Roger Federer - GOAT is all sports?

Federer with a tennis racket vs Tyson with gloves would be an interesting fight

Nadal is a doper. Can't win without it.

Poor Russians? wrote:

There is reason Sharapova has an American accent, it's because she went to a tennis academy in America. Tennis while not as global as running is much more global than the NFL.

Along those lines, the greatest in soccer has to be the GOAT of all sports. It barely edges out running due to skills tiebreak, though I don't care one iota about soccer.

Tennis sucks wrote:

Fed is a great champion but who plays Tennis ? Not many at all. The pool of talent is very low. These guys are over paid and overrated, its a good television spectacle at best.

Track is so much more advanced. Every Kenyan and Ethopian wants to run fast, how many young athletes grow up and want to be Federer.

Way more people on this planet wants to be Federer than a distance running star. Federer wouldn´t lift his little finger for the kind of money runners make.

The Way We Were wrote:

Young people today are so ignorant.

The greatest tennis players in history are Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver. They would have won more Grand Slam titles if pros like them had not been banned during their prime. Federer is no better than #3.

Let´s not forget that Björn Borg had won more GS titles when he retired than Federer had done at the same age.

GOAT in marketing only wrote:

Along those lines, the greatest in soccer has to be the GOAT of all sports. It barely edges out running due to skills tiebreak, though I don't care one iota about soccer.

I would still say distance running is more competitive than soccer and by at least a few orders of magnitude. For example, the marathon world record has been held by someone from every single continent in the world since the 1960s. The soccer world cup has only been won by nations from 2 different continents over the same time frame.

well,, wrote:

Way more people on this planet wants to be Federer than a distance running star. Federer wouldn´t lift his little finger for the kind of money runners make.

Hmm, sounds like he should be paying much more taxes. Effectively no one has the opportunity and money to play tennis, but pretty much anyone can line up in a marathon or road race and test themselves against the greats.

Jim Thorpe

objectivity wrote:

rogerisjustsosensitive wrote:[/b

Who is his competition? Jordan, Phelps, Carl Lewis, Messi, Pele, We're talking real sports here - (i.e. golf does not qualify).

He's in a niche sport which requires having loads of cash and which hardly anyone in the world is able to play. An NCAA distance running champ has achieved far higher level of sporting ability than Federer has ever attained.

If you have raw talent and a court, tennis is not expensive.

Distance running for the win wrote:

GOAT in marketing only wrote:

Along those lines, the greatest in soccer has to be the GOAT of all sports. It barely edges out running due to skills tiebreak, though I don't care one iota about soccer.

I would still say distance running is more competitive than soccer and by at least a few orders of magnitude. For example, the marathon world record has been held by someone from every single continent in the world since the 1960s. The soccer world cup has only been won by nations from 2 different continents over the same time frame.

Anyone who says that distance running is more competitive than football (yes it´s called football, not "soccer") is out of his fcking mind.

What the h3ll has the fact that the marathon WR has been held by runners from all continents has to do with this? Today, there are only two nations who are really good at distance running - both are relatively small 3rd world countries.

You’re picking choosing unequal comparison points. Soccer needs fancy clubs and high level runners have expensive coaches/ sponsors. But soccer also played in inner city , rural , global streets by millions of kids with a ball. So sneakers or one cheap ball and sometimes for both no shoes. They are at least equally accessible. The best poor soccer players get sponsored to clubs, just like runners.

I dimly recall reading Australian cricketer Don Bradman is statistically the greatest outlier in his sport. His batting average is more or less double the nearest competitor and has remained so for many decades. He is literally in a class of his own.

objectivity wrote:

rogerisjustsosensitive wrote:[/b

Who is his competition? Jordan, Phelps, Carl Lewis, Messi, Pele, We're talking real sports here - (i.e. golf does not qualify).

He's in a niche sport which requires having loads of cash and which hardly anyone in the world is able to play. An NCAA distance running champ has achieved far higher level of sporting ability than Federer has ever attained.

I doubt if this is true. Most schools in Europe and I guess the USA have their kids play tennis at least occasionally. Any young kid with that level of talent would be identified and encouraged to pursue it. Most countries in Europe have tennis academys that would support such a talent.

Roger Federer earned $90 million last year, despite hardly playing. How much does the average NCAA champion make?

The days of athletes of the calibre of Peter Snell choosing track over tennis are long gone.

As far as being GOAT of tennis, Djokovic lost to Zverev again today. It's quite possible that Fed, Nadal, and Djokovic could all finish on 20 grand slams each.

Fed should get the nod, apart from the fact that he beat both easily when in his prime, he was denied his shot at his favorite slam Wimbledon last year due to Covid.

Nadal and Jokic both better in tennis. And both owned Federer head to head

sepreh wrote:

Nadal and Jokic both better in tennis. And both owned Federer head to head

Misleading as both are 5 years younger and Fed has continued playing until 40 despite many injuries.

Fed owned Djokovic until Fed got old and Djokovic started his...ahem...'gluten free diet'.

Fed owns Rafael 'operacion puerto' Nadal on every surface aside stupid clay.

I am a big fan of Federer but not sure he was even the best in his sport in his era.

It was the Big Three.

He has won 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles, an all-time record shared with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

gfd wrote:

I dimly recall reading Australian cricketer Don Bradman is statistically the greatest outlier in his sport. His batting average is more or less double the nearest competitor and has remained so for many decades. He is literally in a class of his own.

Truth, his test match batting average of 99.4 is unthinkable. The second all time highest for anyone who has played at least 20 matches is in the 60s. Brahman had an average of 100+ until his last match when he got bowled out for a duck! No one to this day expects to hit a century every time they go out to bat. Not even close.

What a difference 5 years can make?

John Brzenk