Can One Player Really Be Called 'The' GOAT?

Tennis today is so technically advanced it cannot be compared to the games of even a mere 20 years ago. Tennis has traveled far from its humble beginnings. 

Gone are the casual forehands and volley’s of a gentle game played on grass by women wearing long skirts and hats, and men in long pants and white shirts.

The wood rackets of the past are a far cry from the super charged graphite rackets of today’s game.  Even the color of the ball has changed so that it’s easier to see. These advanced rackets are strung with highly engineered polyester strings;  strings that help make the impossible shots possible.

So with all the advancements in the game, how can we say which player is 'the' GOAT?  Each era produced amazing players for their time and the type of game tennis was then. 

You can’t say that big Bill Tilden’s game wasn’t as good as Rod Laver’s, it was simply different.  Roger Federer has had an unbelievable run but what if you put a wooden racket and a white tennis ball in his hand, would he have beat Borg or Connor on clay or grass?

What about Margaret Court's game versus Billie Jean King? How would you compare their achievements in tennis with Martina Navratilova or Chris Evert?  Steffi Graff had an fabulous record in tennis.  The Williams sisters are the strongest women's in the WTA now that Justine Heninhas retired after her fabulous run.  I dare anyone to say that these women's accomplishments aren't as important and GOAT worthy as their male counterparts.

The title Greatest Player Of All Time is to subjective to be given to just one player. Respecting all the tennis greats, both men and women, that have come and will eventually go, it would be impossible and unjust to rate them against each other. 

I believe that Henry Lacoste would be thrilled with the clay court game of Rafael Nadal.  Rafa’s game would not have been possible back in the early matches at Roland Garros.  How can you compare Nadal to Borg, the technology is so different. They are both champions on the terre battue.   

Fred Perry might have said that Pete Sampras and Roger Federer have taken his beloved Wimbledon to a new level.  Perry would have been right, but it is a different game now then back in Perry’s day.

I don’t believe that anyone who is striving for the title of GOAT is ever going to completely own that title.  As long as people from bygone eras are around to remember their version of the greatest match ever played, then the GOAT is a mute point.

The GOAT lives on in the heart and mindset of each fan in each era.  I will always cherish the matches I grew up watching. With such tennis champions like McEnroe, Connor and Borg, the game seemed at its height of tennis mastery.

You have to love today’s rivalries with Nadal, Federer, and Murray. These players bring a new meaning to “You Can’t Be Serious!”

Rod Laver is right.  Today’s game is so different from his time in the tennis limelight that there cannot be just one GOAT.  Perhaps they should award a GOAT title to one player from each era and not the game it self.

Amazing records will come and go.  The record holders will be revered for their accomplishments and the game of tennis will evolve.  Today we have Federer trying to match Sampras’ record of 14 slams.  We have Nadal going into Roland Garros with the hope of bringing home a never done before, 5th consecutive title. 

The number and types of tennis records we already have make a very long list.  Let’s enjoy those records and let the GOAT’s graze naturally in their timely pasture of grass, clay or asphalt.