Why Roger Federer is the undisputed G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time)

The argument of which male tennis player is the one and only GOAT continues to be a topic for discussion on TV, in magazines, newspapers and between pundits, coaches and friends. There are plenty of names in the mix:

• Rod Laver
• Rafael Nadal
• Novak Djokovic
• Andre Agassi
• Pete Sampras
• Ivan Lendl
• Jimmy Connors

The list goes on, however, I am hoping to settle this argument (up-to-date) once and for all by focusing on the main thing any GOAT in any sport should be judged on...CONSISTENCY!

Consistency is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as:

'The quality of achieving a level of performance which does not vary greatly in quality over time.'

With this in mind I will start by breaking down Federers consistent career and discount the other names in the mix one by one.

ROGER FEDERER

I will begin with the fact that Roger has won an all-time record of 20 Grand Slam singles titles
He has reached a record 30 Grand Slam finals (10 consecutive, and another 8 consecutive – the two longest streaks in history)
He has made 43 semi-final appearances (23 consecutive) and 53 quarter-final appearances (36 consecutive) in Grand Slams.
He is one of 5 men, in the Open Era to have won a career Grand Slam (winning all four Grand Slams at least once) and one of four players to have won a career Grand Slam on three different surfaces, hard, grass and clay courts.
Roger is the only male player to have played in all 4 Grand Slam finals on at least 5 occasions.

However, it is wrong to measure historic greatness by Grand Slam titles and achievements.

What I believe is the sole measure of greatness is holding the No.1 position in the sport. Having this honor shows that despite some tough losses in any given year and with every new player rising up the rankings to challenge for the No.1 spot the player that is capable of spending time at No.1 is truly greater.

Roger has spent 310 weeks as the No. 1 ranked player in the world, 237 of those weeks were consecutive, the most of any men's tennis player since the inception of these rankings in 1973. He has eclipsed Pete Sampras' tally of 286 weeks at number one and destroyed Jimmy Connors record of 160 consecutive weeks at No.1.

Pundits like to speculate about the level and quality of opponents during a players career and Federer has dealt with some of the toughest in his time and still is. The BIG FOUR (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic & Murray) have dominated the tennis scene for over a decade and yet, as of 2018, Federer managed to be crowned as the oldest ever No.1 at 36 years 320 days (14 years 136 days between first and last stints at No. 1) How's that for consistency?

A few reasons why people would argue my point:

Head to Head losses Vs Nadal & Djokovic
Nadal has a leading head to head record so many people argue he is the greatest, however, Novak has a leading record over them both so surely with this argument Novak should be the greatest? Although Novak is tied for 3rd in the Grand Slam race and 5th in the World Number 1 list so he can't be a credible candidate? Head to heads are one game of tennis where anything can happen on any given day and we cannot compare head to heads through different generations so I do not see this as a valid measure.

Roger has not won an Olympic Gold
Incorrect, he has a doubles Gold Medal although he has not won the singles...YET? We could mention that Nadal has never won the World Tour Finals so that would discount his claim, Sampras never won a gold so he's out, Novak only has a bronze at the Olympics so that puts him behind Roger. Tournament wins are not a fair analysis of the greatest either. If you have the wins you earn the number one spot but there will always be a person that groups some stats together to make a player look greater in a certain aspect and ignore the other vital bits of information.

His Slam wins were easier than others
This blows my mind when people say this. He has earned his Grand Slams by beating some top players over different eras that also managed to top the rankings in their careers.

• Marat Safin (2004)
• Andy Roddick (2004, 2005, 2006, 2009)
• Leighton Hewitt (2004)
• Andre Agassi (2005)
• Rafael Nadal (2006, 2007, 2017)
• Novak Djokovic (2007)
• Andy Murray (2008, 2010, 2012)

A pretty prestigious list he collected over a decade and amounting for 14 of his 20 Grand Slams. So lets leave this dispute here.

If anyone has heard of any other reasons I would love to hear them in the comments below.

Debunking other players

Rafael Nadal

He is one of the most talked about potential "GOATS" due to his haul of 11 French Opens, his Olympic Gold, his head to head over Federer and his sheer dominance over the clay court season. He is arguably the greatest clay court player to ever take to the dirt and there is little doubt that what he has achieved on the clay will never be replicated. However, the clay is one season out of the four (Outdoor hard, Clay, Grass, Indoor hard) He has not dominated in other areas which is why he is 6th on the number one ranking list and although he has achieved the Golden Career Slam (winning all four slams and an Olympic Gold) and amounted 17 Grand Slam titles, 11 of those have come from the one tournament and his results in the other slams have been inconsistent at best. He has managed other Slam wins but followed them with early losses and to players that are ranked well below him at the time.

I do agree that if he had remained fit for longer he could have surpassed Rogers tally and spent more time at number one but managing your fitness as a sportsman is part and parcel of the job and other players have managed their schedules and recovery times a lot better than Rafa

Pete Sampras

His closest competitor in the number one rankings. This was a valid argument back in 2009 when Roger surpassed Pete's 14 Grand Slams and yet he had still not achieved the vital number of 287, however, that came in September 2012 where I feel the case was closed on Pistol Pete

Jimmy Connors

Most people bring Jimmy into the debate due to his 109 tournament titles to Rogers 98. It's a valid point but as I mentioned earlier you cannot define the greatest on titles alone especially as at the Grand Slams he only managed 8 which puts him way down the list and although Jimmy is second in consecutive weeks at No.1 he is poised 4th in the all time weeks at No.1 list. I personally believe Federer will achieve more than 109 and put this one to bed for good.

Novak Djokovic

Another head to head argument but not enough Grand Slams and not enough weeks at No.1 to be consdiered in my opinion. (He is 5th on the list)

What the Novak fans argue is he is the only player to win all nine of the Masters 1000 events and although this is a great achievement I am not a fan of this notion. Masters 1000 events only began in 2009, several years into Rogers career, prior to 2009 they were known as ATP Masters Series from 2004-2008 and before that the Tennis Masters Series from 2000-2003 and so on. My point being as that some events have changed and one could argue that Novak never won Hamburg, which Roger managed on four occasions between 2002-2007. Is it fair to look at the present series (that we could see change again) which began at the start of Novaks surge on the tennis scene whereas Roger has played his way through three reinventions of the series? I don't believe so.

There is also the 2015 run of success that fans boast about being the "best tennis ever played", however, John McEnroe still holds the record for greatest win/loss ratio in a season and adding to that, here is a great article breaking down why Rogers 2006 season was marginally better that Novaks 2015 season.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/11/roger-federer-novak-djokovic-best-season-in-tennis-history-ever-2006-2015-john-mcenroe-rafael-nadal-grand-slams

Rod Laver

One of two men (Don Budge the other) to achieve 'The Grand Slam' (winning all 4 slams in a season) yet Rod managed it on two occasions, 1962 & 1969.
Prior to the open era (April 1968), Grand Slams were amateur only. The pros had their own circuit with their own "Pro Slams." If he had to deal with the top pros (like Ken Rosewall) in 1962 he may not of achieved this feat.
Laver went pro after winning the calendar-year slam in 1962, so he had to compete in pro slams from 1963 to 1968. Rosewall had an 11-2 head to head against him in 1963.
Back in 1969, three of the four surfaces were played on grass which heavily favored a serve and volley player of Laver's caliber, how would Roger of fared under these circumstances as grass court is his best surface too.

I see how this can be a valid argument, however, ATP rankings were not introduced until August 1973 so it's difficult to judge the consistency of a player over time, especially as through his "prime" there was Emerson playing as an amateur and Rosewall competing as a pro so the top players were not all challenging for the same titles.

Here is a great article explaining Rods Grand Slam achievements.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/467977-rod-lavers-grand-slam-what-does-it-mean-in-todays-game

I could add Andre Agassi to the list as he achieved the Golden Career Slam but his career and movement up and down the rankings was too inconsistent and is probably the most underachieved career of a player in the open era but still amounted 8 Grand Slams.
Ivan Lendl could be debated with his 94 titles but as he is third on the No.1 rankings list that says it all regarding his consistency when he crashed the Borg-McEnroe-Connors era.

Ultimately the buck falls with the achievement of maintaining the No.1 spot, which Sampras quotes in his autobiography 'A Champions Mind' and repeated that consistency is the most important result. He names Roger in his Top 5 all time players, along with himself, back when the book was published in 2008, before Roger surpassed his no.1 record.

Finally I would like anyone to take a look at this statistics website I discovered awarding a points system to players for their rankings, titles, win percentages etc and ranking the players based on the "GOAT Points" they achieved.

Guess who is at the top...........I will let you see for yourself but you may also be surprised by the order of the Top 3.

http://www.ultimatetennisstatistics.com/goatList

I hope I have settled an argument for many of you or at the very least put a strong argument out there that many would find difficult to challenge at this moment in time.

Thanks for reading and long live the king.

Oly O'Shea

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