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Legendary cricket all-rounder Kapil Dev has a firm view that one can never be the greatest of all time, but at most the greatest of their generation.
One cannot compare different eras for various due to different playing conditions and quality of opponents. How can you equate Dennis Lillee to Dale Steyn or Rod Laver to Roger Federer?
Federer has won an unprecedented 20th Grand Slam championship with his five-set win over Marin Cilic in the 2018 Australian Open final. Incredibly, he has a real chance to become world No.1 again if he reaches the semi-finals of the Rotterdam ATP 500 this month. If he does so, he’ll become the oldest No.1 ever.
So, can we start talking about Federer as the definitive GOAT?
Rafael Nadal’s diehard fans insist Federer couldn’t be the GOAT due to his 10-23 head-to-head record against the Spaniard. Since Nadal is five years younger, with success across all courts his invincibility on clay, it seemed he would overhaul Federer’s tally of Grand Slam titles.
Some said the debate was settled at the 2017 Australian Open. Federer had 17 Grand Slam titles to Rafa’s 14. Federer had lost his previous four matches to top ten opponents and would potentially face four top ten opponents (which he did).
He had a five-year Grand Slam drought – his previous longest break had been just two years, from 2010 to 2012. More importantly, the 2017 Aussie Open final was against his nemesis, Nadal.
A win for Rafa would have made it 17-15 at majors and, with the French Open around the corner, that would likely close to 17-16, the clay maestro just one behind.
Pertinently, the only Grand Slam Federer had defeated Rafa at was Wimbledon. The two champions have never met at the US Open, Rafa won all five of their meetings at Roland-Garros – four in finals – while Federer had lost all three matches they played at the Aussie Open, including one final.
Hence, a loss at the 2017 Australian Open would have meant a fourth consecutive loss at the venue to Nadal and a seventh loss in nine Grand Slam finals. It would have also meant that Federer’s last Grand Slam final win over Rafa would have been way back in 2007, at Wimbledon.
With Federer a break behind in the fifth and final set it seemed all over, but he roared back to claim an unlikely victory.
(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
That win gave the Swiss renewed confidence as he beat Rafa three more times in 2017. It also solved one of the biggest anomalies of tennis – where the undisputed No.1 was consistently losing to his great rival.
However, Rafa being Rafa, he stayed within striking distance by winning the 2017 French Open. Federer then won his eighth Wimbledon to take the lead to four once again. Incredibly, Nadal won the US Open to reduce the lead to three once more.
But his triumph at the 2018 Australian Open firms Federer’s case to be the definitive GOAT.
Ageless
At 36, Federer has won three out of the last five Grand Slams. Compared across all sports, this is as awesome as George Foreman becoming world heavyweight champion at 45, Cameroon footballer Roger Milla scoring a World Cup goal at 42, and Jack Nicklaus taking out the US Masters at 46.
Longevity
The Swiss has completed all 1300-plus of his professional matches – he hasn’t retired once – which shows how fit he is. He has spent 302 weeks at world No.1, the only player to break the 300 mark. This could yet increase.
His 2017 wins at the Australian Open and Wimbledon showed that at 35 he could win two majors in a year, which he last achieved at 27. He retained the Australian Open Championship in 2006 and 2007, and in 2017 and 2018 – a bewildering stat more than a decade apart. He’s won three of his last four Grand Slam tournaments, a feat he last achieved in 2008-09.
(AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Consistency
Federer has taken consistency to a new level, reaching 52 Grand Slam quarter-finals – Jimmy Connors is a distant second, with 41. Among current players, Novak Djokovic (40), Nadal (33) and Andy Murray (30) are next in line.
At Grand Slam semis, Federer has 43. With his 14th semi-final entry at the Australian Open, he equalled Connors’ 14 US Open semi-finals as the highest at a single major. Federer has also reached 30 Grand Slam finals, which is the highest ever, Nadal’s 23 being next best.
Federer has won 20 Grand Slam titles, with Nadal second at 16. Unbelievably, from 2003 Wimbledon to 2010 US Open, Federer won 16 of 27 Grand Slams and played in the final of six more. In that seven-year period, he was present in all but five Grand Slam finals.
All-court record
Federer now has eight Wimbledon titles, ahead of William Renshaw and Pete Sampras (both seven). He also has six Australian Opens, equal to Roy Emerson and Novak Djokovic, and five US Opens, on par with Jimmy Connors.
He has just one French Open title, but we have to remember he was in the era of the invincible Nadal (ten). We also have to consider that he lost five times to Nadal at the French Open, and the only time the Spaniard lost to someone else (Robin Soderling) Federer seized the opportunity to claim the title.
Indeed, Federer’s overall record at Roland-Garros shows how good a clay court player he is compared to, say, the great Sampras, who had only a solitary semi-final at the French Open.
Style of play
According to Nadal, Federer “was born to play tennis”. His playing style is classic, unhurried and relaxed, with his one-handed backhand probably the most beautiful gift he’s given the game.
Incredibly, Federer said recently he won’t teach his kids the one-handed backhand, which Christopher Clarey of the New York Times said was “like Da Vinci telling his kids not to draw”.
This poetry in motion style has contributed to make Federer arguably the most loved sportsperson in the world. He’s won the ATP Fans’ Favorite award for 16 straight years since 2003.
The Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award is voted on by players, for the player who has conducted himself with highest level of professionalism and integrity, and who promoted the game through off-court activities. Federer has won it a record 13 times from 2004 to 2017, with the only exception being Nadal’s win in 2010.
Can Nadal bridge the gap again? If anyone can, it’s him, but it would be a monumental feat. At 36, Federer is moving better than ever, and somehow his serve and backhand seem to have improved.
Goran Ivanisevic says the Swiss can play at this level for five more years. Pat Cash says the Federer of today would beat the Federer of seven or eight years ago.
Added to this, fitness is strategy, which comes with maturity. According to Mats Wilander, Federer has the uncanny ability to hold himself back in the earlier stages of a tournament, so he can stroll through to the later stages and up the ante.
It’s certainly possible that his Grand Slam tally won’t end at 20.
After his 2018 Australian Open title, Roger Federer does seem to be the definitive GOAT.
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