Federer in Perspective

It's 10 AM CDT, and Fed is on the verge of finally completing his career grand slam and matching Sampras in total Majors. He controlled 23 seed Soderling in a momentous but albeit unsatisfying performance. Federer's fourth straight French Open Final was a bit of a let down since his rival and recent obstacle, Rafael Nadal, wasn't on the other side of the court. Nadal's bid for a record five straight French titles was stopped short by the big hitting Soderling.

10:08, and Federer just fell to the ground as I suspected. Unfortunately, he didn't cry as much as I though he would, donning a tearful smile and mostly holding back a breakdown. There has been more footage of Federer's mother than I've ever seen in this telecast. Where is she normally? More discussion on where this puts Federer historically.

Soderling's big serve and forehand proved to be trouble for a relatively fatigued Nadal. Rafa insisted fatigue wasn't a huge issue, but he was controlled from the start. Soderling broke Nadal five times in six chances and was broken twice. One of Nadal's breaks came early in the fifth set when it seemed Rafa could recover. Soderling broke him back and took the tie break easily to complete his upset.

10:27, and my wife shed a tear with Fed as he received his trophy. She had just woken up to catch championship point. Federer's acceptance speech displays his impressive command of French.

Soderling's next task was winning the French title over the 2 seed Federer. Beating both Nadal and Federer en route to a title is a feat that has only been accomplished three times, twice by Djokovic. The underdog began the match with significantly less energy than he had displayed all tournament long. His first set was riddled with first serve faults and misses. His placement was a bit off all match long as he was often on the run and frequently pushed his forehand just out. He displayed more pace on the ball in the ensuing sets only to continue to be controlled in rallies.

Federer on the other hand played very solid tennis. He wasn't in quite the invincibile form he's capable of, but his crosscourt forehands continually stretched the opposing Swede and he succesfully used his drop shot from both sides to win the point. The second set tiebreak was probably his most dominating effort of the match, winning 7-1 and amazingly acing all four of his service points. This match seemed more like one that would have occurred in the third or fourth round with the 2 seed controlling the entire match.

The French title gives Federer 14 overall, tying with Sampras and Tiger, and the career grand slam. The win blows open the debate for the best tennis player of all time and adds fuel to the friendly cross-sport rivalry between Roger and Tiger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdWtpbuUEy4

In regards to the Roger/Tiger rivalry, Roger is actually arguably ahead. Not only has he matched Tiger, but he currently holds the record for his sport. That being said, Tiger has far more potential in his sport. He's already considered the overwhelming greatest of all time and has a long time left to match the 18 Major wins of Nicklaus. Federer in comparison is in the latter years of his career. When everything is said and done, I suspect Tiger to be considered in higher regard.

As for the discussion on the greatest tennis player of all time, unfortunately, I have to begin by eliminating the likes of Tilden and Gonzalez. It's tough to disqualify players based on the period they competed, but it's too difficult to compare players with major wins when the tournaments only allowed amateurs. The Open Era began in 1968, and as such, our discussion includes Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, and Bjorn Borg and of course Roger Federer.

Bjorn Borg was winner of 11 majors when he retired at the early age of 26. Six of his titles came in the French Open, and the other five were at Wimbledon. He reached the finals of the US Open four times without a win, and only competed in the Australian Open once making it to the third round. Borg was the best of his era beating out Jimmy Connors and could have accomplished more in his career. His lack of success at the US Open could be demonstrative of what would have happened had he played more Australians, but frankly it's impossible to know. That pretty much sums up his career. He was great, but you can't say how great he could have been as his late comeback was ineffective. With his resume, he falls a bit short.

Pete Sampras holds the record for major titles with 14, but lacks the career grand slam. His fast paced attacking game was not built for clay, and his lack of clay success is probably his biggest detriment. However, he played in arguably the most competitive era of professional tennis and his success at Wimbledon makes him regarded as the greatest grass player of all time. Sampras' long and stable career allowed him to fill out his resume, and most experts place him just short of Rod Laver due to his clay record.

Rod Laver was the undisputed number one from 1965 to 1969. As mentioned, most experts consider him to be the greatest player of all time. He claimed 11 major titles of which five were in the Open Era and also won two calendar grand slams, one in the Open Era. He largely dominated fellow all-time great Roy Emerson, and also hosted winning records against the aging Gonzalez and Rosewall. All these elements justify his entitlement as the greatest of all time: his major success, grand slams, and dominance over competition.

Compared to Laver, Federer probably falls a bit short. Even with the French Open win, some may place him behind Sampras. Possibly the biggest knock on him is that he had very little competition in the early to mid 2000's when he had most of his success. He won his first major in 2003 at the relatively late age of 22. From 2003 to 2006 he had little competition. Lleyton Hewitt's success in 2001-2002 tapered off and fellow contemporaries Roddick and Ferrero have done little since their high rankings in the early 2000's. The likes of Kuerten, Safin, Agassi, and Sampras were aged by the time Federer broke onto the scene, and his fiercest competition has come recently from 23 year old Nadal and 22 year old Djokovic.

Federer's nine titles between 2003-2006 came against a relatively weak talent pool in tennis, but the emergence of Nadal has been both a blessing and a curse. Nadal thrived on clay early in his career and hosts the longest clay and single surface winning streak in the Open Era. Already considered the greatest clay court player of all time, he successfully kept Federer from a French title in three consecutive Finals from 2006 to 2008 in fairly dominating performances. Nadal's epic five set wins in the Australian and Wimbledon finals have shown he's no fluke, and he now owns the Number 1 ranking. The second most common factor discussed by Federer detractors is his success against Nadal. Nadal owns the head-to-head record winning 13 of 20 matches. However, 11 of these matches came on clay, and Roger hosts records of 3-3 on hard court and 2-1 on grass over Rafa.

It remains clear that to be considered the greatest of all time, Federer needs to prove he can beat his competition of today. Claiming a sixth Wimbledon title over Nadal could prove paramount in Federer's assertion as the greatest. So Federer's recent French win is a little muted, as it didn't come over Nadal. But prior to the French, Federer beat Nadal convincingly in the clay court tune-up, Madrid Open.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X674xVoMF0E

The last match between these two after the Australian was telling of strategies. Nadal continued his anti-Federer strategy of targeting Fed's backhand, and Federer retaliated by going on the aggressive and hitting deep heavy rallies to dictate pace. Roger successfully ran around his forehand to hit inside out drives and often hit cross court repeatedly stretching Nadal on the baseline. Off serve, he blocked serves deep to Nadal's backhand and often avoided hitting to the forehand. He frequently stretched Nadal on rallies and sliced effectively to end points. It'll be exciting to see what adjustments both make for their next match.

Fed still has a great chance to cement his status in tennis history. In addition to his record tying 14 major wins, he has made a record tying 19 major finals including ten consecutive. The rivalry between Federer and Nadal has made tennis exciting and every major final between the top ranked players a must watch. It'll be remarkable to see how far Rafa can go when Roger, six years his senior, eventually leaves the scene. He's probably the most physically fit player in history. I can't wait for Wimbledon.

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/stats/day20/1127ms.html
http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/scores/stats/day13/1113ms.html
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampras
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