The Window

Recently on the forum has been lots of discussions about era's, the strength of them, what constitutes a weak era to a strong era. It all goes somewhat complicated and straw issues become ever more present. For me in any sport, there is a window. This window is by where players are beginning there rise to ranks of the game and then those players who have been at the top making that last run at glory. This window allows players who have been on the brink. Ones that are ever so near and yet so far away to sustain any dominance. If you go the late 1970's to 80's by where Borg and Connors dominated. As Borg retired and Connors faded in Slams and could not turn performances into victories. Then McEnroe broke through with Lendl and Wilander not far behind and then in the mid 80's saw Becker and Edberg join the fray. Competition was no doubt fierce. The window appeared in 1987 when Pat Cash won Wimbledon and 1989 when Michael Chang won the French Open.

The 1990's saw Sampras and Agassi burst onto the scene. Before they could establish their dominance There was a window by where players like Becker and Edberg won Slams and also where Courier had brief success. Towards the end of 1990's Rafter enjoyed some Slam success and the French Open became a Slam for South Americans and Europeans. The 1990's saw players like Gomez, Korda, Moya, Kraijcek enjoy single Slam sucess. Again these were windows where players not quite in the leagues of greatness were able to seize opportunities when the field was weakened in tournaments. Kafelnikov had succes in the Slams towards the latter parts of the 90's and early 00's.

In the 2000's in the early part saw Agassi and Sampras enjoy Slam success. It is testament to both players given that Sampras won his first Slam in 1990 and his last in 2002 and Agassi won his first in 1992 and last in 2003. That no doubt shows their quality and class. Players like Hewitt, Safin, Ferrero, Roddick enjoyed Slam success, but could not sustain it to the emergence of Federer and later Nadal. Ivanisevic and Johansson enjoyed single Slam success. Towards the latter periods of the 00's has seen young players in Del Potro and Djokovic crash the party. Now where are in 10's and there is a window. Djokovic has broken through it. Now there is an opportunity come the US Open to come join the party and break through that 'Window'

It does seem to be an ideal time for Murray to step up! The US Open will tell us all we need to know about his desire.

I disagree. The end of an era is an objective situation but the ability of taking advantage of it depends on the quality of the different individuals. People like Sampras, Lendl, Wilander, Courier, Becker and Edberg would have shone in any era simply because at their time they held a competitive advantage over the other players..

You hit the mark when you say that "The 1990's saw players like Gomez, Korda, Moya, Kraijcek enjoy single Slam sucess". Those are probably the players Murray should compare himself to, to find the right answers in his quest to win a slam.

Hence why I said that players took advantage when the fields in the tournaments were weakened. All the players listed would've shone in any era purely because they have individual qualities that seperate their talents from others.

For the USO apart from Murray, Del Potro and possibly Fish or Berdych who do you think could disturb the top three. There is no one else that I think could do it.