[en] During the physics production runs in 1988 and 1989 both the SPS and the Tevatron achieved a maximum luminosity between 2 and 3 x 10³⁰ cm^-2s^-1 with a luminosity lifetime between 10 and 15 hours. The SPS operated for a period of about 8 months during which it produced an integrated luminosity of 8100 nb^-1, while the Tevatron produced 9600 nb^-1 over a 12 month period. While the beam parameters of the two machines are quite different, and the SPS uses normal conducting magnets and the Tevatron superconducting ones, the performances of the two machines were surprisingly similar. The parameters of both colliders are compared and performance limitations due to beam-beam effects, intrabeam-scattering, instabilities and persistent currents in the superconducting magnets are discussed. By comparing the two colliders it is attempted to identify problems common to both machines, with a particular view to the next generation of hadron colliders such as the LHC and the SSC. (author) 12 refs.; 9 figs.; 1 tab