Agassi-Sampras legend

Agassi-Sampras

Gran Slam tournaments

The pair Agassi-Sampras won slightly more Gran Slam than the pair Connors-Borg (20 to 19). Despite of that they are behind. They appeared in less finals (23 to 26) -not taking into account the lost final when both players play the final against each other-. Their winning percentage is much lower (85.5 to 89.7). It means Agassi-Sampras had to play much more and lose much more to achieve only one more win. See McEnroe-Lendl description for more explanation why they are not last. 

 

Ranked: 3

Year-End Championship

This time they easily beat Connors-Borg, but are beaten by the others pairs. Sampras was a big game player. He won more big tournaments finals than any others big players. But it also means Lendl and Federer appeared in more finals. This is the final record for the Master for the three best players (win/runner-up): Federer (6/4), Lendl (5/4) and Sampras (5/1). As you can see, Sampras is the worst of the three. 

 

Ranked: 3

National Representation

They played in the same team for the Davis Cup and they won together in 1992. They did a bit better than Connors-Borg again. And again they did worst than the others pairs. So same ranking one more time.

Ranked: 3

ATP Masters 1000

They did very poorly in this category. And this time Sampras brings the pair down (only 11 win). In 1998 they didn't even manage to win a tournament. And in two occasions they only won 1 tournament. Logically they are last and by far.

Ranked: 4 (last)

Career statistics

All the pairs won more than 125 tournaments and have winning percentage over 85%. Except for the Agassi-Sampras pair who didn't even won 90 tournaments and reached 80% winning percentage. That says it all.

Ranked: 4 (last)

Conclusion:

In every categories they are ranked either 3rd or 4th. So the question is: Are they more 3rd or more 4th? The answer is 4th. They are behind McEnroe-Lendl because this last pair do well in every category except Gran Slam. Agassi-Sampras don't do well anywhere. It's because they were not as dominant as the others pairs. First, due to Sampras weaknesses on clay and in Masters 1000. Second, due to Agassi's erratic career playing at his best only occasionally. You cannot pretend to be among the best if you are not consistent. Talent doesn't do everything. Sampras never tried to play well on slow courts, relying a lot on his excellent serve and volley game, but... that only works on fast court.

Ranked: 4