Federer is the greatest athlete of all time

Roger Federer is tennis. That was known years ago. And now, Federer is greatness, true greatness, across all of sport, across all its titans.

Some of you will disagree, of course you will. This is sport’s most debatable talking point. But it’s becoming less so.

Federer has won his eighth Wimbledon title, bringing his total haul to a staggering 19 Grand Slam titles. He did so without dropping a set throughout the entire tournament, last done by the legendary Bjorn Borg in 1976.

Had anyone told me on the eve of the Australian Open that the first three Grand Slams of the year would read: Federer, Rafael Nadal, Federer – I would have called you mad.

It has been an incredible feat, even by Federer’s truly staggering standards. The depth and breadth of tennis history he holds is simply awesome.

Federer has 19 Grand Slams from 29 finals, reaching 10 consecutive finals from Wimbledon 2005 to the 2009 US Open.

He has reached the final of all four Slams in a calendar year three times (2006, 2007, 2009). And has spent 302 weeks ranked number one, 237 of them consecutive (between February 2004 and August 2008).

Federer has won three Slams at least five times (his eight Wimbledon crowns, five Australian Opens, and five US Opens), and has won titles consistently on three different surfaces (63 on hard, 16 on grass and 11 on clay).

The list goes on. It’s hard to believe the bulk of his resume was finished 10 years ago, having completely dominated the game from 2004-2007 like no one ever before or since.

People will point to his head-to-head with Nadal. Yes, the second greatest player of all time does hold an edge in that statistic, but he has had the distinction of playing 15 of the 37 matches on his beloved clay, and only three matches on grass.

And that’s about it. That is the only real argument someone can make when comparing the two. Federer has placed himself atop nearly every tennis record there is, redefining – again – what his legacy is.

Five years and three Grand Slams ago, Federer still had a very comfortable place at the table of this conversation. He had the most Slams, the most weeks at number one, and the most complete game that tennis had ever seen.

He was and still is one of the most graceful athletes of all time, mesmerising the likes of Anna Wintour and described as a religious experience by David Foster Wallace. He had played across three decades, dominating the past generation’s Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi with aggressive, fast-court tennis.

(Image: AFP Leon Nea)

Federer completely blitzed his own company, never losing to Lleyton Hewitt or Andy Roddick in a Grand Slam final. Then, entering his late 20s and early 30s, he began his greatest rivalries against baseline young guns Novak Djokovic, Nadal, and Andy Murray.

The Big Four have dominated tennis for the last 10 years, and as the sun sets on this golden era, it is Federer, the elder, the father of four, who is still standing with silverware.

Despite a five-year drought between titles, from 2012 to 2017, he was never really gone. In that space of time he still made five semi-finals and three finals, losing to Djokovic in all three when the Serbian was making his own run for greatness.

Federer kept racking up records, kept finding new ways to redefine himself. He came full circle – started to serve-volley again 15 years later with Stefan Edberg in his corner, against baseline greats on slower courts. He changed his racquet to fit his ageing body, allowing him greater confidence on the backhand and serve. He changed coaches and changed schedules.

Federer never stopped believing he would be back on top, despite another year ticking by, despite being well past his statistical peak and celebrating the wrong side of the 30s still stuck on 17 Grand Slams.

Now, 2017 has redefined, again, Federer’s legacy.

Perhaps 10 years ago he was the greatest performer tennis had seen. Perhaps, upon clinching his 15th Slam and pushing ahead of Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2009 he was the greatest male player tennis had seen.

Now, after first clinching the Australian Open against long-time rival Nadal in a fifth-set comeback final, in his comeback tournament, and then completely dominating Wimbledon, it is looking like Federer is the greatest athlete, ever.

Statistically, he is atop nearly every facet of the game. Even his weakest surface, clay, is a resume worthy of it’s own greatness:

Five French Open finals (one title), with only Nadal beating him in the finals. An 8th best win-percentage (80.2%) of all time at the French Open. And third most match wins (65), behind only Nadal (79) and Guillermo Vilas (75) at the same tournament.

Federer will be 36 next month. He is a dinosaur in tennis years, and yet he is looking as unstoppable as ever. He is playing as well as he did 10 years ago, some say better, and will be looking for Grand Slam number 20 in September come the US Open.

Wayne Gretzky. Sir Donald Bradman. Michael Jordan. Pelé. Muhammad Ali. Babe Ruth. Usain Bolt. Tiger Woods. Tom Brady. Michael Phelps. Bo Jackson.

Federer is firmly cemented in this company. For influence he trails only Ali, who’s life outside the ring was even greater than his life within it, and Michael Jordan, the silhouette dunk known all over the world.

As a statistical outlier, Bradman defies logic even in this company, and Gretzky dominated hockey like no other.

(Image: AP)

For sheer talent perhaps Federer is number one. No one has graced a sporting field and dominated with such a calm exterior before. His mastery of tennis’ demanding repertoire was made to look far too easy. Every shot is played with an air of relaxed arrogance, as if the wrist alone is required for an angled backhand overhead.

Tennis in itself is arguably the hardest sport in the world. What sport has an average peak age of 28.5, with the majority of players starting before they are seven and dropping out of school at 15 in order to log the hours required for greatness?

Boxing can be started late if you are a raw athlete. Anthony Joshua, Mike Tyson and Jeff Horn prove this. American football and baseball are similar, with many players only starting to play the game in high school. Perhaps golf is the only other sport that requires a similar number of hours to reach the top, albeit with less emphasis on athleticism.

It is an individual sport; you can’t hide in your team on a bad day. It is mentally gruelling, perhaps second only to golf in its requirement of steely nerves and icy veins. It is all year round. The season runs for 11 months of the, with a short break in December.

The baseline requirement to be a great in tennis looks something like this:

You start aged five, by eight you are training daily. By 12 your sole focus is on tennis, with three to four hours a day of training. You leave school at 15 to begin travelling the world tournaments, training four to six hours a day.

Next, you join the men’s tour at 18, grinding your way into the majors. By 21 you win a Slam if you are an all-time great, with the rare gifted athleticism accompanying the gruelling training finally paying off.

You continue training every day, travelling every week, winning every month, year after year after year until you accrue stacks of titles, hundreds of wins, thousands of points. Rinse and repeat over and over again, taking on a new generation, a new crop of challengers, with different games in different conditions.

Can any other sport demand this? Does golf and cricket demand this physicality? Does boxing, football or ice hockey require these grinding hours? Does swimming and running require this skill? Does basketball and soccer demand this mental fortitude?

The most incredible thing about Federer is his ability to adapt. Tennis has undergone multiple changes since Federer joined the tour in 1998. Back then courts were fast, strings were natural gut and styles were varied for each surface.

Federer won Wimbledon in 2003 playing serve-volley tennis. Then courts slowed down and strings became polyester, which allowed incredible spin and control. Federer won the US, the Australian and the French opens playing baseline tennis. He won Wimbledon playing baseline tennis. He played aggressive baseline tennis in an era suited to defensive baseline tennis.

Then he got older, a little weaker, and adapted his racquet and his style to suit his body. He used a more powerful racquet, started to serve volley once again, shortened points and kept variety in his play.

In a sport continually moving the goal posts, Federer has been right there, a chameleon of endless degrees, revealing new tricks with each passing year. This year it has been an ability to defy time itself, winding back the clock not years, but decades, to a time when he dominated before the iPhone was a thing.

With every win Federer stamps his name louder and louder on sport’s rarest title. Perhaps not statistically the greatest, or by influence, perhaps not the most talented. But there is no doubt his ability to stake his name across all eras, all surfaces, all stages of his career, all facets of greatness, put him in a rare class of his own.

Wherever you look for greatness, no matter the measure, Federer’s name echoes louder and louder.