Sportsnob – Critics Corner

2008 has been a remaskable year for the sport of Tennis. There has been no shortage of drama right from retirements to memorable finals to new grand slam winners. Just in case the tennis fans weren’t satisfied, this was also the year of the Olympic Games where Tennis found a new lease of life thanks to the presence of leading players. 

Henin’s Retirement:

No one saw this coming. The 7-time slam Champion called it quits days after her loss to Dinara Safina at the German open.Henin’s retirement which came two weeks before the French Open reminded tennis fans of the retirement of her compatriot Kim Clijsters not too long ago. Henin’s reason that she had given her everything to the game and now needed to  focus on life outside tennis made sense considering all the personal trauma she had been through. Henin had absolutely no regrets in her mind- including not winning Wimbledon-  (Henin lost in the final twice to Venus Williams (01) and Amelie Mauresmo (06). Post Henin’s retirement, the WTA tour had no clear number one. Also, tennis was deprived of its most beautiful shot (as McEnroe put it) – the Henin single-handed backhand

Nadal’s Ascent to Number 1 and that final: 

In January 2008, things did not look too great for Nadal. Novak Djokovic was closing the gap and the young Serb went on to win the Australian Open and Nadal only managed the semi finals. While post the Australian Open he did have some consistent results he did not win a title till he moved to his preferred clay courts. He quickly accumulated titles at Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Hamburg and clinched his fourth French Open title with an ultra dominant performance. Post Roland Garros, the action shifted to London where Nadal won his first grass-court title, the Artois Championships and carried the momentum to Wimbledon where he beat the five-time defending champion Roger Federer in a five-set classic. The final which was in stark contrast to the one played at Roland Garros between the two few weeks earlier, was hailed as the greatest tennis match ever played. Following that incredible match, Nadal went on to add the Olympic singles title at Beijing making it an absolutely memorable year for him.  

The Roger Slump (!) and Resurgence:

How does reaching a semi final and two other slam finals equate to a slump? In general terms it may not, but when it comes to gauging Roger Federer it does. For the past four and a half years he has dominated the sport like no other player, thus redefining goals and benchmarks again and again. During that time, every other player on the tour was subjected to that standard and they invariably fell short. Only this year Roger found himself being constantly compared to the Roger of the past years and he found himself falling short.

The main reason for his losses can be summed up in one word- mononucleosis, a glandular fever that he was diagnosed with a fortnight after the Australian Open, but one which was affecting his system right from the beginning of the year. In retrospect, it was surprising that Federer could even manage to play, let alone walk onto the court. He lost in the Australian Open semis to the eventual winner Novak Djokovic and then failed to win a title till the clay-court season began. During that lean phase he had loses to Andy Murray in his opening match at Dubai, Mardy Fish at Indian Wells and Andy Roddick at Miami. Federer still was suffering from the effects of the illness and the lack of match practice did not help. He went on to win his first title of 2008 at the Estoril Open on clay, beating Nikolai Davydenko in the final.After not winning any other title on the surface, Roger moved to his favourite surface- grass. He won the pre-Wimbledon warm-up at Halle without dropping a set or his serve.After the loss at Wimbledon to Nadal in the final, Federer continued to struggle with early losses to Frenchman Gilles Simon and Ivo Karkovic at the Rogers Cup and Cincinnati Masters respectively.

Perhaps the biggest post-Wimbledon disappointment came in the form of the quarterfinal loss to American James Blake in the quarterfinals at the Beijing Olympics. Federer however recovered quicker than he was expected to and won the Olympic doubles gold medal with his counterpart Stanislas Wawrinka. This medal proved to be sufficient motivation for the Swiss Champion as he defended his US Open title successfully. Doing so, he became the first player to win two slams successively for five years. The victory at New York meant that Roger was just a slam short of equalling Pete Sampras’ record of 14 slams. 

The Serbian Rise Continues:

Serbia got its first singles grand slam champion in the form of Novak Djokovic at this year’s Australian Open. The young Serb cemented his status as one of the three best players in the world with this win and led to the coinage of the phrase Big Three of Tennis. What Novak might not have achieved till date, his countrywoman Ana Ivanovic managed to do: reach the number one position. She did so by winning the French Open by beating Russian Dinara Safina in the final. While Novak and Ana have had slam success this year, Jelena Jankovic proved to be the most consistent of them. Jelena, a strong contender for the year-end number one ranking,  reached the final of the US Open and has the most number of wins on the women’s tour this year.The Ways of the Williams sisters:

Not playing day-in day-out and playing only when they really felt and ready seems to be the secret of the Williams sisters’ success at the slams. While Venus clinched the Wimbledon title (beating Serena in the final) without dropping a set, Serena did the same at the US Open and took over the number one ranking for the first time since 2003. The sisters also tasted success in doubles winning the title at Wimbledon and also the Olympic gold medal in Beijing. 

After 252 weeks, Roger Federer will finally lose the number 1 spot to Rafael Nadal. New contributor Hari thinks its a good time to rank the best male tennis players of the open era.

10. Jimmy Connors:

The games first showman, shows up at the top ten rankings as the winner of the maximum number of ATP tour titles. He did manage a couple of Wimbledon titles and was often stopped by the peak performance of Bjorn Borg. Despite Connors never winning the French Open, he could be called an all court player since he did dominate the US Open which was played on clay back then. He is in fact one of the three players, Andre Agassi and Mats Wilander being the others, to have won grand slams on hard courts, clay and on grass.

9. Rafael Nadal:

The charming Rafa makes it as the world’s best ever clay courter and the latest achiever of tennis’ toughest double – back to back grand slams on grass and clay. The mighty Majorcan has also broken the jinx of past clay court titans like Gustavo Kuerten and Sergi Bruguera and adjusted himself to all court play. Rafa’s journey has just started and if all goes well and he avoids injuring himself, we could well be witnessing some historic achievements. Those interested in tennis betting wouldn’t bet against him surprassing many of the other legends on this list in terms of most grand slams won.

8. John McEnroe:

He is given credit for elevating serve and volleying into a fine art and then making centre court more than just an exhibition of tennis talent. Most old timers, lament the fact that tennis has become too much of a gentleman’s game since the exit of the foul mouthed super brat. His grand slam exploits notwithstanding, McEnroe was also one of the greatest ever double’s players. And so if you question his ranking, ‘You cannot be serious!’<

7. Andre Agassi:

While most players start in their late teens and peak in their early twenties, Andre Agassi was the exception, improving as he aged like pure wine. In an era when big servers dominated, Agassi became the world’s greatest ever baseliner and proved his point winning all four majors albeit in different years. Personal troubles led to inconsistent performances in his early career and the tennis world could have actually missed out on seeing his very best

6. Ivan Lendl:

A genuine all rounder, Lendl was no specialist in any court but instead honed his skills to be equally sound on any surface. However, Ivan Lendl ended up the game’s greatest runner up.Winning the Australian, French and US Opens, he made the final of Wimbledon twice, against unheralded (at that time), Boris Becker and Pat Cash, only to choke on both occasions. Had he one any match out of those, his ranking would have been higher than 6 on this chart

5. Ken Rosewall:

Since this is an Open Era ranking, it is easy to forget the all pervasive achievements of the Australian. There were no hard courts at that time but Ken Rosewall was unarguably the best proponent on both grass and clay during the sixties. It was after the Open Era began that Rod Laver stole his thunder . Complications surrounding him being a professional player disallowed him from many key tournaments throughout his career. And so, his open era performances were often on the wrong side of thirty. Nevertheless, Rosewall’s backhand has never yet been equaled, as has his long twenty five year career. Rosewall makes it here as an exception to the Open Era rule since although his best performances might not have been during the Open Era, he certainly did play in it as the second best at a time when the world’s best ever player was king.

4. Pete Sampras : Pistol Pete changed the game like no one else ever has. Apart from the elegance that all the players on this list have, Sampras’ key weapon was his power. Sampras dominated the tennis world for an entire decade, possessed possibly the greatest serve ever and was never beaten at his best. Even those possessing a free bet would have never bet against him! If he ever was, it was attributed to under par performance due to some injury. But his gross underachievement on clay keeps him ranked at 4

3. Roger Federer:

Take the old world charm of a Fred Perry, the baseline skills of Agassi, the poise of Borg and the supreme technique of Pete Sampras, Roger Federer has been often called the most complete tennis player of all time. He also is the fastest achiever of the modern era running up very close to Sampras’ grand slam record in almost half the time. The Sampras vs Federer question is a hard one to answer. I put Federer above the Floridan for him being at least the second best clay court player for most of his career and not having lost at his best to anyone other than Rafael Nadal. And he still has his chances.

2. Bjorn Borg:

The Iceman ruled the courts as a baseliner when serve and volleying was the norm. He used both his hands when self respecting professionals were expected to slice their backhands with one hand. In a world that was fast changing tilting towards power over grace, Borg defied with elegance, chasing down the ball with the rarest of anticipation that one has to be born with, not acquired, returning at angles never again seen, winning points (and hearts) without ever breaking a sweat, Borg made tennis look easy. He ruled grass and clay with equanimity and came excruciatingly close four times on hardcourts. Following two successive grand slam upsets, the impassive Swede silently drew back from competing saying that he did not wish to be number 2. Well, on this list, he is.

1. Rod Laver:

The only player ever to have won the Grand Slam in the strictest sense of the word in 1969 and 1962 (amateur) is almost an automatic choice to be number 1 for most tennis experts. He is renowned for his feather touch serve and volleying, wristy groundstrokes and being the inspiration for a whole generation of players from where sprang John McEnroe and Pete Sampras. Though the latter generation’s power would probably have beaten Laver had they ever met, it is Laver’s dominance at his time that keeps him at the top and not how he would have fared against future generations.

- Psycho(the moderators don’t understand why he wants to be called that!)