I think a healthy Lleyton Hewitt would probably still rank in the top 10 consistently. I think his problem is he needs lots of matches to keep his momentum up, but gets hurt that he doesn’t get the volume of matches he needs to maintain his standard.

Roger Federer is considered by all experts as an all time great, by many as the greatest ever.
He beat Andy Roddick by a whisker in the Wimbledon 2009 final.
In the quarter final Roddick beat Hewitt in 5 exciting sets.

Logically, Hewitt ranks very high in the hierarchy, even today. Agree?

Brett, you say that the 5th set without tie-breaker is equivalent to Test cricket. But Test cricket has to finish in 5 days. Timeless cricket Tests in the past were disasters. Remember the timeless Test between South Africa and England at Durban in March 1939? It went on for 10 days (from 3 to 14 March, with no play on 11th and rest days on 5th and 12th) and still ended in a draw. Why? England had to catch a ship back home!

This was not the first timeless disaster. Earlier, the West Indies and England played each other for 10 days, from 3 to 12 April 1939 at Jamaica in the 4th and final Test and the Test was — you guessed it — a draw. 6th April was a rest day and there was no play on 11th and 12th. Still there were 7 days and no result.

As I wrote yesterday, theoretically the 5th set in tennis can go on and on. If Roddick was not broken in the 26th game, Roger and Andy would have been playing till now! Most unlikely of course but not impossible. There should be a limit at some stage.

Thanks for the smilie symbol, Chop!

Apparently this 91 year old played to a high standard without becoming a state champion or higher. He played Hartwig in inter-country divisionals, & against Sedgman when the best country players came to the city.

However, he played both these guys when they were all in their late teens/early 20s, & before Hartwig & Sedgman went on to bigger & better things.

I find him a very interesting person to listen to. Last night his family came around for dinner, & apart from tennis, we covered cricket & rugby league; his first ever visit to the SCG in the 30s; country life in the 30s & 40s, & lots of other interesting things.

I’m always interested in how people actually lived in other times. The day to day stuff you don’t usually get in the history books. Stuff mostly forgotten today – radio entertainment instead of TV or computer; no phones; kindling heater instead of electricity or gas fed heater; basic electricity; ice deliveries (before fridges); milk & bread deliveries; entertainment was dances & movies, etc.

Fascinating stuff.

Thanks for the mention

I disagree that we should think about changing the rule to allow tie breaks in the 5th set, in fact I think there should be some consideration for the exact opposite.

If you need to have tie breaks (which were only brought in for American TV) they should only be on the first 2 sets for mens and first set for ladies. Why you ask? I don’t think there should be a scenario where you can lose a grand slam match without losing your serve. There have been a few occasions (I can’t recall off the top of my head) where people have lost 7-6 7-6 7-6 which to me is a terrible way to loose, you have both won the same amount of service games and the contest should continue until that changes.

Your neighbour’s dad must be a very good player to play against Sedgman and Hartwig. A compliment from him should please Roger Federer more than he has received from others.

My favourites are Ken Rosewall, Federer, ‘Pancho’ Gonzales and Lew Hoad among men, and Evonne Goolagong, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams among women. I don’t say they were the greatest but I like them the best.

A neighbour & good friend of mine has a father aged 91, who was a talented country circuit player back in the 1940s. The best players he ever competed against were Frank Sedgman & Rex Hartwig, leading Aussies from the 40s & 50s.

Listening to his stories of all the great Aussie & world players from the 1930s onwards is truly fascinating. He has given Roger Federer his seal of approval as probably the greatest male tennis player of all time, given the differences in surfaces, circumstances, equipment, quality of opposition, etc.

Incidentally, he rates Rod Laver as his best Aussie. Lew Hoad, with a less cavalier attitude, could have been “anything”. Ken Rosewall lacked the firepower to have competed at the absolute peak in the modern era, a bit like Lleyton Hewitt. While Roy Emerson was lucky to win so many GSs while leading professionals were banned in the 50s & 60s.