Joined
·
28,276 Posts
Disclaimer
- the point in this thread is NOT to argue wether or not either of these guys deserved their number on rankings in the given years. It is NOT to take away from anything they have done. I do not question any of these things. The point is merely to emphasize just how biased the media, and some fans are, in regards to clay court tennis, and those who excel at it.
Yes I am aware Hewitt won Wimbledon in 2002. However, at the end of 2001, that made no difference whatsoever. The reaction to his yera ending rank by both fans, and the media, was based on what he did in 2001, NOT in 2002. Just like Guga's 2000.
Moving on.
What I did was took the points accumulated in the champions race (only those that counted towards their final rank, as events they played that didn't count, do NOT pad their rankings), and determined what percentage of points were earned on what surfaces.
First I'll provide the raw data for you. That is, how many points were earned on each surface, for both. I lumped rebound ace into hardcourt obviously, and all indoor events into the same catagory. The flaw in my logic lies in the fact I wasn't able to pick out which of the indoor events were carpet, as i shouldn't count those as hardcourt. However seeing as Hewitt in 2001 didnt win any matches on what tenniscorner calls carpet, and Guga only won 5 - it doesn't make a HUGE difference.
Points won Per Surfaces (surface - points)
Kuerten-2000
harcourt (outdoor) - 213
hardcourt (indoor) - 190
clay - 421
grass -15
total - 839
Hewitt-2001
harcourt (outdoor) - 465
hardcourt (indoor) - 196
clay - 110
grass - 110
total - 881
Of course, raw data, only tells us so much. However, if you look at the points won per surface as percentages, it tells us a lot more.
Percentage of Points Per Surface (surface - percentage)
Kuerten-2000
harcourt (outdoor) - 25.4
hardcourt (indoor) - 22.6
clay - 50.2
grass - 1.8
Hewitt-2001
hardcourt (outdoor) - 52.8
hardcourt (indoor) - 22.2
clay - 12.5
grass - 12.5
Now, this tells us a couple things.
Firstly, BOTH players "padded" their rankings based on success on one main surface. Obviously this would be hardcourt for Hewitt, and clay for Guga.
Guga accumulated half of his points on clay. If you count indoor hardcourt, Hewitt accumulated 75% of his points on hardcourt. Even if you dont want to count indoors, he still won more than half his points, on outdoor hardcourts.
Furthermore, Guga won a good chunk of points on two surfaces. Grass, was his weakness. Hewitt won most of his on one, and was split for a smaller percentage on both of the others.
It IS worth noting that Hewitt won titles indoors, outdoor hard, and on grass in 2001. While Guga won titles indoors, outdoor hard, and on clay.
Essentially my point is this - BOTH players "padded" their rankings on one surface. BOTH won titles on either two or three difference surfaces - depending on what you consider indoors (since I lumped them all together).
ONE of them has had comments in the past about their "padded" ranking.
Yes I am aware Hewitt won Wimbledon in 2002. However, at the end of 2001, that made no difference whatsoever. The reaction to his yera ending rank by both fans, and the media, was based on what he did in 2001, NOT in 2002. Just like Guga's 2000.
Moving on.
What I did was took the points accumulated in the champions race (only those that counted towards their final rank, as events they played that didn't count, do NOT pad their rankings), and determined what percentage of points were earned on what surfaces.
First I'll provide the raw data for you. That is, how many points were earned on each surface, for both. I lumped rebound ace into hardcourt obviously, and all indoor events into the same catagory. The flaw in my logic lies in the fact I wasn't able to pick out which of the indoor events were carpet, as i shouldn't count those as hardcourt. However seeing as Hewitt in 2001 didnt win any matches on what tenniscorner calls carpet, and Guga only won 5 - it doesn't make a HUGE difference.
Points won Per Surfaces (surface - points)
Kuerten-2000
harcourt (outdoor) - 213
hardcourt (indoor) - 190
clay - 421
grass -15
total - 839
Hewitt-2001
harcourt (outdoor) - 465
hardcourt (indoor) - 196
clay - 110
grass - 110
total - 881
Of course, raw data, only tells us so much. However, if you look at the points won per surface as percentages, it tells us a lot more.
Percentage of Points Per Surface (surface - percentage)
Kuerten-2000
harcourt (outdoor) - 25.4
hardcourt (indoor) - 22.6
clay - 50.2
grass - 1.8
Hewitt-2001
hardcourt (outdoor) - 52.8
hardcourt (indoor) - 22.2
clay - 12.5
grass - 12.5
Now, this tells us a couple things.
Firstly, BOTH players "padded" their rankings based on success on one main surface. Obviously this would be hardcourt for Hewitt, and clay for Guga.
Guga accumulated half of his points on clay. If you count indoor hardcourt, Hewitt accumulated 75% of his points on hardcourt. Even if you dont want to count indoors, he still won more than half his points, on outdoor hardcourts.
Furthermore, Guga won a good chunk of points on two surfaces. Grass, was his weakness. Hewitt won most of his on one, and was split for a smaller percentage on both of the others.
It IS worth noting that Hewitt won titles indoors, outdoor hard, and on grass in 2001. While Guga won titles indoors, outdoor hard, and on clay.
Essentially my point is this - BOTH players "padded" their rankings on one surface. BOTH won titles on either two or three difference surfaces - depending on what you consider indoors (since I lumped them all together).
ONE of them has had comments in the past about their "padded" ranking.