martinezownsclay
Hall of Fame
Beyond the most obvious answer of all time probably- Graf and Seles, for obvious reasons, what are some others.
I would say:
Lendl and Borg- Had Borg stayed in full time, and stayed motivated, this would have been a great rivalry to see evolve. Starting with Lendl in his mentally fragile but still formidable days of 82-84 (already starting in 81) with Borg in or close to prime-ish age still, continuing into the days of Lendl maturing mentally and overall, and Borg probably starting to age out of his prime, although who knows how fast, in 85 and beyond.
Edberg and Sampras- Edberg was a tougher opponent for Sampras than either Becker or Agassi it seemed. This would have been a great rivalry to watch even more of if they were closer in age.
Graf and Evert- This rivalry is one of the biggest mysteries their actual head to head history gives virtually no clues to at all. Evert won their first 6 matches when she was in or close to her prime, and Graf was up and coming, very young, and not really close to her prime level. Graf won their final 7 matches (8 if you count the WD which was just an inevitable Graf win anyhow), all but the 1st which were Graf in or coming into her prime, and Evert now clearly past hers. The one time a player was probably closer to their prime than the other and lost was 16 year old Graf's win in Hilton Head 86, when Graf was not ranked in the top 5, had only gone past the round of 16 of one slam, and Evert was still ranked #2, albeit she herself was 31 now. Would have been fascinating to see them within 2 years of each other in age, rather than 15 years apart in age.
Court and Evert- This is a very interesting rivalry in that Evert won her first 3 matches with Court, the first being when 15 year old Evert won in a small event over Court in her Grand Slam year of 1970. Court at age 31 then responded strongly winning 4 of her 5 matches in 73 vs 18 year old Evert. Court then retired, seemingly for good, but surprisingly returned in 75, but now aged 33-35 was too realistically too old to be making yet another comeback and a shadow of her former self, and lost all 5 matches with Chris, now fully in her prime, and the games dominant player. The early course of their rivalry makes one wonder about the enticing rivalry and the twists and turns of it we may have gotten.
King and Navratilova- Even though Martina leads the head to head 9-6, King did amazingly well considering their first ever match was when Navratilova was 21 and King already 34 and making a shock comeback after knee surgery. King still won their first 3 ever matches, and as late as 80 and 81 (when King was now 37) destroyed Martina twice on her favorite surfaces of grass and carpet, and nearly beat her in their match at Wimbledon 80 where she served for it. Would have been great to see Martina have to handle her if they were close to their primes together rather than Martina way closer to hers as was the case for all of their matches. Funny too when Martina fans boast about her getting a grand 2 wins in 7 years over a prime Graf in Martina's post prime period during 88-94, and claim this as some evidence of her owning Graf in her prime, but that is another topic, LOL!
I would say:
Lendl and Borg- Had Borg stayed in full time, and stayed motivated, this would have been a great rivalry to see evolve. Starting with Lendl in his mentally fragile but still formidable days of 82-84 (already starting in 81) with Borg in or close to prime-ish age still, continuing into the days of Lendl maturing mentally and overall, and Borg probably starting to age out of his prime, although who knows how fast, in 85 and beyond.
Edberg and Sampras- Edberg was a tougher opponent for Sampras than either Becker or Agassi it seemed. This would have been a great rivalry to watch even more of if they were closer in age.
Graf and Evert- This rivalry is one of the biggest mysteries their actual head to head history gives virtually no clues to at all. Evert won their first 6 matches when she was in or close to her prime, and Graf was up and coming, very young, and not really close to her prime level. Graf won their final 7 matches (8 if you count the WD which was just an inevitable Graf win anyhow), all but the 1st which were Graf in or coming into her prime, and Evert now clearly past hers. The one time a player was probably closer to their prime than the other and lost was 16 year old Graf's win in Hilton Head 86, when Graf was not ranked in the top 5, had only gone past the round of 16 of one slam, and Evert was still ranked #2, albeit she herself was 31 now. Would have been fascinating to see them within 2 years of each other in age, rather than 15 years apart in age.
Court and Evert- This is a very interesting rivalry in that Evert won her first 3 matches with Court, the first being when 15 year old Evert won in a small event over Court in her Grand Slam year of 1970. Court at age 31 then responded strongly winning 4 of her 5 matches in 73 vs 18 year old Evert. Court then retired, seemingly for good, but surprisingly returned in 75, but now aged 33-35 was too realistically too old to be making yet another comeback and a shadow of her former self, and lost all 5 matches with Chris, now fully in her prime, and the games dominant player. The early course of their rivalry makes one wonder about the enticing rivalry and the twists and turns of it we may have gotten.
King and Navratilova- Even though Martina leads the head to head 9-6, King did amazingly well considering their first ever match was when Navratilova was 21 and King already 34 and making a shock comeback after knee surgery. King still won their first 3 ever matches, and as late as 80 and 81 (when King was now 37) destroyed Martina twice on her favorite surfaces of grass and carpet, and nearly beat her in their match at Wimbledon 80 where she served for it. Would have been great to see Martina have to handle her if they were close to their primes together rather than Martina way closer to hers as was the case for all of their matches. Funny too when Martina fans boast about her getting a grand 2 wins in 7 years over a prime Graf in Martina's post prime period during 88-94, and claim this as some evidence of her owning Graf in her prime, but that is another topic, LOL!
