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The Best of Tennis Writing
It is time to get nostalgic about what I believe was the Golden Era in men’s tennis, by going through some of the best performing posts
The top tennis players of a few years ago were better than those of today — noticeably better and much more competitive.
Toni Nadal’s assessment on the general lack of consistency and the level of tennis, as it appeared in El Pais, is something that I completely agree with.
Once upon a time, the men’s singles category in tennis was competitive. There were players who won more than others but none that entirely dominated. Heading into a tournament, you never knew who will end up as the winner. The sport was a lot more interesting.
While in the 1970s, we had players of the caliber of John Newcombe, Jimmy Connors, Björn Borg, Guillermo Vilas, John McEnroe, in the 1980s emerged talents like Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg, Then came a certain Pete Sampras in the 1990s. Tennis couldn’t recover.
While you should never compare different eras, the fact is, in this century the triumvirate of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic have taken over. The trio has won 82.5% of all the Grand Slam tournaments played since July 2004. They have been occupying…
