A Trip Inside my Unofficial Historical Tennis Rankings

The 2012 French Open is in the books.  Sadly, the quick transition to grass rarely allows for the full impact of this event to be appreciated until later in the year.  Still, Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova made a great deal of history.  Here is a quick look at what I think each player’s win meant to each player’s legacy.

Rafael Nadal is At Worst the 3rd Most Decorated Post-Laver Champion

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Certainly Nadal can be reasonably argued to be ahead of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer in terms of his legacy.  I think one can reasonably argue that Sampras and Federer are ahead of Nadal’s legacy.  I do not think Bjorn Borg is still in this mix.  I already felt Nadal was ahead of Borg due to his 2009 Australian Open title, 2010 US Open title and 2008 Olympic Gold Medal victories all being achieved on hard courts.  Borg did reach 6 consecutive Wimbledon final matches and did win 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles.  Rafa has won 2 Wimbledon titles, been a Wimbledon runner-up 3 times and won the 2008 Queen’s Club title.  Rafa is behind Borg in terms of grass court accomplishments, but he is distinctly ahead on clay and quite far ahead on hard courts.  Admittedly, more hard court opportunities exist today, but I would argue that Nadal’s tennis legacy is now ahead of Borg’s.

Beyond that, Nadal joins Pete Sampras as the only male players of the Open Era to win the same major 7 times.  Nadal’s clay court dominance surpasses’ Sampras’ mastery of grass due to Sampras losing matches at Wimbledon to Goran Ivanisevic and Richard Krajicek during his prime as well as losses at various Queen’s Club outings.  Nadal has owned Paris, Rome, Monte Carlo and Barcelona.

Maria Sharapova Wins a Career Grand Slam

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The career Grand Slam is slightly more common in women’s tennis than in men’s, but Sharapova winning all 4 majors in her career is big for her legacy.  Her comeback from being ranked outside of the top 100 is more impressive to me than Agassi’s comeback from his 1997 implosion because falling out of the top 100 in the women’s game is harder to do.  Can she win at the rate Agassi did from 1999-2005?  Who knows, but the act of coming back to number 1 after such a long break is a testament to hard work.  Maria’s career slam places her legacy ahead of players such as Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Kim Clijsters, and Martina Hingis.  Sharapova is in the mix of the best players in the Post-Graf-Seles Era behind Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Justine Henin.  I think Maria could reasonably pass Venus and Justine’s legacies.  It just depends on how long she plays and how healthy she remains.

* We also find out what Fred Stolle is doing these days