I owe Roger Federer an apology.
In beating Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to win his 7th Wimbledon title earlier today, Federer became the first player at least 30 years of age (he will be 31 next month) to win there since Arthur Ashe in 1975! This was after many people (including yours truly) thought that Federer’s run at major titles was done.
Speaking of titles, this marked Federer’s 17th major title, three ahead of Sampras. It also helped Federer regain the #1 ranking in the world, allowing him to equal Pete Sampras’ record of 286 weeks as the top-ranked player.
Yes, I was the same dude who once said that Federer was overrated. I was the same guy who said on many occasions that he was not the best player ever. While I still believe he is not the best player in the Open era (that would be Sampras boys and girls), I will acknowledge greatness when I see it.
I mean sure his competition while Federer was in his prime was suspect at best. His main competition during his prime was an overrated and underachieving Andy Roddick. And sure he couldn’t beat a then-green Rafael Nadal at the French Open in 2005 and 2006. And Federer won his only French Open after Nadal pulled out with an injury in 2009.
But Federer beat a hot Novak Djokovic in this year’s Wimbledon, so that has to count for something right? Besides, though Federer has not beaten Nadal at a major tournament in a good while, he still is the 2012 Wimbledon champ.
So congrats to you Roger Federer on a job well done…
Categories: sports story, tennis
Yep. Federer made you eat your words. But there’s still some truth to what you were saying. His prime happened to be when tennis was in a post Sampras, Agassi, Courier dead spot. That’s not his fault. Same as it’s not Steffi Graf’s fault that she piled up 22 major titles after Monica Seles was attacked on the court. Federer also got a break when Nadal was upset. Not having to go through both Djokovic and Nadal definitely helped a 30 year old man’s chances.
Federer is one of the greats, no doubt. But it’s nearly impossible to compare eras in this sport because the game changed so much when wooden racquets were replaced. I prefer the McEnroe -Borg – Connors matches. Those were artistic. Today’s players pound each other into submission from the baseline. I’m not disparaging their talent; it’s just not as interesting as a spectator sport.
Well Klownboy I was all ready to tell you how proud I was of you to admit your mistake when it came to Federer. It looked like you were able to step back and look at things from a new perspective and give Federer his due. But then I read the rest of your post and I couldn’t believe how many of your “compliments” were backhanded slaps to the best Tennis player of our generation and probably all time. I won’t go into all your mistakes but just a few i have to correct. Nadal did not withdraw with injury the year Federer won the French. He lost in the Quarter’s. Yes, he wasn’t fully healthy but he was in the tournament and lost a fully played match in the Quaters. Federer one year had mono and made it all the way to the semi’s of the Australian but he didn’t blame his loss on mono which wasn’t diagnoses until after he left Australia. And even with mono he added to his record setting times of reaching a semi at a Grand Slam. Second, I’ve already listed in another post some of the great talent that was around during Federer’s “prime” time: Safin to name one, and Nadal was at his peak while Federer still owned him on other court surfaces other then clay.
I still can’t believe you back Sampras as the greatest. If you pitted Sampras vs. Federer, both in their prime, and had them play against each other on all 4 court surfaces the same amount of times, who would have the winning record? Federer by a landslide. Grass: 50-50 split. U.S. Open: 50-50 split.(maybe 3-2 favor Sampras because of the crowd support) Aust. Open: Federer 3 – 1, and French 100% Federer. And you still think Sampras is the greatest? Dude, leave the tennis posts to those who actually follow the sport! And the next time you try to be humble, try a little harder!!!!
It’s the voices Al, they are making me say those things!!!
Hey Big Al, your Federer got his ass kicked today. How you like me now dammit?!
Obvously Federer is not a tiny bit overrated , since you cant compare eras it’s impossible to say who is the best ever , but in terms of consistency compare to all other greats from other eras it will seem that federer is the goat .
His only negative is his win -loss ratio against nadal , and that only occurs because they played 12 times on clay and because the match up problems