OzTennis

Well, Roger actually!



OzTennis

Siren & Brian

Well I can put it this way, Sir Donald Bradman only played 50 odd test and scored 6000 odd runs, well passed by other cricketers in the world, but could anyone ever say that he was and still is the best batsman of all time.

Ive seen a bit of tennis in my time, thats what you get with a mother who is an umpire for the last 40 years, and I have not seen a player in my time better than Federer. He has plenty of time on his time still to surpass all the records.

OzTennis

Yep, I said the same thing, Bradman has a number of batsmen above him in the test runs scored, but he played fewer tests. 99.97 says it all. Unfortunately we can't measure Roger in secs, metres or whatever. I've looked at videos of Federer, split screen, against the so-called greatest ever and there is no comparison (I'm a coach also so know a little about the game and technique). 'Simply the best'. He also has done something no-one else has done already (at 25) - won 3 of the GS's 3 times each.

OzTennis

DrWho

Personally I'd vote for Woods at the moment... You'll obviously disagree ( ), but I think it's harder for him to keep winning like he does than for Federer... He has to beat a bigger field, and they've all got a shot at it unlike a knock-out tournament where to win you need to beat 8 or so people not 150... Unfortunately for Federer as well I don't feel time is on his side as much as for Woods... I don't know how many years the guy's got left, but the golfers can realistically expect to keep winning into their 40's... Woods is going to do a Schumacher and move the records so far up field you'll wonder if anyone ever will match it... But so I'm sure will Federer, he's just got less time to do it...

OzTennis

No, I won't necessarily go for Federer as the best in all sports at the moment just because it's my main sport, I'm quite broadminded! One could mount a case for quite a few other people eg a friend tells me about Phil Taylor but I tend to discount pub games as serious sports but obviously they are, all jokes aside (he's been World Champion a dozen times in a row or so before losing recently).

I made the point earlier that yes, in Grand Slams the field is 128 for tennis which is similar to golf but in other tour events the field is smaller and as your rightly point out knockout applies in all rounds at tennis; knockout after 2 rounds in golf (the cut). I concede that it is harder for a golfer to consistently win; on the other hand I can tell you that one 5 set tennis match, let alone at top of game level is far more demanding than 4 rounds of golf. OK Federer had 7, 3 set matches in Melbourne but that's because he is so good.

I've attached a nice photo of Roger and Tiger (which was a Nike contrived event after the US Open but apparently they are very good friends now and see and talk to each other regularly)

OzTennis

Womat

OzTennis

If you have not already seen this article thought it might be of interest to you.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...7-3162,00.html

DrWho

Nice post... The feat that always defies belief for me is Jahangir Khan's... Unbeaten, in what many consider to be the hardest game of all, over more than 5 years... Although the endurance guys and the cyclists will dispute it with their VO2 max figures... I still remember the disbelief when Ross Norman won in France... As we all know comparing like with like is impossible, you can only be as good as you can against your opponents of the day... Although as you said earlier, athletes are getting better - and right across the spectrum...

OzTennis

Thanks for that, good pic too:



OzTennis

OzTennis

Yep, and I can go back further to Melbourne's own Geoff Hunt who was the 'ironman' of squash before Jahangir but a very good case for the greatest ever sportsman or sportswoman can be made for Heather McKay who was unbeaten for 'yonks':

http://www.squashpics.com/pastplayers/heather_mckay.htm

OzTennis

DrWho

McKay - awesome...!

OzTennis

Yep, just think that 'we' had Heather McKay/Blundell and Margaret Smith/Court at the same time, not to mention Laver etc.

OzTennis

DrWho

Aha...!

http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/tig...919535363.html

fraser

Cannavaro clearly deserved to be voted best footballer of the year and should have won the award for the world cup as well.

As for best sportsman, there's an argument for Woods as golf is a game that screws with your mind more, and maybe he's at the top because it screws less with his.

Where as Federer is ahead of others on pure talent.

bridie

Federer is a great player, no doubt about it, natural talent and all that

BUT

I do find it incredibly boring when the same bloke just keeps winning all the time........

really hope Roddick continues to improve his game and gives him a run for his money!

fraser

Roddick has never gave him a run for his money and never will.