Slam streaks are harder to come by
How difficult is it to put together a string of Grand Slam victories? Recent history suggests it's more of a challenge than ever – and don't look for it to get easier anytime soon.
Martina Hingis, with the daunting precision of Swiss clockwork, won five Grand Slam singles titles in a span of three years (1997-99). She was only 19 years old when she won her final major, the 1999 Australian Open. Three years later, at the age of 22, an ankle injury forced her to retire.
Starting in 2002, Serena Williams and Justine Henin-Hardenne combined to win the next eight Grand Slam titles. That year, Serena won three of the four Slams. She won five majors in a span of two years and looked like the next Martina Navratilova. But a knee injury took her out of play.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Henin-Hardenne won the first Grand Slam tournament that Williams missed, the 2003 U.S. Open. The diminutive Belgian won three of four Slams she contested, but the effort was costly. A virus effectively sidelined her for seven months and her future, at the age of 22, was very much in question.
In the void left by Williams and Henin-Hardenne, the next three were won by first-time, Russian-born players Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Likewise, Roger Federer won four of six Grand Slam singles titles in 2003-04 and was anointed by some as the greatest who ever played the game. This year, he is a surprising 0-for-2; in the French Open semifinals he was dismantled by an 18-year-old Spaniard who has inspired similar projections.
Since 1998, when 14-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras ended his run of six straight years at No. 1, the men's game has been in search of a dominant player. Some 26 Grand Slams have been played in that time, with 14 different winners: Andre Agassi (5), Federer (4), Sampras (3), Lleyton Hewitt (2), Marat Safin (2), Gustavo Kuerten (2), Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Goran Ivanisevic, Thomas Johansson, Albert Costa, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Andy Roddick, Gaston Gaudio and, following his triumph in the recent French Open, Rafael Nadal – all with one apiece.
Some 11 different men have won the last 14 Grand Slam singles titles, with Federer as the only repeat customer.
The startling depth of the men's and women's games and a variety of other factors seems to have narrowed the window of opportunity for today's players with respect to winning Grand Slam titles. While the best players of the 1970s and 1980s were able to dominate for the period of a decade or more, today the shelf life of a star seems to be considerably less.
"Narrower and narrower – the window is smaller," said seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander. "The game is not set up for a handful of players to dominate anymore."
Enjoy the brilliance of Wimbledon favorites Federer and Maria Sharapova – they may not be around for as long as you think.
Look at these numbers: The active leader in women's singles match wins is Conchita Martinez, with 728. Lindsay Davenport, with 667 is second. Their totals are dwarfed by Navratilova (1,442), Chris Evert (1,304) and Steffi Graf (900). And that trend will continue because Martinez, 33, and Davenport, 29, are already contemplating retirement.
On the men's side, Agassi is the active leader among men with 59 tournament victories. That puts him seventh on the all-time list behind leader Jimmy Connors, who won 109 championships.
"Things are more wide open in tennis right now," Wilander said, "than they have been for awhile."
Back in the day
Myopia is a product of age. Objects in the rearview mirror of life actually seem larger (and are remembered more fondly) than they really are, rather than the reverse.
Sport, particularly, is vulnerable to the lens of nostalgia. Tennis fans of a certain age still talk about Borg, McEnroe and Connors, Navratilova and Evert like they were the greatest thing since, well, sliced bread. And in fact, they were.
The cumulative achievements of the great players of the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s are likely to endure beyond those of today's players. Consider:
• Margaret Smith Court won an astounding 11 Australian Opens during 1960-73. Billie Jean King was the Wimbledon champion six times during 1966-75. Evert won seven French Opens (1974-86) and six U.S. Opens (1975-82). Navratilova won nine Wimbledons (1978-90), while Steffi Graf won seven Wimbledons (1988-96) and six French Opens (1987-99).
• Bjorn Borg won 11 Grand Slams singles titles during 1974-81. Rod Laver won the same total in the decade of the 1960s. Jimmy Connors (1974-83) was an eight-time Grand Slam titles. Sampras won seven Wimbledons during 1993-2000 and five U.S. Opens (1990-2002).
What has changed? Only the entire breadth and depth of society.
Technology has shortened our collective attention span. Patience is a rare commodity; everything – everything from pizza to music to information – can be delivered or downloaded now. That's why they call them instant messages.
While even the great players of the 1960s and '70s sometimes had to scrap to make a comfortable living, today they are exposed to a wider audience on television and the Internet. Their popularity can be seen in the dramatic increase in prize money and the potential for endorsements.
Sharapova, who won $2.5 million in prizes last year as a 17-year-old, could make seven times that in endorsements this year. The four oldest winners of WTA titles played well into their 30s – King (39), Navratilova (37), Court (34) and Evert (33). Will Sharapova be playing competitive tennis even into her middle 20s? Or will all those riches dull her competitive edge? Anna Kournikova already knows the answer to that question and the Williams sisters, particularly Venus, seem headed in that direction.
"Staying motivated is the key," Trabert said. "A guy makes $20, $30, $40 million, maybe he doesn't want to get up as early as he used to. I guess that's human nature."
Sports eras seem shorter than they once were. An athletic generation might now encompass only six or seven years. While there is more money to be made, there are more talented athletes trying to make it.
Most tennis experts, asked to consider the narrowing window of opportunity, mentioned money and the increased depth of the game as the leading factors. There were others. New equipment technology has allowed players to hit the ball harder, but injuries seem to have increased, too.
ESPN and NBC analyst Mary Carillo believes that the lack of fundamentals might play a role in the rash of injuries tennis has seen in recent years.
"The people who had the long careers, Jimmy Connors, the Aussies, Chris and Martina, Steffi for a good long while … they stayed fit and healthy," said Carillo. "A very big part of that was the way they played. They all had nice, clean games, good solid strokes, an economy of motion.
"They didn't stress parts of their bodies like you have seen with Venus and Serena. They've suffered tendinitis, knee problems, stomach pulls – and it comes from the way they play. They play physical tennis and hit a lot of off-balance shots from tough positions. Then they try to recover from compromised positions and muscle it again. You'll find this happening all over the place.
"The bottom line is, if your strokes are clean and well-taught you have a better chance of having a long career."
According to Carillo, Kim Clijsters has changed the mechanics of her two-handed backhand after suffering an injury to her off wrist.
"She had that big backswing and when she caught some balls late, it stressed her left wrist because it absorbed the power. In her time off, she changed her backhand take-back and got rid of her loop.
"She was able to correct the flaw in her swing, an adjustment that makes sense. If you do the same thing over and over, you'll end up like me – with four knee surgeries."
Said ESPN analyst Mary Joe Fernandez, "Right now, it's all about being healthy. Wimbledon will be the first time we have everybody – the Belgians, the Williams sisters, the Russians – in the draw since 2003.
"There's so many tournaments, so much competition – it's a lot more draining than it used to be."
In Wilander's day, only a few players were capable of winning a Slam singles title.
"Now, you've got a bunch of guys who think they can win," Wilander said. "Federer and Nadal, of course, but Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Marat Safin have been around for a few years and understand how it's done. On the guys' side, it's wide open. There are a bunch of guys who actually believe they can win."
Trabert, who won the French Open a half-century ago, laughs.
"Win them while you can," he said. "Today, there's always someone right behind you."
Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
