Thread: Tennis!

The GOAT discussion is interesting. Nadal and Federer have pretty clearly established themselves as the two best ever in my opinion. Federer has more overall success, but Nadal has dominated him head to head most of their careers. I prefer Nadal but I'm admittedly biased there.

I'd pick Fed over Nadal in the GOAT discussion, but I like them both and do think they're 1a and 1b.

GOATs (that I have seen) in no particular order.
Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick.

Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Maria Sharapova.

Jimmy Conners. Just caught the end of his career. He was great. Stefan Edberg was ending his career around then too.

Players I didn’t really get to see, Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Ilie Nastese.

I don't think roddick is in that class. He had a nice career, but I'd put him in the second tier historically. He just had too short of a run being at the top of the tennis world and just didn't have the same level of success winning Grand Slams as those other guys.

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

I don't think roddick is in that class. He had a nice career, but I'd put him in the second tier historically. He just had too short of a run being at the top of the tennis world and just didn't have the same level of success winning Grand Slams as those other guys.

Troll successful.

I wouldn't put Roddick or Murray in the same class. They're tier 2. Sustained greatness is needed to be tier 1.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

Troll successful.

How am I trolling? I liked Roddick, but he only won one Grand Slam and never even made it past the 4th round of the French Open. To be such a non factor on one of the 3 major surfaces and to only have one title makes it hard for me to put you in the top tier historically. He was a very good player, but you have to draw the GOAT line somewhere, and it's hard for me to put him over that line.

Originally Posted by aberdien

I wouldn't put Roddick or Murray in the same class. They're tier 2. Sustained greatness is needed to be tier 1.

Agreed. Murray is borderline, and I think has a slightly better case than Roddick, but I'd put them both slightly short of that top tier.

So when how good was Pete Sampras? In the 90's he had a big buzz - is he argubaly GOAT? From what little I watched of tennis, I want blistering serves and a brutal power game. I'm a simple man.

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

How am I trolling? I liked Roddick, but he only won one Grand Slam and never even made it past the 4th round of the French Open. To be such a non factor on one of the 3 major surfaces and to only have one title makes it hard for me to put you in the top tier historically. He was a very good player, but you have to draw the GOAT line somewhere, and it's hard for me to put him over that line.

I trolled you, and it is working spectacularly.

Originally Posted by King87

So when how good was Pete Sampras? In the 90's he had a big buzz - is he argubaly GOAT? From what little I watched of tennis, I want blistering serves and a brutal power game. I'm a simple man.

Yes he's right up there. Had the record for most Grand Slam titles until Federer broke it. He had similar struggles on clay as Roddick but he was so much more overwhelming dominant on the other two surfaces it makes up for it.

Originally Posted by King87

So when how good was Pete Sampras? In the 90's he had a big buzz - is he argubaly GOAT? From what little I watched of tennis, I want blistering serves and a brutal power game. I'm a simple man.

He is the second greatest grass player of all time.

It’s hard to place him at the top of the greats list because he could never win at the French (clay), and therefore doesn’t have the career slam.

Originally Posted by MOtorboat

I trolled you, and it is working spectacularly.

Huh, odd trolling attempt since I liked Roddick as well.

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

Huh, odd trolling attempt since I liked Roddick as well.

Oh, good grief. Laugh, Wave. I put him there specifically because we’ve had that conversation. He doesn’t belong amongst those people.