Origin
Open career →Tennis’s living graph
Bridges Across
Eras
Two players do not need to have shared a court for their stories to be connected. Find the shortest chain of head-to-head meetings between them.
Shortest path found
Dave Shibley
reaches
Pete Sampras
Historical windowComplete archive
The connection uses 4 links and 5 careers. Every step below represents a recorded head-to-head meeting within the selected window.
The complete route
Career by career
01 1 meeting10April 8, 1968View Dave Shibley × Paul Thompson →02— BridgeOpen career →Paul Thompson
1 meeting01January 29, 1969View Paul Thompson × Jean Baptiste Chanfreau →03 BridgeOpen career →Jean Baptiste Chanfreau
2 meetings02August 17, 1970 — September 1, 1971View Jean Baptiste Chanfreau × Jimmy Connors →04 BridgeOpen career →Jimmy Connors
2 meetings02March 13, 1992 — April 27, 1992View Jimmy Connors × Pete Sampras →05 DestinationOpen career →Pete Sampras
Parallel routes
One search may have several correct answers.
Besides the detailed route, we found 4 more sequences with the same 4 links. Every route travels the shortest possible distance in the archive.
- OriginDave Shibley
- —BridgePaul Thompson
- BridgeSyd Ball
- BridgeGuy Forget
- DestinationPete Sampras
- OriginDave Shibley
- —BridgePaul Thompson
- BridgeSyd Ball
- BridgeJimmy Connors
- DestinationPete Sampras
- OriginDave Shibley
- —BridgePaul Thompson
- BridgeSyd Ball
- BridgeBill Scanlon
- DestinationPete Sampras
- OriginDave Shibley
- —BridgePaul Thompson
- BridgeSyd Ball
- BridgeTim Wilkison
- DestinationPete Sampras
How we calculate it
A search from both sides of history.
The portal traverses the head-to-head graph from both careers at the same time and stops at the first proven minimum distance. When a period is selected, only matches inside that window create links; walkovers never create connections.
Reverse the route →