Big Papi – He’s Baaaaaaaaaack!

On a warm beautiful night in Fenway Park, Big Papi blasted a 1-0 hanging breaking ball well into the right field seats, giving the Red Sox a 3-2 win and evoking memories of years’ past. And like most of his now 10 career walkoff home runs, this one was extremely important, giving the Sox a 2.5 game lead over Texas in the Wild Card standings.

David Ortiz got off to a slow start this year – okay a historically bad slow start. Ortiz was hitting just .185 with 1 HR and 18 RBI’s. He didn’t hit his first home run till May 20th in Fenway Park – a span of 149 at bats . But those days in April and May when Ortiz couldn’t catch up to the high fastball or adjust to the breaking stuff, are long behind him. Big Papi has been playing at a near MVP caliber pace since June 1st.


Sine June 1st:

HR	Slugging %	RBI
David Ortiz 21	Kendry Morales .612	Bobby Abreu 63
Russell Branyan 20	Miguel Cabrera .578	David Ortiz 59
Carlos Pena 20	Adam Lind .575	Kendry Morales 55
Kendry Morales 19	David Ortiz .566	Russell Branyan 53
Aaron Hill 18	Hideki Matsui .563	Juan Rivera 53

Ortiz’s batting line since June 1st is .257 avg, .344 OBP, .566 slug %, with 21 home runs, 35 extra base hits in 70 games. It’s not quite the production of Big Papi circa 2003-2007, but it still ranks him as one of the best sluggers in the American League. Ortiz has been absolutely scintillating lately, with 7 home runs in his last 11 games, batting .333 and slugging .927 in those games.

The walkoff home run gives Papi his 9th with the Red Sox (breaking a tie he shared with Jimmie Foxx) and 10th overall, just two behind Babe Ruth (and 5 others) for the all time record.

The Red Sox are seeking their 3rd World Series title in the last 6 years. If they want to get to October and be a force in the playoffs, they’ll need the resurgent David Ortiz. And now that they have him back, no one looks forward to facing this team in the postseason.

Is Allen Iverson’s Career Over?

As we approach the end of August, with the NBA season looming ahead, the man that people once called the “Answer” is still searching for an NBA home.

Some may ask, how can a guy who is third all time on the NBA scoring list still be searching for a job? I’ll tell you why. He’s a cancer, he’s a coach killer, he is an immature adolescent. Allen Iverson is perhaps the epitome of the newer generation of “Me first second and third” players that have populated all of the major sports today. Iverson could get away with such antics, such as not showing up to practice and not working on his defense when he was younger and leading the league in scoring.

But now, with a fast eroding skill set and much of the same attitude and ego problems, Iverson is no longer an attractive option for a team the aspires to be a contender. Not only that, but Iverson is receiving little attention from the fringe playoff teams. For a brief moment, there was a rumor circulating around that Iverson could return to Philly.

When asked about Iverson potentially returning to Philly, 76ers General Manager Ed Stefanski all but shot the rumor down.

"Allen Iverson is a very good basketball player, but we don't see him in our plans with the age of our kids. We are going to go with youth at the point guard position, and I am sure Allen will hook on with someone."

He might as well have said, we don’t want that god damn cancer anywhere near our young talent. It says a whole lot that even teams that need help in their backcourt, don’t want any part of Iverson. Of course, Iverson dug his own grave with the complete and utter fiasco last season in Detroit.

The Iverson stint in Detroit went awry almost instantaneously. After starting the year 4-0 before Iverson played his first game in the Piston red and blue, the Pistons blew a big lead in a loss at New Jersey and were blown out at home against the defending champion Boston Celtics.

After the Iverson-Hamilton backcourt failed to show any good chemistry, the Pistons opted to move Rodney Stuckey into the starting lineup – without removing either Hamilton or Iverson (who should have been moved to the bench). The small ball tactics had some initial success, with a 7 game winning streak from December 23rd to January 4th. But, that was probably the weakest 7 game winning streak in history, with several of those victories being nail biters and against bad teams (Nets, Kings, Clippers, Bucks).

That winning streak did not mask the growing feud brewing between Iverson and Hamilton. Neither may have said anything about it publicly, but it was obvious to anyone who can read between the lines.

The conflict got worse when it was widely speculated that one of either Hamilton or Iverson would be sent to the bench, so that the struggling Pistons could play the more conventional starting lineup of two guards, two forwards and a center. Simply put, there were not enough shots to go around between two ball hogging divas and enough left over to keep everyone else happy.

Hamilton flatly denied the notion of him being the one to come off the bench. “That ain’t happening”, he said.

Well it did happen on January 20th. Hamilton was benched, Iverson was not and the team continued to play poorly, going 4-12 in that stretch. But here’s where it gets interesting. On February 27th, following a season high 8 consecutive losses, the Pistons announced that Iverson would be moved to the bench. Now in that 8th loss, Iverson strained his back and was forced out of the game in the first quarter. That is certainly an injury that can keep a player out for a few games… but 32 days? You have to be kidding me. Iverson’s fragile ego was in more pain than his back – and that is what kept him out so long.

Iverson did return to the Pistons on March 31st in Cleveland. After playing only 17 minutes and being pulled for the stretch run of the 4th quarter, Iverson complained.

"I can play 18 minutes with my eyes closed and a 100-pound truck on my back," Iverson said said. "I'm wondering what the rush was to get me back. It's a bad time for me mentally. I'm just trying to get through it without starting a whole bunch of nonsense. I'm looking at the big picture, if I vent my frustrations, then it's on.”

He came off the bench for a whopping two games before it was deemed that he was unable to play and he would be shut down for the rest of the season, per Dumars.

"After talking with Allen and our medical staff, we feel that resting Allen for the remainder of the season is the best course of action at this time," Dumars said in a statement. "While he has played in our last three games, he is still feeling some discomfort and getting him physically ready to compete at the level he is accustomed to playing this late in the season does not seem possible at this point."

Dumars is the master of spin and coverups. It was clear that the team had enough of the Iverson experiment. But it was far too late. The Pistons were already 3 games under .500 (36-39) and battling just to make the playoffs. They would make the playoffs, but would be abruptly swept aside by the Cavaliers.

Some Iverson apologists may point to his line in Denver two years ago (26 & 7) for “proof” that he hasn’t slowed down. But those stats don’t tell the whole story. George Karl had this to say on Denver’s improved team play shortly after the Billups-Iverson swap.
“There are less bad plays, more solid plays,” Karl said. “I think the wasteful, cheap possessions that we used to have 10 to 15 a game, they don’t exist very much anymore. Sometimes I saw something, but I couldn’t get it done on the court because I didn’t have a playmaker out there.”
Say what you will, but he took a shot at Iverson. But hey, you can’t blame him. As the leader of the team, Iverson “lead” the Nuggets to a 1-8 playoff record in his two years there, putting George Karl on the proverbial hot seat. As has been the trend in recent years, Denver improved by leaps and bounds after getting rid of Iverson. With Billups replacing Iverson, the Nuggets won 54 games and went to their first conference finals in well over 20 years.

But it gets even worse for Iverson. Eliminating several possible suitors for him this upcoming season, Iverson recently said he would rather retire than come off the bench again.

"I will retire before I do this again. I will leave the game before I do this," Iverson said. "Because I can't be effective like I know I can playing this way. It's just something I've not ever been able or had to do."

This guy is just slamming door shut behind him. Is Iverson really delusional enough to think that he could start for most teams in this league? I do believe he could be a good player off the bench (about 20 min a game) for a playoff contender. And had he not scoffed at the notion of coming off the bench, I think his agent would be listening to a lot more offers than he is. But NBA teams are not willing to cater to a 33 year old man with the mindset of a petulant child anymore… not even the bad teams. Even the basement bound Clippers aren’t interested in Iverson.

Iverson has seen his last NBA game unless he changes his outlook… and at his age, that doesn’t seem all that likely.

Tigers - Red Sox Recap

Following a 6 game losing streak, the Red Sox are suddenly white hot against the Detroit Tigers. Lead by the suddenly scorching bats of Mike Lowell and Jason Bay, the Red Sox pounded out 8 runs and 11 hits on the way to an comfortable 8-2 victory. Josh Beckett was dominant in picking up his major league leading 14th win.

The Red Sox jumped out to an early lead, thanks to a first pitch home run by Mike Lowell in the second inning. It was Lowell’s third home run in the last two games.

Dustin Pedroia started a two out rally in the third, carving a double down the right field line, just short of Pesky’s pole. Jason Bay followed with a line drive blast over the Green Monster to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead. Red Sox skipper Terry Francona was all smiles when asked about Bay’s recent hitting prowess.


"When Jason gets hot, as you can see, it's not just singles," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "He starts driving the ball all over the park and, boy, what a different team we look like."

Josh Beckett was razor sharp early, setting down the first 11 Tigers hitters, before a two out walk in the top of the 4th inning. Beckett displayed outstanding command of his fastball, throwing 80% of his fastballs for strikes. The fastball command allowed him to use his curve ball to finish off the Detroit hitters.

On the days Josh is pitching, we really feel like we have a chance to win," Bay said. "You feel like on some days it might take only one run, or two."

Carlos Guillen broke up Beckett’s no hit bid in the top of the 5th inning, as he led off the inning with blast into the right field bleachers. The solo shot came on an inside cut fastball that caught a bit too much of the plate. Marcus Thames hit a solo shot off of Beckett in the 7th inning for the Tigers’ only other run.

The Red Sox put the game away for good in the bottom of the 5th inning, scoring 5 runs on a series of singles, walks and an error to extend their lead to 8-1.


Notes

• Jason Bay has 4 home runs in his last 5 games, after hitting just 1 home run in his previous 21 games
• Tigers star Miguel Cabrera was not in the lineup after being hit by a pitch in Tuesday’s game. He isn’t expected to miss much time.
• Mike Lowell has gone 5 for 7, with 3 HR’s and 5 RBI’s so far in the series.
• Zach Miner made his 4th start of the year, replacing Armando Galarraga who was unable to start due to a sore throat. Miner gave up 5 runs on 7 hits in 4.2 innings.
• Boston improved to 6-0 against Detroit. They've won 7 straight meetings overall dating back to last season.

Is There A Steroid Problem In The NBA?

This week Rashard Lewis, the star forward of the Orlando Magic, was busted for testing positive for an elevated testosterone level, per the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday afternoon. What this has done is raise a white flag – do we have a steroid problem in the NBA?

Lewis issued an apology, and in that statement, said that he took an over the counter supplement that he did not realize was banned from the NBA. I’m not sure if I buy that or not, but it never ceases to amaze me how naïve these highly paid million dollar athletes can be. How can you not know what exactly you are putting into your body? Lewis went on to say that the over-the-counter supplement was taking contained DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone), a multifunctional steroid that is banned by the NBA. Lewis becomes the 6th player to test positive for PED’s since testing was implemented in 1999. He will miss the Magic’s first 10 games of the 2009-10 season.

But perhaps we need to look at the bigger picture here. Steroids have long been associated with Major League Baseball (and the NFL to a lesser extent) but their use has never been really been thought of in the NBA. In 2005, Stern had this to say on potential steroid use in the NBA:

"Watching what's swirling around [in other sports], it just seems to be prudent to say, 'Let's just get that issue out of any possibility,'" Stern said. "It's not a problem at the present time that we think we have. But it's a potent issue as it relates to baseball and the media around it, and we think it would be smart of us to deal with it."

Grant Hill added, “ I can’t even remember hearing anybody talk about it,” he said. “You don’t want to be naïve, but we have our own issues and steroids isn’t one of them”.

Those quotes are more than 4 years old. Certainly if the amount of positive tests is an indicator (only 6 since 1999) than steroids isn’t a rampant problem in the National Basketball Association. But if a skinny guy like Rashard Lewis is taking steroids, who isn’t? Who is to say that the game’s best players (Kobe, LeBron, Wade) didn’t also go down the route to gain an edge? LeBron (below) is a prime example. Just compare how he has grown in size and the muscle mass he has added on from his rookie year to now.

LeBron as a Rookie:




LeBron in 2009:







Maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t look like he got there just by natural hard work and weight lifting.

People may point to the fact that the NBA does test for steroids and so few positive tests have turned up, so why should we be concerned? But there’s one other fact you should be aware of: The NBA only tests players from Oct. 1 to June 30th. That leaves a couple months (during the offseason) for players to pump steroids and other PED’s into their system and still show up clean because most steroid cycles out of the body within a few weeks. And, alas, by the time the season rolls around, they’re clean.

Another thing that is worth mentioning is the marijuana issue in the NBA. Yes, it’s well documented that marijuana is used by a lot of NBA players, though we don’t have an exact figure in front of us. But we do know that it’s part of the culture of the NBA, even Josh Howard admitted so last summer. How often does an NBA player get suspended for marijuana use? Not often. And if those tests prove to be weak, who says the steroid testing is any tougher in the NBA? There’s also the distinct possibility of HGH (Human Growth Hormone) use in the league. Why wouldn’t there be? HGH is banned by all 4 major American pro sports leagues, yet one of them have a test for it yet.

NBA players have gotten a lot bigger and a lot stronger over the past decade. And in an era where baseball players, track stars, cyclists and football players use steroids, can you honestly say with a straight face that the NBA has only had 6 players to have used steroids in the last 10 years? I know that I don’t buy that.

NBA Schedules Released – Pistons have a tough road

Today the NBA released the long awaited schedules for the 2009-10 season. The Pistons schedule this year appears to be tougher than in recent years, in particular with the high number of back to backs – 23. It’s a lot, but with the Pistons roster getting so much younger this offseason, it shouldn’t be a huge concern.

National Outlook

You won’t be seeing much of the Pistons on a national level this year, and I have a gripe with this. The Pistons have dominated the eastern conference for over half a decade, but following a disappointing year last year, that seems to have earned them little good will with the NBA and the TV producers. The Pistons will only appear in 5 nationally televised games this year, four of them on ESPN.

Dec. 9: at 76ers, 7 p.m., ESPN
Dec. 10: vs. Nuggets , TNT
March 5: at Cavaliers 7 p.m. ESPN
March 15: at Celtics, 8 p.m., ESPN
March 21: at Cavaliers, 8 p.m. ESPN

For a franchise that has accomplished so much in the last quarter-century, this has to feel like a slap in the face. I know the Pistons only won 39 games last year (following a string of 6 consecutive ECF’s). But you would think they would get more leeway than they were afforded this year. The fact that teams like the Clippers (!!), Warriors, Knicks, Wizards and Hawks all have more nationally televised games than the Pistons, makes this Piston fan perplexed and mildly angry at the same time. Those teams lack the pedigree and the starpower to justify them getting more exposure.

Ok – end of rant!

The NBA Christmas day schedule is now lined up with 5 nationally televised games. It begins with a snoozer matchup, Knicks-Heat, followed by Celtics-Magic and Cavs-Lakers on ABC. Clippers-Suns (another snooze-fest) and Denver-Portland round out the games on ESPN.

Schedule Recap

The Detroit Pistons open their campaign in Memphis… easy enough. The Pistons first 10 games are split evenly, with 5 at the comfy confines of The Palace and 5 on the road. Notable games in that stretch include two against Orlando (1 at home, 1 in Orlando) and a Sunday home game against Dallas.

Following that is the Pistons first road trip (Nov 17th-22nd) and arguably one of their toughest of the year. They’ll be at the world champion Lakers, at Portland, at Utah and finish up with Phoenix on the second of a back to back.

The Pistons play 15 games in December, with the highlight games being two against their longtime rival Chicago Bulls and a Motown showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Detroit kicks off January with a tough back to back set at Dallas and at San Antonio (Jan 5-6). On the whole, this is a favorable month for the Pistons, who play 9 of their 14 games at home, including a season long 6 game home stand to finish the month.

March figures to be a tough month, with several high seeded playoff teams on the schedule. The Celtics (twice), Cleveland (three times in 16 days!!), Utah and Chicago. Four of the Pistons 5 nationally televised games are also included in March.

The Pistons finish the season with 5 of their final 7 games on the road… though only 3 of those teams are playoff teams from a year ago.

Pistons Game Breakdown

Month	Home	Road
October	1	2
November	7	7
December	8	7
January	9	5
Febuary	5	8
March	8	7
April	3	5

Federer greatest of the Open Era, maybe greatest of all time

When Andy Roddick’s forehand sailed wide on Federer’s first championship point at 15-14 in the 5^th set, Federer had finally conquered the record he has been seeking for years – most grand slam titles of all time.

On Sunday afternoon, Roddick (pictured left) matched Federer serve for serve, forehand to forehand, volley for volley…

but it still wasn’t enough to finally conquer his nemesis in a major and preserve the record his fellow American Sampras (who was in attendance to witness the historic event) had broken here just nine years earlier. Roddick’s valiant effort against Federer is certainly enough to inspire US tennis fans that Roddick is more than capable of adding to his only slam title, won at the 2003 US Open. But that day, as it has so often, belonged to Federer, who wrote the latest chapter in a remarkable career.

Having finally won Roland Garros a month earlier (and thus completing the elusive career slam) and then nailing down his 15^th Grand Slam title on the All England Club tennis lawns, Federer has left little doubt where his legacy stands. He is the greatest player in Open Era history. Here’s why…

Grand Slam Success

The biggest measure of a player in tennis (or golf) is grand slam titles. These are the four tournaments (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, US Open) that every player on tour dreams of winning. And this is where Federer stands alone from the rest in the Open Era.

Player	Grand Slams	Finals	Semifinals	Appearances	%
Roger Federer	15	20	23	41	36.5 %
Pete Sampras	14	18	23	52	26.9 %
Roy Emerson	12	15	0	12	N/A
Rod Laver	11	17	6	15	33.3 %
Bjorn Borg	11	16	17	27	40.7 %
Bill Tilden	10	15	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ivan Lendl	8	19	28	57	14.0 %
Ken Rosewall	8	16	13	23	17.3 %
Andre Agassi	8	15	26	61	13.1 %

Besides Bjorn Borg, who retired at the young age of 26, no one has won a higher percentage of slams in the Open Era than Federer. His 23 slams semifinals already places him tied for third in the Open Era, only trailing Agassi, Lendle and Connors… Connors holds the record with 31 slam semifinals. Federer should have plenty of time left to surpass them. When you facto

r in the titles and slam consistency (a record 21 straight slam semifinals), Federer clearly stands in a league of his own.

Records and Dominance

When it comes to absolute dominance, no one was dominated his sport like Federer has since Gretzky dominated the NHL in the 1980’s. No, not even Michael Jordan dominated basketball in such the fashion that Federer dominated tennis. Here are some of his more prominent records:

• Most Grand Slam Singles titles of All time (15)
• Most Consecutive Weeks at number 1 at 237 cons. weeks, breaking the previous record (held by Connors) of 160 cons. weeks.
• All time record 20 slam finals appearances
• All time record 10 consecutive slam finals (05 Wimbledon – 07 US Open)
• All time record 21 consecutive slam semifinals (previous record was 10 by Lendl)
• All time record 16 out of 17 slam finals reached (05 Wimbledon – Present0
• Only man to win 3 slams in a c alendar year, in three different years
• 11 Grand Slam titles in 4 years is an all time record (men and women)
• In 2004, became only player in tennis history to win 10 tournaments without losing a final.
• Only player in the Open Era to win 10 titles in 3 consecutive years

The list goes on and on. These are just some of them. Federer has also had some near misses on other records. In the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup finals, Federer was going for a tie of the best record in the Open Era… John McEnroe’s 82-3 record in 1984. Federer just fell short in the final match of the year, falling to Nalbandian in a 5^th set tiebreaker,

after holding a 2 set lead. He also lost a match (in the Australian Open semis) that year where he held a match point against Safin… he tried a tweener passing shot on match point that he probably still regrets. He was only a few points away from an 83-2 record in 2005.

Number One Excellence

When Federer became #1 on February 2, 2004 (after winning his second grand slam in Australia), it was the beginning of the most dominant run at number one in tennis history, both men and women. Federer would hold the #1 ranking for an unprecedented 237 consecutive weeks, easily eclipsing the previous record of 160 weeks (held by Jimmy Connors). Even more impressive is that Federer also surpassed Graf’s all time record of 186 consecutive weeks at number one.

Federer would regain the #1 ranking on July 6th after reclaiming the Wimbledon championship. He has spent a total of 241 weeks at number one, 4^th all time. He still trails Sampras in total weeks (286) by quite a bit. At this point, that may be the only major record still left for Federer to chase. In his run at the top, Federer compiled these simply incredible numbers

.

Federer by the Numbers (during # 1 run)

Win loss Record: 356-36 (90.8%)

Grand Slam Win-Loss: 109-8 (93.1%)

10 Grand Slam titles

43 titles

15 Tennis Masters Series titles

4 Tennis Masters Cup titles

Who can challenge Federer for the top spot?

As it stands now, there are only a handful of players who can challenge Federer for the distinction of being the greatest player of all time. I’ll st

ate each one’s case, starting with the man who had previously held the Grand Slam record.

Pete Sampras: The man they called “Pistol”, Sampras won 14 grand slam singles titles, 64 career titles, and 5 Tennis Masters Cup titles. He spent a record 286 weeks as the year end number 1 (1993-1998). His 7 Wimbledon championships are an all time record.Sampras’ 5 US Open titles is tied for the most in the Open Era.

The case against Sampras is rather simple – his lack of a Roland Garros Championship. Not only did he not win on the dirt, he rarely even competed well in Paris. Sampras lost in the third round or worse 9 times, including his last 6 visits to Paris. That may be the only blemish on Sampras’ resume, but it is a big one.

Rod Laver: Laver won 11 Grand Slams, and he also holds the distinction of being one of only two men to win the calendar year slam… and he did it twice!! The first slam came in 1962 as an amateur and the second in 1969 as a pro. It’s been estimated that Laver won 199 career tournaments, which is simply mind

-boggling. Laver was the top ranked player in the world for 7 consecutive years(1964-1970). Despite missing 5 full years, after turning pro, Laver still won 11 slams and went to 17 slam finals. We can only speculate on how many he would have won, but when you consider that he we won a calendar year slam in 1962 and then completed the feat in only the second year of the Open Era (1969) it’s hard to not figure that he may have exceeded 20 total slams.

Bjorn Borg: Bjorn Borg is the only other man in the Open Era that can rival Federer

for absolute dominance, in only a short period of years.Bjorn Borg, the long blonde haired man known as the Ice Man...

(for his cool call demeanor on the court) won 11 slams in just 27 appearances. Borg’s 89.8 winning % in grand slam matches is an Open Era record. Borg won Roland Garros and Wimbledon back to back in three consecutive years. The feat of winning both both tournaments in the same year has only been equaled twice sin then (Nadal 08, Federer 09) and no one else has done it more than than once.

In total, Borg won 6 Roland Garros championships and 5 Wimbledons. The 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles is a modern record that is shared with Roger Federer. The only knock on Borg was his inability to win the US Open, wher

e he was a four time runner up, twice losing to Connors and twice losing to McEnroe. Borg never won the Australian Open, although he only played in the tournament once (losing in the 3^rd round in 1974). Back in those days, the Australian Open tournament was played in December and was not even thought of as a grand slam by most players… Jimmy Connors only played there twice; John McEnroe only made 5 appearances there.

Borg retired at the age of 26. By tennis years, he was still in the prime of his playing career. So it’s not unfathomable to think that he could have added to his legacy. However, many tennis historians would point out that Borg was fatigued so much so mentally (rather than physically) by his defeats to McEnroe in the Wimbledon final and again in the US Open Final in 1981, that it would have been unlikely that Borg would have continued his remarkable success. Borg attempted a brief comeback in 1991, but he called it quits for good in 1993, following a series of first round losses.

But in the eyes of many, Borg is a top three player to ever play the game… and it’s hard to argue that.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, I find it hard to argue against Laver being the tennis GOAT (greatest of all time). He completed the calendar year slam twice, was documented to have won well over 150 tournaments and he held the number one ranking for a record 7 consecutive years. And when you factor in all of the slam opportunities he missed for the 5 years after he turned pro (1963-1967), you have to figure that he would have won at least 15 slams and probably closer to 20 than 15.

For that reason, Laver is the greatest to ever play the game. With 15 slams (and the career slam completed), Federer is a close second. For Federer to surpass Laver, I think it is necessary for him to win about 3 more majors (givin him 18). If he gets to 20, then he is without a doubt the greatest to ever pick up a tennis racquet. But for now, he is just behind Laver, with Sampras a distant third followed by Borg. Bill Tilden rounds out the list.

Top 5 Tennis Players of All Time

1. Rod Laver

2. Roger Federer

3. Pete Sampras

4. Bjorn Borg

5. Bill Tilden