Tag Archives: GOAT

July 9, 2012

WIMBLEDON: Roger Federer Wins Again. No. 17, No. 7, and now No. 1

By gregcouch

REPORTING FROM WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND — It’s not that Roger Federer is great, but that his greatness keeps going and going and going. He doesn’t get hurt because he floats above the court. He doesn’t give in. He doesn’t get old. And it’s amazing that he has never had enough.

He’s greedy about winning. It’s like he has an insatiable tennis libido or something.

Federer won Wimbledon on Sunday, beating Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. The key numbers are these: 17, 7 and 1. It was his 17th major championship, adding to his record. It was his record-tying (with Pete Sampras) seventh Wimbledon win.

And now, Federer jumps over Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic — two guys who had bypassed him — in the rankings. Roger Federer is No. 1 again.

“I knew how close I was for the last few years, and some people didn’t quite see that, maybe out of different reasons,’’ he said. “But I knew, and I think the belief got me to victory today.’’

As he held the championship cup, his first major in 2½ years, he said this: “Feels nice. Like it’s never left me.’’

Oh, it left him. Federer needed this championship badly.

Please read the rest of my column at FoxSports.com

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Andy Murray, GOAT, No. 1, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Wimbledon

July 8, 2011

Federer, Nadal, Djokovic. . .All-time Greats Going Head-to-Head. GOAT Debate Just Gets More Confusing

By gregcouch

 

Rod Laver and Rafael Nadal. Who would have won?

Tennis’ favorite argument, the GOAT debate, is now, officially, a mess. Who is the Greatest Of All Time? Tennis might not have a best player ever.

At this point, for this second, and willing to change soon, I’m still going with Rafael Nadal as all-time best, though he’s not even the best now, having lost to Novak Djokovic Sunday in the Wimbledon final. He also hasn’t won nearly as many majors as Roger Federer.

It’s not easy making an argument that sounds ridiculous to yourself when you’re making it.

But I can’t take Federer, because he always loses to Nadal. And I can’t take Djokovic, because he has only been great for seven to 10 months.

In retirement, Pete Sampras is working his way back into this argument.

You can’t judge accurately through history. Would Rod Laver have beaten Bill Tilden?  I think so, but how do I know for sure? So you can only go on how well someone did against his own generation, and then try to decide how good that generation was. Or maybe you just use the eye-test.

The dream, in any sport really, is to see all-time greats actually playing against each other in their primes. Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus coming up 18 together at Augusta, tied, or maybe Muhammad Ali against Joe Louis. Then it could all be settled.

Well, something close to that is happening now in tennis, and it’s just making things more confusing. Continue reading

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Novak Djokovic, Pete Sampras, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer