Another major, another loss for Roger Federer.
Federer lost in four sets to my man Rafael Nadal 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 6-4 in an Australian Open semifinal on Thursday night. As Federer was again dominated by an arch-rival, I have one thing to say…
I am so, SO very sick and tired of the talk of him still being the among best men’s player on the tour as well as the best tennis player of all time. STOP IT!
I said once before, and I’ll say it again: Federer is not the greatest men’s singles player of all time. Hell he is not even the best player on tour right now (that would Novak Djokovic), and hasn’t been that way for the last five years (that would be Nadal).
A lot of Federer apologists would always say that you cannot punish him for playing against inferior competition during his prime. Uh, yes you can!!! Dig this: Federer’s biggest challengers during that time were an underachieving, overrated Andy Roddick and a gritty, yet inferior Lleyton Hewitt. That’s it!!!
Now that he has some competition in Nadal and Djokovic (hell, Federer got his ass kicked in Wimbledon by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga).
Again, I will say that Pete Sampras is the greatest men’s singles player because dominated MUCH stiffer competition during his prime. Do you honestly think that Federer would dominate Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, and Jim Courier the way Sampras did?
I didn’t think so…
Categories: sports story, tennis
I think you need to stick to sports you know Klownboy. Whenever you talk about tennis you show how little you know about it. If you don’t want to label Federer as G.O.A.T. then fine, but at least know your tennis history and don’t just rely on the little bit that has happened while you have been alive. Sampras isn’t even in the top 2 G.O.A.T. discussion. Try going back and looking at guys like Rod Laver or Roy Emerson. Emerson had the grand slam record that Sampras ended up beating, which in turn Roger has surpassed (by winning on all surfaces, unlike Sampras). But the real GOAT is Laver. He won the Grand Slam of tennis (all 4 slams in one calendar year) then went pro so wasn’t allowed to compete. Then when he was allowed to compete again 4 years later, he won the grand slam again. That’s 8 Slams, in just 2 years of playing on the tour. Imagine if he had stayed on the tour for the 16 slams he missed during his 4 years as pro. Sampras’ 14 Slams would have been laughed at in consideration of GOAT. Plus, how can a guy be the GOAT who never even got to the final of the French Open Slam. One semi-final appearance in all his attempts?! You can label Sampras the greatest Wimbledon player, or label him the greatest fast court player of all time. But greatest of all time??? He’s not even top two. He is probably 4th in this order
1) Laver
2) Federer
3) Nadal (still too early in his career to properly place this one)
4) Sampras
I don’t think we can talk about Nadal yet. Its too early in his career. You can easily label him the best clay court player ever but that’s it at this point. Does his body hold out? Will he break the record for most Slams? My prediction is NO to both of these. Nadal’s body will eventually break down and then the discussion will simply be about “what might have been..”
Tennis is different then team sports. In team sports, the players change over time. So you can have a dynasty, and can debate best team ever, but the matchups change. When you want to label someone best ever in a individual sport, its okay for that person to have an achilles heel and still be the best ever. No GOAT is ever going to be perfect. So Nadal is Federer’s achilles heel. The clay was Sampras’. Djokovic is Nadal’s (7 straight wins, 3 straight Grand Slam finals over Nadal). True GOAT – Laver, well before your time.
Thanks for having an opinion on tennis but stick to the other sports Klownboy! 🙂
BIG AL!!!!
It’s about time I heard from your ass in SOMETHING! You’re right dude, I don’t know a helluva lot regarding tennis history (part of me does not care if I did or not, but that’s besides the point). However, I know a fraud when I see one, and Federer is a fraud.
Let’s face it dude, Fed got fat of off horrid competition (Andy Roddick was his biggest rival during that time? Really???). Again, I said it before and I’ll say it again: the G.O.A.T. does not get dominated by ANYONE. He has a losing record against Rafa Nadal, who is not even the best men’s player on the circuit at the moment (that would by Djoker).
You may argue over Pete Sampras all you want, just don’t put Fed’s ass over him. In fact, I am insulted you have Fed ranked over Sampras AND Emerson…
Hey Klownboy,
Ok, I’ll put my money where my mouth is. Again, tennis is a sport I love and follow along with all the other ones so I think you are out of your depth and looking at this from a narrow “american” perspective. Yes I’m an American, but with the privilege of looking at the tennis world from Australia for the last 10 years, I’ve learned just how American-centric Americans are when it comes to tennis. If the US isn’t doing any good at tennis then the sport must be sputtering, when in fact tennis has never been so global as it is right now. (Oh and Sampras, Agassi, Courier was the hey dey of tennis because they were all Americans, when in fact tennis has never been better in the drama dept then right now with the top three and the fourth musketeer of Andy Murray)
You keep saying Federer’s stiffest competition was Roddick. Well Federer only had two years of multiple Slam wins before Nadal came on the scene. Federer’s best reign came from 2003-2008, in which Nadal won three French Slams during that time. So Federer did not take advantage of “no competition” during that time. He beat Roddick, Hewitt, Agassi, Nadal, and Djokovic in Grand Slam Finals during that 5 year stretch.
The problem with GOAT discussion in tennis is how much times change and how short the window of peaking is in the sport. Through 2003-2008 Federer was probably at his prime. Nadal not quite there, neither Djokovic. Now Nadal and Djokovic are at their prime and Federer is on the downhill side. However, who will still be playing for the next 5 years? Djokovic yes, Nadal, probably not. Just look at Hewitt’s career – he has the same style of play as Nadal, very rough on the body. Nadal will continue to lose speed over time and when he does he won’t win as much.
Your losing record point just doesn’t hold water. Federer has a winning record against Djokovic and a winning record against in him Slams. Does that mean Djokovic shouldn’t be number 1? Would Sampras have a winning record against Federer if he played right now? Would Laver beat Sampras if they played in the same era? We’ll just never know.
I also forgot to mention in the list of players he beat at slams was Marat Safin during that 5 year Golden stretch.