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Forums - Sports Discussion - Greatest Male Tennis Player of All Time?

 

Who is the greatest of all time?

Federer 159 66.53%
 
Nadal 15 6.28%
 
Djokovic 15 6.28%
 
Sampras 18 7.53%
 
Other 32 13.39%
 
Total:239
Puppyroach said:

Also, should the title be "Greatest male tennis player of all time"? Otherwise, I would like to throw in both Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graaf and Serena Williams :).

Well the Williams sisters will be the first to tell you that they couldn't keep up with any of the top five male tennis players currently in the game.  It's just a scientific reality.

I say Federer is the number greatest.  The lopsided Nadal matchup is a bit misleading since the vast majority of their meetings were on clay.  Nadal and Federer would very often be so seeded as to only meet if both reached the finals of a given major but then Nadal would go out early.  Or Nadal would abstain.  Just looking at their record at the finals now makes it clear for me.  Nadal is a straight up clay specialist.  He was number one on clay for a looong time.  But he only had a very brief period where you could even argue he was number one anywhere else.  Federer, on the other hand, spent the hay day of his career - several years - where he was the best on all courts but clay and on clay he was undoubtedly second only to Nadal.  In the words of Pete Sampras, in today's game you are either a clay court specialist, a hard court specialist, a grass court specialist, or Roger Federer.  And his consistency was unreal:  5 years straight of semifinals or better at all majors, 9 years straight of quarterfinals or better.  



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Nuvendil said:
Puppyroach said:

Also, should the title be "Greatest male tennis player of all time"? Otherwise, I would like to throw in both Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graaf and Serena Williams :).

Well the Williams sisters will be the first to tell you that they couldn't keep up with any of the top five male tennis players currently in the game.  It's just a scientific reality.

I say Federer is the number greatest.  The lopsided Nadal matchup is a bit misleading since the vast majority of their meetings were on clay.  Nadal and Federer would very often be so seeded as to only meet if both reached the finals of a given major but then Nadal would go out early.  Or Nadal would abstain.  Just looking at their record at the finals now makes it clear for me.  Nadal is a straight up clay specialist.  He was number one on clay for a looong time.  But he only had a very brief period where you could even argue he was number one anywhere else.  Federer, on the other hand, spent the hay day of his career - several years - where he was the best on all courts but clay and on clay he was undoubtedly second only to Nadal.  In the words of Pete Sampras, in today's game you are either a clay court specialist, a hard court specialist, a grass court specialist, or Roger Federer.  And his consistency was unreal:  5 years straight of semifinals or better at all majors, 9 years straight of quarterfinals or better.  


More like Top 100 and that is still VERY generous.

 

Federer is top for sure but Nadal is more tricky. Nadal benefitted the most when balls and courts were changed, this happened slowly through the years. I believe Nadal would struggle in Sampras-era in hard/grass courts but Federer would achieve success.



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Hard to argue against Federer. There was a time I thought Nadal would surpass him but as we can see from the last year, Nadal seems to be losing it quicker than Federer and injuries really did hamper his career when he seemed like he would be the best ever.



kitler53 said:
i've only been a tennis fan for about 5-10 years now so i'm a bit blind to the mens of old. ...but in these last 5-10 years no one is even close to federer. i'm going to miss watching him play when he retires.


Agreed! It's going to be a sad day when that happens. Thankfully as long as he stays ranked this high I can't see him leaving too soon.

 

Though if he wins this Wimbledon this year I could essentially see him retiring almost instantly :O



ninjapirate42 said:
kitler53 said:
i've only been a tennis fan for about 5-10 years now so i'm a bit blind to the mens of old. ...but in these last 5-10 years no one is even close to federer. i'm going to miss watching him play when he retires.


Agreed! It's going to be a sad day when that happens. Thankfully as long as he stays ranked this high I can't see him leaving too soon.

 

Though if he wins this Wimbledon this year I could essentially see him retiring almost instantly :O


Speaking of which, he just took Murray down in straight sets oO

Great game for Federer, he may win this.  Tomorrow is Djokovic, should be an intense rematch.



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Nuvendil said:
ninjapirate42 said:


Agreed! It's going to be a sad day when that happens. Thankfully as long as he stays ranked this high I can't see him leaving too soon.

 

Though if he wins this Wimbledon this year I could essentially see him retiring almost instantly :O


Speaking of which, he just took Murray down in straight sets oO

Great game for Federer, he may win this.  Tomorrow is Djokovic, should be an intense rematch.


Tomorrow? :O

Is it not Sunday?



ninjapirate42 said:
Nuvendil said:


Speaking of which, he just took Murray down in straight sets oO

Great game for Federer, he may win this.  Tomorrow is Djokovic, should be an intense rematch.


Tomorrow? :O

Is it not Sunday?

Woops my bad xD

Whenever it is, should be great :P



Phew, I wouldn't be able to watch tomorrow but I can Sunday.

I want Federer to get one more Wimbledon!



After today, you've just gotta say Federer. Unbelievable.

Nadal is great and could well have won more without injury, and in terms of clay he's the best no question. But as a whole package, yeah no way it isn't Federer.



 

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