In this weekend’s blog, I am still with Tennis. The game of tennis has produced many GREAT RIVALRIES in the open era. However, there are some pretty big numbers in all eras with Pancho Gonzales and Ken Rosewell reportedly meeting in more than 200 matches, with the majority of matches in the pre-open era. They played 204 times with Gonzales winning 117-87. Rod Laver and Rosewell also met 164 times, and the score was 89-75 in favour of Laver. In the open era some of the great rivalries which fans have seen are Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras vs Andre Agassi, and jimmy Connors vs John McEnroe.
The Nine Greatest Men’s Rivalries in Open Era
8 Pete Sampras vs Andre Agassi- 34 matches
Both dominated the 1990s tennis scene as they were both ranked No 1 during that decade. Sampras won head-to-head 20-14 as he won their last three meetings. They met five times in Grand Slam finals with Sampras winning four times. Their first clash was on the clay in Rome with Agassi winning in straight sets and the last was Sampras’ 6-3, 6-5, 5-7, 6-4 victory in the 2002 US Open final.
8 Jimmy Connors vs John McEnroe- 34 matches
Like fellow Americans Sampras and Agassi, Connors and McEnroe also met 34 times with McEnroe winning 20-14. Their rivalry spanned from 1977 until 1991. Connors won their first four encounters before McEnroe got on the scoreboard. Connors also had 6-1 advantage at one stage, but McEnroe won 11 in row from 1983 to 1986 to take 19-12 advantage while his final win came in Swiss indoors in 1991.
6 Boris Becker vs Stefan Edberg-35 matches
Both are six-time Grand Slam winners, but it is Becker who has dominated Head-to-Head as he has won 25 of the 35 matches. Edberg won three of their four Grand Slam encounters, including two of their three finals at Wimbledon. After Edberg won their first two clashes, Becker won their next seven matches. Edberg managed to claw his back to 17-10 at one point, but Becker won their last eight matches.
6 Jimmy Connors vs Ivan Lendl- 35 matches
Ivan Lendl won the head-to-head 22-13, but Connors won both their Grand Slam finals at the 1982 and 1983 US Open. Connors dominated early on as he won their first eight encounters, and he took a 13-5 advantage, but Lendl then won the last 17 matches between the two greats. Their final encounter was in round of 64 at the 1992 US Open.
4 Novak Djokovic vs Andy Murray-36 matches
One of the great modern rivalry ran from 2006-217 with Djokovic taking head-to-head 25-11. They met in seven Grand Slam finals with Djokovic taking it 5-2 while was also 8-2 in all major matches. Murray, though, won their only encounters on grass-both at Wimbledon with one in the semi-final of the 2012 London Games and the other in 2013 Wimbledon final. Djokovic won their first meeting in 2006 and also their last in 2017.
4 Ivan Lendl vs John McEnroe- 36 matches
Ivan Lendl won the head-to-head 21-15 and he was also 7-3 at Grand Slams (2-1 in the finals). McEnroe won their first encounrer in Milan in 1980 and their second one at the US Open later that year before Lendl took charge as he won seven consecutive matches between them. By mid-1989, the rivalry was tightly contested as it was 15-15 but Lendl then finished with six wins in a row.
3 Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal- 40 matches
Their rivalry took tennis into a new era with Nadal head-to-Head at 24-16. Nadal also dominated finals (14-10) with six of his 10 wins coming in Grand Slam finals. Nadal won all four of their finals at the French Open while they were 1-1 at the Australian Open with Federer 2-1 at Wimbledon. Interestingly they never met at the US Open, Nadal was 14-2 on clay while Federer was 3-1 on grass and also 11-9 on the hard court. Nadal won their first match at Miami in 2006 while Federer won their final match in the semi-final at Wimbledon in 2019.
2 Novak Djokovic vs Roger Federer-50 matches
Roger held a 13-6 advantage in his head-to-head rivalry with Novak at one point, but Novak ended up winning 27-23. Federer won their first meeting at Monte Carlo Masters in 2006 and Djokovic won their 50th match in the semi-final of the 2020 Australian Open. The two icons met five times in Grand Slam finals with Djokovic dominated that stat 4-1 (3-0 at Wimbledon and 1-1 at US Open). Djokovic was 20-18 on hard courts and 3-1 on grass while they were 4-4 on clay.
1 Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal-60 matches
Their first meeting came at 2006 French Open when Novak retired while 6-4, 6-4 down. Their rivalry has been iconic with 18 of their matches coming at Grand slams (11-7 in all matches and 5-4 in finals) Nadal has won three French Open finals, Djokovic 2-0 at the Australian Open and 1-0 at the Wimbledon while Nadal is 2-1 at the US Open. Djokovic won their last meeting at recent Paris 2024 Olympics in two sets to go 31-29 ahead.
In this greatest rivalry list Djokovic has figured three times, and his rivalries with other three ie Nadal, Federer and Murray are considered to iconic rivalries of the modern times, as in 2010s they were known as big four of tennis, and head-to-head he is ahead with other three players.
Waiting for your feedback on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
2nd August 2024