posted
Roger Federer has earned a new nickname with his all black tennis attire that he's been sporting during night matches at the U.S. Open. True to form, the Dark Lord has strangled all resistance on his way to the finals. Is Federer the most dominate athlete in sports today? Or ever, even? If he wins tomorrow, he will have won 3 out of the 4 majors this year. It will be the third time that he's done it. Sampras never did it. It will be his 12th major title in 5 years. It will be the 10th straight major final that he has been in. The previous record was 7, and it was set in the 1930s. His numbers are staggering.
Posts: 127 | Registered: Jul 2006
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quote:Is Federer the most dominate athlete in sports today?
The only active athlete you could compare him to is Tiger Woods, and it would be close.
Tiger's main advantage over Federer is that he's held all 4 majors in his sport at once (although not the same calendar year, he one them all in a row). Federer has yet to win the French Open. Tiger has 13 major championships, 5 less than the all-time leader. Federer has 11 Grand Slams, but he has 9 in a row, which is far better than Tiger's performance over the last two years.
Keep in mind that Federer is 6 years younger than Woods, although he became a professional only two years after Tiger.
It's not exactly shocking when one of them doesn't win a tournament, but it there's a feeling of normalcy when they do win.
Clearly, they each dominate their sport right now and, if their careers continue at this level, each will have a firm claim to best ever (so far) in his respective sport.
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posted
I would say that it is sort of shocking when Federer doesn't win a tournament. I heard a stat that for the last 3 years (I think) Fed has a record of 200+ wins and 15 losses. That means he didn't win 15 tournaments out of probably around 45 that he entered in that time. He's started to look a bit more human this year, losing to Canas 2 times in a row and Djokovic in the finals of Toronto.
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posted
Tiger and Federer are both dominant. Federer is by far the more dominant in his sport then Tiger is in his, though. On the other hand, Golf right now is loaded, and tennis doesn't seem to be. When you go into a tournament, in golf, there are always 5-6 guys who it wouldn't shock you if they won. In tennis, over the last few years, there's really only been 2.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Again, I think that tennis doesn't seem to be loaded because Federer just that much better than everybody else. With no Federer, people would not be complaining of a lack of tennis talent. There's just as much talent out there as ever, it's just that Fed spanks them all, so they don't look that good by comparison.
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quote: Federer is by far the more dominant in his sport then Tiger is in his, though.
I think that's only true of his current two-year run, though. The two years ending in the Tiger Slam were at least this good.
So if we define "athlete in sports today" as the current period, I think Federer wins hands down. If we define it as athletes active today but look at it career-long, I'm not so sure it's that clear.
I do agree that there are more guys bunched just below Tiger than are bunched just below Federer.
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posted
"I think that's only true of his current two-year run, though. The two years ending in the Tiger Slam were at least this good."
Are you sure? I don't recall for sure, but it seems like he didn't win as high a percentage of the tournaments he entered as Federer is currently doing.
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posted
Also, I don't know enough about tennis to really get a feel for how much better Federer is. With Woods, there are numerous indicators of his consistency. For example, he holds (by far) the record for most consecutive cuts made. During his streak of 142 cuts made, nobody else got above 30 or so.
I don't know of any way to make a similar comparison for tennis.
By the way, Federer and Woods are great friends.
Also, this conversation is basically the current sports dominance debate - I don't think anyone else can credibly compete with these two for "most dominant athlete" at this time, although Michael Phelps, for example, could get there.
Edit: This isn't an answer to your question - I don't have the numbers handy right now. I do know he made 6 in a row, which hadn't been done since 1948, and set scoring records galore those years.
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posted
I still say that John McEnroe is the single most-gifted tennis play I've ever seen play. He was/is not the most disciplined, but not even Federer has the kind of feel for the game that McEnroe at his best does.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Rafael Nadal is creeping up on him, and he's much younger. I hope his knees get better. Go Rafa! Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote: With Woods, there are numerous indicators of his consistency. For example, he holds (by far) the record for most consecutive cuts made. During his streak of 142 cuts made, nobody else got above 30 or so.
I don't know of any way to make a similar comparison for tennis.
Here's an interesting one. Fed won 24 straight finals. The previous record, shared by McEnroe and Borg, was 12.
He has been ranked #1 for 188 consecutive weeks, will continue to be ranked #1 for the rest of this year, and I find it hard to believe that he will relinquish that spot until at least 2009. The previous record was 160 weeks, held by Jimmy Conners.
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Woods record of 264 consecutive weeks at number one ended in 2004. His current streak is 117 weeks. He has been number one for 459 weeks in total, out of 533 weeks since he first reached number one.
He was number one for 8 out of the 10 years he's finished as a pro so far, and number one for every single week in a record 5 years.
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posted
Djokovic played a very good game though; score was 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. A few more years of experience and the 20-yr-old could win it.
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posted
I'm not sure this changes the state of the Federer v. Woods debate, but Woods's third U.S. Open win certainly doesn't hurt his case. With a sore knee that had him wincing and grimacing throughout the 5-day tournament, Woods just won a 19-hole playoff against Rocco Mediate.
Woods has now won three career grand slams (winning each major at least three times in his career), a feat equaled only by Jack Nicklaus.
He is second all time in total majors, third in total tour victories, and is only 32 and a half years old. He beat Nicklaus to 14 major wins by 2 and a half years.
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Most dominant in their sport sure, in all of sports? Tough argument to make.
I think there's a distinction to be made between individual and team sports.
There are a couple Olympians that come to mind that could join them this year. I think Michael Phelps will clean up in swimming this year, possibly emerging as the top male swimmer in the world. Hamm may do the same, and there are some others, but most Olympics sports don't get near the exposure that tennis and golf do.
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quote:Most dominant in their sport sure, in all of sports? Tough argument to make.
I think the essence of the argument is whether Federer is more dominant in tennis than Woods is in golf (or Phelps is in swimming, etc.).
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Federer plays in a racquet-dominated era in which men's professional"tennis" has become little more than "who can slam the ball the hardest, once." Might as well list Stallone as the best boxer ever.
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Federer plays in a racquet-dominated era in which men's professional"tennis" has become little more than "who can slam the ball the hardest, once." Might as well list Stallone as the best boxer ever.
Pretty inaccurate, really. Neither of the top two tennis players in the world hit that 140 mph serve that you're referencing, and while it is more prevalent, it's the actual tennis that Federer and Nadal play that gets them wins.
And where was Federer's racquet dominated era serve when Nadal absolutely manhandled him in the French?
Posts: 368 | Registered: Aug 2007
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posted
Yeah, Federer isn't that good of a server if you consider all his games. He does have awesome matches in which he serves something like 90% first serve in, and then you're in bigger trouble than usual. But I've seen him serve at around 50% first serve in, and with speeds that don't match those of other better servers, and still win the match. He's clearly much more than a good server.
Nadal relies even less on his serve, as even if he hits it in the first time around it's usually not fast enough to win the point. He did manage to beat Roddick (who is a great server) at Queen's this year.
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
i dont think federer will ever win the French unless something happens to nadal, be it an injury or someone else knocks him out. the slower surface really helps nadal's very strong defensive game. Tiger can win any tournament he enters. congrats to him on winning the US Open with a bad knee just out of surgery.
one thing that i really like about federer, and justine henin, is his/her one-handed backhand. they both have an awesome backhand.
Posts: 813 | Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Too bad Henin retired. I don't really understand that decision, she's young, she's fit, she's number one. Why not go on?
And Federer needs a psychiatrist to cure him of his Nadal complex; there's no way the "true" Federer would play like he did in this year's Roland Garros final!
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posted
The FrenchOpen is played on a clay court, which is a much slower playing surface than other professional courts. Clay also translates ball spin into ball action MUCH more than other professional surfaces. Leading to matches in which finesse, endurance, and the mental game figure far more prominently than raw power. In other words, the FrenchOpen returns the men's game back to something more closely resembling tennis.
posted
No...it makes it closer to the style of tennis you prefer.
People make the same complaints about Lendel...that he was all power, no control. That doesn't make either true, btw.
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