I am not a huge tennis fan. I tend to watch the Finals of majors and try to get tickets when the ATP is in town but as a whole I am not constantly checking scores. However, when Rafa Nadal was bounced out in the 4th round of the French Open I became fully invested in the tournament. I like everyone else knew this was Roger Federer's chance for greatness. I was watching all his matches online and even watching the replay on ESPN 2. So on Sunday I made sure I was awake and had my DVR on to watch History. Roger did not disappoint as he dominated the Final and when that last ball went into the net and Federer fell to his knees, I could feel his joy all the way from Paris. As many people have said this win may have cemented Roger as the greatest player of all time and I have to agree that he is the greatest of all time.
1. He has tied the all time record for majors with 14 titles- I realize that Roger is not in his prime anymore but lets consider as badly as he has played, by his standards, he has won 2 of the last 3 majors and lost in 5 sets in the finals of the other. So to think that he will not get one more major title to eclipse the record would be naive.
2. He has a career Grand Slam- This French Open title was the one that always alluded him and he finally got it. He now is one of only 6 players to ever complete the career Grand Slam and has the most major titles in of all the members of this elite club. Not too mention his dominance is spread throughout the venues he has 5 Wimbledon titles, 5 US Open Titles, 3 Australian Open Titles and 1 French Open Titles.
3. He is arguably the 3rd best clay court player in tennis history- Sounds crazy because he only has 1 French Open Titles but its not his fault he is in the same era as the greatest clay court player in history. Since 2004, Federer is undefeated against players not named Nadal. he has reached 5 straight semifinals there and 4 straight finals at Roland Garros. Not to mention he has twice been the player who has ended Nadal's clay court winning streaks. Once at Hamburg and once at Madrid. If Rafa Nadal does not come around Federer could have as many as 5 titles at the French Open.
4. He has reached 20 straight Grand Slam Semifinals- Just let that sink in. That is 5 years of Grand Slams that have had Roger in the final four. That is video game like dominance! The previous record was 10 he has doubled it. Not only that he has reached 15 of the last 16 Grand Slam finals. This French Opened only further proved how amazing this stat is. Nadal, Djokovic, and Murry all lost before the semifinals, and yet Roger just calmly moved through the draw as he has done so many times.
5. The competition- Many people will say he has dominated because the competition has not been great but I look at it the other way similar to to Tiger Woods. The competition does not look great because Roger dominates it so thoroughly. Nadal has 6 major titles and is the greatest clay court player of all time. Djokovic has 1 major title and has been a a favorite in many tournament. Murray has been a top 4 player for over two years and is continually mentioned as one of the best players on tour. If you eliminate Roger who knows how many titles these 3 combine to win.
6. The Nadal factor- People point to Nadal's dominance over Federer as to why Roger cannot be considered the best. First, Rafa is hitting his prime as Roger is on the end of his career. Rafa did not Roger on surfaces not clay until last year. I agree Nadal is the better player at this time but he was not a factor outside the French Open until Federer started to slip. Secondly, Rafa has a long way to go to be in this conversation. He has 6 major titles and only 2 are on surfaces not clay. Not to mention the way Rafa plays is wearing on the body and we are already hearing rumors he may be out for Wimbledon because of a knee injury. If Nadal continues and ties Federer major titles than yes the head to head record will be a deciding factor but only in that case does it matter. Their primes were at least 2-3 years apart which means the head to head is skewed.
So for now, and that is a big for now because Rafa potential is still wide open, Roger Federer is king of tennis. Lets enjoy these next couple of years and see how far this run can go.
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