[Demonata]

Federer who was past his prime was one point away from beating novak at his prime....go figure. Federer at his prime was the best player ever seen in the history of tennis.

Tennis players such as Fedderer are different. I believe Novak can still get even better too and will be playing good when he's around 30 too.

[MartinBlank]

Actually in 1996, Agassi lost to Chang at the Australian Open on purpose, he did not want to play Boris Becker in the final.

In 1997 he stated using meth.

In 1998 Agassi won 5 titles and jumped from 110 to 6 in the World Rankings.

He did not disappear for 3 years, get your facts straight.

Follow closely. Agassi was buried early in 1996....he lost to Chris Woodruff at the French and Doug Flach at Wimbledon. He did win at the Atlanta games, but the decline started.

1997----Completely gone.

1998---he did come back, but he still wasn't the player he would become. He lost early again at Wimbledon.

He next major would be the 99 French against Medvedev.

So from 96-99 (which is 3 years)----Agassi did not appear in one GS final.

Nothing wrong with my facts.

When was the last time Fed, Nadal or Djokovic went 3 years without appearing in a GS final?

And this is supposed to be Sampras' biggest rival? Rivals don't take 3 years off between GS Final Appearances.

[will2survive]

Nash has a good point--Better quality of depth during the Borg era.

[shari91]

Nash has a good point--Better quality of depth during the Borg era.

Without a doubt. And that's what I was saying earlier: Take out Nadal and Fed, who's competing with Novak? No one. Greg's right: Whatever the heck happened this year is remarkable by any standards but to me it's a bit tainted because Fed's declining regardless of what his diehard fans want to admit and Nadal is all over the shop. Yes he's Nadal but no one who watches tennis regularly would say they felt comfortable betting him this year. He struggled too much even in matches where he normally would've bageled people. So whether Novak was a recipient of peaking at the right time or not, we might never know. Maybe he still would've dominated when those guys were at their peak as well but Fed definitely isn't and won't be again and Nadal definitely isn't right now either. After those two, there really isn't anyone decent left to compare him to other than maybe Murray the Flake.

[Raven66]

Follow closely. Agassi was buried early in 1996....he lost to Chris Woodruff at the French and Doug Flach at Wimbledon. He did win at the Atlanta games, but the decline started.

1997----Completely gone.

1998---he did come back, but he still wasn't the player he would become. He lost early again at Wimbledon.

He next major would be the 99 French against Medvedev.

So from 96-99 (which is 3 years)----Agassi did not appear in one GS final.

Nothing wrong with my facts.



When was the last time Fed, Nadal or Djokovic went 3 years without appearing in a GS final?

And this is supposed to be Sampras' biggest rival? Rivals don't take 3 years off between GS Final Appearances.

Agassi/Sampras Rivalry.....was from 1989 to 2002......yeah I would call it Sampras' biggest rival.

Missing 1 or 2 years means nothing.

[ttwarrior1]

borg era had becker

[MartinBlank]

borg era had becker

Well Borg did come back in 1991.

Anyone else remember that? He had his Donnay racquet, lost in Monte Carlo 2 and 3 to Jordi Arresse. That was back when USA Network televised tennis.

I know he switched to modern graphite eventually---but I can't remember when.

[stevenash]

borg era had becker

1978 US Open

The seeded players are listed below. Jimmy Connors is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.

So good Lendl wasn't even top 16 seeded.


Björn Borg (Finalist)
Jimmy Connors (Champion)
Guillermo Vilas (Fourth round)
Vitas Gerulaitis (Semifinalist)
Eddie Dibbs (Third round)
Brian Gottfried (Quarterfinalist)
Corrado Barazzutti (Second round)
Raúl Ramírez (Quarterfinalist)
Manuel Orantes (First round)
Sandy Mayer (First round)
Roscoe Tanner (Fourth round)
Harold Solomon (Fourth round)
José Luis Clerc (Third round)
Wojtek Fibak (Third round)
John McEnroe (Semifinalist)
Arthur Ashe (Fourth round)

1981 US Open


The seeded players are listed below. John McEnroe is the champion; others show the round in which they were eliminated.


John McEnroe (Champion)
Björn Borg (Finalist)
Ivan Lendl (Fourth round)
Jimmy Connors (Semifinalist)
José Luis Clerc (Fourth round)
Guillermo Vilas (Fourth round)
Gene Mayer (Fourth round)
Eliot Teltscher (Quarterfinalist)
Roscoe Tanner (Quarterfinalist)
Brian Teacher (Second round)
Peter McNamara (Third round)
Johan Kriek (Third round)
Yannick Noah (Fourth round)
Wojtek Fibak (First round)
Vitas Gerulaitis (Semifinalist)
Brian Gottfried (Fourth round)

[jsmithj88]

this is a very to say one way or the other
to me its more of djoker playing better than the decline of fed or nadal
hes beaten the nadal 6 times and fed 4 i mean thats plain ridiculous when u look at it
i didnt think i would see any1 outdefend and outhit fed or nadal