I am puzzled at this argument of Federer Vs Sampras or Federer Vs Laver and belittling Federer's achivement and the pinnacle of glory that he has set for himself. Just look at Sampras record 14 majors and the most important French Open is missing from his gallery. Worst still, he failed to reach even the final of the French Open and his best achievement is just a semi final. His record in other clay court tournaments also has nothing much to speak of. Compare this to Federer, who has reached the final of French Open four times and being a winner once. Moreover Federer has excellent record in other clay court tournaments too. Even in Wimbledon, Federer has a better record than Sampras appearing in 7 consecutive finals. Against Laver who is credited with winning a calendar grand slam, nobody can compare eras. But looking at the way he won when three of these tournaments were played on grass and only the French on clay, we can conclude right away that he had a much easier time than the traivals of the current lot. Moreover his overall grand slam record is just 11 against Federers 15 although it can be argued that Laver missed some of his peak years due to the ban on professional players. But still that will be pure speculation as to how well Laver could have performed in those years he missed. Regarding the competition, it is the toughest today with the depth being what it is. Federer has just made himself immortal.
Re: THE LEGACY OF FEDERER
by kaushik saha on Jan 08, 2010 12:14 PM
You have started watching Tennis in mid 2000s, when absolutely no fit play on hard courts was present. Nadal is a wimp on hard courts, and the rest were either injured or downhill or were kids.
I wouldn't even compare these to the kinds Sampras faced. Agassi, Becker et al - they are too godd for the Potros and Murrays, Fed's "rivals"
Re: Re: THE LEGACY OF FEDERER
by Vascado on Jan 08, 2010 12:31 PM
I do not really buy that argument that Sampras had a tougher competition to contend with than Federer. Sampras had only one real threat and that was Agassi who was not a consistent player like Nadal is. The rest of the line up Sampras had during his years were Courier, Chang, Rafter, Richard Krajacek and the veterans Becker and Edberg who were already downhill when Sampras peaked in that 1993-1998 stretch. In his later years when Sampras was countered by Safin, Hewitt and Roddick who got the better of him we know very well as to how these players got spanked silly by Roger. Don’t ever tell me that today’s line up of Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Del Potro, Roddick, Verdasco, Soderling, Tsonga etc. are not tough. This is the toughest competition one can see in men’s sport and Federer is still No.1. Do not belittle Federer just for the sake of it. Even your Sampras has acknowledged that he is the Greatest and therefore the point is settled once and for all.
As Federer rightly said, Gulbis has an excellent potential and the game to give nightmares to all the top players. But he hardly does justification to his reputation. However this lad has got the age behind him and hope that the future beckons him. As far as Federer is concerned, I think he is now playing for the sheer enjoyment of the game. He has nothing more to prove to the World. He has been already crowned as the Greatest Tennis player the World has seen. No other player including Sampras or Laver can come near him and the records that he has set. The crowning glory for him is that despite him being in the twlight years he still is ranked No.1 amidst the toughest competition the game has seen since long.
Re: The genius named Federer
by Mohammed Talib on Jan 08, 2010 12:57 PM
Mr Federer is much more Like our Sachin , He Plays only For Himself and his personal Records , switzerland has never won the davis cup trophy which the the last year spain won for the second consequtive time , his davis cup record is dismal , federer has to prove his credentials in that format
Re: federer fan
by Vascado on Jan 08, 2010 10:05 AM
How do you know that Nadal is in great form ? He has not met any top player in the tournament so far and his best test is yet to come. Even his semi final opponent is relatively a weaker player named Troicki
