The Blot On The Copybook

First topic message reminder :

We regularly have statistics quoted to show how good a player is but I thought I'd reverse it.

Which statistic is a player's bête noire? What are the weak spots in otherwise impressive career stats? Which stat is the biggest indictment against a players greatness?

I'll offer some:

Roger Federer
5th set record of just 54% (22-19).
An oddity among generally amazing career numbers.

Rafael Nadal
Weeks since first reaching #2: 421
Weeks at #1: 141
Weeks not #1: 280
Can a player be considered the greatest ever when two thirds of the time they are not even the best on tour?

Novak Djokovic
Slam finals played: 14
Slam finals won: 7
Often draws praise for mental toughness but in fact has a low win rate on the biggest occasions.

Andy Murray
Clay tournaments played: 35
Finals of clay tournaments played: 0
Coupled with a low win rate of 63%, this surface is consistently fruitless for such an accomplished player.

Pete Sampras
Best result at Roland Garros: SF (once)
In 2000, when he won his 7th Wimbledon and 13th slam overall, his last 4 RG results had been 1R, 2R, 2R, 3R.

Ivan Lendl
Slam finals lost: 11 (out of 19)
Famously lost his first 4 finals before beating McEnroe at RG in 84. Only won 7 of his next 14 finals though, so never became truly ruthless at slam level.

Add Isner to Murray's list from Cinci this year. I still wake up at nights in a cold sweat thinking about that Shanghai match.

Thanks TSJ, added - do you know how many match points he defended in that match vs. Isner?

2 i think.

2 I think. Should be in the other list though.

thanks! Not enough rest lately I guess

Interesting- even with the relatively poor 5th set record- Fed now has the 2nd most comebacks from two sets down in history according to McEnroe brothers.
Not a bad testament to mental strength.

^ and physical stamina. Federer's physical fitness at his grand old age is incredible!

TRuffin wrote:Fed now has the 2nd most comebacks from two sets down in history according to McEnroe brothers.  
Not a bad testament to mental strength.

Would you know where he stands in the BO5 matches lost from 2 sets up? It would be a nice complement

Fed has always been (since 21-22yo) one of the fittest guys on tour - again, like with Nadal and Djokovic, its primarily borne of genetics. I've never seen Federer physically wilt...some mention AO09 but I'm not sure about that one...and even if so was just one match. What about Rome 06 vs Nadal? Amazing stuff. Fitness can be maintained at a very high level well into 30s...its recovery that becomes more of an issue. Was a good comeback from 0-2 nonetheless...although you wonder would his chances of coming back been tougher against someone who wasn't known for physically wilting in 4th/5th sets? But hey...who cares about 5 set records, or much of anything else, when you've got 17 (maybe 18...) slams?

biugo wrote:

TRuffin wrote:Fed now has the 2nd most comebacks from two sets down in history according to McEnroe brothers.  
Not a bad testament to mental strength.

Would you know where he stands in the BO5 matches lost from 2 sets up? It would be a nice complement

Up until he lost to Tsonga in the quarters at W 2011, Federer had NEVER lost a slam match from 2 sets up. That was a total of 178 slam matches.

He had lost only two previous five set matches from two sets up in his career overall: 2003, vs Hewitt in Davis Cup; and 2005 masters cup final vs Nalby.

A truly remarkable record.

I'm not sure how many he's lost since 2011 - although the defeat to Djokovic at the 2011 USO comes to mind.



emancipator