Bruno Santiago
Rookie
All 5 Eras comprised!!!
Following long debates of the Best Seasons Ever and the Greatest of All Times (not just OpenEra) this topic crossed my mind. Respecting time as a constant variable (thus being ancient Roman Empire more powerful than nowadays Paraguay) and accepting 4 variables in the context (Rankings, Titles, H2H confronts and contemporary opinion), how would Renshaw be compared to Djokovic? Laver to Federer? Sampras to Tilden? Nadal to Pancho? Borotra to Borg? Lacoste to Connors? Vines to Wilander? Hewitt to Murray?
Just guessing...
(1) Pre-WWI Era: That should go for some season from Decugis, Wilding, Larned, W.Renshaw, Sears and/or Doherty brothers (Lawrence and Reginald) in somewhen around 1890's~1910's. Olympic tennis was considered as a fairly respectable event at the time, since there were some restrictions towards foreigners in Slam tournaments. Hard assumption due tho the scarcity of sources. ---- Picking "L.Doherty's 1903" here.
(2) Pre-WWII Era: Prior to WWII Grand Slam were not that prestigious. Top players tended to go on head-to-head tours together, rather than play a Slam, which was rather a career/financial choice rather than anything else. For this period, "Fame" as an intangible variable (including h2h tours, titles, style) should give you the most accurate answer. Of course, one could argue in favor of other seasons from the 4 Mousquetaires (Lacoste, Borotra, Cochet, Brugnon) as well as Vincent Richards, Perry, Vines and also the obviously less praised Crawford, Nusslein and VonCramm. All debatable, but along with Tildens'21, i can only think of Budges'38 (All 4 Grand Slam Holder) as the greatest from this period, even though Australian Open was not even considered a straight Grad Slam at that time. ---- Voting for "Tilden's1921" (intangibles).
(3) Pre-ATP-Rankings Era*: An easier one. Although many great names popped up during this period (like Trebert, Kramer, Rosewall, Emerson, Newcombe, Sedgman), it is hard to escape from Lavers'62/69 and Panchos'56. ---- Going for "Laver 1969" - also as the greatest season ever in this sport.
(4) ATP Rankings Era: ATP Rankings began in 1973, but its regular standards were never fully patterned until the year 2000 (updated in 2009). Thus, it is wise to compare BigTitles (14) whenever comparing Open Era seasons because they are consistently similar : 4 Grand Slam, 9 "Master" major** events, 1 "Finals" top-ranked year-ending cup. During this period, 13 players have won 6 or more BigTitles(14) during their best career seasons: Connors(6), Borg(6), McEnroe(6), Lendl(6), Wilander(5), Edberg(4), Sampras(6), Agassi(4), Federer(8), Nadal(7), Djokovic(10), Murray(6). Whereas rankings were not fully comparable prior to 2000, it is not exaggerate to assume the best seasons of the Big3 were better than any other, BigTitles account for most of the ranking points and they are the only ones to overrun the 6 BT barrier - placing debatable though. If analyzed data only from prior-2000 ranking system, than Pete Sampras 1994 would stand out.
(5) Post-2000 Rankings Reform Era: Most straight forward Era in terms of ranking points assertion. In order to equalize 2009's reform, we could axiomatically trace an hypothetical maximum (not empirical max though) ATP Ranking points as equal to all BigTitles summed, i.e.: all 4GS, all 9M1000, and the undefeated Finals would result in a referential standard of 18,500 pts in ATP Rankings tally or 100%. Same goes for pre-2009, when the 100% referential standard would be the equivalent of 9,250 pts. Under this criteria the best seasons were: Federer’s 2006; being Djoker’s June 2016 the highest ranking points ever achieved since 1973.
Following long debates of the Best Seasons Ever and the Greatest of All Times (not just OpenEra) this topic crossed my mind. Respecting time as a constant variable (thus being ancient Roman Empire more powerful than nowadays Paraguay) and accepting 4 variables in the context (Rankings, Titles, H2H confronts and contemporary opinion), how would Renshaw be compared to Djokovic? Laver to Federer? Sampras to Tilden? Nadal to Pancho? Borotra to Borg? Lacoste to Connors? Vines to Wilander? Hewitt to Murray?
Just guessing...
(1) Pre-WWI Era: That should go for some season from Decugis, Wilding, Larned, W.Renshaw, Sears and/or Doherty brothers (Lawrence and Reginald) in somewhen around 1890's~1910's. Olympic tennis was considered as a fairly respectable event at the time, since there were some restrictions towards foreigners in Slam tournaments. Hard assumption due tho the scarcity of sources. ---- Picking "L.Doherty's 1903" here.
(2) Pre-WWII Era: Prior to WWII Grand Slam were not that prestigious. Top players tended to go on head-to-head tours together, rather than play a Slam, which was rather a career/financial choice rather than anything else. For this period, "Fame" as an intangible variable (including h2h tours, titles, style) should give you the most accurate answer. Of course, one could argue in favor of other seasons from the 4 Mousquetaires (Lacoste, Borotra, Cochet, Brugnon) as well as Vincent Richards, Perry, Vines and also the obviously less praised Crawford, Nusslein and VonCramm. All debatable, but along with Tildens'21, i can only think of Budges'38 (All 4 Grand Slam Holder) as the greatest from this period, even though Australian Open was not even considered a straight Grad Slam at that time. ---- Voting for "Tilden's1921" (intangibles).
(3) Pre-ATP-Rankings Era*: An easier one. Although many great names popped up during this period (like Trebert, Kramer, Rosewall, Emerson, Newcombe, Sedgman), it is hard to escape from Lavers'62/69 and Panchos'56. ---- Going for "Laver 1969" - also as the greatest season ever in this sport.
(4) ATP Rankings Era: ATP Rankings began in 1973, but its regular standards were never fully patterned until the year 2000 (updated in 2009). Thus, it is wise to compare BigTitles (14) whenever comparing Open Era seasons because they are consistently similar : 4 Grand Slam, 9 "Master" major** events, 1 "Finals" top-ranked year-ending cup. During this period, 13 players have won 6 or more BigTitles(14) during their best career seasons: Connors(6), Borg(6), McEnroe(6), Lendl(6), Wilander(5), Edberg(4), Sampras(6), Agassi(4), Federer(8), Nadal(7), Djokovic(10), Murray(6). Whereas rankings were not fully comparable prior to 2000, it is not exaggerate to assume the best seasons of the Big3 were better than any other, BigTitles account for most of the ranking points and they are the only ones to overrun the 6 BT barrier - placing debatable though. If analyzed data only from prior-2000 ranking system, than Pete Sampras 1994 would stand out.
(5) Post-2000 Rankings Reform Era: Most straight forward Era in terms of ranking points assertion. In order to equalize 2009's reform, we could axiomatically trace an hypothetical maximum (not empirical max though) ATP Ranking points as equal to all BigTitles summed, i.e.: all 4GS, all 9M1000, and the undefeated Finals would result in a referential standard of 18,500 pts in ATP Rankings tally or 100%. Same goes for pre-2009, when the 100% referential standard would be the equivalent of 9,250 pts. Under this criteria the best seasons were: Federer’s 2006; being Djoker’s June 2016 the highest ranking points ever achieved since 1973.
