[The Federest]

The list of players Lendl lost GS finals to is ridiculously strong:

Borg
Connors x 2
Wilander x 3
McEnroe
Becker x 3
Pat Cash

All truly formidable opponents (the Pat Cash loss was at Wimbledon) from various generations, older and younger.

My question is: Has anyone else ever had it as hard? Has anyone else ever lost a similar number of GS finals to such a wide range of stellar opposition?

 

[guitarra]

For me two most admirable things about Lendl were:
1) how he managed to turn things around after losing first 4 slam finals and 6 out of first 7 (in his only win he came back from two sets to love down too), BTW - similar feat was achieved by Murray who also lost first 4 finals
2) how he was able to compete despite the crowds didn't like him, he seemed not give a fuck really and that was cool

 

[doubletrollt]

23.5 y.o. Lendl has lost AO'83 final to 19 y.o. Wilander and USO'82 + '83 finals to 30/31 y.o. Connors, so, great but beatable guys, Connors e.g. was slamless in 79-81 losing eight semis, and then again slamless thereafter in 84/85, losing five semis + one final.

 

[cmchelsea]

The closest examples I can think of off the top of my head are.

Djokovic - Lost Multiple slam finals to Nadal on clay, lost 2 slam finals against Murray, 2 slam finals against Wawrinka and 1 against Federer. That list can easily be compared with Lendls.

Murray - Lost his first 4 finals (similar to Lendl) played 8 HC slam finals, all of them against arguably the two greatest players off all time on the surface.

Agassi - Lost multiple slam finals to Sampras and after Sampras retired lost a slam final to Federer.

 

[Moozza]

Murray. Only federer and Djokovic have beaten them guy in a slam final

 

[doubletrollt]

The closest examples I can think of off the top of my head are.

Djokovic - Lost Multiple slam finals to Nadal on clay, lost 2 slam finals against Murray, 2 slam finals against Wawrinka and 1 against Federer. That list can easily be compared with Lendls.

Murray - Lost his first 4 finals (similar to Lendl) played 8 HC slam finals, all of them against arguably the two greatest players off all time on the surface.

Agassi - Lost multiple slam finals to Sampras and after Sampras retired lost a slam final to Federer.

Young Djokovic (2006-2011) had arguably the toughest slam halfs in history, being almost always drawn in the same RG half with peaking CC Goatdal and always in the same HC slam half with peaking HC Goaterer except in USO'07 when they consequentely met in the final, young Nadal always being drawn in the opposite HC half from both Federer & Djokovic, and Federer usually in the opposite half at RG.

In this way Fedal duopoly was guaranteed and Nadal's eventual no.1, as well as Nadal's eventual multiple HC slam finals and titles (vs tired opponents) after his seven finals on natural surfaces (4 RG + 3 Wimb) but zero HC finals reached i.e. zero lucrative Fedal finals on HC at the time, compared to six Fedal finals at RG/Wimb + RG'05 SF rubber.

Nadal' HC cakewalks continued ever after, so that he can try to break Federer's slam record, bringing as much money to ATP/sponsors/TVs as possible, as the biggest cash cow after Olderer.

 

[The Federest]

23.5 y.o. Lendl has lost AO'83 final to 19 y.o. Wilander

It's slightly before my time, but wasn't Wilander one of those rare prodigies like Rafa and Becker? As such, wouldn't '83 have been as tough a year to face him as any?

 

[doubletrollt]

It's slightly before my time, but wasn't Wilander one of those rare prodigies like Rafa and Becker? As such, wouldn't '83 have been as tough a year to face him as any?

He was very good for his age, but his grass results were 3R, 4R, 3R at Wimb and 1R at AO, still better than Lendl's atrocious 1R,3R,1R at Wimb and 2R at AO.

Both in '83 & 84 he had 1R bye as top-16 seed, and in '83 after 2R 5-setter vs good young Testerman his next two opponents played tough 5-setters beforehand, but he beat MCEnroe who cruised into the semifinal and McEnroe entered four consecutive Wimb finals at the time..

 

[Bella&Mirka]

Federer?? Nadal, Djokovic and Delpo.

 

[educasian]

Yeh, and bear in mind that in a lot of those slams he had already beaten one of the all-time greats in the quarters or semis.

 

[slamjunky]

@RocketMan70, thoughts?

 

[RocketMan70]

@RocketMan70, thoughts?

Lendl should have won more French Opens, but was obsessed with his ultimately failed plight to win Wimbledon.(nobody talked of CGS's in those days).
Should also never have lost to Chang in '89. (famous for that disgusting underarm serve)
Pat Cash played inspired tennis at Wimbledon '87, I remember watching it with my late grandmother , but really Ivan was Number 1 up against the Number 11 seed and choked.
I regard WIlander as dull and overrated too, but still found a way to beat Ivan.
The Connors back to back USO also losses still sting as well, esp '83. Ivan should have beaten him the 2nd time, Connors milked a timeout (uncommon back then) and then won it.
The Mac losses I can live with., along with Becker.
Don't recall Borg that well, and he had just retired prematurely.

 

[JediFed]

Murray. Until the final with Milos, he lost only to Djokovic/Federer.

He has 8 losses.

Lendl's quality points are 76 total. Murray's are 140,

 

[JediFed]

Fed's quality points are 178. If not for the Del Potro loss, he'd only have losses to Djokovic/Nadal.

 

[JediFed]

Murray has had the best average quality of losses (at a ridiculous 17.5). Fed's current loss average is 16.2.

 

[Manu_ser]

Delpo.

Lost only one slam final, to an incredible player though.

 

[Pirao666]

Nadal, had to face Djokovic, Federer and Wawrinka in the finals he lost.

 

[JediFed]

Nadal isn't as high as Federer or Murray.

 

[BaselineGod]

Young Djokovic (2006-2011) had arguably the toughest slam halfs in history, being almost always drawn in the same RG half with peaking CC Goatdal and always in the same HC slam half with peaking HC Goaterer except in USO'07 when they consequentely met in the final, young Nadal always being drawn in the opposite HC half from both Federer & Djokovic, and Federer usually in the opposite half at RG.

In this way Fedal duopoly was guaranteed and Nadal's eventual no.1, as well as Nadal's eventual multiple HC slam finals and titles (vs tired opponents) after his seven finals on natural surfaces (4 RG + 3 Wimb) but zero HC finals reached i.e. zero lucrative Fedal finals on HC at the time, compared to six Fedal finals at RG/Wimb + RG'05 SF rubber.

Nadal' HC cakewalks continued ever after, so that he can try to break Federer's slam record, bringing as much money to ATP/sponsors/TVs as possible, as the biggest cash cow after Olderer.

Your crying is so damn predictable, better speak about the joke drawals novak got gifted in tournaments like USo 2016..and still got exposed his boring ping pong tennis in the final

 

[AskTheQuestion]

Federer?? Nadal, Djokovic and Delpo.

7 out of those 11 losses were genuinely tough for any player:

• The 4 losses to Nadal at RG, and at AO '09 (Nadal produced his best hardcourt performance that I have seen).
• Wimbledon '14, '15 were tough because Novak was in his prime and Federer wasn't.

Wimbledon '08 unlucky monoFed.

3 were winnable:
Federer should have won against DelPo in USO' 09 and Djokovic in USO'15.
He should have also won Wimbledon '19 against Djokovic, as Novak was nowhere near his best.