Unquestionably great players like Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe never won more than two major tournaments in a year, although Borg and, to a lesser degree, McEnroe have a historical handicap in that they regularly skipped the Australian Open, a less prestigious event in their era.Borg played in it only once, in 1974, which was before he reached his prime. McEnroe played in it five times, reaching the semifinals in 1983 but skipping it in his best season, 1984, in part because the Australian Open was then held at the end of the year, in December, and he was weary of the road.In 1984, McEnroe lost in the final of the French Open after blowing a two-set lead against Ivan Lendl and then swept to the titles at Wimbledon and the United States Open. He compiled an 82-3 singles record, giving him a winning percentage of 96.5 percent, still the best of the Open era.Djokovic is just ahead of his pace at 97 percent with a 64-2 match record, but unlike McEnroe in 1984, he has those three major titles.Jimmy Connors won three major singles titles in 1974 and went 99-4 over all, but he did not play in the French Open because of a dispute with the French federation over his commitment to World Team Tennis. Mats Wilander won three majors in 1988 but lost in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Rafael Nadal won three majors last year but retired in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
Then comes Federer, a historical superheavyweight. Federer’s best winning percentage came in 2005, when he just missed tying McEnroe by losing to David Nalbandian in his final match and finished 81-4. But Federer won just two majors that year. He won three in 2004, 2006 and 2007, and he reached the final of the French Open in 2006 and 2007, which gives him the Grand Slam edge over Djokovic in both those seasons.Look beyond the Slams, though, and the comparison becomes more complicated. Djokovic has won 10 titles in 2011. Only one of those victories came against a relatively weak field. That was the Serbia Open, the event in Belgrade that Djokovic and his family own. Otherwise, he has had to beat the best to raise the trophies, winning an unprecedented five events in the Masters Series, the tournaments with the best fields after the Grand Slam events.
