Greatest of All Time

It is time to bring out the gloves. Who do you think is the best of all time? Why?

What about Tiger Woods comments, that R-Fed is the most dominant athelete in teh world?

its obvious that Fed is the most talented of all time and currently the most dominant athlete in the world. (even though its strange he lost to Canas twice) That being said I would like to give some praise for guys who are doing some amazing things. ie.... Fabrice Santoro, he is 36 and still in the top 50 at a towering hight of 5'7 with no real form this guy is still beating top ten players with his mind. truly an amazing person to watch and he says this will be his last year. if you get a chance check him out before he is gone.

No kidding. A little craftiness goes a long way. Old age and treachery can beat youth and inexperience.

Federer is obvoiusly the best player currently, and, of all-time. Period, no doubt about it, can't deny it, case closed, end of story, ughhhh. Now I can't remember anything else. Sooo, I'm done. :) ;)

Hi,
let me first confess that my nickname is not my real one.. :-)

The greatest tennis player of all time is ROD LAVER, the australian whose peak was during the 60s. According to my firm belief, there can hardly be any doubt about this! The only one player that can threaten Laver on the throne is Federer, but before that, he must continue for some more years with similar achievements, as he has already made.

If Fed wins the French and beats Pete's record he will be acclaimed the best player of the modern era.

I'd have to say Rod Laver.

Pete Sampras (even though Pete never won a French open), I still consider him to be one of the best for mens tennis. Roger Federer is getting close to Pete's record of 14 grand slams majors. Ever notice that both players have similiar playing styles ? There's a youtube video of both players almost doing exact serves side by side.

i am sure that roger is d best
:)

I think that tennis is turning a corner while without doubt roger fed is the best player ever the players that are still juniors have people like him and justin henin to gauge themselves against and i think that we will start to see some amazing juniors appearing on the circuits in the few years i hope my daughter is one of them

I believe rafa will be able to become as powerful and winning on grass then hard court and he will be the greatest in history in time.

For now definitely Rod laver and Margaret Court.

Martina also is one of the best and the #1 commentator. ;)

Lots of greats in my mind: in abc order

Andre Agassi, Bjorn Borg, Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, Roger Federer, Steffi Graf, Justine Henin, Billie Jean King, Rod Laver, Ivan Lendl, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Bill Tilden

After watching the French I'd like to add Rafa Nadal as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by luvyoyoma1954

Martina also is one of the best and the #1 commentator. ;)

---

Yuppers, I agree. Should get rid of some of those commentators who talk nonsense while people are playing ....

Fay, I am glad to talk with another fan of Martina Navratilova, especially as a commentator. I wish she did every Nadal match, every single one. :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by luvyoyoma1954

Fay, I am glad to talk with another fan of Martina Navratilova, especially as a commentator. I wish she did every Nadal match, every single one. :D

---

I'm with you on that! I have had to turn the volume down on some matches it gets so intrusive to the game and I miss the sound of the ball.

I like Agassi as a commentator as well.

Is there a way we could mute Maria's screeching, LOL, and still hear the ball?

Fay,

I think you are looking for technology that maybe light years away, hoping to block out Maria's yells yet hear anything else. :D

I am fairly new to tennis and I do not remember hearing Agassi commentating. I would love too. How often does he do it??

martina???? she needs more time. her doubles partner pam shriver or even tracy austin is better. i even think sue barker and virginia wade are pretty good.

well the greatest player of all time would have to be Margaret Court,she holds even today more g/slams titles in singles,doubles and mixed doubles than any other player,man or women,which is totally amazing.

Much as I love Fed and respect what he has done, it is hard to pronounce him the "greatest ever" when he has a losing record against one of his peers. I'd probably pick Laver-- though I'm not sure whether or not he had a losing record against any of his peers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fay

Lots of greats in my mind: in abc order

Andre Agassi, Bjorn Borg, Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, Roger Federer, Steffi Graf, Justine Henin, Billie Jean King, Rod Laver, Ivan Lendl, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Bill Tilden

After watching the French I'd like to add Rafa Nadal as well.

---

How nice to see the old players mentioned by someone so young, you sure know your tennis ! Myself, I go back to the days of Frau Sperling and The Two Helens. But today I would say that when Federer wins one more Grand Slam AND the French Open he will be the best player so far to date.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Harwin

How nice to see the old players mentioned by someone so young, you sure know your tennis ! Myself, I go back to the days of Frau Sperling and The Two Helens. But today I would say that when Federer wins one more Grand Slam AND the French Open he will be the best player so far to date.

---

I can see your point as probably most others can as well but imo he really needs to not only win the French but I feel he needs to do it against Nadal. Then if that were not a tall order enough, he then needs to trot up to Jolly Old England and re-establish himself as the King of Grass again beating Nadal in the Finals hopefully.

Point is, simply winning these events will aide to the argument of accomplishments but many people are beginning to think, Nadal is the better player between them and if he can't beat Nadal in these events, he will end up as Pete Sampras, a ton of accomplishments but still not conclusive enough to claim him as the GOAT.

This is the very reason some even mention Andre Agassi as a contender to that title because of his titles on all four surfaces in the Open Era which has never been done by anyone, given most of the Majors were played on Grass back in the day.

The best tennis player of all time is Pete Sampras..Hand down =]

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DropShotUser

The best tennis player of all time is Pete Sampras..Hand down =]

---

It's completely understandable for someone to make that assertion given Pete was so dominant against the best. As a longtime Andre Agassi Fan, I am forced to admit that both at their very best, Pete was better.

The only setback for Pete was his inability to win the French. I've often wondered if Pete went into the French with total desire to win or did he just go there to see what could possibly happen? When you consider Ivan Lendl's determination to win Wimbledon and all the preparation he put into accomplishing it. Even though Lendl never won, his fight made people pull for him. But Pete never went to Roland Garros with that kind of determination.

7 Wimbledon Titles is awesome
5 US Open Titles is impressive
2 Australian Titles is not bad
0 French Open Titles is pathetic

And it's the pathetic showing that unfortunately keeps him from clinching that ultimate honor.

I've come to enjoy the ongoing exchanges regarding the Best Ever. Doesn't anyone find it amazing how this conversation goes on & on without conclusion year after year discussing the same names with the recent inclusion of Federer & Nadal in the past 1½ years.

Accomplishments

I personally feel is the only true way of determining who could be the Best of the Best but the Bar continues to rise. Roger Federer was well on his way in becoming the undisputed King of Tennis. I recall reading claims of his greatness just after his victory over Sampras at Wimbledon. That was Roger's right of passage. That was the moment the World saw Roger Federer as unbeatable given he just beat who most thought was unbeatable on Grass.
While Rafael Nadal just beat who everyone thought was unbeatable on Grass and the saga continues.

How many Grand Slam Titles do you have?
How many overall Titles do you own?
Were you able to accomplish a Grand Slam?
Were you able to accomplish a Career Grand Slam?
Did you accomplish a Calender Year Grand Slam?
Did you accomplish a Non-Calender Year Grand Slam?
During which Era did you win the bulk of your Titles?
How many combined weeks at #1 ?
How many consecutive weeks at #1 ?
How many Opponents if any did you have a losing record against?

Those are the basic questions one needs to answer for GOAT consideration. However another intangible one might consider is how many years as a Pro Player. The reason for this question is simple. Let's assume one Player in the running amounted 13 Grand Slam Titles throughout their career of 10 yrs on the Circuit before retirement. And another Player in the running amounted only 9 Grand Slam Titles in the 8 years as a Pro. That's basically a 2yr advantage one Player has over the other to amass accomplishments.

Much like the Monica Seles story, where people believe had she not been attacked in her Prime, she would have undoubtedly won more Majors than what history records. Regardless of the event, Monica has only 9 Grand Slam titles to her name and although many would like to consider her the best ever, her Titles fall far short of what needs to be taken into consideration.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tennisguru

its obvious that Fed is the most talented of all time and currently the most dominant athlete in the world. (even though its strange he lost to Canas twice) That being said I would like to give some praise for guys who are doing some amazing things. ie.... Fabrice Santoro, he is 36 and still in the top 50 at a towering hight of 5'7 with no real form this guy is still beating top ten players with his mind. truly an amazing person to watch and he says this will be his last year. if you get a chance check him out before he is gone.

---

Because i play Senior tennis i see a lot of strange looking strokes. I often wonder when i see how talanted they are how much better they would be with the proper strokes.
I have to wonder if they hadn,t had to work so hard to compensate would they be so competive?
Does anybody know that little girl (TAIWAN I THINK) made her 1st appearance at the Hopman cup here(AUSTRALIA) a couple years ago?
2 hands both sides , angle block volleys. Drop shots with no knee bend.
I can,t rember her name but you would have to wonder if these people have not gone beyond convention to find their perfect game

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by haretrigger

Because i play Senior tennis i see a lot of strange looking strokes. I often wonder when i see how talanted they are how much better they would be with the proper strokes.
I have to wonder if they hadn,t had to work so hard to compensate would they be so competive?
Does anybody know that little girl (TAIWAN I THINK) made her 1st appearance at the Hopman cup here(AUSTRALIA) a couple years ago?
2 hands both sides , angle block volleys. Drop shots with no knee bend.
I can,t rember her name but you would have to wonder if these people have not gone beyond convention to find their perfect game

---

Ok HT ~ You have to break this Post down for me because I have no idea what you're talking about in relationship to the question at hand. :confused:

I was posting to the comments on Fabrice Santoro. Don,t know how it ended up here so, i can see your confusion(SORRY):confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by haretrigger

I was posting to the comments on Fabrice Santoro. Don,t know how it ended up here so, i can see your confusion(SORRY):confused:

---

No Problem .. Read Your PM my friend ;)