The only IF in tennis is Monica Seles. The trajectory of her career was cut short not by any sport- related injury, or by being banned or not being allowed in a tournament because of personal beliefs.
At the rate Monica was going she was rapidly racking up grand slams. She had become number one, she was beating Steffi every time they met until the stabbing. She probably would have been ahead in grand slam titles if not for that incident.
I heard Steffi was losing to many players during those 2-3 years, not just Seles. So I'm not confident that the version of Graf that Seles played was the actual prime Graf.
@@delriver77 most real tennis fans would disagree with you and I as someone who was following tennis at the time can say that seles had graf's measure and would have probably dominated tennis like no person ever before, at worst she would have 15 so graf would have well under her final tally , at best seles would have easily gone to around 30 slams ,she was only 19 and already had 8 slams !. Peak seles was the best women's player ever , only serena could compare in power but not precision.
racking up? not Wimbledon. not one of her 8 grand slam titles before the incident came from Wimbledon. and post-stabbing she never really had the game to accomplish what after all many considered to be the pinnacle of a tennis career: winning Wimbledon.
@@anthonydecastro6938 she would have won Wimbledon at least once if not more , she already had 8 so what are you talking about? And when she came back of course she was never the same ! She was stabbed on tv in front of the world and her racist attacker didn't get no jail time.
@@anthonydecastro6938 no stabbing = Seles easily 20 +slams and more than graf. That you think she would have just stopped winning slams says everything.
Unfortunately her lack of Wimbledon success was a glaring omission in her resume, just as graf's record is tainted. However I have no doubt she would have been far more successful today in today's homogenized surfaces especially at Wimbledon. On the other hand graf wouldn't have been as successful at Wimbledon but definitely had more FO success.
@@broncoguy4862 That was only after the stabbing incident. The point is what if she was never stabbed? She was clean and ruthless and Graf didn't have answers either. Sales would have ruled for a long period and maybe Serena would have stopped her.
Seles never got justice. And for me, she was and will always be better than Graff. I found the German's behavior after the attack absolutely abhorrent!
@@Vaisin Graf was disgusted. She even hated how obsessive her fans were. Stalking her, phoning her hotel room constantly, and overall disgusting behavior.
Seles would have been the GOAT. Her percentage in those early years was crazy. She made a successful transition from juniors, where she also dominated, to WTA. The only way to stop her was an attack on her life. So yes, Steffi's accomplishments are great, good for her, but they come with an asterisk. Now another Serbian player overtook her record of most weeks at # 1. Some kind of small revenge. Just to add - only Gabriela Sabatini voted for Monika's ranking to be protected.
@@quentincrisp6933 no, this other Serbian player is the de facto GOAT and was also thwarted on his path many a time, most notably in Australia last year. Sorry, mere number of titles means nothing. The big ones count more. The weeks at #1 count more. Novak is THE GOAT.
@@danicadabic9789 I love Novak and his unwavering commitment to tennis excellence. But he did miss 2 chances to do the calendar slam one in 2017 and the other was 2021. The latter must have really stung since it was the final hurdle that he stumbled at. Hope he can finally do it should there be a third opportunity.
Exactly. That was so SHAMEFUL on the ladies part. I never like Steffi attitude during that time. I felt she could had been A LOT MORE GRACIOUS about it. Anyway, those that know, know that Seles had steffie number. Has she not been attacked she would have beaten graf multiple times. Instead of 22, she would have 15 or so. Monica had surpassed her. I am still NOT COMFORTABLE with Graff. She did not handle well the entire thing at all.
@@pavelclaudiopatino419 yes, thank you for acknowledging that. It is a bit disgusting applauding Steffi on all her achievements when those in the know forget that her path was literally cleared of the biggest obstacle.
This is what Seles fans live for: content that dwells in speculation of "what ifs" despite how history actually unfolded. H2H will always be 10-5 Graf. In fifteen attempts, Seles was only able to win 5 times. But enjoy your "what ifs" and speculation, although it seems kinda delusional.
@@broncoguy4862 I'm no Seles fan. Her groans took all the fun out of watching tennis. But JohnO is probably not far off target. My favorite female tennis player is Navratilova. With the technology and training of this era, I wouldn't be surprised if she'd broken Margaret Court's record. Sadly, we'll never know how she'd faired against prime Serena Williams.
@@broncoguy4862 love how you PURPOLSY OMMIT that teh reason H2H was like that was after the STABBING INCIDENT. Before Stabbing as mentioned in the video it was close. and probably OWULDVE STAYED LOSE similar to how Nadal/Djokovic/Fedeer H2H. It wouldve simulated similarly to big threes and wouldnt be that drastic difference.
The only "what if" in Novak's case was for fedal fans wonders "what if Novak not playing tennis or don't exist" so they would have more slams and how much greater they would be ~🤣🤣🤣
For me, what if Australian Open didn't change its surface to Plexicushion in 2008? How many slams would Djokovic have then? Very convenient they changed the surface when Djokovic burst onto the scene.
Agassi was never "in love" with tennis in the same way many greats were. He had an incredible aptitude for it, and was forced to play by his father. He had a fantastic career, especially for someone who had to find their own identity on and off the court
@@goldencalf5144 He didn’t overstate anything for books or to create drama, it was real. I know because I trained with him at the Bollittieri Academy in the early to mid 80’s as juniors. He really did hate tennis and his dad was really tough on him. He ended up constantly rebelling against everything tennis. His talent though was beyond words.
What if Tennis Talk and Tennis Plus didn't despise Kyrgios quite so much and learned to admire what he was able to do in the face of such enormous adversity and opposition from a toxic media?
Andy Murray was not right there with the Big 3. He was clearly better than all the other players, but make no mistake, he was closer to the rest than he was to the big 3. All of the big 3 has at least 17+ slams more than Murray, at least double the amount of masters he has, and at least 4 more year end no.1s and 160+ more weeks at no.1. Murray has a 5-20 record (20% win rate) against big 3 in slams and 29-56 overall (34% win rate). Even before the hip injury he was miles behind them. He was a great player so lets just appreciate him for what he was.
How many slam finals did he play against the big three? How many other big matches in other tournaments? He managed to win three Slams and the YEC and become number one during their prime. So I do feel he was closer to the other three, than closer to the rest of the top 10. He sure was on a different level than the other guys who didn't even manage to win one slam. What Roger, Rafa and Novak accomplished the last 20 years, at more or less the same time, won't ever be repeated in any sport. They propelled each other to those levels. So the fact that Andy managed to stay relevant and at least give them some competition, sets him apart from the other top players at that time (Berdych, Ferrer, ...).
My two 'pre-open' choices would be: What if Rod Laver had never been barred from playing majors for 4 years. What if Maureen Connelly never had her riding accident.
5 peak years were taken away from Laver. If he played during those years he would have won at least another 10 majors. He was better than Dokovic and Nadal. Federer is the only modern player who could compete with him on a regular basis.
Here's another "What If": If Monica had been allowed to grunt in the 1992 Wimbledon final, she would've beaten Graf and win her Wimbledon title. Most fans know Monica was forbidden to make any noises on court in the final after Navratilova complained to the umpire about Monica's grunting in their semifinal. Natalie Tauziat also complained in the Quarters against Monica. She was most definitely affected negatively by the overblown press coverage on "Grunt Gate" during the 92 Wimbledon. Poor Monica, she basically taped her mouth shut and let Graf run her over in that final.
One big "what if" is missing here: What if Jimmy Connors would not have been banned from playing the French Open in 1974? Would he have won a Grand Slam?
I still feel that Djokovic had the highest chance to win 2022 Australia open if he had not been deported, since he was younger and is always dominant in Australia open
One big if too: what about if Wawrinka didn't get injured in 2017? He was a major force in the slams during the big 3 dominance. Won AO14, RG15 and USO16 always beating no.1 guys in the finals (Nadal, Djoko).
One of the biggest What If's wasn't included-- What if Nadal wasn't constantly injured throughout his career?? He's had to miss parts of so many seasons and so many Slams due to major injuries
His playing style was the reason he was injured so much. He had to play that hard to win. If he dropped that intensity, he wouldn't be so successful. I reject your premise.
@@danjonmills he has a genetic foot condition called Muller Weiss Syndrome. Get some information before spreading nonsense. David Ferrer had a more taxing playstyle than Nadal, even Djokovic has had an extremely taxing playstyle for years, and their injuries are nothing in comparison. Genetics play a huge role.
@@danjonmills Rafa was born with a malformed foot...dont you read that...? his is the biggest IF in the world of sport not just tennis... he has won 22 titles despite a career stopping injury... the rest of them were lucky that this poor chap had to fight so hard to keep at it... that is why he had to play with high intensity... so double whammy for him... add to that the severe competition he faced - today's guy has virtually no competition - the young players are so stupidly disinclined to compete in right earnest - they seem to love to just give up... so one guy keeps winning... tennis has already lost whatever little charm it had with the decline of fed and rafa... very sad...
@@danjonmills Well he did not used natural gut like fedrer and Djokovic to generate easy power. He used full bed of Poly no help from string when it's come to power. I reject your whole counter argument.
What if the Williams sisters focused more effort on doubles and played every grand slam throughout their careers? They would probably have won about 30 majors! 🏆
You mean if she hadn't retired (twice) due to burnout? Justine always had high quality matches against Maria and Serena, I would have loved to see those rivalries continue (especially Justine vs Maria!).
Graf still would have likely ended up with 15-18 slams even if Seles was there. I think Seles takes most of the French and Aussie Opens that Graf won post-1993, but I just don't see her winning against Graf at SW19 or in NY in that era and all things being equal, the US Opens and Wimbledons that Graf won post 1993 I think she still would have won if Seles was there. The grass at Wimbledon and hard courts at the US Open in that era were much faster than what they play on today and Seles just didn't have the footwork even in her prime compared to Graf to win on those surfaces consistently. Seles gave Steffi a much harder time on the slower surfaces like rebound ace (Aussie open) and clay.
If Monika Seles accept to play for USA before stabbing ,everything will be different.If Djokovic accept to play for UK there will not be problems.But 30 years after Stefi Graf loose most week No1 record,detroned by serbian player
If we're playing 'What if's with Djokovic, here's one for you. In a press conference following his quarter final defeat at the 2022 French Open, he cited the crowd's support of Nadal as a major contributing factor to his loss. So, "What if Djokovic was more likable?"
Novak is mentioned for missing a few majors for Covid, but what if Rafa didn’t miss so many majors with injuries? He missed 12 and had to withdraw from 2 more! In his career he wins 33% of the majors he enters, so maybe he gets 3 or 4 majors??
This peace is designed to marginalize what happened with Seles and Djokovic and dissolve it in the heap of gibberish. All those other "what ifs" are referring to the situations where players were in control and made poor decisions. "What is Safin wasn't an idiot" shall never be mentioned together with the stabbing of Seles. This list shall contain only two entries - Seles and Djokovic.
Novax got what he deserved for not following the rules that applied to EVERYONE that wanted to enter Australia and the United States during the pandemic.
What if Robin Soderling hadn't gotten sick and been unable to play? Would there have been a Big 5? Would the numbers and records of the big 3 be different?
Add Del Potro to that list, even more so than Robin. I do believe this would have made a difference, because the magical aura the big three had, ensured they had a sort of invincibility, which would have been broken if certain guys like Del Potro and Söderling had stayed healthy.
@@NOTHEOTHERGUY Chris switched over to the Wilson Pro Staff 85 at the beginning of 1984. Her success against Martina in 1985-86 was due to her concentrating on becoming stronger and more fit. Even Martina admitted as much.
I would have add Sharapova's Shoulder injury, she was No.1 with 3 Grand Slams at 20 before the injury, after she "only" managed to won 2 in the next 12 years of her career, she got multiple surgeries on it and spend almost entire seasons with the problem and almost not playing
My thoughts exactly! And "What If Sharapova had played left-handed from the start of her career". Navratilova mentioned in her commentary of the Madrid 2014 Sharapova vs Halep final that Maria could have had a better service motion if she'd played lefty from the start.
Seles always gonna be the biggest "IF" in tennis history!! She already won 8 slams during her teen and she's still improving her game every year. She so young and had to faced such a horrific incident, I don't think full grown adult can adjust it properly, mentally... It wasn't her choice, she was forced into it and that should be the biggest IF of all!! As for Borg not a "what if" to me, mainly it's because his retirement was a "personal choice", no one forced him, I honestly don't think he meant to be anything but just a very good player, he just doesn't have the heart for what he does, he simply lost the passion for tennis, and then he feel like to give another try, the game, the play, even the style, everyone else evolved, except him... everything about him stuck in the past, the world don't stop spinning just for you, so... go figure. Other players on this video list because of injuries should not even be a consideration, because we need to understand injury is a part of EVERY sportsman's career, how you taking care of your health and body, shouldn't be an excuse, and as for tennis player, the way the style of the play have lot to do with your injury, because why some players able to have a long career, minimize getting injured or serious injuries through the years, it's all got to do with how smart you are to keep your body in a best possible condition, alter your games to suit every period of your whole tennis career like Roger and Novak, sorry Nadal fans, even though Nadal try so hard to be healthy but he's exactly like his symbol, a bull, unstoppable, his body was damaged and his favour surface is the biggest reason that happened, so... bless him, he give so many to tennis but in the end he paid the price for his success... Anyway, all I'm saying injury not an excuse in this "what if" conversation that's all.
Nadal's is a chronic foot problem from his childhood, called Muller Weiss syndrome, I think. As he said, he isn't an injured player, it's an injury he has had to live with.
What if every great player prior to 1968 hadn't been banned from grand slams? Pancho Gonzales, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Don Budge, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, Elsworth Vines all would have won a bunch of slams, but they turned pro.
This is definitely a Novax channel. Crying for Novax missing 2-3 majors because of stupid decisions, but not mentioning Rafa's foot injury... embarrassing
exactly. Or to rephrase your question a bit: What If Dimitrov would be more consistent in his game? 2017 was truly a blessing, both Grisho and Roger were at the top of their games...
"What if" you guys thought to include Martina the brat Hingis! 😂😂😂 BTW, I'm no Hingis stan, but she definitely has a what if kind of career, don't you think ?!!
Great concept but the entries need a filter. It should separate those cases out of a player's control and those that are. Andy Roddick for example doesnt belong in the same list as Monica Seles. There is always a better player depending on the stage of your career and the surface. The list should consist of Seles, Djokovic, Del Potro and Murray
Wrong. Everything that happened to Djokovic (except 2020 Wimbledon being cancelled) was all in his control. He refused to follow the visa entry rules and he freely smashed a ball that hit a linesman. He brought them all upon himself.
@@pedropelaez It wasn´t under his control that he´d need to take poisonous injection to participate. But on the other hand, all this could be playing in to his hands in the long run. Had he not been forced to stay out of tour he might have developed injury that might have forced him to retire by now, who knows? And who knows what those injections are doing to his opponents wreaking havoc on their bodies that we might never know. He didn´t smash the ball on the lineswoman ffs are you dim? It was a very unfortunate situation with no ill intent from Nole. If he had intentionally smashed a ball on her throat she would have had breathed her last breath.
@@teppo9585 poisonous injection? 🤣🤣🤣🤣. That;s all someone needs to know about you to know that you are a f#cking idiot. You can be ignored and dismissed now. You ant-vax/anti-science people like Novax (a man who has said on video that he believes you can pray away toxins from polluted water and contaminated food) are hilarious. 👯♀️👯♀️👯♀️
For me, two of the biggest "what ifs" are: if Nadal had Djokovic's body and therefore almost no injuries, would he have most slam wins? 2. what if there were two slams played on clay and only one on gras and hard each?
Good morning since l started watching tennis about thirty years ago l consider Del Potro and Seles the biggest what ifs. Del Potro injuries and Seles stabbing. I would add but to a lesser degree injuries to Murray and Wawrinka.
Monica would have dominated the record books by a long shot if she hadn’t been derailed. There is absolutely no question about that. Steffi was able to rack up 22 GS titles and Gunter Parche got exactly what he wanted. It’s incredibly unfortunate.
BS! Graf had a 6-4 record against Seles before her stabbing and had a 4-1 record after her comeback! Graf was 10-5 against Seles lifetime! The record speaks for itself!
@@quentincrisp6933 Graf won their first 3 meetings when Monica was only 15 years old, so those don’t really represent their true rivalry. Things evened out much more when they were trading matches in the early 90’s. Then of course the AO of 93 came, and it appeared as though Monica had again raised the level of her game significantly. Then she was derailed so we always talk about the rivalry as what could have been. Apart from the Graf/Seles rivalry, pre-stabbing Monica was truly dominating the rest of the field and knew how to win tournaments much better than Steffi. Look at all of the slams, match win streaks and, tournament winning streaks. Nobody disputes the fact that she was unstoppable in those years. And then, someone decided that they were going to make it stop. There is no reason to believe Monica wouldn’t have continued wrecking the field throughout the 90’s and possibly even beyond that.
@@Ricky-mo6mv Yes she was just a young teenager and lost to Steffi 6 times in their first 10 meetings. The stabbing was unfortunate however on her comeback she lost to Steffi 4 out of 5 times! Steffi's record speaks for itself now! She's the greatest female player ever in the Modern Era. Hands down! "if's" & "buts" don't cut it in sports vernacular!
Graf would not have achieved that level had Seles not been attacked. What a shame ! That man completely destroyed Seles career. He should never lived a normal life if he is still alive . Should live a life of remorse
On the Women's tour you can add Justine Henin, and Kim Clijsters if they had not retired young, and then came back again. Jennifer Capriati if she had not had burnout, depression and a drug problem for a while. Ana Kournikova, and Eugene Bouchard if they focused more on their tennis instead of diverting their attention to modeling so much. There is also Sharapova had she not struggled so much with injuries she could have won a lot more slams. Venus Williams if she hadn't suffered from Sjogrens Syndrome may have won a lot more slams as well. Martina Hingis as well had she not struggled with injuries as much may have won more slams, especially in doubles where she won a bunch of more slams when she came back from all the injuries.
Don't forget Wimbledon 2020 was cancelled. Novak was a huge favor to win it. Wimbledon 2020, US open 2020, AO 2022 and US open 2022. In my opinion he would win 2 or 3 GS.
But guess what, he decided not to follow the visa entry rules and he smashed a ball that hit a lines person. Those were all in his control so those are not what ifs.
Good video but suggesting that the most competitive time in tennis is with the big three or four counting Murray is nuts. The eighties to mid nineties was way more competitive. It had more guys who could and did win multiple slams in their careers. More guys who had hall of fame careers.
The game is littered with 'what ifs'. The only 'what if's' in my head are Seles and Borg. All the others are just timing and form. These two shocked and rocked the sport to its feet imho...
Maybe an unpopular opinion but I don't really consider Borg's dropoff a what-if. 25 back then was about mid career (only in recent times has age 30+ been considered the new 25). Mcenroe was in his peak, Connors was still hungry & ready to win slams again. Borg wanted to keep winning, seemed to be a perfectionist (even though of course he rarely showed anger/ emotion on court). Couldve won more slams, definitely french open 1 or 2 more years, but would he have won anything else notable, given he was burned out or whatever else? Debateable and reaching imo Everybody is sleeping on the pre-open era "what-if's", imo some players likely wouldve won 20+ slams by then if they were allowed to earn a living & play in slams
@@tennishistoryandresultsdat4540 quite opposite he won australia open and rg not just australia open it was not gift i guess Djokovic got gifted Roland garros because when he won Rafael Nadal was not present.
What if the media hadn't painted Nick Kyrgios a huge villain early in his career and kept it up for ten years? What if Tennis Australia had cared about what was going on with him before he was twenty and helped him cope with all that fame? What if the ATP hadn't banned him for three months...for 'tanking' a match in which even Federer said he was beyond exhausted and hardly able to stand up? Nobody cared about him. How could he care about anything at all. Wrong colour, wrong side of the tracks.
@@seveglider8406 Well he did he beat both Peter sampras and agassi both awfully average on clay and clay was getting faster they were still were average.
The Seles cry babies are pathetic. She is great but not athletic like Graf. Stabbing or not she couldn’t hold her form as she aged. What happened was tragic for sure but to disparage Graf this way is pathetic
Mentality are part of a player. Sometimes people overrate players like Kyrgios just because they seem to not care but that doesn't mean that putting an effort will make them GS champions. Let's be clear, it's his fantastic serve and not all the trick points what makes Kyrgios a dangerous opponent. Borg retired young but he was on decline and back then a player was old at 30. And Seles stabbing is the biggest crime against tennis in history, she was a force of nature with killer instinct. And the worst part is Graf wanted her throne back, she had a tumultous begginning of the 90's with all the personal problems and she was playing better again, so we lose a good bunch of years of amazing battles (and i'm pretty sure that Seles would have won Wimbledon sooner or later). The Seles that came back was not the same, she was a good player, but she was never fit and her instinct was not the same. Playing Australia would have mean that Navratilova or Evert would have the GS record. Evert even skipped Roland Garros a bunch of times were she was the dominant player
I can't phatom why you pointed Djokovic's number of slams but omitted Rafa's genetic foot condition, or Federer dealing with the slowest surfaces in tennis history during the 2008-2016 period 🤷♂️
@@konradtomala3580 well, Australian Open already became slower when transitioning to Rebound Ace in 2008, I do agree that it was getting faster again by 2015
I love this video!!! "McEnroe's obnoxious rise" had me laughing out loud. Borg is still a legend. As phenomenal a player as Steffi Graf was... there will always be an asterisk by her name in tennis b/c of what happened with Monica Seles. Tragic. I think all the sane people know that if Djokovic hadn't been banned due to vaccination, his slam count would be 26 right now. Rafa at 21, Carlitos at 1. He would've had the calendar slam, but we were robbed of witnessing history due to politicians and a whole bunch of hysterical sheeples. I'm not even a Nole fan.
What if, relates to each player. What if the older generation has the advanced equipment and training and money todays players have. Always an interesting question......
Why did you include Novak's what if? And not one concerning Rafa? He missed countless majors due to injury and would have had a chance to win some of them for sure. (Not being judgemental, just wondering)
I think Murray played a very complete tennis. He could normally competing with the bigs. I was a huge becker ‘s fan. The character was his biggest problem. And he lost a wimbledon with a little injure to the wrist vs godwin. The one won by krajicek. This was his last chance. Then sampras and agassi overwhelmed him maybe even psichologically.
❗ One of the biggest ifs of all is: how great a chamption would Maureen Conolly have become if at the age of 19 an accident hadn't ended her career? . A year ago, in 1953 she had won the calender grand slam.
Good video mahn!! Also What if Federer had got that one point and won the Wimbledon 2019, what if Nadal's back did not pull in Aus 2014 final, What if Nadal capitalised on the 5th set break on Novak in Aus 2012 final, What if Andy Murray did not injure his hip in 2017 and took few slams off Novak, then definitely Novak wouldn't be at even 22
No "What If's" Steffi Graf is arguably the greatest & most accomplished female or male tennis player ever! She's accomplished what no-one has ever done - the Calendar Golden Slam! 🏅
most accomplished female* , i would argue that you cant mix female and male tennis since top 10 females would be like bellow 200 in male tennis. It is way harder for djokovic to win grand slam than for any female in the history let alone every record that he holds.
@@laprimaverrra Bille jean king would get smashed by today's player. She's 5ft 2 or something Put any current female players in top 100 or 200 the would get smashed stop the comparison you guys are delusional. Current female cannot handle male serves let alone full 3 set.
Forget the slam total when discussing Seles. She was the greatest of all time, and would have towered over Steffi in this regard. She dominated early on like no other, and had her future snatched away by a crazy German who wasn't punished by his clearly crazy countrymen. But this incident doesn't wash away her greatness or place at the top of any list of the best women players.
How many grand slams would Djokovic have NOT won if he kept going with crystals or cosmic self healing to fix his elbow in 2018 instead of the dreaded conventional surgery?
❗ You didn't talk about the if that for me is the biggest of all: How many slams would *I* have won, if I had become a profesionnal tennis player and not a sales clerk.
This started out great. Seles definitely took a nose dive and Graff would not have had her run with Seles challenging her. I think Borg went out because he saw that McEnroe had his number, and his game was so different to Borg's, that it would have been difficult to dominate him, except at the French. And the fact McEnroe was ungentlemanly, was a final straw to retire to one who played with grace. Glad you picked up on the Joker not being able to compete due to asserting freedom and common sense to the Globalist Plandemic sheeple. He would have Australia (which would have taken Nadal down one) and a great shot at the US Open. But, it is plain to see what the Globalist tyranny has done to all, except the Dodo bird brains. Aside from the interesting angle (left out of your video), to the story of Agassi reading Becker's tongue for return of serve, all the rest were variations of coulda, woulda, shoulda, that could apply to many, many great players. The what if we got Laver and the Joker and all in between and who is the best? It is not only an exercise in futility, but absurd to anybody who thinks about it. Different times create different circumstances.
German Open did not pay damages to Seles. I wonder why d stabber was given a seat behind her and no security around d players. They may have planned this all along to favor Graf.
What if's usually assume there would be no change performance wise if some factor did not happen: Not necessarily. First, Borg who retired at 26. Let's take players from 80s, like McEnroe, Wilander, Becker. A total of 20 Grand Slams and all except one won before age of 26. So continuing to play may not mean anything. Next, Seles: In an interesting way, after AO in 90 it was as if Steffi was stabbed. The lady who won 8 of the last 9 GS (Sounds like Monica, huh?) was suddenly out of gas. She had her reasons (Some related to father, again similar to Monica) but in the end she didn't lose not only to Monica but to the players she used to beat before. Therefore I suggest do not award automatically trophies to those who had not played in the events. Bagelling in the first set guarantees nothing.
@@alkathorat2859 YES, He would! in his prime Federer feasted on Djokovic and Nadal could only beat him on clay, although he did win 1 Wimbledon against Federer whereas Djokovic didn't beat Federer until he was almost 35.
Seles stabbing was the biggest carrier destroyer in tennis history. Graf got a clear road afterwards.
Agreed
The only IF in tennis is Monica Seles. The trajectory of her career was cut short not by any sport- related injury, or by being banned or not being allowed in a tournament because of personal beliefs.
At the rate Monica was going she was rapidly racking up grand slams. She had become number one, she was beating Steffi every time they met until the stabbing. She probably would have been ahead in grand slam titles if not for that incident.
I heard Steffi was losing to many players during those 2-3 years, not just Seles. So I'm not confident that the version of Graf that Seles played was the actual prime Graf.
@@delriver77 most real tennis fans would disagree with you and I as someone who was following tennis at the time can say that seles had graf's measure and would have probably dominated tennis like no person ever before, at worst she would have 15 so graf would have well under her final tally , at best seles would have easily gone to around 30 slams ,she was only 19 and already had 8 slams !. Peak seles was the best women's player ever , only serena could compare in power but not precision.
racking up? not Wimbledon. not one of her 8 grand slam titles before the incident came from Wimbledon. and post-stabbing she never really had the game to accomplish what after all many considered to be the pinnacle of a tennis career: winning Wimbledon.
@@anthonydecastro6938 she would have won Wimbledon at least once if not more , she already had 8 so what are you talking about? And when she came back of course she was never the same ! She was stabbed on tv in front of the world and her racist attacker didn't get no jail time.
@@anthonydecastro6938 no stabbing = Seles easily 20 +slams and more than graf. That you think she would have just stopped winning slams says everything.
No "What If", no nothing. Seles is the actual GOAT of the WTA tour history - by an overwhelming gap!
You may have had a point at one time, but then Seles fell in love with butter.
@@broncoguy4862
Yes, she developed an eating disorder after she got stabbed.
Unfortunately her lack of Wimbledon success was a glaring omission in her resume, just as graf's record is tainted.
However I have no doubt she would have been far more successful today in today's homogenized surfaces especially at Wimbledon. On the other hand graf wouldn't have been as successful at Wimbledon but definitely had more FO success.
@@broncoguy4862 That was only after the stabbing incident. The point is what if she was never stabbed?
She was clean and ruthless and Graf didn't have answers either. Sales would have ruled for a long period and maybe Serena would have stopped her.
Twak man. Steffi was baie beter en daarna Serena.....
Seles never got justice. And for me, she was and will always be better than Graff. I found the German's behavior after the attack absolutely abhorrent!
Well said
How did Graf behave after Seles' stabbing?
@@Vaisin Graf was disgusted. She even hated how obsessive her fans were. Stalking her, phoning her hotel room constantly, and overall disgusting behavior.
That's not fair 😕. What was Graf supposed to do that she didn't do 😮
@@darrylperry648 speak out! But she didn’t, it was convenient for her. Graff won more, but will always be second best imo.
Seles would have been the GOAT. Her percentage in those early years was crazy. She made a successful transition from juniors, where she also dominated, to WTA. The only way to stop her was an attack on her life. So yes, Steffi's accomplishments are great, good for her, but they come with an asterisk. Now another Serbian player overtook her record of most weeks at # 1. Some kind of small revenge.
Just to add - only Gabriela Sabatini voted for Monika's ranking to be protected.
and this other Serbian player choked winning a Calendar Slam and still doesn't have as many ATP titles as Jimmy Connors! There is no GOAT!
@@quentincrisp6933 no, this other Serbian player is the de facto GOAT and was also thwarted on his path many a time, most notably in Australia last year.
Sorry, mere number of titles means nothing. The big ones count more. The weeks at #1 count more.
Novak is THE GOAT.
@@danicadabic9789 I love Novak and his unwavering commitment to tennis excellence. But he did miss 2 chances to do the calendar slam one in 2017 and the other was 2021. The latter must have really stung since it was the final hurdle that he stumbled at. Hope he can finally do it should there be a third opportunity.
Exactly. That was so SHAMEFUL on the ladies part. I never like Steffi attitude during that time. I felt she could had been A LOT MORE GRACIOUS about it. Anyway, those that know, know that Seles had steffie number. Has she not been attacked she would have beaten graf multiple times. Instead of 22, she would have 15 or so. Monica had surpassed her. I am still NOT COMFORTABLE with Graff. She did not handle well the entire thing at all.
@@pavelclaudiopatino419 yes, thank you for acknowledging that. It is a bit disgusting applauding Steffi on all her achievements when those in the know forget that her path was literally cleared of the biggest obstacle.
No stabbing = Seles 20 grand slams, Graf 16
More than 20 GS. She wasn't even 20yo when she had 8 GS.
@@giladpachter4546 perhaps a little conservative but Graf could still have had her measure at Wimbledon
This is what Seles fans live for: content that dwells in speculation of "what ifs" despite how history actually unfolded. H2H will always be 10-5 Graf. In fifteen attempts, Seles was only able to win 5 times. But enjoy your "what ifs" and speculation, although it seems kinda delusional.
@@broncoguy4862
I'm no Seles fan. Her groans took all the fun out of watching tennis. But JohnO is probably not far off target. My favorite female tennis player is Navratilova. With the technology and training of this era, I wouldn't be surprised if she'd broken Margaret Court's record. Sadly, we'll never know how she'd faired against prime Serena Williams.
@@broncoguy4862 love how you PURPOLSY OMMIT that teh reason H2H was like that was after the STABBING INCIDENT.
Before Stabbing as mentioned in the video it was close. and probably OWULDVE STAYED LOSE similar to how Nadal/Djokovic/Fedeer H2H. It wouldve simulated similarly to big threes and wouldnt be that drastic difference.
The fact that Novak has a "what if" case is mind boggling 🤯
The only "what if" in Novak's case was for fedal fans wonders "what if Novak not playing tennis or don't exist" so they would have more slams and how much greater they would be ~🤣🤣🤣
@@katerinadicamella Not my implication... That would be more a "What if" for fedal...
Not really, he absolutely maximised his talent.
Yeap. He is already a GOAT and how much more achieved he would he had been if he wasn't sabotaged by the establishment.
For me, what if Australian Open didn't change its surface to Plexicushion in 2008? How many slams would Djokovic have then? Very convenient they changed the surface when Djokovic burst onto the scene.
Agassi was never "in love" with tennis in the same way many greats were. He had an incredible aptitude for it, and was forced to play by his father. He had a fantastic career, especially for someone who had to find their own identity on and off the court
I wonder about that. Maybe he overstated how much he hated tennis to create drama and sell more books.
@@goldencalf5144 He didn’t overstate anything for books or to create drama, it was real. I know because I trained with him at the Bollittieri Academy in the early to mid 80’s as juniors. He really did hate tennis and his dad was really tough on him. He ended up constantly rebelling against everything tennis. His talent though was beyond words.
She would have been the number 1 ever. No man or woman, not even Serena or Federer or Graf, has achieved 8 GS at 19. Such a shame.
Maureen Connolly won 9 GS before her 20th birthday (including a calendar year slam in 1953). Her career was cut short by a riding accident.
Amazing video mate :) always love talking these "What If" discussions
What if Cam entered the pro circuit? How many slams?
What if Tennis Talk and Tennis Plus didn't despise Kyrgios quite so much and learned to admire what he was able to do in the face of such enormous adversity and opposition from a toxic media?
Andy Murray was not right there with the Big 3. He was clearly better than all the other players, but make no mistake, he was closer to the rest than he was to the big 3. All of the big 3 has at least 17+ slams more than Murray, at least double the amount of masters he has, and at least 4 more year end no.1s and 160+ more weeks at no.1. Murray has a 5-20 record (20% win rate) against big 3 in slams and 29-56 overall (34% win rate). Even before the hip injury he was miles behind them. He was a great player so lets just appreciate him for what he was.
How many slam finals did he play against the big three? How many other big matches in other tournaments? He managed to win three Slams and the YEC and become number one during their prime.
So I do feel he was closer to the other three, than closer to the rest of the top 10. He sure was on a different level than the other guys who didn't even manage to win one slam.
What Roger, Rafa and Novak accomplished the last 20 years, at more or less the same time, won't ever be repeated in any sport. They propelled each other to those levels. So the fact that Andy managed to stay relevant and at least give them some competition, sets him apart from the other top players at that time (Berdych, Ferrer, ...).
@@orbitalwarrior No he is NOT get over it !
My two 'pre-open' choices would be:
What if Rod Laver had never been barred from playing majors for 4 years.
What if Maureen Connelly never had her riding accident.
I could not agree more about Laver and Connolly. But was not Laver sidelined for five years rather than four?
@@charlescovell8054 You're right Charles, thanks for spotting that.
5 peak years were taken away from Laver. If he played during those years he would have won at least another 10 majors. He was better than Dokovic and Nadal. Federer is the only modern player who could compete with him on a regular basis.
@@seveglider8406😂 delusion
@@captain0159 Obviously You don't know anything about Tennis!
Here's another "What If": If Monica had been allowed to grunt in the 1992 Wimbledon final, she would've beaten Graf and win her Wimbledon title.
Most fans know Monica was forbidden to make any noises on court in the final after Navratilova complained to the umpire about Monica's grunting in their semifinal.
Natalie Tauziat also complained in the Quarters against Monica.
She was most definitely affected negatively by the overblown press coverage on "Grunt Gate" during the 92 Wimbledon.
Poor Monica, she basically taped her mouth shut and let Graf run her over in that final.
^^^
I don’t know much about this, but was her grunt very loud? If so then I have no problem with her not being allowed to grunt
Life really is unfair.
I heard by Chris evert that Sabatini was the only player that voted yes for Monica!
One big "what if" is missing here: What if Jimmy Connors would not have been banned from playing the French Open in 1974? Would he have won a Grand Slam?
Only 1974 ? He had another 10 or more goes at winning the French open - but could not pull it off
5:02 - I think this is missing Novak's most likely Slam taken through covid - Wimbledon 2020 being cancelled
I still feel that Djokovic had the highest chance to win 2022 Australia open if he had not been deported, since he was younger and is always dominant in Australia open
Didn't he win Wimbledon 2022? He got the title and the prize but not the points. How's this a what ie situstion ?
@Tudor Stanescu this comment is about wimbledon 2020 which got cancelled. Djokovic was clear fabourite to win it, even more so than in 2022.
Graf and Seles are both legends and they would have been both legends. The attacker didn’t achieve a thing, except robbing us of a great rivalry.
I agree. I think if the rivalry had continued, they would have pushed each other to improve, similarly to the Big 3.
The attacker achieved what he wanted: Graff's dominance.
I'm a big Graf fan, but I think Seles would have been the all time best if not for.
One big if too: what about if Wawrinka didn't get injured in 2017? He was a major force in the slams during the big 3 dominance. Won AO14, RG15 and USO16 always beating no.1 guys in the finals (Nadal, Djoko).
One of the biggest What If's wasn't included-- What if Nadal wasn't constantly injured throughout his career?? He's had to miss parts of so many seasons and so many Slams due to major injuries
If that's your opinion, you must be a tennis newbie!
His playing style was the reason he was injured so much. He had to play that hard to win.
If he dropped that intensity, he wouldn't be so successful.
I reject your premise.
@@danjonmills he has a genetic foot condition called Muller Weiss Syndrome. Get some information before spreading nonsense. David Ferrer had a more taxing playstyle than Nadal, even Djokovic has had an extremely taxing playstyle for years, and their injuries are nothing in comparison. Genetics play a huge role.
@@danjonmills Rafa was born with a malformed foot...dont you read that...? his is the biggest IF in the world of sport not just tennis... he has won 22 titles despite a career stopping injury... the rest of them were lucky that this poor chap had to fight so hard to keep at it... that is why he had to play with high intensity... so double whammy for him...
add to that the severe competition he faced - today's guy has virtually no competition - the young players are so stupidly disinclined to compete in right earnest - they seem to love to just give up... so one guy keeps winning... tennis has already lost whatever little charm it had with the decline of fed and rafa... very sad...
@@danjonmills
Well he did not used natural gut like fedrer and Djokovic to generate easy power. He used full bed of Poly no help from string when it's come to power.
I reject your whole counter argument.
What if I had been athletic, talented, motivated, and properly trained? ... Couple of slams, I reckon.
You would have been the GOAT tennis player... or race driver or what ever
The only "IF" is Seles. Managing injuries are part of their job, same as keep motivation and not retire early.
You forgot to ask * What if Rafael Nadal had not missed so many majors due to injury, what if Nadal did not have the foot issue....*?
Venus with Sjogren syndrome that started in like 2009. Venus really was only able to perform for like 10 years.
Borg certainly and Seles - those are the big if's. We knows how far these two could have gone
What if the Williams sisters focused more effort on doubles and played every grand slam throughout their careers? They would probably have won about 30 majors! 🏆
I mean I can say that about big 3.
You guys simply ignored or forgot Justin Henin … who in her prime defeated Serene n sharapova
You mean if she hadn't retired (twice) due to burnout? Justine always had high quality matches against Maria and Serena, I would have loved to see those rivalries continue (especially Justine vs Maria!).
Graf still would have likely ended up with 15-18 slams even if Seles was there. I think Seles takes most of the French and Aussie Opens that Graf won post-1993, but I just don't see her winning against Graf at SW19 or in NY in that era and all things being equal, the US Opens and Wimbledons that Graf won post 1993 I think she still would have won if Seles was there. The grass at Wimbledon and hard courts at the US Open in that era were much faster than what they play on today and Seles just didn't have the footwork even in her prime compared to Graf to win on those surfaces consistently. Seles gave Steffi a much harder time on the slower surfaces like rebound ace (Aussie open) and clay.
Monica's was the most tragic ever. What a shame!!! Would have easily rewritten the history.
Nole wasn't forced to miss these tournaments. It was his choice.
If Monika Seles accept to play for USA before stabbing ,everything will be different.If Djokovic accept to play for UK there will not be problems.But 30 years after Stefi Graf loose most week No1 record,detroned by serbian player
If we're playing 'What if's with Djokovic, here's one for you.
In a press conference following his quarter final defeat at the 2022 French Open, he cited the crowd's support of Nadal as a major contributing factor to his loss.
So, "What if Djokovic was more likable?"
Novak is mentioned for missing a few majors for Covid, but what if Rafa didn’t miss so many majors with injuries? He missed 12 and had to withdraw from 2 more! In his career he wins 33% of the majors he enters, so maybe he gets 3 or 4 majors??
Interesting to see what Chang would do on today’s court surfaces.
This peace is designed to marginalize what happened with Seles and Djokovic and dissolve it in the heap of gibberish. All those other "what ifs" are referring to the situations where players were in control and made poor decisions. "What is Safin wasn't an idiot" shall never be mentioned together with the stabbing of Seles. This list shall contain only two entries - Seles and Djokovic.
Calm down.
Novax got what he deserved for not following the rules that applied to EVERYONE that wanted to enter Australia and the United States during the pandemic.
What if Robin Soderling hadn't gotten sick and been unable to play? Would there have been a Big 5? Would the numbers and records of the big 3 be different?
Add Del Potro to that list, even more so than Robin. I do believe this would have made a difference, because the magical aura the big three had, ensured they had a sort of invincibility, which would have been broken if certain guys like Del Potro and Söderling had stayed healthy.
I believe bjorn borg could've had the most grand slams.. quit at 25 and had 11 grand slams.
If Borg played until his mid 30's he would have the most major titles of any male player!
@@seveglider8406 Very possible.
Maybe. But he quit when faced with a fomidable opponent. Whereas the 3 who came after battled on even when facing 2 fomidable opponents.
@@balajay8921 Borg faced many formidable opponents throughout his entire career. Your comment is asinine!
The biggest ‘what if’ in my opinion is if Federer changed his racquet size way earlier in his career.
No one else would be in the goat discussion
What if Chris Evert had switched to graphite years sooner? I don't think Navratilova would've dominated the way she did in 1983 and 1984.
Well I can say the same thing about Nadal. What if Nadal used natural gut in his racket how many slame he would've won.
@@NOTHEOTHERGUY Chris switched over to the Wilson Pro Staff 85 at the beginning of 1984. Her success against Martina in 1985-86 was due to her concentrating on becoming stronger and more fit. Even Martina admitted as much.
I would have add Sharapova's Shoulder injury, she was No.1 with 3 Grand Slams at 20 before the injury, after she "only" managed to won 2 in the next 12 years of her career, she got multiple surgeries on it and spend almost entire seasons with the problem and almost not playing
My thoughts exactly! And "What If Sharapova had played left-handed from the start of her career". Navratilova mentioned in her commentary of the Madrid 2014 Sharapova vs Halep final that Maria could have had a better service motion if she'd played lefty from the start.
Seles always gonna be the biggest "IF" in tennis history!! She already won 8 slams during her teen and she's still improving her game every year. She so young and had to faced such a horrific incident, I don't think full grown adult can adjust it properly, mentally... It wasn't her choice, she was forced into it and that should be the biggest IF of all!!
As for Borg not a "what if" to me, mainly it's because his retirement was a "personal choice", no one forced him, I honestly don't think he meant to be anything but just a very good player, he just doesn't have the heart for what he does, he simply lost the passion for tennis, and then he feel like to give another try, the game, the play, even the style, everyone else evolved, except him... everything about him stuck in the past, the world don't stop spinning just for you, so... go figure.
Other players on this video list because of injuries should not even be a consideration, because we need to understand injury is a part of EVERY sportsman's career, how you taking care of your health and body, shouldn't be an excuse, and as for tennis player, the way the style of the play have lot to do with your injury, because why some players able to have a long career, minimize getting injured or serious injuries through the years, it's all got to do with how smart you are to keep your body in a best possible condition, alter your games to suit every period of your whole tennis career like Roger and Novak, sorry Nadal fans, even though Nadal try so hard to be healthy but he's exactly like his symbol, a bull, unstoppable, his body was damaged and his favour surface is the biggest reason that happened, so... bless him, he give so many to tennis but in the end he paid the price for his success...
Anyway, all I'm saying injury not an excuse in this "what if" conversation that's all.
Nadal's is a chronic foot problem from his childhood, called Muller Weiss syndrome, I think. As he said, he isn't an injured player, it's an injury he has had to live with.
What if every great player prior to 1968 hadn't been banned from grand slams? Pancho Gonzales, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Don Budge, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, Elsworth Vines all would have won a bunch of slams, but they turned pro.
This is definitely a Novax channel. Crying for Novax missing 2-3 majors because of stupid decisions, but not mentioning Rafa's foot injury... embarrassing
What if Dimitrov didn‘t decline in 2018
exactly. Or to rephrase your question a bit: What If Dimitrov would be more consistent in his game? 2017 was truly a blessing, both Grisho and Roger were at the top of their games...
Only Rick Sánchez could answer all these questions.
Best comment!
"What if" you guys thought to include Martina the brat Hingis! 😂😂😂 BTW, I'm no Hingis stan, but she definitely has a what if kind of career, don't you think ?!!
We missed a Federer / Nadal rivalry with the lost of Seles
Great concept but the entries need a filter. It should separate those cases out of a player's control and those that are. Andy Roddick for example doesnt belong in the same list as Monica Seles. There is always a better player depending on the stage of your career and the surface.
The list should consist of Seles, Djokovic, Del Potro and Murray
Wrong. Everything that happened to Djokovic (except 2020 Wimbledon being cancelled) was all in his control. He refused to follow the visa entry rules and he freely smashed a ball that hit a linesman. He brought them all upon himself.
@@pedropelaez It wasn´t under his control that he´d need to take poisonous injection to participate. But on the other hand, all this could be playing in to his hands in the long run. Had he not been forced to stay out of tour he might have developed injury that might have forced him to retire by now, who knows? And who knows what those injections are doing to his opponents wreaking havoc on their bodies that we might never know.
He didn´t smash the ball on the lineswoman ffs are you dim? It was a very unfortunate situation with no ill intent from Nole. If he had intentionally smashed a ball on her throat she would have had breathed her last breath.
@@teppo9585 poisonous injection? 🤣🤣🤣🤣. That;s all someone needs to know about you to know that you are a f#cking idiot. You can be ignored and dismissed now. You ant-vax/anti-science people like Novax (a man who has said on video that he believes you can pray away toxins from polluted water and contaminated food) are hilarious. 👯♀️👯♀️👯♀️
Seles Forever
What if we had 2 grand slams on clay instead of 2 on hard courts. How many majors would nadal have won? Novak fans please answer 🙏 😊 💜
😁 it's really unfair to have 2 GS on hard
For me, two of the biggest "what ifs" are: if Nadal had Djokovic's body and therefore almost no injuries, would he have most slam wins? 2. what if there were two slams played on clay and only one on gras and hard each?
Good morning since l started watching tennis about thirty years ago l consider Del Potro and Seles the biggest what ifs. Del Potro injuries and Seles stabbing. I would add but to a lesser degree injuries to Murray and Wawrinka.
Another what if I don’t think we ask ourselves enough is what if VenuS won the 2008 US Open QF with her and Serena
Monica would have dominated the record books by a long shot if she hadn’t been derailed. There is absolutely no question about that. Steffi was able to rack up 22 GS titles and Gunter Parche got exactly what he wanted. It’s incredibly unfortunate.
BS! Graf had a 6-4 record against Seles before her stabbing and had a 4-1 record after her comeback! Graf was 10-5 against Seles lifetime! The record speaks for itself!
@@quentincrisp6933 Graf won their first 3 meetings when Monica was only 15 years old, so those don’t really represent their true rivalry. Things evened out much more when they were trading matches in the early 90’s. Then of course the AO of 93 came, and it appeared as though Monica had again raised the level of her game significantly. Then she was derailed so we always talk about the rivalry as what could have been.
Apart from the Graf/Seles rivalry, pre-stabbing Monica was truly dominating the rest of the field and knew how to win tournaments much better than Steffi. Look at all of the slams, match win streaks and, tournament winning streaks. Nobody disputes the fact that she was unstoppable in those years. And then, someone decided that they were going to make it stop.
There is no reason to believe Monica wouldn’t have continued wrecking the field throughout the 90’s and possibly even beyond that.
@@Ricky-mo6mv Yes she was just a young teenager and lost to Steffi 6 times in their first 10 meetings. The stabbing was unfortunate however on her comeback she lost to Steffi 4 out of 5 times! Steffi's record speaks for itself now! She's the greatest female player ever in the Modern Era. Hands down! "if's" & "buts" don't cut it in sports vernacular!
Just because Djokovic has won the most slams does NOT make him the GOAT. That title belongs to Federer
In what way?
he did not won most slams yet. Right now (march '23) he is still tight with Nadal at 22.
Graf would not have achieved that level had Seles not been attacked. What a shame ! That man completely destroyed Seles career. He should never lived a normal life if he is still alive . Should live a life of remorse
Or Graf would have improved and had a Federer-Nadal type rivalry with Seles.
On the Women's tour you can add Justine Henin, and Kim Clijsters if they had not retired young, and then came back again. Jennifer Capriati if she had not had burnout, depression and a drug problem for a while. Ana Kournikova, and Eugene Bouchard if they focused more on their tennis instead of diverting their attention to modeling so much. There is also Sharapova had she not struggled so much with injuries she could have won a lot more slams. Venus Williams if she hadn't suffered from Sjogrens Syndrome may have won a lot more slams as well. Martina Hingis as well had she not struggled with injuries as much may have won more slams, especially in doubles where she won a bunch of more slams when she came back from all the injuries.
McEnroe would no doubt be as dominant and unbeatable as he was in his prime (84’ - ‘85) if he played in the tour these days.
Don't forget Wimbledon 2020 was cancelled. Novak was a huge favor to win it. Wimbledon 2020, US open 2020, AO 2022 and US open 2022. In my opinion he would win 2 or 3 GS.
But guess what, he decided not to follow the visa entry rules and he smashed a ball that hit a lines person. Those were all in his control so those are not what ifs.
The commentary is just so soporific.
Good video but suggesting that the most competitive time in tennis is with the big three or four counting Murray is nuts. The eighties to mid nineties was way more competitive. It had more guys who could and did win multiple slams in their careers. More guys who had hall of fame careers.
The game is littered with 'what ifs'. The only 'what if's' in my head are Seles and Borg. All the others are just timing and form. These two shocked and rocked the sport to its feet imho...
What if Federer didn’t play with a small small racquet during his prime?
HADN'T PLAYED...
What if Nadal used natural gut like fedrer in his racket.
Maybe an unpopular opinion but I don't really consider Borg's dropoff a what-if. 25 back then was about mid career (only in recent times has age 30+ been considered the new 25). Mcenroe was in his peak, Connors was still hungry & ready to win slams again. Borg wanted to keep winning, seemed to be a perfectionist (even though of course he rarely showed anger/ emotion on court). Couldve won more slams, definitely french open 1 or 2 more years, but would he have won anything else notable, given he was burned out or whatever else? Debateable and reaching imo
Everybody is sleeping on the pre-open era "what-if's", imo some players likely wouldve won 20+ slams by then if they were allowed to earn a living & play in slams
Rafael Nadal said: "If doesn't exist in tennis"
Say that to the best female tennis player that got stabbed in the back...
Rafael Nadal should've just taken the AO2022 that was gifted to him and kept his mouth shut.
@@leonkozma9148
Well he can still say he won more and competed against the best.
@@tennishistoryandresultsdat4540 quite opposite he won australia open and rg not just australia open it was not gift i guess Djokovic got gifted Roland garros because when he won Rafael Nadal was not present.
Was that Verdasco in the photo with "the all time greats" at 10:15 ? 🙈
What if this *HAD* never happened... Get your English grammar right before you start predicting the past!
What if the media hadn't painted Nick Kyrgios a huge villain early in his career and kept it up for ten years? What if Tennis Australia had cared about what was going on with him before he was twenty and helped him cope with all that fame? What if the ATP hadn't banned him for three months...for 'tanking' a match in which even Federer said he was beyond exhausted and hardly able to stand up? Nobody cared about him. How could he care about anything at all. Wrong colour, wrong side of the tracks.
Im sorry but Novaks default in the 2020 USO was no "harsh" decision.
What about Gustavo Kuerten if it weren’t for injuries he could’ve won many more slams.
On clay he would compete against Nadal. On hard court and grass, he would be average.
@@seveglider8406 that’s a good point.
@@seveglider8406
Not true, he was really good hard court player.
@@alkathorat2859 Kuerten was a great clay. court player. On grass and hard court he was average. He didn't have much success on grass.
@@seveglider8406
Well he did he beat both Peter sampras and agassi both awfully average on clay and clay was getting faster they were still were average.
What if…. there were only 1 hard surface court, 1 grads and 2 clay?!?
Rafa would have 40+ slams. Isn't an insult, wish I were joking
The Seles cry babies are pathetic. She is great but not athletic like Graf. Stabbing or not she couldn’t hold her form as she aged. What happened was tragic for sure but to disparage Graf this way is pathetic
Mentality are part of a player. Sometimes people overrate players like Kyrgios just because they seem to not care but that doesn't mean that putting an effort will make them GS champions. Let's be clear, it's his fantastic serve and not all the trick points what makes Kyrgios a dangerous opponent.
Borg retired young but he was on decline and back then a player was old at 30.
And Seles stabbing is the biggest crime against tennis in history, she was a force of nature with killer instinct. And the worst part is Graf wanted her throne back, she had a tumultous begginning of the 90's with all the personal problems and she was playing better again, so we lose a good bunch of years of amazing battles (and i'm pretty sure that Seles would have won Wimbledon sooner or later).
The Seles that came back was not the same, she was a good player, but she was never fit and her instinct was not the same.
Playing Australia would have mean that Navratilova or Evert would have the GS record. Evert even skipped Roland Garros a bunch of times were she was the dominant player
Have to admit that both male and female GOAT are from Serbia!
I can't phatom why you pointed Djokovic's number of slams but omitted Rafa's genetic foot condition, or Federer dealing with the slowest surfaces in tennis history during the 2008-2016 period 🤷♂️
It was more like 2010 to 2013, when the surfaces became absurdly slow, especially Australian Open.
@@konradtomala3580 well, Australian Open already became slower when transitioning to Rebound Ace in 2008, I do agree that it was getting faster again by 2015
@@konradtomala3580
Literally data is complete opposite on Australia open
I love this video!!! "McEnroe's obnoxious rise" had me laughing out loud. Borg is still a legend. As phenomenal a player as Steffi Graf was... there will always be an asterisk by her name in tennis b/c of what happened with Monica Seles. Tragic. I think all the sane people know that if Djokovic hadn't been banned due to vaccination, his slam count would be 26 right now. Rafa at 21, Carlitos at 1. He would've had the calendar slam, but we were robbed of witnessing history due to politicians and a whole bunch of hysterical sheeples. I'm not even a Nole fan.
What if, relates to each player. What if the older generation has the advanced equipment and training and money todays players have. Always an interesting question......
Why did you include Novak's what if? And not one concerning Rafa? He missed countless majors due to injury and would have had a chance to win some of them for sure. (Not being judgemental, just wondering)
Biggest of all gotta be Willy Vilas… imagine be the best of the year, and cannot achive enough points to get N1…🥶🥶🥶
I think Murray played a very complete tennis. He could normally competing with the bigs. I was a huge becker ‘s fan. The character was his biggest problem. And he lost a wimbledon with a little injure to the wrist vs godwin. The one won by krajicek. This was his last chance. Then sampras and agassi overwhelmed him maybe even psichologically.
I think Mirjana Lucic (now Barroni) will be the name with the biggest question mark for me 🥺
Seles- she would have 40 of GS 😇
If if if doesn't exist
One of the biggest cases isn't even menshionned... What if Nadal was less injured... He would have won a lot more majors and titles.
What if Nadal HAD BEEN less injured...
❗ One of the biggest ifs of all is: how great a chamption would Maureen Conolly have become if at the age of 19 an accident hadn't ended her career? . A year ago, in 1953 she had won the calender grand slam.
Good video mahn!! Also What if Federer had got that one point and won the Wimbledon 2019, what if Nadal's back did not pull in Aus 2014 final, What if Nadal capitalised on the 5th set break on Novak in Aus 2012 final, What if Andy Murray did not injure his hip in 2017 and took few slams off Novak, then definitely Novak wouldn't be at even 22
What a biased if…
No "What If's" Steffi Graf is arguably the greatest & most accomplished female or male tennis player ever! She's accomplished what no-one has ever done - the Calendar Golden Slam! 🏅
most accomplished female* , i would argue that you cant mix female and male tennis since top 10 females would be like bellow 200 in male tennis. It is way harder for djokovic to win grand slam than for any female in the history let alone every record that he holds.
@@miloraddjurdjic1695 Billie Jean King would beg to differ.
@@laprimaverrra
Bille jean king would get smashed by today's player. She's 5ft 2 or something Put any current female players in top 100 or 200 the would get smashed stop the comparison you guys are delusional.
Current female cannot handle male serves let alone full 3 set.
Graf is also the ONLY player, male or female in the entire history of the sport to have won each of the four majors at least four times !
@@dereksteele5543 Great stat‼
Forget the slam total when discussing Seles. She was the greatest of all time, and would have towered over Steffi in this regard. She dominated early on like no other, and had her future snatched away by a crazy German who wasn't punished by his clearly crazy countrymen. But this incident doesn't wash away her greatness or place at the top of any list of the best women players.
Seles GOAT
How many grand slams would Djokovic have NOT won if he kept going with crystals or cosmic self healing to fix his elbow in 2018 instead of the dreaded conventional surgery?
What if NBA players decided to play tennis instead of basketball?
❗ You didn't talk about the if that for me is the biggest of all: How many slams would *I* have won, if I had become a profesionnal tennis player and not a sales clerk.
This started out great. Seles definitely took a nose dive and Graff would not have had her run with Seles challenging her. I think Borg went out because he saw that McEnroe had his number, and his game was so different to Borg's, that it would have been difficult to dominate him, except at the French. And the fact McEnroe was ungentlemanly, was a final straw to retire to one who played with grace. Glad you picked up on the Joker not being able to compete due to asserting freedom and common sense to the Globalist Plandemic sheeple. He would have Australia (which would have taken Nadal down one) and a great shot at the US Open. But, it is plain to see what the Globalist tyranny has done to all, except the Dodo bird brains. Aside from the interesting angle (left out of your video), to the story of Agassi reading Becker's tongue for return of serve, all the rest were variations of coulda, woulda, shoulda, that could apply to many, many great players. The what if we got Laver and the Joker and all in between and who is the best? It is not only an exercise in futility, but absurd to anybody who thinks about it. Different times create different circumstances.
German Open did not pay damages to Seles. I wonder why d stabber was given a seat behind her and no security around d players. They may have planned this all along to favor Graf.
What if's usually assume there would be no change performance wise if some factor did not happen: Not necessarily. First, Borg who retired at 26. Let's take players from 80s, like McEnroe, Wilander, Becker. A total of 20 Grand Slams and all except one won before age of 26. So continuing to play may not mean anything. Next, Seles: In an interesting way, after AO in 90 it was as if Steffi was stabbed. The lady who won 8 of the last 9 GS (Sounds like Monica, huh?) was suddenly out of gas. She had her reasons (Some related to father, again similar to Monica) but in the end she didn't lose not only to Monica but to the players she used to beat before. Therefore I suggest do not award automatically trophies to those who had not played in the events. Bagelling in the first set guarantees nothing.
ВЕЛИКИ!?? Незабравими, грандиозни победи!!!!
Marcelo Rios was very talented, became number 1 but never one a slam.
What if Sampras doesn't have Thalassemia?
What if Roger Federer was born 10 years later and had to handle Novak and Rafa their prime ;)
HAD BEEN born
If all 3 were in their prime simultaneously, Federer would win the most majors!
@@seveglider8406
No he wouldn't.
@@alkathorat2859 YES, He would! in his prime Federer feasted on Djokovic and Nadal could only beat him on clay, although he did win 1 Wimbledon against Federer whereas Djokovic didn't beat Federer until he was almost 35.
@@seveglider8406 Wrong. Djokovic beat Roger for the first time in August of 2007, either in Cincinnati or Canada.