Federer the best of all time...

As if he had anything left to prove by getting the french open title, Federer left no doubt. When people like Pete Sampras are calling you the best player ever, getting the elusive french open title (among 14 others) is like a gumdrop on top of a cupcake.

I missed the actual match as we were up at the lake... anyone see it? The paper said that he just took Soderling to school...

I missed it, too, but my husband watched it. I did see the first game, and you could tell Soderling was tight, nervous in his first final. Not to take anything away from Federer, but I think Soderling had some nerves at the beginning. My hub said that Federer played amazingly well, better than he's played in a while.

I'm glad he now has his career Grand Slam, but still a little sad now that Agassi wasn't the last one to achieve this.... the record was going to be broken sooner or later, and Federer should be the one to have done it.

If it was someone like James Blake or Andy Murray, I might not be too enthused, but it's hard not to like Federer... I dont think that being bested by the best top ever play the game does anything to tarnish Agassi's status as a legendary player.

Pez wrote:As if he had anything left to prove by getting the french open title, Federer left no doubt. When people like Pete Sampras are calling you the best player ever, getting the elusive french open title (among 14 others) is like a gumdrop on top of a cupcake.

I missed the actual match as we were up at the lake... anyone see it? The paper said that he just took Soderling to school...

It's funny that you mention this, because I saw this article today about that very topic:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2009-06-07-french-open-federer-debate_N.htm

The article says a lot of what I was thinking. He's a great player no doubt, but I don't know if I am ready to crown him as greatest ever. It's really difficult to make any comparison to past players, because tennis is half dependent on the opponent. The quote that really got me was this:

"Though no fault of his, some say Federer has had few great players to push him until Nadal, while Sampras battled numerous multiple major winners such as Agassi, Jim Courier, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Sergi Bruguera and Gustavo Kuerten."

You could likely make a similar argument for the era that included Conners, McEnroe, Lendl, and Borg. I think those guys played around the same time. Anyway, while I admit I'm not a big tennis buff, after Federer and Nadal, I can't think of any others that are active today.

And besides all that, he's not even currently ranked #1 in the world.

Would you take the word of Robson over McEnroe, Courier, Sampras and Aggassi? All of those guys have said Federer is the best ever... Watch 2-3 federer matches and there will be no doubt.

Seriously, if you are not watching tennis now you are missing the likes of Pele... and his career is only half over. Wimbledon starts in a few weeks... thats your chance ;-)

Pez wrote:Would you take the word of Robson over McEnroe, Courier, Sampras and Aggassi? All of those guys have said Federer is the best ever... Watch 2-3 federer matches and there will be no doubt.

Seriously, if you are not watching tennis now you are missing the likes of Pele... and his career is only half over. Wimbledon starts in a few weeks... thats your chance ;-)

To their credit, tennis has a history of being gracious. I don't think you will ever hear LeBron James or Kobe Bryant saying the other is the greatest. Okay, I'll check Wimbledon...

Not a huge tennis watcher but I did see some highlights of the French Open. How about that guy who came out onto the court during the match? It took security a good 10+ seconds to put the guy on the ground. I hope they roughed him up a little as they were detaining him. I can't believe Federer didn't wrap his raquet around the guy's head.

IrishGuy wrote:Not a huge tennis watcher but I did see some highlights of the French Open. How about that guy who came out onto the court during the match? It took security a good 10+ seconds to put the guy on the ground. I hope they roughed him up a little as they were detaining him. I can't believe Federer didn't wrap his raquet around the guy's head.

Whoa.... I didn't see that... Wasnt it Hingis that got stabbed?

Pez wrote:

IrishGuy wrote:Not a huge tennis watcher but I did see some highlights of the French Open. How about that guy who came out onto the court during the match? It took security a good 10+ seconds to put the guy on the ground. I hope they roughed him up a little as they were detaining him. I can't believe Federer didn't wrap his raquet around the guy's head.

Whoa.... I didn't see that... Wasnt it Hingis that got stabbed?

I thought it was Monica Seles...

I really liked Tennis when I was growing up in the 80s and early 90s, and I wouldn't have a hard time whatsoever naming you a dozen from that era. Now, like Markwes (I think), I'd be hard-pressed to name 5. It gets a little foggy after Nadal, Federer, and the Williams sisters.

But I'm also that way to an extent with Baseball. I could name you just about every player in the big leagues way back in the 80s. Now, it's pretty much centered around the Reds and a few of the teams they play on a consistent basis.

I think what happened is life got in the way. Girls, college, jobs, paying bills, kids etc found a way to replace the time I would have spent memorizing who played 3rd base for the 2002 Pittsburgh Pirates (by the way, Aaron Boone played 3rd for the '02 Reds), or which Tennis player won what event in 2003.

Cincy Fan 44 wrote:I really liked Tennis when I was growing up in the 80s and early 90s, and I wouldn't have a hard time whatsoever naming you a dozen from that era. Now, like Markwes (I think), I'd be hard-pressed to name 5. It gets a little foggy after Nadal, Federer, and the Williams sisters.

But I'm also that way to an extent with Baseball. I could name you just about every player in the big leagues way back in the 80s. Now, it's pretty much centered around the Reds and a few of the teams they play on a consistent basis.

I think what happened is life got in the way. Girls, college, jobs, paying bills, kids etc found a way to replace the time I would have spent memorizing who played 3rd base for the 2002 Pittsburgh Pirates (by the way, Aaron Boone played 3rd for the '02 Reds), or which Tennis player won what event in 2003.

I have the advantage of my wife being nearly as big a tennis fan as I am... perhaps more so... I dont see that life gets in the way of watching sports as much as I would see the other way 'round...

it was Seles... I stand corrected...

Pez wrote:

IrishGuy wrote:Not a huge tennis watcher but I did see some highlights of the French Open. How about that guy who came out onto the court during the match? It took security a good 10+ seconds to put the guy on the ground. I hope they roughed him up a little as they were detaining him. I can't believe Federer didn't wrap his raquet around the guy's head.

Whoa.... I didn't see that... Wasnt it Hingis that got stabbed?

Take yourself to youtube or espn and do a searchy, you won't believe it. A guy in a red cape and beret ran down the aisle of the stands, jumped onto the court and approached Federer as the other guy was getting ready to serve. At first Federer jumped a bit, as he was startled by the guy approaching him on the court. The guy the walked right up to Federer and put his beret on his head and started prancing around the court. It took a good 10 seconds before a security person was even seen on the court. Absolutely ridiculous. I'm really suprised that Federer didn't whack him with is raquet. This guy has some website that he was promoting with his stunt.

bump... Wimbledon next week...

Pez wrote:bump... Wimbledon next week...

Did I hear this correctly, Nadal is the #1 seed for Wimbledon? How is that? As I understand, Nadal is dominant on clay, and Federer is dominate on all surfaces besides clay. Plus Federer just won the French Open.

Wimbledon always has somewhat screwy seeding. Plus, Nadal won Wimbledon last year.

Agreed... I'm not 100% sure how it works, but I think the Wimbledon seedings are somewhat more subjective than most... in this case they are probably torn between Nadal and Federer and the fact that Nadal is the defending champion seeds him at #1...

The put Sharapova at #24... I see he making a run for another title this year.

Just heard on the radio Nadal is out for Wimbledon.

I'm bummed...