Federer, the greatest?

Is Roger Federer the greatest player to ever grace the tennis court? He has won 15 grand slam titles and will be moving in for title number 16 at the upcoming US Open, which he has won for the past five years. He also holds the record for being ranked number one for 237 consecutive weeks between February 2004 and August 2008.

He is the only player in the current crop of players who holds a career grand slam (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) and has joined the club of greats such as Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and Andre Agassi. He has also played in more finals than any other player in the history of the sport. He holds the record for reaching 10 consecutive grand slam finals and has appeared in all but one of the last 17 grand slam finals.

Tennis analysts and some of its former greats say Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time. He has also been voted Laureus World Sportsman of The Year for four years in a row (2005-08) and is the all-time leader in earnings (about $50 million). So, in your own view would you say that Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time? Some would pick Bjorn Borg, Randy Laver and Pete Sampras, maybe even make the point that Rafael Nadal could surpass him because he has six grand slam titles at the age of 22. Sampras won his 14th grand slam title at the age of 31 at his 52^nd tournament but Federer has collected his 15 titles in 41 tournaments.

So far history and statistics seem to favour Federer. He won 15 titles by the age of 28 and has a chance to move to 16 and beyond. When odds are stacked against him, he always finds something more, and combining that with a wonderful skill on the racket, raises his game.

Federer has mastered consistency and taken it to a whole different level on all surfaces, different climates and against all opponents and all this in five years. When he takes to the court, he tries his best. He has the best mental and physical strength in the ATP tennis circuit right now. The fact that he’s always up there every year and a favourite, makes it a unique situation.

Even the tennis greats can’t stop praising him enough. Sampras, who many regard as the greatest tennis player of the 1990s, had this to say after Federer won back the Wimbledon title this year: “He is the greatest. I have to give it to him. Some people say Rod Laver and Rafael Nadal, but Roger has won all the majors and he’s going to win a few more”. He went on to say that it was hard for him winning 14 grand slam titles in the 1990s, but Federer has done it in five years, from 2004-09.

Borg, a five-time Wimbledon winner, says Federer is still eager to win and still very professional after achieving so much. He always gives 100% and if he stays healthy, will be in many more finals. John McEnroe, who won seven grand slam titles during the 1980s, says: “He’s the most gifted player that I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ve seen a lot of people play. I’ve seen Laver and I played against some of the great players: Sampras, Boris Becker, Jimmy Connors, Borg. This guy could be the greatest of all time. That, to me, says it all.”

But then the media and critics said he won the 2009 French Open and Wimbledon because Nadal was not in the final or wasn’t competing.

Does it matter who he was playing? It’s an achievement that puts him one title clear of Sampras’s 14 titles. Federer has shown that he is the man and it looks like he will play at the very top for the next three to four years. Who in your book is the greatest tennis player of all time? Is the competition at its fiercest right now?