Rankings H2H - another angle on player match-ups

[El Dude]

When comparing great players, one of the inevitable elements that come up is the H2H which can be both quite revealing and quite deceiving at the same time. For instance, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg are about as equal in greatness as two players can be. Some prefer Becker, some Edberg. After extensive study of their respective records, I have changed my opinion and give the edge to Becker, but it is close. Anyhow, Becker dominated the match-up 25-10, which is very lopsided compared to how close they were.

And of course we all know the infamous Fedal H2H: 23-11 in favor of Rafa. Even the most stalwart Rafa fans realize that this doesn't accurately represent their relative greatness, especially when you take into account how similar they are vs. Djokovic: 22-21 for Roger, and 23-22 for Rafa (it seems a foregone conclusion that Novak will eventually edge both, but that's another matter).

Anyhow, H2Hs only tell part of the picture and have a lot to do with how two specific play styles match-up. We need to counter-balance the H2H with looking at how the players performed against the rest of the field.

But I thought of another kind of H2H match-up, which has to do with rankings. The basic idea is to compare rankings for every year that two players were on tour at the same time. Clearly this benefits the older player, at least at first, but this should be counter-balanced later on as the older player (probably) fades sooner. Anyhow, here are the "Rankings H2Hs" of the current three greats. I will try to do the same with other greats.

Roger vs. Rafa (2002-15): 10-4
Roger vs. Novak (2004-15): 7-5
Novak vs. Rafa (2004-15): 8-4

Overall (among the three):
Roger: 17-9
Rafa: 8-18
Novak: 13-11

Anyhow, this is not meant to pick on Rafa, who comes out well behind the other two. But it does give us a different angle on all-time greatness. It is not meant to be an accurate read on relative greatness, but gives a counter to the H2H and emphasizes their overall performance relative to each other.

Another angle would be to tally the difference in ranking slots, to weight the H2Hs even further. I'll do a more in-depth study at some point soon.

 

[El Dude]

Oh yeah, by the way - Edberg edges Becker 7-6 in the Rankings H2H.

 

[Kirijax]

It's becoming more and more obvious that Djokovic will have a greater record than Nadal when he retires. Jury is still out on whether he can pass Federer. Probably not.

 

[Haelfix]

It's becoming more and more obvious that Djokovic will have a greater record than Nadal when he retires. Jury is still out on whether he can pass Federer. Probably not.

So much of that depends on whether a younger player steps up and challenges Djokovic.

Generally speaking h2hs strongly favor the younger player. Djokovic has basically evened his h2h with Fedal when the two were on the opposite side of their primes. Obviously it wouldn't be completely ridiculous to expect that a 2006 Federer, or a 2008 Nadal might stongly contend with a 2011 or 2015 Djokovic.

But thats always the way things go in tennis. Federer leads the Hewitt h2h, who leads the Sampras h2h, who leads the Lendl h2h, who leads the McEnroe h2h, who who lead the Borg h2h (actually Borg retired before that switch happened, but you get the picture).

Its only recently where things have been a little different. Players nowdays are playing well long past the age of 25 (where most past greats tended to start fizzling out) and where its expected that a 28 year old, could beat a 23 year old (it used to be the opposite).