Another angle on comparing tennis greats (with a pretty chart)

[El Dude]

I don't know if Blake is overrated, though he seems to be more remembered than his record justifies. But to a certain extent, ALL American players are overrated. If Ivan Lendl is the most underrated ATG, I think Andre Agassi is a good candidate for the most overrated. They have the same Slam count (along with Connors), but Lendl and Connors were FAR greater players. Really, Agassi belongs more in the group with Wilander, Edberg, and Becker - in terms of peak dominance. The main difference is lots of extra years. Padding, in other words. But their peaks were all pretty similar. Agassi (and the others) were great, but just not as great as the common view, imo.

 

[El Dude]

In other words, I don't think it is crazy to say: What's the difference between between Agassi and Andy Murray? Well, Murray had to play alongside three Pete Sampras' - and really, all three were better than Sampras. As far as tennis ability, I'm not sure that Agassi was a significantly greater player than Murray. He just played in an easier context.

I'd still rank them like so: Agassi, Becker, Edberg, Wilander, Murray. But there isn't a huge gap between these five - not as much as between Agassi and the next player up, Jimmy Connors.

 

[mrzz]

In other words, I don't think it is crazy to say: What's the difference between between Agassi and Andy Murray? Well, Murray had to play alongside three Pete Sampras' - and really, all three were better than Sampras. As far as tennis ability, I'm not sure that Agassi was a significantly greater player than Murray. He just played in an easier context.

I'd still rank them like so: Agassi, Becker, Edberg, Wilander, Murray. But there isn't a huge gap between these five - not as much as between Agassi and the next player up, Jimmy Connors.

I hate them both, anyway.

 

[Kieran]

In other words, I don't think it is crazy to say: What's the difference between between Agassi and Andy Murray? Well, Murray had to play alongside three Pete Sampras' - and really, all three were better than Sampras. As far as tennis ability, I'm not sure that Agassi was a significantly greater player than Murray. He just played in an easier context.

I'd still rank them like so: Agassi, Becker, Edberg, Wilander, Murray. But there isn't a huge gap between these five - not as much as between Agassi and the next player up, Jimmy Connors.

The big 3 played in an easier context too, though, so to some extent they’re overrated, while we also can appreciate them as being great. Agassi was great, but he also went AWOL - a lot. Mentality brittle, then sometimes he’d come out fighting. Technically gifted, good hands, obviously the return is one of the three greatest, he’s alongside Jimmy and Novak on that, and he did have a great late surge when Pete left, which was mentioned elsewhere, he became a tighter proposition in his later years, in some ways.