So the dust has settled and Switzerland's Roger Federer has achieved an unprecedented 15 Grand Slam titles, overtaking Pete Sampras' previous best of 14. Federer can also lay claim to the fact that he has won all four of the Grand Slams, something only five others have done in the history of the game. Finally, he also holds the record for most consecutive weeks as the world's number one, 237. With all this in mind, surely he is the greatest of all time...
While there are several reasons to suggest he is the greatest, there is one over-riding argument against it- Rafael Nadal is better. So, despite reclaiming top spot from his Spanish nemesis with that victory at Wimbledon, until he overcomes Nadal, doubts will persist as to his true claim to be the best ever.
The rankings are currently giving a false reading, depending on injuries and various other quirks of the points scoring system, take note of the Williams' sisters bizarrely being ranked below Safina in the women's list.
It is highly unlikely we would even be talking about Federer's feats had Nadal stayed fit for the last two Grand Slams. The Mallorca born Nadal would undoubtedly have won the French, something he had done for the previous four years beating Federer en route to victory on each occasion, but for a knee injury curtailing his progress early on in the tournament. Admittedly Federer was there to pick up the pieces but he has never even come close to defeating Nadal on clay, with the exception of a fortuitous win in Hamburg two years ago.
When we look at the previous three Wimbledon's too, we notice a pattern. Remember, this is Federer's strongest surface- in 2007 he came through to win the title against Nadal in somewhat fortunate circumstances, Rafa was on top until a knee injury prevented him from performing at his best for the final dozen or so games and Roger managed to take full advantage. In 2008, Nadal outplayed his opponent and probably played the best match of not only his life, but displayed arguably the greatest tennis performance in the history of the game to beat Federer in that memorable final. And then to 2009, Federer has been on the wane for the previous 12 months and his record against Nadal getting ever worse. Their current head to head in Grand Slams stands at 9-6 in the Spaniard's favour, winning five of the last six meetings. But those statistics are put into greater perspective when we look at their head to head in Grand Slams where Nadal leads 5-2, winning the last three in a row. So it is difficult to imagine Federer winning this year's Wimbledon with a fully fit Nadal in opposition.
The 2009 competition contained some exciting matches that enthralled the crowd as much any other Wimbledon in previous years but the overall quality was probably at its lowest since 2003. Can you really imagine Andy Roddick pushing Nadal to five sets and to 14 all in the final set? Can you really imagine a fully fit Nadal only breaking the American's serve once in nearly 40 games as Federer managed in that final?
This is not to say that Federer cannot do something about it. Should he dispel the myth that Nadal has the Indian sign over him and actually beat him in a fair contest in the future and perhaps improve his record against him then he could defintitely be the unequivocally claimed as the greatest. It is just that I highly doubt that he will do that. Nadal's career, when his knees are strong enough, has been on a permanent upward curve whilst Federer's has actually been in decline for about two years now, and unless he can rediscover that forehand that used to be so deadly I do not even know of he will win any more slams at all.
Much, of course, depends on Nadal's long term fitness. Basically, there are two realistic possibilities, either Nadal never fully recovers and Federer collects a few more Slams but in the shadow of Nadal's absence or Nadal will continue to overpower his Swiss opponent. Either way, Federer's claim to be the greatest will always be overshadowed by Nadal.
Can the world's greatest ever player be the second best player in the world?
