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Yet another edition of the US Open has come and gone. The bright lights of New York and the buzz of the crowd have for decades provided a tremendous venue for the year’s final, and glitziest, slam.

With that being said, let’s celebrate the rich and storied history of this tournament and look back on the five greatest champions to grace Flushing Meadows (and briefly Forrest Hills as we will consider Open Era only in this list). This article contains champions #3-#5. Stay tuned for individual articles on champions #2 and #1.

5. Ivan Lendl
Accomplishments: Eight consecutive finals, three titles.
Signature moment: 1985 final



The 1980’s was a chaotic time for tennis, but the one constant seemed to be Ivan Lendl in the US Open final. The stoic champion reached a record eight consecutive finals between 1982 and 1989. In a sense, these eight finals represented Lendl’s career arc.

In the first three, Lendl was overwhelmed by Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. Lendl had the game to take it to these champions, although in 1984 McEnroe was simply too good, as shown by Lendl’s results outside grand slams, but in a grand slam final, his lack of confidence and killer instinct showed, and he lost fairly routinely all three times.

Finally in 1985, something clicked as Lendl put on a stunning display of tennis to demolish McEnroe in the final.



Two more wins, over Mecir and Wilander, followed in quick succession, as Lendl was at the peak of his powers between 1985 and 1987. However, in 1988, Lendl slowly started to decline and the finals reflected that as well, as he narrowly lost five setters to his younger rivals Wilander and Becker, who had unseated him from the top of the game.

While Lendl’s 3-5 finals record in New York may not look pretty, one should keep in mind that losing in the final is much better than not making it at all. In any event, eight straight finals, and three wins while routinely facing all-time great opposition, is a tremendous achievement and Lendl fully deserves his place on this list.



4. John McEnroe
Accomplishments: Four titles, three consecutive
Signature moment: Back to back classic wins over Connors and Borg in 1980



If Wimbledon showcased the genius of John McEnroe, the US Open showcased his heart. McEnroe grew up in Queens, so the US Open was his backyard, and he didn’t disappoint his hometown fans during his prime, as he ripped off four titles in six tries from 1979-1984. Indeed, the US Open served as both the first and last grand slam of his career, as he announced himself on the big stage in 1979 when, at just 20 years old, he won the tournament dropping one set (two of his opponents could not complete full matches), including back to back demolitions of seasoned veterans Connors and Gerulaitis in the semis and finals. In fact, that would be the most comfortable triumph he would have in his four title runs.

In 1980, he would upend Connors in the semis in a fifth set tiebreaker and would follow that up with another classic five set victory over Bjorn Borg at the peak of his powers in the final, thus avenging the Wimbledon final and denying the great Swede the title he longed for the most. Beating champions such as Connors and Borg in back to back five setters surely has to rank as one of the most impressive feats in US Open, or grand slam, history.



1981 was not quite as difficult, but a reinvigorated Vitas Gerulaitis took McEnroe five sets in the semis before McEnroe once again denied Borg in a four set final, marking the last time Borg would ever grace the top of the sport with his presence. Perhaps Borg’s departure had an effect on McEnroe’s fire and will to compete, as he lost meekly the next two years to Lendl and Bill Scanlon.

However, McEnroe, armed with graphite, rediscovered that fire in 1984, posting one of the greatest seasons in the Open Era. The US Open served as a fitting capstone as he once again defeated Connors in a US Open classic in the semis before putting on an absolute clinic to destroy Lendl in the finals and avenge his one blemish of the year, the French Open final.



Few would think that would be McEnroe’s final US Open title, but declining motivation and physical condition ensured that McEnroe would never quite be the same. He made the 1985 final, but had no answer for Lendl. McEnroe would have one last run in New York in 1990, reaching the semifinals, but there he ran into a 19 year old kid named Pete Sampras whose monstrous serves, deft volleys, and precise passing shots would prove simply too much for McEnroe and just about everyone else during the 1990s.

While he burned short and bright in New York, McEnroe has a case to be ranked higher on this list due to his peak level of play and competition faced, but ultimately his longevity simply falls short, especially compared to the next guy on this list. Nevertheless, Johnny Mac combined dominant performances and effervescent shot making with extraordinary fight and courage to give us some of the signature US Open moments and greatest US Open matches in history.

3. Jimmy Connors
Accomplishments: 5 titles, wins on all three surfaces, 12 consecutive semis (or better).
Signature moment: Run to the semifinals at age 39 in 1991.



Simply put, Jimmy Connors embodied the spirit of the US Open. He poured his blood, sweat, and tears onto the court. He fought, he was scrappy, he would do anything and everything to win, and he fed off and egged on the crowds like no other. He always gave the crowd what they wanted, including his full effort. It took a truly special performance to take him out, and as a result he was mind numbingly consistent at the tournament, reaching at least the semis every year between 1974 and 1985, winning five titles and reaching seven finals. Overall, he reached fourteen total US Open semis in eighteen years, speaking to his amazing consistency at the tournament.

Connors run began in 1974 where he blew Ken Rosewall off the court in a clinical display of returning and passing to win the tournament on grass. He won in 1976 on clay, beating the best clay courters of the day, Vilas and Borg, in the semis and finals, although it was Har Tru and not the European red clay that those two were so accustomed to. However, the tournament being on clay may have worked against him, as he lost to clay specialists Orantes and Vilas in the finals in 1975 and 1977.

However, in 1978, the tournament switched to hard courts and to Flushing Meadows, and Connors would christen the new location with another win, destroying a young McEnroe in the semis and Borg in the finals, although to be fair Borg was not at his best due to a blister issue.

From there, Connors would be denied the next three years due to facing McEnroe and Borg at the height of their powers, which is surely no shame. However, he took full advantage of McEnroe’s slight dip of play by beating Lendl in back to back finals in 1982 and 1983. These were two matches where Connors took full advantage of the heavy crowd support against a nervous Lendl who had still not figured out how to bring his best game to the big stage.

However, Connors was 31 after winning the 1983 US Open, his final major, and he began to slow down. Still, he put on another legendary match with McEnroe in the 1984 semis, playing tremendous tennis to nearly upend the all but invincible McEnroe. The McEnroe-Connors US Open matches were always electric due to them both bringing their best game and the crowd being torn between their two favorite sons. Connors would make the semis in 1985 and 1987, but at his age he was no match for Lendl, who was playing his best tennis.

All this would lead up to Connors’ 1991 run to the semis. At 38 years old, people would have been happy if he could win a match or two. What he did though, was one of the most legendary runs in tennis and sports history. Connors started the tournament with a win over a McEnroe, Patrick this time, and then won his next two matches easily. Getting to the fourth round was an impressive feat for a 38 year old, but that fourth round match would go down in history, as on his 39th birthday, Connors came back from a two sets to one deficit to narrowly defeat Aaron Krickstein in a fifth set tiebreak.



The quarterfinal was a fairly routine win, but under the lights Connors would again electrify the crowd with this iconic point.



At this point, Connors was gassed and went down to Jim Courier playing his best tennis in the semis, but he had provided the US Open crowd with a lasting memory of his fight and his indefatigable desire to win. As the man himself said right before the fifth set tiebreak with Krickstein, “This is what the paid for, this is what they want,” Jimmy Connors gave the people what they paid for, what they wanted, and then some, and as a result he will forever remain one of the most iconic and beloved champions in the tournament’s history.



Agree/disagree with the list so far? Leave comments below! Stay tuned to Tennis-Pulse as we continue the countdown of the greatest US Open champions of all time.

Our countdown of the greatest US Open champions of the open era continues with #2: Roger Federer. #3-#5 was here.



2. Roger Federer
Accomplishments: Five straight titles, six straight finals

Signature Moment: 2004 final

No one has dominated the US Open like Roger Federer did between 2004 and 2008. His title reign at the US Open provided a treasure trove of memorable matches and spectacles of shot making alike.



The first such classic was his two day five set victory over Andre Agassi in hurricane force winds in 2004. Federer showed tremendous mental strength to edge the more experienced wind player in Agassi, as conditions for the final two sets were about as extreme as you will ever see in a tennis match.

The final he would play just three days later, after demolishing Tim Henman in a return and passing clinic in the semis, would be one of the most dominant displays ever produced on a tennis court. The man across the net was no slouch, as Lleyton Hewitt had not lost a set leading up to the finals and was in tremendous form. However, Federer started the match vaporizing forehands, and he would not look back, serving Hewitt two bagels and putting on one of the most impressive performances of all time.



Such a performance would last most players a lifetime, but Federer was just getting cooking in New York. He would once again defeat Agassi in a memorable four set final in 2005. The thirty five year old Agassi ran out of steam in the end, but he put forth a tremendous effort for three sets and forced Federer to raise his game to dizzying heights to pull out the victory after Agassi went up a break in the third.



In 2006, Federer was at the peak of his powers and produced an electric night session match with James Blake in the quarterfinals where both players were producing brilliant shotmaking and the crowd was on the edge of their seats. In the semis and finals, Federer would give clinics in how to play aggressive baseline tennis as he dismissed Nikolay Davydenko and then a rejuvenated Andy Roddick in the finals. Roddick put up a spirited fight in the middle two sets but was simply no match for Federer’s impenetrable baseline game and lost 6-1 in the fourth.

2007 was more of the same, as ‘Darth Federer’, clad in all black, once again helped produce a pair of electric night session matches. The first was against Feliciano Lopez playing the best tennis of his career, who forced Federer to have to play flawless tennis the last three sets to pull out a victory. The second was against Andy Roddick, who pushed Federer to his limits in the first two sets, forcing the Swiss to come up with pure magic (see below) to pull them out, before succumbing in the third.



Once again, Federer would dismiss Davydenko in the semis, and in the finals, he would play the first of five straight matches against Novak Djokovic on Arthur Ashe. Federer would win this one in straights, partly due to Djokovic’s nerves and partly due to his brilliant play at the very end of the second set (Federer did not miss a first serve the rest of the set after Djokovic had two set points), but this match would serve as a harbinger of things to come as Federer would see his throne under assault from the talented Serb starting from the very next grand slam.



When the 2008 US Open rolled around, Federer was in a state of complete disarray. While in the previous four years, he was the unquestioned number 1 in the world, in 2008 he had lost that mantle to Rafael Nadal as well as his Wimbledon crown and air of invincibility. The US Open was one of the most important grand slams of Federer’s career, both to show that Nadal did not yet have a complete stranglehold on the game and that Federer was still on pace to break Sampras’ grand slam record.

It was not easy, as in the fourth round, Igor Andreev had Federer on the ropes and looked to deal him yet another shocking loss in a year full of them. However, Federer fought tooth and nail to ultimately scratch out a five set win. Federer’s reactions after breaking in the fifth and after winning the match are pretty much the most animated you will ever see him and perfectly encapsulated how much this tournament meant to him.

From there, Federer found his game and produced scintillating tennis to dispatch Djokovic in the semis and Murray in the final. The King of Queens had, for one more year, held off his young challengers, in the process salvaging a disappointing season and lifting the trophy for an unprecedented fifth straight year.



2009 provided plenty of signature moments for Federer at the US Open. After all, who could forget the tweener against Djokovic in the semifinals to bring up match point, the tremendous running forehand pass in the first set of the final, or the classic Federer funhouse of delicious shotmaking he produced in the first two sets against Soderling?

He looked to be cruising in the final against Juan Martin del Potro, but the Argentine’s rocket launcher of a forehand and general fearlessness took Federer off kilter, and he would succumb in five sets, thus ending his run of US Open domination.

The picture hasn’t quite been as rosy since as Federer has made just one final, losing to Djokovic in 2015 and squandering nineteen break points in the process. There have been plenty of shock losses in the past eight years for Federer in New York and matches he maybe should have won, as he has never been able to regain his original prowess at the tournament. Nevertheless, he produced the best peak level of performance at the US Open, as no man in the open era has won more than three titles in a row, and will forever be regarded as a legend at the tournament, as he is everywhere around the world.

Anyways, given the roller coaster ride that Federer’s late career has been, would anyone be surprised if the great man captured that elusive sixth US Open title and went riding off into the sunset?

Our countdown of the greatest Open Era champions in US Open history finally reaches its end. For those who need a refresher:

#3-#5

#2

And finally…

1. Pete Sampras
Accomplishments: 5 titles, 8 finals, titles 12 years apart.
Signature moment: 96 QF against Correjta.

Sampras burst on the scene in 1990, and the soft spoken American with a massive game awed the US Open crowd by beating Lendl, McEnroe, and Agassi in succession to win his first grand slam title. This would be a fitting introduction to the man they called Pistol Pete, as over the years, Sampras’ aggressive game and lion’s heart would be a deadly combination on the courts of Flushing Meadows.



Sampras would go on to make the US Open final two years later, but lost a close match in the final to Stefan Edberg. Sampras was not quite ready to consistently win on the big stage, and it showed in 1992, but that would change very quickly as Sampras would roll to two majors the following year, including the US Open, which he won in impressive fashion, albeit facing the weakest opposition of any of his 5 runs.

Sampras looked to be the odds on favorite in 1994 as well as he had completely dominated the first seven months of the year, but an unfortunately timed ankle injury suffered in a Davis Cup tie against Richard Krajiceck hampered him all summer, as he was unable to play in either Canada or Cincinnati, and an underprepared Sampras crashed out to Jamie Yzaga in the fourth round. However, the next two years would more than make up for that.

The 1995 US Open was one of the most highly anticipated majors of the 90’s. All eyes were on two men: Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. Sampras had won Wimbledon, but Agassi had beat him in Australia, was the defending champion in New York, and went 20-0 in the summer hard court season, beating Sampras in the Canada final and claiming the number one ranking in the process.

The whole tournament was a collision course between these two champions, and after Sampras brushed aside Courier in the first semi, Agassi got his revenge against Becker in the second after blowing a set and two break lead against the German in the Wimbledon semifinal. Afterwards, Agassi looked into the camera and famously said, “I’m coming Pete!”

However, Pete was more than ready. Agassi came out flat after getting off the court after 9 PM the night before, and Sampras blitzed him in the first two sets. Agassi had overplayed that summer, and it seemed to have finally caught up to him in this match. Agassi would eventually sink his teeth into the match and win the third set, but Sampras hung tough on serve in the fourth and broke a fading Agassi at 5-5. After Sampras slammed down an ace on match point, he had prevailed in a match that would shape the rest of the decade. Sampras had regained his throne, and Agassi career would veneer off course for the better part of the next three years.



However, Sampras’ truly iconic moments at the US Open were still to come. Perhaps THE moment occurred in the 1996 quarterfinals against Alexander Correjta. 1996 had been a tough year for Sampras. He relinquished his Wimbledon crown and struggled through the death of his beloved coach earlier in the year. The US Open was a must win major, but Sampras was in deep trouble in the quarters, down two sets to one. Sampras fought back to force a fifth set tiebreak, but Sampras’ health started to fail him as some combination of a stomach bug and dehydration had him hunched over and panting after nearly every
point.





Sampras would even throw up on the court, and Correjta would get to match point at 7-6 in the tiebreak. What would follow is one of the most courageous sequences in history. With his body ailing, Sampras produced a stunning low volley and then a spectacular lunging volley to save the match point. Pistol Pete then conjured up a match point of his own with a second serve ace from out of nowhere, and the Spaniard’s resistance finally crumbled, as he double faulted on match point to end one of the best matches in US Open history.



Sampras had left his guts on the court, literally, and displayed tremendous mental fortitude to keep his hopes for the title alive. He was hooked up to an IV after the match ended but
recovered for the semis and finals and produced masterful performances to defeat Ivanisevic and Chang for the title.

From there, Sampras would once again be bitten by the injury bug in New York. A leg injury in 1998 caused him to be unable to close out Pat Rafter in the semifinal after being up two sets to one. A back injury in 1999 caused him to withdraw from the tournament entirely, a real shame as once again Sampras and Agassi, who had rediscovered his career, seemed to be destined for a finals rematch.

In 2000, Sampras reached the final but was simply blown off the court by 20 year old Marat Safin in one of the best performances anyone had ever seen. That was the first time Sampras had looked truly helpless at the US Open, and age and declining motivation seemed to be getting to Sampras, but he still had some more magic left in him.

Sampras had a disappointing 2001, but once again the US Open served as a tonic. He defeated a brutal gauntlet of opposition leading up to the final, as he destroyed Rafter in the fourth round, defeated Agassi in a four tiebreak quarterfinal classic that remains one of the highest quality matches ever, and then got revenge over Safin in the semis, repaying him the straight sets beating Sampras had received a year earlier. However, once again Sampras would be rendered helpless in the final as 20 year old Lleyton Hewitt produced a returning and passing shot clinic to blow away an ailing Sampras, 6-1 in the final two sets.

Sampras’ downward spiral continued, as 2002 was a dreadful year for him. Sampras’ ranking plummeted, and he came into Flushing Meadows as the 17th seed. Few gave him a chance to win the tournament, and Agassi and Hewitt were heavy favorites, but Sampras, unlike any other great champion before him, would silence the naysayers and go out on top. The first hurdle was surviving a five set war with Greg Rusedski in the third round. Before and after the match, Rusedski’s commented that he thought Sampras had no chance to win the tournament, verbalizing what most tennis observers likely thought as well.

However, Sampras would prove them all spectacularly wrong and find the game that made him a living legend. He produced clinical attacking tennis in the form of eighty-two winners to dismiss the talented Tommy Haas in the fourth round, and then gave a 20 year old Andy Roddick an absolute masterclass, free of charge, in the quarters.



Sjeng Schalken was no match in the semis, and once again Sampras was in the US Open final against a familiar foe: Agassi. While Agassi was the favorite on paper, as he was still playing good tennis on hard courts and had just beaten Hewitt in the semis, on a fast court in a big match this rivalry usually had a familiar ending.

Sampras may have been old, but he still had plenty of magic left in his antiquated ProStaff 85, and a dumbfounded Agassi was reduced to one of the 23,000 spectators in Ashe, as thirty-three aces and a staggering eighty-four winners in total flew past him. It was Sampras’ last ever match, but it was still surely one of his finest displays of serve and volley tennis.



With more than eighty winners in four sets or fewer not once but twice in the tournament, Sampras’ run was surely one of the finest displays of attacking tennis ever, a fitting cadenza from probably the most adept attacker in the history in the game.

Sampras would leave tennis the way he had always played it: on his terms. By doing what seemed impossible, winning a major at his age playing strictly serve and volley in a time where poly strings and baseline play was starting to dominate the tour, one of the greatest ever provided a fitting ending to his fairytale career as Pistol Pete finally holstered his pistol and rode off into the sunset a US Open champion.