IT SEEMS quite usual for sports fanatics to start talking about who is the Greatest of All Time (GOAT), when it comes to tennis players, at this time of year.
With the Australian Open having just wrapped up, tennis is very much top-of-mind.
Older sporting lovers may also be reminded of the refreshingly uninhibited use Jack Lemmon made of his tennis racquet in the 1960s comedy The Apartment, when greeting Shirley MacLaine…but more of that later.
Quite naturally Novak Djokovic is, once again, being talked about as having earned the pseudonym ‘The GOAT’, even though injury kept him out of this year’s AO final, and there can be little doubt that his career statistics could be used to argue a strong case in his favour.
Apparently, during his time in top tennis, he has been ranked number one for a total of 428 weeks.
Compare this with Federer 310 weeks, Sampras 286 and Lendl 270, a pretty convincing case people will agree.
BUT…
What about those greats of yesteryear?
Cast your beady minds back to those times when Australian men occupied three-quarters of the seeds in the major championships – Hoad, Rosewall, Emerson, Fraser, Newcombe, to name just a few.
Couldn’t just as convincing a case be made out for one of those in the top job?
Certainly, but the historical statistics are complicated by the amateur/professional mix-up that was rife pre-1967.
Top amateur players were not allowed to earn any cash from their efforts around the world and so were attracted to join more lucrative professional ranks, although this ruled them out of playing at Wimbledon etc.
It was acknowledged that all the best players were pros.
So, let’s look at the illustrious career of the Rockhampton Rocket Rod Laver, as an example.
Laver was officially recognised as the number one professional, from 1965 until 1970 [six years or 324 weeks] and number one amateur in 1961 and 1962 [another 104 weeks] – at this rate, he must be getting close to The Djok.
Before Laver, the only player to win all four majors in the same year was Don Budge, in 1938. The Rocket subsequently achieved this in 1962 and 1970.
No one else has done so.
Djokovic clearly leads the field in the total number of major victories, with 24.
The Rocket won 11 majors but, as a pro, he was banned from playing any for several years when at his peak.
He also claimed nine doubles majors and won 200 tournaments in his career, so he gets my vote as the GOAT.
Back to Jack Lemmon and his Apartment.
He greeted the fabulously beautiful Shirley MacLaine when she paid him an unexpected call, while straining his spaghetti through his tennis racquet!
By the way, Shirley could certainly qualify for The BOAT in this sports lover’s opinion.
