Great tennis rivalries by Partab Ramchand Dec 28, 2009
With all the many eventful happenings in world tennis during the first decade of the new millennium the most significant has surely been the engrossing tussle for supremacy between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Great rivalries have been part of the sport for years adding spice to the flavour. It's about half a century since I have been following tennis. The first Wimbledon I pursued closely was in 1960 all because of one man – our very own Ramanathan Krishnan who came pretty close to winning the title. He became the first Indian to make it to the singles semifinals before losing to the ultimate champion Neale Fraser. The following year Krishnan again entered the semifinals but again lost to the ultimate champion Rod Laver. In fact the duels between Laver and his two great Australian contemporaries Fraser and Roy Emerson were the first great rivalries I became familiar with. Of course Laver always seemed to hold the edge particularly in Grand Slams. Invariably his opponent in numerous finals was the super fit Emerson. Laver turned pro in January 1963 by which time Fraser was past his best. The field seemed clear for Emerson but he quickly came across a noble opponent in his fellow Australian Fred Stolle. In 1965 and 1965 the two contested the Wimbledon final with Emerson winning both but Stolle did get the better of his more fancied opponent on a few occasions in other tournaments. Emerson finally went on to win 12 Grand Slam singles titles which was one better than Laver and remained the record till Pete Sampras raised the bar to 14. In the late 60s and early 70s when tennis finally went Open Laver came back and had some interesting duels with his fellow Australians Tony Roche and John Newcombe. Again as befitting arguably the greatest player the game has seen – he won the Grand Slam twice – Laver had the better of the contests. But by the mid 70s there were new names who were concerned in great rivalries. The matches between Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors were high voltage encounters and late in the decade they were joined by an uncommonly gifted John McEnroe. By the early 80s matches involving these three were the highlights of the Grand Slams and other events and made for some great tennis marked by drama and excitement – symbolized by the epic 1980 Wimbledon final between Borg and McEnroe. And one cannot forget the famous quote of Connors in 1978. After he lost to Borg in the Wimbledon finals in 1977 and 1978 he said with grit and determination writ large on his face "I will follow him to the end of the world" and he duly defeated the Swede in the US Open final the second year. Incidentally this was the one title that eluded Borg as the French Open always eluded Connors and McEnroe. In the late 80s it was the turn of Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg to provide one of the sport's great rivalries. At Wimbledon alone the German and the Swede met in three consecutive finals from 1988 to 1990. About the same time Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander were involved in some engrossing duels particularly at the French Open and the US Open. In the 90s first there was the rivalry between Sampras and Jim Courier and then the duels between Sampras and Andre Agassi that whetted the appetite of tennis lovers around the world. Sampras always seemed to have the upper hand over his great rivals especially when it came to Grand Slams. Seven of his 14 titles were at Wimbledon though his inability to win the French Open stood out like a sore thumb in his otherwise outstanding CV. Courier emerged triumphant at Roland Garros twice but the closest he came to winning Wimbledon was when he finished runner up to Sampras in 1993. Agassi to his credit won all the four major titles though not in the same year. And in the new millennium as I said it has been the Federer – Nadal duels that provided the stuff that dreams are made of. While Nadal always had the better of Federer at Roland Garros the Swiss superstar had the measure of him at Wimbledon until the Spaniard defeated him in the famous final in 2008. Federer finally won the French Open this year for his 14th and record equaling Grand Slam title before setting the record with 15 with his sixth triumph at Wimbledon. Tennis fans eagerly await the next rivalry but in the meantime Federer and Nadal I am sure have some more engaging contests up their sleeve.