22 July 2010
Top Two United States Open championship winners
By Christopher Mayers
Just after a month, we will be highly engrossed in the fourth and last Grand Slam event of the season, the United States Open championship to be held in the city of New York.
Previous season's US Open champion from the men's side, Juan Martin del Potro will not be participating to defend his crown. He is retrieving from wrist operation, having remained out of the tennis scene for long this year.
The query remains whether the Swiss tennis ace, Roger Federer will restore his supremacy in the competition or if a fresh winner will be capped as another United States Open victor.
According to some of the experts, the age of Roger Federer is over. However, there is still a huge majority of analysts who have shown a "wait and watch" approach. Only the time will prove whether the Swiss tennis master is still capable of adding some more majors in his extra ordinary record that has once again placed him as the top favourite contender along with Rafael Nadal.
Out of all the tennis players, who have took part in the United States Open championship since 1968; the number of competitors who have a variety of tournament trophies are rare. It is definitely a very complicated achievement, first reaching the final of a major event and then eventually grabbing the title. Therefore, an analysis of the top two US Open champions since 1968 should concentrate on both the number of final matches played as well as the number of trophies grabbed.
Given below are the top two US Open winners since 1968.
A total of Seven United States Open final appearances with five victories
Jimmy Connors succeeded in five of his seven final battles at the United States Open championship with a success percentage of 85.2. He is the only tennis player from the men's side in the rich US Open history to have grabbed the trophy on three distinct courts, the hard court, and grass as well as the clay surface.
Jimmy grabbed his very first trophy back in 1974 and won the last one back in 1983. Connors contested in a total of twenty two US Open competitions starting from 1970 till 1992 when he participated in his last US Open tournament. Jimmy was truly fond of contesting under the lights of New York City where he gained the highest success in his career.
Back in 1974, Jimmy triumphed in a total of three out of the four Grand Slam events, decided not to battle at the French Open championship. It was Jimmy very first final of the United States Open competition and he knocked down Rosewall with a final match score as 6-1, 6-0, 6-1.
His next two victories in 1976 on clay court and back in 1978 on the hard surface came while playing versus Bjorn Borg.
Connors once again triumphed in a total of two finals back in 1982 as well as 1983 at the US Open tournament.
Undoubtedly, Jimmy Connors will always be remembered by the tennis world as one of the best tennis players of all times.
A total of Eight United States Open Finals appearances with five victories
In the present age, the pistol Pete Sampras, with a total of five tournaments, stays tied with Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors for majorities of the wins at the United States Open where Pete's success percentage is around 88.75.
Sampras contested at the United States Open tournament on a total of fourteen occasions, starting from 1988, skipping just a single one back in 1999 as a result of injury.
Sampras grabbed his very first trophy back in 1990 when he was nineteen years of age with his last one at thirty one, both at the United States Open championship. He knocked down Andre Agassi 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in straight sets.
He grabbed his second United State Open trophy back in 1993 while playing against France's Cedric Pioline 4-6, 4-6, 3-6, the fifteen seeded player for the competition.
Pistol Pete triumphed in one after the other tournaments in the season 1995 as well as 1996 knocking down his compatriot fellow Andre Agassi in the season 1995, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 Where as in 1996 Pete hammered down Michael Chang 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 to register his fourth United States Open trophy.
Sampras grabbed his fifth and final US Open trophy back in 2002. He won the final match while playing once again versus Agassi in the city of New York at the Billie Jean National Tennis Centre.
Even today, Pete Sampras is regarded as the best player at the US Open competition by the entire tennis fraternity.