Roger Federer Wins His 14th Grand Slam:

I meant to start this thread yesterday before the Men's Final of the French Open at Roland Garros, but something came up on short notice.

Anyway, what do you guys think of his win? Do you think that all this new talk that he is now the greatest tennis player ever to play the game is justified?

He managed to accomplish a lot with this win. He completed his Career Grand Slam (and joined only 5 other men to do so as well), and as the title says, he tied Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles (who has never won at Roland Garros BTW).

Personally I thought it was only a matter of time. I've been following him ever since he played juniors, and he has always been a pleasure to watch. He truly is a class act, and always humble and honest in his opinions. I also find that it is more enjoyable to watch him play as a number 2 seed rather than being the top seed. People tend to call me a front-runner much less now.

I think that nobody deserved winning yesterday more than Federer. Congratz to a true champion.

PS - I love how all the talk about him being in a slump and speculation about maybe calling it quits has now disappeared and the sports pundits are all singing another tune.

I think that the game of tennis has gained tremendously from the rivalry between Federer and Nadal (in fact, any rivalry is a good one for the sport in my opinion). It makes one want to watch and see what happens. It wouldn't be any fun if one man dominated everything (well, at least not all of the time!)

BTW, just to be clear, I personally don't think that Federer is the 'best' simply because I don't buy into that kind of rhetoric. I think that it is enough to say that he is one of the best that has ever played the game. Anything more than that, and it's all subjective. Best in what? People have many different definitions for that word ya know.

Quoted

Originally posted by ^Rhino^

CO has a good point, Sampras did it against some really great players.

Maybe, but don't forget that Federer played against Sampras in early 2001 I think and beat him. At the time, that ended a few streaks that Sampras had going for him. They also played in an exhibition game a few years ago where Federer won as well. Now I know that Federer is playing doing his prime, and Sampras isn't, but it does put things into perspective a little.

He also played against Agassi several times and has won most of the time (I think he only lost the first time that he played with him).

I also contest the idea that if you don't have several Grand Slam titles, then you are not a good player. Players such as Djokovic, Nalbandian, Haas, are all great players that could hang with any past tennis champions. And Federer has played consistently against pretty much all.

Don't forget that as the sport advances, so too do the players. Players today have a much faster serve on average, they are stronger, faster, etc.

So while stats paints a broad picture, it certainly isn't the only thing that determines who is a great player or not. Federer as well as other players also have a way of using immense stress and pressure to their advantage. They seem to excel instead of crack under those certain situations. And I think that the stats don't account for that.

Rhino, I think that he has that opportunity in a few weeks at Wimbledon before the US Open later this year.

Yep, watched the whole thing, it was a great match and Roddick put up a great fight. Federer didn't break him until the very end which put him ahead 2 games to win the last and final 5th set. It's crazy how even though statistically Roddick played a better game, Federer still manages to win the match.

If I were a tennis commentator (which I'm not), I would attribute that to Roddick's horrible 2nd serve win percentage. I guess he relies too much on the shock-and-awe power of his 1st serve, and if he faults, he becomes too conservative on his 2nd serve. That and the fact that Federer almost like never loses tie-breaks I guess.

I still think that Roddick played a better game, and from the look of things, the crowd agreed by being behind Andy more of the time.

Congratz to all for a great match.

PS - Thread title edited.

PPS - Roger will now be ranked #1 again with this win.