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Watching Australian Open Tennis Final..



Seagull58

In the Algarve
Jan 31, 2012
8,516
Vilamoura, Portugal
He is pretty much unbeatable right now, on most surfaces. I would be amazed if he didn't match Federer's 17 Grand Slam wins - and he's already caught Laver.

Laver was brilliant for his time - a simpler, more sedate time - but who knows how he'd have fared in the more brutal game that exists now?

And you haven't mentioned Sampras or Nadal.

At the moment, Federer is still considered the greatest. Djokovic will probably take this label from him - a shame, as I'd rather watch Federer (or Laver) any time.

Murray has a 100% winning record against him in Grand Slam finals apart from Australia. He's also never won the French.
 




Seagull58

In the Algarve
Jan 31, 2012
8,516
Vilamoura, Portugal
He is pretty much unbeatable right now, on most surfaces. I would be amazed if he didn't match Federer's 17 Grand Slam wins - and he's already caught Laver.

Laver was brilliant for his time - a simpler, more sedate time - but who knows how he'd have fared in the more brutal game that exists now?

And you haven't mentioned Sampras or Nadal.

At the moment, Federer is still considered the greatest. Djokovic will probably take this label from him - a shame, as I'd rather watch Federer (or Laver) any time.

Laver couldn't play slams for 4 years at the peak of his career. He won the slam the year before he turned pro and he won the slam the first year back in the open era.
 


Seagull58

In the Algarve
Jan 31, 2012
8,516
Vilamoura, Portugal
He is pretty much unbeatable right now, on most surfaces. I would be amazed if he didn't match Federer's 17 Grand Slam wins - and he's already caught Laver.

Laver was brilliant for his time - a simpler, more sedate time - but who knows how he'd have fared in the more brutal game that exists now?

And you haven't mentioned Sampras or Nadal.

At the moment, Federer is still considered the greatest. Djokovic will probably take this label from him - a shame, as I'd rather watch Federer (or Laver) any time.

Laver's 200 singles titles are the most in tennis history, and he holds the all-time male singles records of 22 titles in a single season (1962) and seven consecutive years (1964–70) winning at least 10 titles per season. He excelled on all of the court surfaces of his time: grass, clay, hard, carpet, and wood/parquet.

Despite being banned from playing the Grand Slam tournaments for the five years prior to the Open Era, he still won 11 singles titles because he is the only player to twice achieve the calendar-year Grand Slam, in 1962 and 1969, and remains the only man to do so during the Open Era. He also won eight Pro Slam titles, including the calendar year Pro "Grand Slam"[12][13] in 1967, and contributed to five Davis Cup titles for Australia during an age when Davis Cup was deemed as significant as the Grand Slams

Add his 8 pro slams and he has 19 slam titles!
 


Questions

Habitual User
Oct 18, 2006
25,511
Worthing
Never base greatness on prize money Tom. He's good but in no era since I've been watching since the late 60's would he have been the best.
 


Seasidesage

New member
May 19, 2009
4,467
Brighton, United Kingdom
That's odd, looks more like a serial winner to me...

ATP Prize Money Leaders (US$)
Rankings Date: Jan 18, 2016
Money
Rank Player Career YTD Singles Doubles
1 Federer, Roger $97,341,456 $37,900 $37,900 $0
2 Djokovic, Novak $94,251,218 $201,165 $201,165 $0
3 Nadal, Rafael $75,997,140 $109,015 $105,940 $3,075
4 Sampras, Pete $43,280,489 $0 $0 $0
5 Murray, Andy $42,435,316 $0 $0 $0
6 Agassi, Andre $31,152,975 $0 $0 $0

Not bad for a gawky ginger Scottish kid eh?

Plenty of prize money, not a lot of Grand slams. Lots of losing finals though, like 5 of the last 6 Australian Opens for example?
 




BadFish

Huge Member
Oct 19, 2003
18,207
Never base greatness on prize money Tom. He's good but in no era since I've been watching since the late 60's would he have been the best.

The point is that comings second doesn't make you a loser. A serial runner up, maybe but that is a far cry from being a loser.
 












Seasidesage

New member
May 19, 2009
4,467
Brighton, United Kingdom
Enough to make him one of the most successful sportsmen these islands have ever produced.

Sad that you consider him a perennial loser when he has achieved so much.

Tennis is an irrelevance to me, all about the anti English stance and the Portugal shirt, I see no reason to forgive or indeed to support the guy ever since. To be fair I also like to see Scotland lose at just about anything really...
 




Pogue Mahone

Well-known member
Apr 30, 2011
10,949
Tennis is an irrelevance to me, all about the anti English stance and the Portugal shirt, I see no reason to forgive or indeed to support the guy ever since. To be fair I also like to see Scotland lose at just about anything really...

The anti-English stance was a joke. The sort of friendly joke that you would have with any Scottish friend in the pub. To take it seriously, as you obviously do, is pathetic, really. Lighten up.
 




nicko31

Well-known member
Jan 7, 2010
18,580
Gods country fortnightly
The anti-English stance was a joke. The sort of friendly joke that you would have with any Scottish friend in the pub. To take it seriously, as you obviously do, is pathetic, really. Lighten up.

Well I thought that until he little remark about Scottish Independence. He must remember everything he has won is in the name of GB, never for Scotland
 






vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,273
Andy Murray is very good at what he does, it enables him to have a very good living. The beauty of Tennis is... it usually all starts again on a Monday morning.
 


matthew

Well-known member
Sep 20, 2009
2,413
Ovingdean, United Kingdom
THE greatest ever? He's got a fair way to go to overhaul Federer and Laver in my book.

I would say Laver's the only one you can debate about if he surpasses Fed.

12 of Federer's grand slams came before 2007 when Roddick was his main rival and he had to beat players like Safin and Baghdatis in grand slam finals.
 


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