lendl and maybe also Mac, but he was absolutely not clearly the best player of his generation unlike Pete.
Doesn't Virginia Wade have more singles titles than Steffi Graf, LOL! Evonne Goolagong more than Serena Williams? Yeah nuff said on titles counts of any player from the 70s vs any player from the 90s. People only seem to bring it up when convenient anyway.