Other Unbalanced Matchups Among All-time Greats

[El Dude]

Nadal is now 22-10 over Federer, a massive 69% for Nadal. I was curious if there have been any other lopsided match-ups in ATP history and here's what I came up with.

I've included the age difference, with the + or - relating to the dominant player. I also included only players with 4+ Grand Slam wins. The following is a list of match-ups more lop-sided than Nadal and Federer with at least 5 matches.

80% (16-4) Sampras over Courier (-1 year)
77% (17-5) Borg over Vilas (-4 years)
75% (6-2) Borg over Lendl (+4 years)
73% (8-3) Federer over Agassi (-9 years)
71% (10-4) Agassi over Becker (-3 years)
71% (25-10) Becker over Edberg (-1 year)
69% (22-10) Nadal over Federer (-5 years)
68% (15-7) Lendl over Wilander (+4 years)
67% (10-5) Lendl over Vilas (-8 years)
65% (15-8) Borg over Connors (-4 years)
63% (22-13) Lendl over Connors (-8 years)

What is particularly striking to me is Becker and Edberg. Those two were contemporaries and pretty much equals in terms of their record and where they rank among all-time greats. They both have 6 Slam wins, but Becker was utterly dominant over Edberg.

I included Borg and Connors because they are most similar in age difference, as well as a few others under Rafa and Roger.

In case you're wondering, Rafa is 22-16 against Novak (58%)

Its worth noting that Sampras vs. Agassi and McEnroe vs. Connors have exactly the same matchup records against each other (20-14, or 59%).

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

I will tell you the ultimate unbalanced match-up , in my opinion. Edberg-Muster, one year apart, played 10 matches. It is 10-0 for Edberg and 4 of those wins are on clay.

:wow::wow:

 

[Front242]

I will tell you the ultimate unbalanced match-up , in my opinion. Edberg-Muster, one year apart, played 10 matches. It is 10-0 for Edberg and 4 of those wins are on clay.

:wow::wow:

That's a crazy stat alright given how good Muster was on clay.

 

[britbox]

Becker dominated the overall H2H but Edberg had him 3-1 in majors and also won their only YEC final. On the men's tour Edberg won the biggest matches so I don't think Becker was "utterly dominant". I think I'd rather take Edberg's wins in the great scheme of things.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Also, Becker is the only player with 6 slams who has never finished
YE #1. This shows he was never dominant for a whole year against the
field.

 

[Haelfix]

Nadal is now 22-10 over Federer, a massive 69% for Nadal. I was curious if there have been any other lopsided match-ups in ATP history and here's what I came up with.

I've included the age difference, with the + or - relating to the dominant player. I also included only players with 4+ Grand Slam wins. The following is a list of match-ups more lop-sided than Nadal and Federer with at least 5 matches.

80% (16-4) Sampras over Courier (-1 year)
77% (17-5) Borg over Vilas (-4 years)
75% (6-2) Borg over Lendl (+4 years)
73% (8-3) Federer over Agassi (-9 years)
71% (10-4) Agassi over Becker (-3 years)
71% (25-10) Becker over Edberg (-1 year)
69% (22-10) Nadal over Federer (-5 years)
68% (15-7) Lendl over Wilander (+4 years)
67% (10-5) Lendl over Vilas (-8 years)
65% (15-8) Borg over Connors (-4 years)
63% (22-13) Lendl over Connors (-8 years)

What is particularly striking to me is Becker and Edberg. Those two were contemporaries and pretty much equals in terms of their record and where they rank among all-time greats. They both have 6 Slam wins, but Becker was utterly dominant over Edberg.

I included Borg and Connors because they are most similar in age difference, as well as a few others under Rafa and Roger.

In case you're wondering, Rafa is 22-16 against Novak (58%)

Its worth noting that Sampras vs. Agassi and McEnroe vs. Connors have exactly the same matchup records against each other (20-14, or 59%).

This list does show the relative difference age makes in h2hs, eg that there is a statistical bias. It's almost always the case that old players lose to their young rivals eventually. Most of the Rafa Roger difference has come after 2008, and it's not hard to imagine the gap will worsen as the years go by.