Nine years ago I considered it likely that we’d see tennis played at a higher level that what even Sampras had produced. This would have been natural, as technology is constantly improving and technique consistently evolving.
What we didn’t expect was to see a player of equal dominance in a game that was constantly becoming deeper and more competitive.
In fact, Federer has been more dominant than any player of the Open Era, reaching 20 major finals—including every one between the 2005 Roland Garros and 2008 Australian Open—and 21 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals.
Until this spring, the only advantages Sampras had might have been in tight matches and in his ability to keep winning despite not playing his best. Federer erased both of those doubts in Paris, rallying from both a two-set deficit and a two-sets-to-one hole to win the only major missing from his collection. Those matches, coupled with his epic Wimbledon final win, showed him to be a warrior—albeit an elegant one.
All respect to Sampras—and to Bjorn Borg, who might have a more compelling case had he not given up so young—but Federer’s only true competition lies with the pre-Open Era greats, before Grand Slams became the measuring stick.
In terms of domination and influence, there will never be another Bill Tilden, to whom we owe the very existence of the professional tennis player, and who at one point in his career won 56 consecutive games against the top competition of the day. That’s the equivalent of three triple-bagels in a row.
When is comes to dominance and competitive fire, tennis will never have another Pancho Gonzales, who was the game’s best for eight uninterrupted years, and who more than one expert—Bud Collins and Jimmy Connors included—have said is the one man they’d want playing for them if their lives were on the line.
And in terms of the gaudiness of his achievements, Rod Laver stands alone, having won the complete Grand Slam twice and captured 198 singles titles overall.
It isn’t fair that we compare their standards of play, as Roger Federer has decades’ worth of technology and technical knowledge to his advantage. It also isn’t fair that we ask Federer to equal the achievements of those greats—their schedules weren’t nearly as intense as his, and the idea that a top player should be vulnerable in the early rounds of an event is a relatively new one.
Someday, and maybe sooner than we think, young tennis fans around the world will be counting down the points as another amazing athlete besieges Federer’s record. It will be then be time to judge that player’s accomplishments in their proper context and properly recalibrating our assessments.
But for now, in the eyes of this Sampras fan, Roger Federer is the greatest of the Open Era.
Many thanks to Maryam for the graphic.
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