Tennis
ATP: Does Roger Federer still catch Jimmy Connors?
Roger Federer is aiming for his 96th place at the ATP finals in London. tournament victory. However, it is unlikely that the Swiss man will catch up with record holder Jimmy Connors.
Björn Borg versus John McEnroe – this rivalry has shaped tennis over the years, if you can trust the current cinema scene. In fact, the arrival of the young McEnroe, however, marked the end of the career of the great Swede, with 26 being the end of Borg’s career. And the real big rival, especially in personal terms, of McEnroe should be Jimmy Connors. A man who won the title in Wimbledon before (1974) and after (1982) Björn Borg.
Two of 109 triumphs on the Tour in total, eight of them at Majors. Roger Federer has long since surpassed the latter brand, but after his tournament victory in Basel, the Swiss still lacks 14 victories on Connors’ all-time record. In London, the basal worker will be on the hunt for number 96 from Sunday, and Federer has already won the ATP finals six times. In the group with Jack Sock, Alexander Zverev and Marin Cilic, the 19-time Major Champion is the favourite.
But even big fans and ex-colleagues of the 36-year-old Maestro doubt that Federer will catch up with the brand of the Connor who resigned in 1992.
“I still love Roger,”said James Blake, who took Federer’s medal dream at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing,”He is the greatest. But 109 titles are just too many. If he only plays the big events like the Grand Slams, Masters-1000s and maybe Basel, it would be too much to expect him to win six or seven tournaments each in the next two, three years.”
Lindsay Davenport, winner of several majors herself, hits the same horn as a mother:”No matter how much Roger has won, he can’t defeat one thing: fatherhood. It’s not like he doesn’t win any more titles, but the question is, how many can that be per year? Do we think he’ll win seven more tournaments at 39?”
In comparison with Connors, however, Federer has already taken the lead in several post-30-year categories with the sensational 2017 season: three majors for the Swiss, two for the American. With 28 titles after his 30th birthday. On his 50th birthday, Roger Federer has twice as many accounts as Jimmy Connors.
At the end of the season, Connors was only successful once: 1977 in Madison Square Garden in New York with a final victory against Björn Borg.
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