After the French Open, there are two more Grand Slams to be had this year – and debate has raged on. But no, we will never know, even the question allows us to think about the careers of these great players.
After the French Open, there are two more Grand Slams to be had this year – and debate has raged on. But no, we will never know, even the question allows us to think about the careers of these great players.
Stories are the lifeblood of a game. They shape a fan’s engagement with the sport, provide a hook for his or her passion, maintain deep emotional investment and create space for bets ahead of time. If Lionel Messi can lead Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar this December, he will be a greater footballer than the late Diego Maradona.
But the narratives are also playful, selfish, and often premeditated. They are neither objective nor fully quantifiable and do not provide room for luck, chance and risk. They are a pro’s flight of fancy to overcome the uncertainty of the game. Had Gonzalo Higuain buried his gilt-edge chance in the 2014 World Cup final against Germany, Messi would already have been a bigger footballer than Maradona.
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic
In tennis, the pet legend of this generation of fans is to name one of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as the greatest men’s singles player of all time. After all, this is an era unlike any other in men’s tennis history. Starting with the 2005 French Open, the trio dominated 57 of the 67 Grand Slam tournaments, bolstering the argument that it should be the biggest of them all.
They hold the top three positions for most Grand Slam match-wins, with over 300 wins each, and are also in the top five for most ATP Tour titles won. Therefore, there is a desire to build a historical time machine, compare the figures between the three and with old champions like Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras and separate the great from the great.
it’s been boiling ever since Nadal equals Federer’s then record of 20 majors Winning the 2020 French Open, almost bubbled up when Djokovic came within a match of winning his 21st Grand Slam title in New York last year and exploded in Australia earlier this season when Nadal claimed his 21st. With three more Slams (including the current French Open) still underway in 2022, and all three still active, it is unlikely that it will end anytime soon.
comparison over time
But the comparison within the contemporary and between the contemporary and the historical comes with its own pitfalls. Records are certainly indicative, but away from context and perspective, they are often misleading. For one, there isn’t a single field for comparison. If winning Grand Slam titles is the only measure of greatness, how does it square off with the fact that the great Pancho Gonzales was denied (from 1950 to 1967) the opportunity to compete in them as he turned professional in an amateur sport? went. until the open era begins in 1968?
Eight-time Slam winner and former world No. 1 Jimmy Connors did not attend Roland-Garros from 1974 to 1978 – its peak year – after being banned from the 1974 edition because of his association with world team tennis, Billie Jean King A professional league started by That year, Connors won another three Slams. Fellow top players also regularly skipped the Australian Open, which was held at the end of the year until 1985, in today’s coveted start-of-the-season slot.
Then there is the depth of the field and the non-overlapping nature of the players’ peaks. Considered by many to be the greatest of all time, Laver won six of his 11 majors as an amateur, even with similar greats in Ken Roswell and Gonzales trading their way on the professional circuit. Federer won 12 of his 20 majors before the end of 2007, a time when Djokovic was yet to come and Nadal was just about to find a foothold outside the red clay of Paris.
It cannot be denied that advances in string and racquet techniques have benefited players of the modern era, compared to their counterparts of the 1960s and 70s, who played with wooden racquets, which had a much smaller sweetness. The place was Improved nutrition, training and recovery techniques have allowed today’s stars to play longer. Still, how can one measure up to Federer and Nadal’s resilience, consistency, big match nerve and infinite appetite for the game over two decades?
Borg, who won all 11 of his Majors in a spectacular seven-year window from 1974 to 1981, still holds victories partly because he retired at the slightest sign of decline. But should it rank higher than Federer’s late-career talent and problem-solving abilities, which allowed him to add three more Majors in 2017 and 2018 for nearly five years without a win?
Another variable is the playing surface. Laver won nine of his 11 majors on grass, while Federer, Nadal and Djokovic made at least five finals or better in all four Slams in clay, grass and acrylic. Djokovic is, in fact, the only person to have won all four Majors, all nine ATP Masters 1000 and the year-end ATP Finals. However, a surface dominating the tour, as in the time of the layover, leads to more variation and a closely spaced area.
It is a fact that today’s courts are more homogeneous than ever, making them more accountable to all courts like Djokovic’s. For example, Wimbledon grass was much faster in the 1960s and 70s, thus the French Open (slow soil) and Wimbledon of Laver (1962 and ’69) and Borg (Nadal (2008 and 2010), Federer (2009) and Djokovic). (2021) versus 1978, ’79, ’80).
off the field
Sporting champions also come in a variety of colours, whose aura and significance extend far beyond the boundaries of the playing field. Arthur Ashe, a three-time majors champion and the only black man to win a singles title at the Australian Open, Wimbledon or the US Open, would easily outshine the trio of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic for the eloquent worker he calls for civil reasons. Were. rights, the anti-apartheid movement and AIDS awareness.
Going beyond tennis, the world may see a bigger sprinter than Usain Bolt, but Jamaica’s role in saving a discipline ravaged by multiple doping scandals will not be diminished. In football, the world can always debate who is the greatest among Pele, Maradona, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but it is the ideas of Dutch maestro Johan Cruyff that developed nearly five decades ago that are still driving the game. .
Same player, different time?
The debate over selecting the greatest player is also limited in that it not only looks at the past in the blink of an eye but also closes the door to potential greatness. Over the course of a decade and a half, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have continually developed their own strategies to match each other and add layers of intrigue to their rivalry. Is it fair to assume that no other player can copy the same?
“I think if I was playing today, I would have adapted my playing style to today’s needs,” said badminton legend Prakash Padukone sportstar Back in 2018. “People have a tendency to think, ‘Would he have survived now?’ In general I believe that champions in any sport in any era are successful because they know what was good at that time. It doesn’t mean that if I or anyone had to play now, So we play just like we played in the 1980s or 1970s.
“We adapted to what was required and found a way to win. It’s not just me. This applies to any sport. I would still use my strength. I would probably have been much stronger physically. I probably would have smashed more powerfully, would have gone faster.
“I don’t know how it would have evolved. But I would have found a way. If you can do it at the time, you can do it anytime.”
Then why is it that finding out who is the greatest is so binary, narrow and zero-sum still has appeal? At its best, it allows us to revisit the past and learn from it. In its worst form, an intellectually flawed embodiment, it offers an escape from the traps of the present. Despite the myths and illusions that blur reality, the ‘Greatest of All Time’ tag has an official ring to it.
Court is big
But players’ legacy and their place in the pecking order aren’t always determined by the results of the big moments. Nadal win over Djokovic Nothing told us more about his greatness than we already knew at Roland-Garros on Tuesday. Neither would the record-expanding 14th French Open and 22nd Grand Slam overall. While it would fit the story of his fans, his willingness to make his hero endure a bit more than the rest, against the overwhelming evidence that the world is large enough to hold every sports hero, past, present, and future.