But unlike in other sports where Jordan was the best and then I went back and watched Wilt and Cap and so forth or Gretzky was the best and I saw Orr, Howe, et al, I have not seen amateur era matches or anything in the Open era before the 80s.

So this is less an argument than positing the idea that tennis existed before major TV and that personally I will abstain from making any "all-time" claims.