A new challenger for all-time men's tennis tourney

For the first time since the 2005 Australian Open someone other than Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal won a major tennis tournament.

Novak Djokovic's win ended a remarkable run to the top of the all-time tennis tournament by Federer. For Nadal, it was his first semifinal in a hard-court major so it was a step forward for him.

Still, Djokovic, even with last year's U.S. Open final and Wimbledon semifinal, is not in our top 32 so the standings did not change.

I did incorporate semifinalist points and standardized the system with my other systems, eliminating the 1-year category. That mixed things up a bit toward the bottom of the rankings. Here's the updated list:

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Total
1. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2003-2008, 101.17
2. Pete Sampras, United States, 1990-2002, 92.63
3. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1974-1981, 90.42
4. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1981-1991, 86.07
5. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1973-1991, 85.57
6. John McEnroe, United States, 1979-1985, 81.72
7. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1982-1988, 68.92
8. Andre Agassi, United States, 1988-2005, 65.32
9. Boris Becker, Germany, 1985-1996, 62.07
10. Stefan Edberg, Sweden, 1985-1993, 59.37
11. Jim Courier, United States, 1991-1995, 52.67
12. Rod Laver, Australia, 1968-1971, 50.00
13. John Newcombe, Australia, 1968-1976, 48.60
14. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 2005-2008, 40.33
15. Ken Rosewall, Australia, 1968-1974, 39.33
16. Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 1975-1982, 36.12
17. Jan Kodes, Czechoslovakia, 1970-1973, 35.00
18. Arthur Ashe, United States, 1968-1977, 32.58
19. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 2000-2005, 30.17
20. Illie Nastase, Romania, 1971-1976, 28.83
21. Marat Safin, Russia, 2000-2005, 28.67
22. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil, 1997-2001, 25.33
23. Pat Rafter, Australia, 1997-2001, 24.50
24. Stan Smith, United States, 1968-1980, 23.50
25. Yevgeny Kafelinikov, Russia, 1996-2000, 23.00
26. Pat Cash, Australia, 1984-1988, 22.00
27. Michael Chang, United States, 1989-1996, 21.67
28. Andy Roddick, United States, 2003-2007, 20.67
29. Sergei Bruguera, Spain, 1993-1997, 20.33
30. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, 1990-2001, 19.83
31. Michael Stich, Germany, 1991-1996, 18.83
32. Johan Kriek, South Africa, 1981-1982, 18.00

Sharapova moves into top half of all-time draw

At the end of 2006, I thought Maria Sharapova was set to go on one of those runs you see by the top women's tennis players where she ran off five or six major titles out of seven.

The kind of dominance that came from King, Court, Navratilova and Serena Williams.

Instead, Williams kind of put her into a permanent funk by beating her in the 2007 Australian Open.

Sharapova rebounded in the '08 Aussie though. Her 6-4, 6-0 beat down of Justine Henin may mark a permanent shift in that battle. Of course, she'll have to hold off Ana Ivanovic for the next few years since they are both just 20.

The win gives Sharapova three of the four major titles and she was a semifinalist last year. She leapfrogged several players in the all-time women's tennis tournament.

Here's the new top 32:

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Points
1. Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakia, 1974-2006, 165.63
2. Steffi Graf, Germany, 1985-1999, 154.13
3. Chris Evert-Lloyd, United States, 1971-1989, 113.40
4. Margaret Smith-Court, Australia, 1968-1975, 96.75
5. Monica Seles, Yugoslavia, 1989-2002, 92.85
6. Billie Jean King, United States, 1968-1983, 88.14
7. Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Australia, 1971-1980, 80.35
8. Serena Williams, United States, 1998-2007, 68.62
9. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1996-2006, 65.15
10. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-2000, 63.14
11. Justine Henin, Belgium, 2001-2007, 62.14
12. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2007, 61.12
13. Hana Mandlikova, Czechoslovakia, 1980-1987, 47.65
14. Lindsay Davenport, United States, 1996-2005, 47.40
15. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 2004-2008, 31.97
16. Jennifer Capriati, United States, 1990-2004, 29.93
17. Virginia Wade, England, 1968-1977, 28.92
18. Tracy Austin, United States, 1979-1981, 28.55
19. Mary Pierce, France, 1994-2005, 27.15
20. Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina, 1985-1995, 27.03
21. Amelie Mauresmo, France, 1999-2006, 25.00
22. Kim Clijsters, Belgium, 2001-2005, 23.76
23. Conchita Martinez, Spain, 1994-2000, 22.69
24. Jana Novotna, Czechoslovakia, 1991-1998, 21.55
25. Ann Haydon-Jones, England, 1968-1969, 20.17
26. Kerry Melville-Reid, Australia, 1970-1977, 15.61
27. Virginia Ruzici, Romania, 1978-1980, 15.40
28. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 2004-2007, 14.91
29. Helena Sukova, Czechoslovakia, 1984-1993, 14.74
30. Mimi Jausovec, Yugoslavia, 1977-1983, 14.41
31. Mary-Joe Fernandez, United States, 1989-1997, 13.33
32. Nancy Richey, United States, 1968-1970, 12.83

Roy Jones Jr. -- best of his generation

Many are going to dismiss Roy Jones Jr.'s win over Felix Trinidad as two has-beens cashing in on a final pay day.

True, this would have been a much more lucrative and important fight in 2001 than it was in 2008. But we can't dismiss Roy's win. It cements his place as the best fighter of the 1995-2005 era.

Even though it wasn't a title fight and worth minimal points in my all-time top 100 fighter ranking, Trinidad is a future Hall of Famer and easily among the top 50 fighters ever so Jones piled up even more bonus points for beating all-time greats.

In his 52 wins, Jones now has wins over Virgil Hill, Mike McCallum, James Toney, Bernard Hopkins and Felix Trinidad. No other fighter of his time has taken on so many challenges.

The bonus points alone helped Jones jump five spots to No. 12 on the list. And even if he decides there are no more challenges, he will continue to climb. As the fighters he has beaten retire and go into the Hall of Fame -- McCallum already is in and the other four figure to get there -- then his wins will be worth even more over time.

Jones could finish as high as No. 5.

Trinidad fell two spots to No. 28.

Here's the new top 30:

1. Muhammad Ali, 1960-81, U.S., 84.972
2. Joe Louis, 1934-51, U.S., 84.312
3. Henry Armstrong, 1931-45, U.S., 79.434
4. Sugar Ray Robinson, 1940-65, U.S., 75.282
5. Rocky Marciano, 1947-55, U.S., 62.776
6. Wilfredo Gomez, 1974-89, Puerto Rico, 62.665
7. Carlos Monzon, 1963-77, Argentina, 61.514
8. Joe Gans, 1891-09, U.S., 60.829
9. Alexis Arguello, 1968-95, Nicaragua, 60.008
10. Larry Holmes, 1973-02, U.S., 60.004
11. Archie Moore, 1936-63, U.S., 59.812
12. Roy Jones Jr., 1989-08, U.S., 59.792
13. Aaron Pryor, 1976-90, U.S., 59.526
14. Marvin Hagler, 1973-87, U.S., 59.457
15. Ezzard Charles, 1940-59, U.S., 59.078
16. Manuel Ortiz, 1938-55, U.S., 59.017
17. Carlos Ortiz, 1955-72, Puerto Rico, 58.838
18. Barney Ross, 1929-38, U.S., 57.821
19. Michael Spinks, 1977-88, U.S., 57.381
20. Willie Pep, 1940-66, U.S., 57.220
21. Jose Napoles, 1958-75, Cuba, 56.234
22. Salvador Sanchez, 1975-82, Mexico, 56.016
23. Ricardo Lopez, 1985-01, Mexico, 55.570
24. Eder Jofre, 1957-76, Brazil, 55.341
25. Bernard Hopkins, 1988-07, U.S., 55.327
26. Julio Cesar Chavez, 1980-05, Mexico, 54.110
27. Roberto Duran, 1968-01, Panama, 54.076
28. Felix Trinidad, 1990-08, Puerto Rico, 53.578
29. Thomas Hearns, 1977-06, U.S., 53.432
30. Abe Attell, 1900-17, U.S., 53.132

G'day to 2008

I love the Australian Open just because it's the first major event of the new year. Over the Christmas break I decided to standardize my rankings among the sports. I had tweaked golf one way, tennis another, football and basketball a different way.

Now I've settled on 1-year, 3-year, 6-year, 10-year and career points and arriving at a total by adding them all together. Basketball and football, though, I do not use the 1-year, instead I use the 3, 6, 10, career numbers.

That puts the focus back on domination. Case in point, men's tennis. Here's how one great year plays out.

1-year, obviously it's 100 percent of the score.
3-year, it's 33 percent of the score.
6-year, it's 16.7 percent of the score.
10-year, it's 10 percent of the score.
In men's tennis, Pete Sampras scored in 12 different years so I'm taking the total career points and dividing by 12 -- in women's tennis, Martina Navratilova scored in an amazing 23 years.

So in men's tennis, one great year is worth more than 30 percent of the total score.

That moved a few people around. Here are the revised top 16 players for both men and women in the Open era.

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Total
1. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2003-2007, 147.53
2. Pete Sampras, United States, 1990-2002, 131.92
3. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1974-1981, 130.17
4. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1974-1984, 128.49
5. John McEnroe, United States, 1979-1985, 124.13
6. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1981-1991, 124.12
7. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1982-1988, 109.27
8. Rod Laver, Australia, 1968-1971, 106.75
9. Boris Becker, Germany, 1985-1996, 93.06
10. Andre Agassi, United States, 1990-2005, 92.42
11. Stephan Edberg, Sweden, 1985-1993, 84.01
12. Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 1975-1982, 81.58
13. Jim Courier, United States, 1991-1993, 80.78
14. John Newcombe, Australia, 1968-1976, 73.38
15. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 2005-2007, 65.50
16. Ken Rosewall, Australia, 1968-1974, 64.94

Women
Rank, Player, Country, Years, Points
1. Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakia, 1974-2006, 228.99
2. Steffi Graf, Germany, 1987-1999, 219.36
3. Chris Evert-Lloyd, United States, 1973-1988, 152.76
4. Margaret Smith-Court, Australia, 1968-1975, 149.32
5. Monica Seles, Yugoslavia, 1990-1998, 146.64
6. Billie Jean King, United States, 1968-1979, 130.19
7. Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Australia, 1971-1980, 114.18
8. Serena Williams, United States, 1999-2007, 113.57
9. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1996-2006, 107.69
10. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-1998, 103.47
11. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2007, 91.10
12. Justine Henin, Belgium, 2001-2007, 88.46
13. Lindsay Davenport, United States, 1998-2005, 68.75
14. Hana Mandlikova, Czechoslovakia, 1980-1987, 67.41
15. Amelie Mauresmo, France, 1999-2006, 52.52
16. Jennifer Capriati, United States, 2001-2002, 51.42