Federer Best Athlete of Our Time?

[wazzy]

I think so.

www.tennis.com

Jeff

[LaFace]

As a major tennis fanatic my entire life, I don't even consider Federer the greatest tennis player ever. I am not sure what you mean by 'our time', but I'm quite willing to debate against some people's claims that he's the greatest tennis player ever.

As for athlete all round, absolutely not. That title only deserves to be considered for athletes outrightly believed to be the best ever in their sport (eg. Michael Jordan in basketball), but even then, how do you compare athletes from different sports against one another?

In my opinion, one major factor that people fail to take into consideration when comparing athletes of the same sport in different eras, is how great they were for their respective eras, as opposed to how they would match up against one another. One example being say Wilt Chamberlain in the NBA vs a current champion like Tim Duncan. If they matched up as players at their peak, Duncan is probably the better basketballer, but compared to their respective eras in history, I think you'll find most experts agreeing that Chamberlain would come up with the goods.

My point - Federer is not the greatest all-round athlete of 'our time' (I don't think anyone can say who is to be honest), let alone tennis player. Of course, in my opinion.

[juancarlos]

I think Roger Federer is one of the best athletes of all time. I can't go so far as to say he's really the best. As others have said, each sport is different. Tennis compared to say soccer is less strenuous.

As far as being the best tennis player of all time, I've heard it said that Pete Sampras is the greatest of all time (GOAT). If that were the case, then Federer who is a more rounded player than Sampras is on his way to be being the GOAT. Also, I think the level of competition now is far greater than in past decades, given that more and more players and countries are participating in the open era. Of course, when (not if lol) Federer wins the French Open, there won't be any more question marks on who's the GOAT.

Federer's backhand is supposedly his weakness. Weakness my a##.

[arcturus]

laface said:

As a major tennis fanatic my entire life, I don't even consider Federer the greatest tennis player ever. I am not sure what you mean by 'our time', but I'm quite willing to debate against some people's claims that he's the greatest tennis player ever.

As for athlete all round, absolutely not. That title only deserves to be considered for athletes outrightly believed to be the best ever in their sport (eg. Michael Jordan in basketball), but even then, how do you compare athletes from different sports against one another?

In my opinion, one major factor that people fail to take into consideration when comparing athletes of the same sport in different eras, is how great they were for their respective eras, as opposed to how they would match up against one another. One example being say Wilt Chamberlain in the NBA vs a current champion like Tim Duncan. If they matched up as players at their peak, Duncan is probably the better basketballer, but compared to their respective eras in history, I think you'll find most experts agreeing that Chamberlain would come up with the goods.

My point - Federer is not the greatest all-round athlete of 'our time' (I don't think anyone can say who is to be honest), let alone tennis player. Of course, in my opinion.

Very valid points made.

I must say, however, that Federer is about as dominant as any individual athelete will ever be in their respective sport at this current point in time. Tennis is quite a demanding endurance sport. It requires both physical and mental toughness and the game is essentially without time limit. Although a match can last for 3 or 5 sets, there is no strict time limit on the match like there is in football or basketball where games last for 90 and 48 minutes, respectively. As such, it requires one to be in peak condition to run around for upwards of 4-5 hours, chasing balls down, straining legs, arms and ankles in the process. Federer has demonstrated time and again that he can blitz his opponents off the court as well as knuckle down and grind out a brutal five-setter whilst maintaining a stern level of concentration.

I admit that there are aspects of Federer's game that may not be as devastating as that of other players, e.g. Sampras' uncanny ability to rocket aces on his second serve when down set point Michael Chang's ability chase every ball down when he was at his peak, but his is probably the most rounded game in men's tennis today. The one questionable aspect of Federer's game is his ability to play on clay - will he win the Roland Garros before he retires or, like Pete Sampras before him, will Paris forever be his bogey tournament, preventing him from achieving a career grand slam like Laver and Agassi?

It is difficult, however, to determine whether or not Federer is the best athelete of our time. The argument that Michael Jordan was the greatest basketballer of all time could itself be challenged: Jordan had a fairly standard college basketball career compared to the likes of Larry Bird and Pete Maravich, being drafted into the NBA in 1984, but it wasn't really until 1989 that he began to make his ascendency in the ranks of professional basketball, taking a few years to really find his form. His first few seasons were riddled with injury, though.

Also bear in mind that Jordan was aided by a very solid Bulls line-up during their first championship run with the ever-reliable Scottie Pippen, the versatile Toni Kukoc and the rock-solid Horace Grant alongside him. Of course, this argument that it was a team effort can be rendered null and void by the fact that these very same Bulls players did bugger all whilst Jordan made his calamitous foray into MLB only for him to return and then lead the Bulls to another three-peat.

There are many great sportsman and sportswoman out there. How do you compare men against women? How do you compare athletes who compete in individual sports such as tennis or golf against those who play team sports such as rugby league or ice hockey? How do you weigh up winter sports against summer sports? The fact that many atheletes up until the 1970s were amateurs as compared to the current era of professional sports where atheletes are paid to train and play. There are far too many variables to take into account and it would be quite difficult to set an objective, across-the-board criteria against which you could assess atheletes as to whether he/she is the "best" or the "most all-round".

[dapper]

As and avid sports fan I can't say Fed's the best athlete of all time or our time, but as an avid tennis fan I can say he's probably the best tennis player of all time and certainly our time. The guy is dominating the game of tennis more than Tiger's dominating the game of golf. He's going to break and then set the record number of slams so high that it won't just be a remarkable but short-lived eclipse of the record Pete broke and reset.