G.O.A.T Status

by **jayl0ve** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 07:12

I'm not sure if I've ever seen a thread about this. Who do you think is the greatest of all time?

by **djgazzabhoy** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:46

I'm going to say pete sampras , only for the fact that roger federer is a nobcheese.

Totally Loves himself , just can't stand people like that;)

by **bergkamptheone** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 14:21

I don't know much about tennis, but has Agassi been such a great player? At least, his complexion is/was awful... :lol:

by **PahelJDilla** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:26

bergkamptheone wrote:I don't know much about tennis, but has Agassi been such a great player? At least, his complexion is/was awful...

He's accomplished the career slam and won the Olympic gold medal in 96...but yeah, he's never been as dominant as a, say, Federer, Sampras or Borg.

by **Rob ITST** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:16

Anything Agassi was lacking in natural talent was made up for off the court. Going from an arrogant punk to the most charitable athlete in all of sports separates him from everyone else. He's not the G.O.A.T., but he's one of the best.

by **TeeAl** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:40

Rob wrote:Anything Agassi was lacking in natural talent was made up for off the court. Going from an arrogant punk to the most charitable athlete in all of sports separates him from everyone else. He's not the G.O.A.T., but he's one of the best.

I totally agree with you but I think Sampras is the greatest player of all time. Why I didn't pick federer? Look at the rivals Sampras had. Edberg, Becker, Courier, Ivanisevic and of course Agassi. And Federer? Nadal on clay, ok but what about Roddick, Davidenko?? Djokovic seems to be the next one but we will see.
I still remember the great matches Sampras played against Agassi f.e. so I think it was harder for Sampras than it is now for Federer. But Federer is still playing so we will see what happens in the future

by **jayl0ve** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:15

I picked Sampras not really for his Slam dominance and the amount of time he spent at #1, but because I think besides all that he's just the most naturally gifted person to ever pick up a racquet. Raw power, lightning-quick reflexes, best serve of all time, best half-volley of all time, best running forehand of all time, best 2nd serve of all time...and all with a 85 sq. inch racquet strung at 70 lbs!

by **Rob ITST** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:52

jayl0ve wrote:and all with a 85 sq. inch racquet strung at 70 lbs!

Federer used to use the same raquet as Sampras. Now Sampras uses the same racquet as Federer.

Sampras said he would have done much better at the French if he had the 90 sq. inch during his career. He switched to it right after he won the 2002 U.S. Open and Paul Annacone said he was playing much better with it. Too bad he never played another tour match after that; I would have liked to see what a difference it made.

by **jayl0ve** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:59

Yeah I know Federer used to use Pete's racquet. I think Federer should have a 'French Open' racquet that he only uses for clay courts...maybe 95 or 100 sq inches.

by **jayl0ve** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:02

100-105, I mean.

by **jayl0ve** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:06

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aLzbXvh64sY

In case anybody's interested, that's Rod Laver playing Bjorn Borg in an exhibition (Laver is near 50 years old). I'm guessing that most people here have never even seen a clip of Laver playing, so I thought I'd enlighten a few people. You can kind of see where Federer got his steez from.

by **Rob ITST** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:06

The one thing pro's don't like to change though is racquets. 99% of them use the same racquet their entire careers. Even when you think they've switched, it's usually just a paint job.

by **jayl0ve** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:08

I know...I think I got that idea because McEnroe suggested it, or something. Forgot who it was.

by **SundanceKid** » Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:26

i don't think you can compare players, who don't play most of the time on the tour concurrently.

i'm sure you all know there was only one match in wimbledon between sampras and federer. federer won that big game in 5 sets. but sampras already was in autumn of his career and federer still at the beginning. so it's difficult to compare.

but for me it's to easy to say, federer has too less rivals. davydenko, nadal, roddick, djokovic, haas......are playing good tennis. but federer is simpley better. that's the reason for me, why it seems he hasn't big rivals.

if you look at the names, of course sampras had much more rivals. agassi, becker, kafelnikov, edberg, courier, martin...........most of them are grand slam winners.

so i would say, sampras was the king of the 90's and federer is the king today. but i don't wanna compare both, coz you must not forget the deployment of tennis.

if the 26 year old sampras would play vs federer of today, federer would win, i'm sure.

by **Squilari** » Tue, 02 Oct 2007 02:07

I think Jimmy Connors is the best of all times.
105 titles !!!!
My gosh....nobody will reach that mark,ever.

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