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Jannik Sinner's rise to #1, and conversation in the ATP General thread, got me thinking about how different eras have a range of configurations, in terms of how many players reached number one. So I made a chart to illustrate this:
Note that I'm including pre-ATP rankings, using UltimateTennisStatistics.com's "Open Era Rankings" - which applies the same formula.
One thing that this chart nicely illustrates is how there were really two different "Big Four Eras": Not just the recent one, but the Connors-Borg-McEnroe-Lendl era, which saw those four players dominate the top spot for a decade and a half, with at least one of the four ranked #1 within every year from 1974 to 1990 (17 seasons). Not quite as impressive as the recent Big Four (2004-24, or 21 seasons), but close.
1999 was kind of crazy, with five different #1 players. There were four in 2000 and 2003, but no other year had more than three.
Fun fact: 2018 is the only year that three of the Big Four were all ranked #1.
Note that I'm including pre-ATP rankings, using UltimateTennisStatistics.com's "Open Era Rankings" - which applies the same formula.
One thing that this chart nicely illustrates is how there were really two different "Big Four Eras": Not just the recent one, but the Connors-Borg-McEnroe-Lendl era, which saw those four players dominate the top spot for a decade and a half, with at least one of the four ranked #1 within every year from 1974 to 1990 (17 seasons). Not quite as impressive as the recent Big Four (2004-24, or 21 seasons), but close.
1999 was kind of crazy, with five different #1 players. There were four in 2000 and 2003, but no other year had more than three.
Fun fact: 2018 is the only year that three of the Big Four were all ranked #1.
