A Visual Depiction of the ATP #1: 1973-2016

[El Dude]

Ever wonder what the #1 ranking "looks like" from 1973 to the present, week to week? OK, maybe it's just me, but here's what I came up with. I find it kind of interesting to get a visual depiction. You might want to click here to get the full size.

Some various thoughts. One, this chart really shows how there have been five truly dominant #1 players: Connors, Lendl, Sampras, Federer, and Djokovic, with McEnroe and Nadal a bit behind. Secondly, it is interesting to note just how interrupted much of Sampras's reign was compared to Roger's or, to a lesser extent, Novak's. Or look at McEnroe's reign - it was frequently interrupted by Lendl and Connors. Also, notice how small Becker's share of real estate is - he was #2 and top 5 so much, but rarely #1.

 

[lob]

Funtastic post El dude, as Rafa would say. Your data visualization skills are exceptional. What do you for a living? What tools do you use?

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[El Dude]

Haha, thanks lob. I'm actually a teacher and mental health counselor, so don't use data skills much - I just find numbers and stats interesting and like to find ways to visualize or conceptualize aspects of tennis history and statistics.

This was just made on LibreOffice Calc. I sometimes use OnlineChartTools.com.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

If you ignore the one week interruption by Borg, is Connor's consecutive streak longer or shorter or equal to Fed's streak?

 

[El Dude]

Longer by 7 weeks: 244 to 237.

Of course the problem there is that ATP rules were different. I believe that if they were the same as today, Vilas would have been #1 in 1977 and Borg in 1978.

TennisBase.com only has Connors as #1 in 1974 and '76, with Ashe in '75, Vilas in '77, and Borg in '78. But it also has Connors #1 in 1982.

 

[lob]

Not to appear presumptuous. FYI data visualization skills are in big demand these days in most business schools and in many other programs. Also check out the Tableau s/w if you get a chance. You''ll love it.

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