Tennis Records you may not know about that are held by Americans
Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl were number one for at least a week in 8 different years.
John McEnroe reach the #1 spot in the world 13 different times. John McEnroe is also the only player to be ranked #1 in the world in singles and in doubles simultaneously.
From 1973 – 1988 Jimmy Connors managed to stay in the top 10 for 788 consecutive weeks. He also has the record for the most years where his year-end ranking was in the top 3 – 12 years in a row starting in 1973. In addition, there was the most years in the top 5 – again starting in 1973 for 14 years consecutively except for the year ending 1986 rankings.
Jimmy Connors also shares the most year-end top 10 rankings with Andre Agassi – 16 years. Connors was 16 years in a row, again starting in 1973 – which is the record for consecutive year-end top 10 rankings. Agassi was top 10 year-end in 1988-1992, 1994-1996 and 1998-2005. From 1987-2005 Andre Agassi was ranked in the top 25 at the end of the year – a record 18 times in a row.
At 17 years, 11 days old, Aaron Krickstein became the youngest male player ever to be ranked in the top 10 (actually he was 9th). he had also been the youngest player in the top 100 which he reached when he was 16 years, 4 months old.
For more details see the slide show at Bleacher Report – CLICK HERE
A Statistical Look at the Importance of the Hold and Return Game Since 1998
The ATP has released statistics for service games held and serve return games won for the top three players each year since 1988. An article on Bleacher Reports breaks down the information.
The ATP is not exactly famed for being generous with providing statistical data. Now, however, they’ve provided access to a statistical goldmine for the last 20 years.
The focus on this article is on the hold and return game.
How important are they? Can you be No. 1 with one, but not the other? Naturally, both are important, and you normally don’t get to be world No. 1 without having a fairly good game at both.
But as we shall see, there are exceptions to that general rule.
Taking a look down memory lane can provide interesting observations. The below provides statistical evidence to the return and hold game of the year end World No. 1-3 from 1998-2011.
If any of the readers want, they are very welcome to supplement the list with statistics from 1991-1997, found here. Pete Sampras was world No. 1 for four of these years, and he roughly had a hold game of 90-92 percent and a return game between 22 and 29 percent.
Before we start, I’ll just give you some general numbers as to what is needed in order to have the best, a good and a medium/bad hold and return game respectively.
If you win 90 percent of your own service games, you are at the top or in the top three on tour, more or less regardless of year. Winning 85 percent places you in or very close to the top 10, whereas 80 percent places you anywhere from No. 20 to No. 40 depending on year.
Players gunning for the world No. 1 shouldn’t fall much short of 85 percent, but there are exceptions as we’ll see below.
Al Bello/Getty ImagesAs for return game, the list below shows that you can get by with less in certain cases and still be world No. 1 (i.e. Andy Roddick in 2003).
There’s a bit more variation with regards to how much is needed to have the best return game in the world. Some years, winning 32 percent of your return games is enough. Other years, as 2011, the top of the list even goes above 40 percent.
On average, 35 percent will put you either at the very top or in the top three.
Generally speaking, though, a return game above 30 percent puts you in the top five or top 10 on tour, and anything above 25 percent will be good enough to put you in or very close to top 20 most years.
Now, here’s the year-end top three lists from 1998 onwards. I’ve added ranking points to show the difference between No. 1 and his closest rivals.
The first number is the hold game percentage, the second is the return game percentage and the third is ranking points earned:
1998: 1. Pete Sampras: 89/25 (3,915), 2. Marcelo Rios: 85/33 (3,670), 3. Alex Corretja: 80/28 (3,398)
1999: 1. Andre Agassi: 88/34 (5,048), 2. Yevgeny Kafelnikov: 79/28 (3,465), 3. Pete Sampras: 90/21 (3,024)
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images2000: 1. Gustavo Kuerten: 86/25 (4,195), 2. Marat Safin: 84/24 (4,120), 3. Pete Sampras: 91/18 (3,385) (none of them in the top 35 in return games won)
2001: 1. Lleyton Hewitt: 83/33 (4,365), 2. Gustavo Kuerten: 87/26 (3,855), 3. Andre Agassi: 84/32 (3,520) (Hewitt and Agassi leading return games won this year and the next).
2002: 1. Lleyton Hewitt: 80/33 (4,485), 2. Andre Agassi: 87/31 (3,395), 3. Marat Safin: 83/25 (2,845) (the lowest hold game percent for the No. 1 of the decade).
2003: 1. Andy Roddick: 91/21 (4,535), 2. Roger Federer: 87/29 (4,375), 3. Juan Carlos Ferrero: 83/30 (4,205) (the shortest distance in rankings points between the No. 1 and No. 3 in the decade and the worst return game by any No. 1 player in this period).
2004: 1. Roger Federer: 92/30 (6,335), 2. Lleyton Hewitt: 82/32 (3,655), 3. Andy Roddick: 91/22 (3,590)
2005: 1. Roger Federer: 89/31 (6,725), 2. Rafael Nadal: 84/38 (4.765), 3. Andy Roddick: 93/21 (3,085)
2006: 1. Roger Federer: 90/32 (8,370), 2. Rafael Nadal: 86/29 (4,470), 3. Nikolay Davydenko: 80/35 (2,825)
2007: 1. Roger Federer: 89/29 (7,180), 2. Rafael Nadal: 86/33 (5735), 3. Novak Djokovic: 84/28 (4,470)
2008: 1. Rafael Nadal: 88/33 (6,675), 2. Roger Federer: 89/27 (5,305), 3. Novak Djokovic: 87/30 (5,295)
Ryan Pierse/Getty Images2009: 1. Roger Federer: 90/24 (10,550), 2. Rafael Nadal: 84/34 (9,205), 3. Novak Djokovic: 85/31 (8,310)
2010: 1. Rafael Nadal: 90/29 (12,450), 2. Roger Federer:89 /27 (9,145), 3. Novak Djokovic: 82/32 (6,240)
There is a lot more to the article. To see the whole article – CLICK HERE
2011 (as of now): 1. Novak Djokovic 87/41 (13,860), 2. Rafael Nadal: 84/35, (10,375) 3. Andy Murray: 80/37 (7,825) (These three also lead the tour in return games won.)
Roger Federer and the quest for one more
Douglas Perry of “Oregon Live” is one of my favorite tennis writers. Here is one of his most recent posts. To see all of his postings – CLICK HERE.
Roger Federer has had a lot of turning points in his career, from his 2001 win over Pete Sampras at Wimbledon to his 2008 loss to Rafael Nadal at the All-England Club to his 2010 thumping of Andy Murray at the Australian Open. Indeed, more than most, his career has been a thrilling series of highs and lows (the lows landing quite high up on the register in the overall scheme of things; RoFed, after all, never lost to George Bastl in the second round at Wimby like Sampras did or spiraled into meth abuse like Andre Agassi.)
The final turn, however, might have just been completed: the 2011 U.S. Open semifinal. A two-set lead against Novak Djokovic, two match points on his own serve in the fifth set — and the 30-year-old legend ends up shaking hands at the net with downcast eyes as the young Serb beams his megawatt smile. That’s going to be a tough one to get past, even for someone seemingly as well grounded as Federer.
So where do Federer fans go from here?
When he won the 2010 Australian Open for his all-time-best 16th major singles title, Federer set his sights on getting to 20. That’s not going to happen. The question now is: Can he get to 17?
The answer should be yes. After all, he’s very close, reaching a final and two semifinals at the majors this year. The problem is, those results don’t really mean that much. For the average professional tennis player, reaching the Final Four at a major is a huge triumph, a career moment. Think Robby Ginepri (U.S. Open 2005) or Sjeng Schalken (U.S. Open 2002). For a great player, however, it’s business as usual. Meaning: getting deep into the second week of a major is not an indicator that an aging great player is championship-ready.
Case in point: John McEnroe reached the semifinals at Wimbledon at age 30 and at the U.S. Open at 31, yet he never really had a serious shot at winning those tournaments. He was still better than most players on tour, sure, but the best of the best were now beyond him. Thirty was the Rubicon for professional tennis players then, and it remains so today.
The most recent outlier is, of course, Agassi, who won two Australian Open championships and a Rome Masters after turning 30 and spent some time at number one in the rankings. Andre is an all-time great, no doubt about it, but the closer we look at his post-30 productivity, the less it stands out. The reason for this has nothing to do with him. The guy worked hard to come back from career oblivion, to adapt to a rapidly changing game and to stay in top physical condition. But that doesn’t change the fact that he was aided by his competition. The generation between the Sampras Era (to which Agassi belonged) and the Federer Era didn’t really show up. I’m talking about Marcelo Rios and Mark Philippoussis and Tim Henman and so on. Tennis generations come in five-year intervals, and this Intergreat Era produced a lot of very good players but no great ones.* This made it much easier for Agassi to hang around at the top of the game in his 30s than it will be for Federer.
Because the generation behind Federer very much has shown up. In fact, it might prove to be the best generation ever (if Murray can step up and join the ring of champions, and if Juan Martin del Potro can prove he’s not a one-hit wonder, and if Robin Soderling can …).
So getting to No. 17 will be tough for Federer. But it’s certainly do-able — he’s Roger Federer, after all. And if he does do it, if he does get fifth-set match points against Djokovic again, the win will be one to tell the grandkids about, a glorious tale to be retold every Thanksgiving — those majestic two weeks when the lion in winter somehow roused himself one last time to take out the hungry, strapping hunter. Like Old Man Unitas leading the Colts to the Super Bowl title in 1970. Like Kirk Gibson limping around the bases in the 1988 World Series. Except better than those classic American examples, because this is tennis, and Roger Federer will have done it all by himself.
I would pay to see that movie. In my mind, I just did.
I can’t believe it’s a drop shot
Dolgopolov hits 2 drop shots one game against Nadal – I recommend viewing in Full Screen Mode and watch the ball come off Dolgopolov’s racquet (top of the screen)
Gilles Muller
Gilles Müller (born May 9, 1983) is a Luxembourgish professional tennis player. He was a US Open junior champion and is the most successful male tennis player in the history of his country. He was born, raised and currently resides in Schifflange. – Wikipedia
His highest ranking is #59 (which he will probably surpass). He has career wins over Andy Roddick (2005 U. S. Open); Rafael Nadal (2005 Wimbledon); Andre Agassi (2004 Leggs Mason; Tommy Haas (2008 U. S. Open); Nikolay Davydenko (2008 U. S. Open to reach the quarter finals); Feliciano Lopez (2009 Australian Open first round – it was a 4 hour, 24 minute match – the score was 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 4-6, 16-14) and Bernard Tomic (2009 Australian Open – 2nd round). His 10 singles and 3 doubles tournament wins are all in either Challenger events or Futures events
.
His ATP Player Page – http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Gilles-Muller.aspx
His record for the year (Yahoo Player Page) – http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/players/540
Will Roger Federer Ever regain World No.1 and surpass Pete Sampras
Federer is one week shy of tying Pete Sampras for the record, for most weeks as #1. This is a good article on the subject:
By now, you all know it. For the first time since Roger Federer won his first Slam at Wimbledon 2003, he’s no longer the defending champion at any one of the game’s four most heralded titles.
Even worse, he hasn’t even made it to the finals in any of the past four Slams.
Two semis and two quarters were all he made it to.
For any normal tennis players, this would be great. Being among the top-eight two times and the top-four times speaks of consistency and stability in the top. The only other two who can boost of similar consistency in the last four Slams are Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
But as opposed to Federer, they both made it to the finals as well and won three and one respectively.
Roger Federer not holding any Grand Slams would have to come at some point. But him not even being a runner-up coming at the same time? The fall from the sky seems so abrupt and complete.
In order to appreciate that, we need to remember that only a year ago, Roger Federer being in a Slam final was the safest bet you could make in tennis—or any other sport for that matter.
After all, he had made it to a mind-blowing 18 finals out of the last 19 counting from Wimbledon 2005 to Australian Open 2010, both included.
CLICK HERE to see the entire article
Long Island Tennis Magazine’s Literary Corner: The Education of a Tennis Player By Rod Laver With Bud Collins | Long Island Tennis Magazine
Article | November 30, 2010 | By Brent Shearer
Among the many fascinating tidbits of tennis history, the reader can glean from The Education of a Tennis Player by Rod Laver with Bud Collins is that accusations of stinginess between top rivals didn’t start with Andre Agassi’s jokes about Pete Sampras being a lousy tipper.
Here is Laver on his great rival Ken Rosewall.
“Somewhere in his home outside of Sydney, Kenny has his first five dollar bill framed over the mantel.”
Laver goes on to say that Rosewall is the least appreciated great player in the history of tennis. He attributes this to the fact that Rosewall spent some of his best years playing as a pro in the era before the arrival of Open tennis.
Laver also points out that any ranking of the game’s great rivalries such as Chris Evert-Martina Navratilova, Sampras-Agassi and Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer must include the Laver-Rosewall matchups. The book reports that the two most likely tallies of this series of matches has Laver slightly ahead by either 71-68 or 69-67, as record-keeping was shaky during both players’ barnstorming “pro” years.
The Education of a Tennis Player is full of portraits of the game’s great players and coaches who were on the scene during Laver’s career.
As the only man to win two Grand Slams, in 1962 and in 1969, Laver is the perfect player to share stories and insight about the on and off-court battles of his era.
In addition, at the end of each chapter, there is an instructional segment designed to help readers improve their games, as well as becoming well-versed in the perspective of the man who may have been the greatest tennis player in history.
HERE IS THE LINK TO GET THE WHOLE REVIEW:
Related Articles
- Tennis Great Rod Laver (time.com)
- Rod Laver and the Overrating of the Pre-Open Era Grand Slam (asubstituteforwar.wordpress.com)
Potential Future Male Tennis Stars – Richard Berankis
Richard Berankis, Lithuania
With a break in the main tour action this week, The Tennis Scoop has taken a look at a few of the players regarded as the stars of the near future on the ATP tour. We start off with highly rated Richard Berankis.
The 20-year-old from Lithuania is currently ranked at a career-high 73 in the world. The right-hander from Vilnius certainly has a lot of potential, although he doesn’t quite fit the mould for the modern male tennis pro. Standing in stark contrast to most of the breakthrough players of the last few years, such as Isner, Del Potro and more recently Raonic, Richard Berankis is only 1.75 meters tall and his stocky frame and speed around the court has drawn comparisons to Arnaud Clement. However the Lithuanian is far more explosive off the ground and is capable of some excellent shot making, which should help him to surpass the French journeymans career achievements.
The youngster is already the highest ranked player to play for his native country, has captured the US Open Junior title in 2007 and the prestigeous Orange Bowl title, and became the world junior number one. He will also struggle to find a better base from which to launch his career, training and being coached at the IMG Bollettieri Academy in Florida, home to such legends as Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg, Andre Agassi and the Williams sisters. He has however had the same coach, Remigijus Balzekas, since he was just 9 years old.
2010 was the year that Berankis started to show signs he was ready to compete on the main tour. Two singles rubber wins against Great Britain set the tone early on. A challenger win on grass at the Nottingham event was followed up by an impressive second round exit at Wimbledon, taking a set off grass court veteran Feliciano Lopez in a 3-1 defeat. He reached another challenger final on the hard courts of Vancouver in week 31, losing in straight sets to Dudi Sela, before embarking on his strongest grand slam run to date. After defeating American Ryan Sweeting in the 1st round, Berankis then went on to give current world number 10 Jurgen Melzer a scare in a 5 set epic, losing a tight 5th set 7-5. Richard finished off 2010 with another challenger win, this time against a strong field in Helsinki, including wins against Teimuraz Gabashvilli, Frank Dancevic and fellow rising star Grigor Dimotrov.
CLICK HERE – For the complete article
Related Articles
- Berankis to SAP Open Quarter-finals (theglobeandmail.com)
- A Tennis Tradition Like Few Others (sfgate.com)
Adirondack Tennis 