This “What if” scenario is towards events beyond the control of the players on the court that impacted men’s tennis history in interesting ways.
It’s not for things the players had choices in (IE ‘what if Player XY had taken his conditionIng seriously’, take your pick who you would apply that to, LOL, or ‘what if Player Z converted that MP in Match Y‘)
Here’s my list:
(4) What if the ITF had acceded to Borg’s 1982 request for less mandatory tournament play; from some accounts Borg never initially intended to take years long sabbatical from the sport after the 1981 USO , but when the ITF would not accede via the 10 tournament minimum play rule, they notified that Borg would have to play qualifying for all tournaments, including the FO and Wimbledon where he was a 6 and 5 time winner. Borg stated that since he wasn’t playing for rival circuits or even exhibitions, his cutback was a reasonable request. For all intents and purposes Borg then walked away from the game at the age of 25. ( I know Borg had a “choice”, but the draconian steps the ITF took I give Borg some slack...)
(3) What if there had not been competing tours, rival interests, unions, cannibalizing men’s tennis for the first 10 years of the Open Era? It’s hard to remember now but the top players boycotted 1973 Wimbledon over a labor dispute and many were excluded from playing in 1971/72, then you had WCT tennis circuit, World Team Tennis, the ITF’s own circuit, and the independent Majors. Some of the biggest tournaments of their day ( WCT championship finals) are all but forgotten.
(2) What if playing in ALL the Majors was a priority for the top players during the first 20 years of the Open Era? Other than the Aussies, most of the other top male pros played the AO on grass only sporadically; it wasn’t until the late 80’s early 90’s that it became normal for all the top players to include the AO in their schedule. Borg, McEnroe and even Connors after 1975 in their salad days rarely played the AO.
This last one is the biggie:
(1) What if the Powers to be in Tennis had opened up men’s tennis earlier than 1968; if say Open tennis was accomplished in 1948, practically the entire playing careers of Pancho Gonzales, Jack Kramer, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, etc would have had them playing all the Majors every year. Just a couple of stats: Pancho Gonzales was the top professional player for 8-9 consecutive years, Rod Laver won a Calender Grand Slam as an amateur in 1962 and repeated the feat as a pro in 1969 and Kramer was the top pro for 6 years. Most players established a name in amateur tennis, and then cashed in by turning pro to actually make a living. Most of these players lost 5-10 plus years of their peak playing condition when they were banned from the “amateur” Majors.
Any others?
It’s not for things the players had choices in (IE ‘what if Player XY had taken his conditionIng seriously’, take your pick who you would apply that to, LOL, or ‘what if Player Z converted that MP in Match Y‘)
Here’s my list:
(4) What if the ITF had acceded to Borg’s 1982 request for less mandatory tournament play; from some accounts Borg never initially intended to take years long sabbatical from the sport after the 1981 USO , but when the ITF would not accede via the 10 tournament minimum play rule, they notified that Borg would have to play qualifying for all tournaments, including the FO and Wimbledon where he was a 6 and 5 time winner. Borg stated that since he wasn’t playing for rival circuits or even exhibitions, his cutback was a reasonable request. For all intents and purposes Borg then walked away from the game at the age of 25. ( I know Borg had a “choice”, but the draconian steps the ITF took I give Borg some slack...)
(3) What if there had not been competing tours, rival interests, unions, cannibalizing men’s tennis for the first 10 years of the Open Era? It’s hard to remember now but the top players boycotted 1973 Wimbledon over a labor dispute and many were excluded from playing in 1971/72, then you had WCT tennis circuit, World Team Tennis, the ITF’s own circuit, and the independent Majors. Some of the biggest tournaments of their day ( WCT championship finals) are all but forgotten.
(2) What if playing in ALL the Majors was a priority for the top players during the first 20 years of the Open Era? Other than the Aussies, most of the other top male pros played the AO on grass only sporadically; it wasn’t until the late 80’s early 90’s that it became normal for all the top players to include the AO in their schedule. Borg, McEnroe and even Connors after 1975 in their salad days rarely played the AO.
This last one is the biggie:
(1) What if the Powers to be in Tennis had opened up men’s tennis earlier than 1968; if say Open tennis was accomplished in 1948, practically the entire playing careers of Pancho Gonzales, Jack Kramer, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, etc would have had them playing all the Majors every year. Just a couple of stats: Pancho Gonzales was the top professional player for 8-9 consecutive years, Rod Laver won a Calender Grand Slam as an amateur in 1962 and repeated the feat as a pro in 1969 and Kramer was the top pro for 6 years. Most players established a name in amateur tennis, and then cashed in by turning pro to actually make a living. Most of these players lost 5-10 plus years of their peak playing condition when they were banned from the “amateur” Majors.
Any others?
Last edited:
:chainsaw:
:heart:
