Most Roger Federer followers will declare the Swiss grasp stays an absolute nice in tennis historical past. In actual fact, the best of all time.
For these followers, greatness is extra in regards to the grand slam rely. His elegant model of play, tactical creativeness, and gentlemanly method on and off the court docket make him an all-around athlete – a sort of excellent concoction that distinguishes him from different expert gamers who don’t have fairly the identical mix of qualities.
And I might agree with most of that. To make certain, Federer is a complete gentleman, a tactical genius, and brimmed with uncooked expertise at each stage in his profession.
He’s undoubtedly an ideal of the game. However whereas Federer will all the time stay my favorite participant, he’s empirically not the best of all time.
Some followers of tennis hate the GOAT debate. I find it irresistible. In a sport the place people carry out towards one another in a head-to-head contest, it is smart to say who’s the best participant of all the sphere.
And by best, I imply who’s the higher tennis participant. Who has the superior sport that can’t be crushed, on the entire, by different gamers. And objectively, this may be confirmed with numbers.
Earlier than Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic overtook Federer within the grand slam rely (each in 2022), Federer followers – together with myself – used the grand slam rely as proof that Federer was the best.
One of the best participant would naturally scoop up an important titles throughout their profession, greater than his rivals.
As soon as the Spaniard and the Serb overtook Federer, the definition of greatness was expanded to different classes (like model) in order that Federer remained on high.
Once more, for me, being the GOAT in tennis means having a superior sport, whatever the surrounding qualities.
For positive, Federer is a superb man. His charity work, heat method and model of tennis have introduced constructive change and utter pleasure to tens of hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide.
However talking purely in sporting phrases, the GOAT title belongs to Djokovic. Not solely does he maintain probably the most majors (23), however he additionally has a constructive head-to-head document towards Nadal (30-29) and Federer (27-23).
Imagine me; it pains me to write down this as a Federer fan. However you need to take your hat off to Djokovic as a tennis participant.
I’ve detailed the feats (and controversies) of his profession elsewhere, however profitable all 4 slams in a row and breaking the lads’s grand slam document is one thing to be celebrated in our sport.
So the place does this go away Federer’s profession? If, by a sporting metric, he can’t be described as the best, it leaves some followers with a double drawback; being extra irritated with every new match Djokovic wins (he has simply gained once more in Cincinnati) and lamenting the reminiscence of Federer’s final years on tour, because the slowing down of a as soon as formidable drive.
This isn’t a pleasant place to be. And but, whereas the tour continues, and a few of Federer’s information have since been damaged, trying again at his profession on reflection reveals a supply of pleasure.
Varied features of his skilled historical past, contrasted towards present developments within the sport, additional reveal how extremely particular and completely distinctive a participant he was.
In different phrases, there are some classes by which Federer stays excellent. Federer’s “Transatlantic Slam” is a steadily ignored achievement, because it got here early in his profession.
From 2004 – 2007, Federer gained 4 successive Wimbledon and US Open titles in the identical yr, which no different participant has achieved. The US Open has been considerably of an outlier in tennis historical past in recent times.
Gamers have but to assemble any dominance over that match as Federer did.
In actual fact, the occasion has change into a hotbed of breakthroughs and maiden-slam moments, the place the previous order has been upset – like Daniil Medvedev defeating Djokovic within the 2021 last or Alcaraz profitable his first main in 2022.
Males’s Singles US Open Champions
Yr
Champion
Runner-up
2004
Roger Federer
Lleyton Hewitt
2005
Roger Federer
Andre Agassi
2006
Roger Federer
Andy Roddick
2007
Roger Federer
Novak Djokovic
2008
Roger Federer
Andy Murray
2009
Juan Martin del Potro
Roger Federer
2010
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic
2011
Novak Djokovic
Rafael Nadal
2012
Andy Murray
Novak Djokovic
2013
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic
2014
Marin Cilic
Kei Nishikori
2015
Novak Djokovic
Roger Federer
2016
Stan Wawrinka
Novak Djokovic
2017
Rafael Nadal
Kevin Anderson
2018
Novak Djokovic
Juan Martin del Potro
2019
Rafael Nadal
Daniil Medvedev
2020
Dominic Thiem
Alexander Zverev
2021
Daniil Medvedev
Novak Djokovic
2022
Carlos Alcaraz
Casper Ruud
Federer would go on to win a fifth successive US Open crown in 2008, making him the final “king” of New York, in an identical means that he turned predictably profitable at Wimbledon like Nadal did on the French Open and Djokovic on the Australian.
Though Djokovic was Federer’s nice nemesis at Wimbledon (the Serb gained all 3 of their last encounters in 2014, 2015 and 2019), Federer’s historical past at SW19 stays vital.
After profitable a document 5 consecutive titles from 2003 – 2007, it was feared that Djokovic would equal Federer in that regard in 2023 and for probably the most consecutive Wimbledon titles (8).
Nevertheless, Federer followers have rather a lot to thank Carlos Alcaraz for, as he was capable of block Djokovic’s additional rise at Wimbledon and assist Federer retain his particular person and consecutive document.
The latter of which seems extremely unlikely to be damaged any time quickly. That’s not to take something away from Federer both.
At Wimbledon, he was maybe the final participant to make use of volleying and serve and volleying as successfully sufficient to win the match. His motion and talent to time the ball with a low bounce made him the king of grass – an accolade he nonetheless holds at this time.
Equally, within the early 2000s, the US Open was a a lot quicker court docket which complemented his taking part in model.
This truth, mixed together with his Wimbledon victories, the Transatlantic slam additionally factors to a different distinguishing function about Federer’s profession – he had the most effective offensive sport in historical past.
If the Swiss felt good and performed offensively (particularly on a fast floor), his tennis turned virtually undefeatable.
Taking the ball on the rise, half-volleys from the baseline, aggressive volleying and pin-point serving mixed right into a lethal tactical combine that gave opponents no area to counterpunch with their groundstrokes, with defence as the one choice.
Check out the 2006 US Open last vs Andy Roddick. This was one of many final durations in Federer’s profession earlier than 2017 the place he would continuously use the backhand to assault, not simply to rally.
A pissed off Roddick resorted to wild shot-making and dangerous approaches to the web as Federer’s uncooked energy on the baseline half-volleys took the American out of his consolation zone.
Federer vs Roddick, 2006 US Open Ultimate
One other thrilling match to take a look at, and one in all my favourites, is the 2014 Shanghai Masters semi-final towards Djokovic.
Federer is aware of that as rally lengths enhance, Djokovic has the next likelihood of profitable the purpose as a result of he has a slight benefit when it comes to endurance, his percentage-based sport and his defensive flexibility whereas sliding on exhausting courts.
So Federer makes use of the quick court docket pace to his benefit, shortening factors, going for winners early together with his forehand, and ruthlessly, endlessly approaching the web with devastating volleys, coupled together with his exact anticipation of the place Djokovic will attempt to make a cross.
It leads to an unusually claustrophobic match for Djokovic, who has his groundstrokes eerily predicted repeatedly by Federer.
The Swiss’s serving was additionally extremely correct as soon as extra, profitable an entire sport in underneath a minute by aces or clips off Djokovic racket as he tried to return.
Federer additionally put his fast footwork to good use, hitting forehands with a primarily closed stance, enabling better power transference and energy by having his weight ahead.
Federer vs Djokovic, 2014 Shanghai Masters
The tour could rage on, new champions could emerge, and information will proceed to be damaged. However some features of contemporary tennis will not be being repeated within the Swiss’s absence.
His Transatlantic success and his offensive sport had been really distinguishing marks of his profession.
So whereas it appears an age in the past that Federer mentioned goodbye to skilled tennis, like a high quality wine, trying again at his profession solely will get higher with age.
Is the GOAT debate a legitimate query? Are different distinguishing features of Federer’s profession or sport not seen on the tour? Go away your feedback beneath.
