Take Your Shot!!

[Smooth Operator]

Well, there's the career slam for the great Swiss. Only the sixth player in history to turn that trick if I'm not mistaken.

Couple that impressive achievement with the 14 Slam titles and I think we can safely hoist a cold one to the greatest player ever to step onto a tennis court...

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

Well, there's the career slam for the great Swiss. Only the sixth player in history to turn that trick if I'm not mistaken.

Couple that impressive achievement with the 14 Slam titles and I think we can safely hoist a cold one to the greatest player ever to step onto a tennis court...

He beats a healthy Nadal on clay, I call him the greatest of all time.

imo...
1. Borg
2. Sampras
3. The Crying Swede

[Gander]

I dont know how you can put Sampras over Federer. He never came close to winning the French Open. His best showing there was 1 semifinal. He in fact only won 2 tournaments ever on clay, 1 of them being the Italian Open, which was pretty significant, the other a US Clay tournament which isnt really a significant win at all.

Federer has reached at least the semis in the last 20 Grand Slam events. Hes went on to the finals in 19 of those. Of those 19 finals hes lost to only 1 player- Nadal, and won 14 of them. His only galring weakness is very obvious...his bad record in head to heads against Nadal. But he still has time to win 2 or 3 key matches against Nadal (preferrably at the French) to make that go away.

Greatest ever? A judgement call but to put Sampras over Federer just plain nuts.

Nadal has those pesky knee problems. He won't be the GOAT. Fed is.

Originally Posted by Gander

Greatest ever? A judgement call but to put Sampras over Federer just plain nuts.

I prefer guys that cry when its something that
matters. Like your lifetime coach dying.
My hangup. I am obviously ranking Federer
based on his personality.

I personally think Nadal is much more
gracious and mentally mature.
Roger wears underwear with his initials.
Reminds me of a spoiled rich kid sent off
to boarding school with a monogramed blazer.

I feel like Coach Pants...

[Gander]

Originally Posted by pgardn

I prefer guys that cry when its something that
matters. Like your lifetime coach dying.
My hangup. I am obviously ranking Federer
based on his personality.

I personally think Nadal is much more
gracious and mentally mature.
Roger wears underwear with his initials.
Reminds me of a spoiled rich kid sent off
to boarding school with a monogramed blazer.

I feel like Coach Pants...

Well I am an Agassi fan over all of them. But I wouldnt let the crying ruin Federer. Hes a good guy, may be too much sometime with the crying (specifically at Wimbledon last year) but he sure beats that ******* Roddick in the likeablity dept. And its not really his fault that Nadal couldnt make it to the final. To me this tournament is what he needed to win to be put above Sampras. Before this, him and Sampras were equal. He'll have close to 20 majors when its all said and done.

On another note, Nadal only needs the US Open to complete his slam and I think he'll have 10-12 when hes done playing.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Gander

Well I am an Agassi fan over all of them. But I wouldnt let the crying ruin Federer. Hes a good guy, may be too much sometime with the crying (specifically at Wimbledon last year) but he sure beats that ******* Roddick in the likeablity dept. And its not really his fault that Nadal couldnt make it to the final. To me this tournament is what he needed to win to be put above Sampras. Before this, him and Sampras were equal. He'll have close to 20 majors when its all said and done.

On another note, Nadal only needs the US Open to complete his slam and I think he'll have 10-12 when hes done playing.

loved andre, haven't watched much at all since he retired. hard to put any player over federer at this point-even sampras. for some reason, pete could never put it together on clay. i always thought he threw in the towel too soon on his career, otherwise roger wouldn't have tied him-yet.

[Smooth Operator]

Originally Posted by pgardn

He beats a healthy Nadal on clay, I call him the greatest of all time.

imo...
1. Borg
2. Sampras
3. The Crying Swede

Not sure who "The Crying Swede" is, pgardn ... but the great Swiss just threw a straight set whoppin' at the guy who beat Nadal in the tournament.

[Smooth Operator]

Also a big Agassi fan

By the way, pretty sure Andre said that he felt Fed was better than Pete. That opinion is good enough for me. Believe Fed whipped a somewhat diminished Sampras on the court too.

The only case that can be made for Pete now that Fed has the career slam is that, in general, he probably had to face tougher competition.

Borg was clearly a great clay and grass-courter, but Mac and Jimmy exposed him in NY.

Gotta read some more about Laver, but the fact that he won the calendar slam twice is super impressive as it's clearly one of the most difficult things to achieve in all of sports.

[Gander]

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

Also a big Agassi fan

By the way, pretty sure Andre said that he felt Fed was better than Pete. That opinion is good enough for me. Believe Fed whipped a somewhat diminished Sampras on the court too.

The only case that can be made for Pete now that Fed has the career slam is that, in general, he probably had to face tougher competition.

Borg was clearly a great clay and grass-courter, but Mac and Jimmy exposed him in NY.

Gotta read some more about Laver, but the fact that he won the calendar slam twice is super impressive as it's clearly one of the most difficult things to achieve in all of sports.

The competition thing is always speculative. Not saying I dont agree with it, because in Pete's case, I do. But Nadal is every bit the player that anybody Pete had to play. I would compare him with Agassi. Djokovich is no slouch either, on his best day he can be compared with a Courier...I wouldnt go as far as putting Djokovich with Edberg or Becker but hes not bad.

Roger has a lot of creampuffs he routinely beats like Roddick, Blake, Soderling, etc...but then again so did Pete.

At the end of the day I just dont see how a case can possibly be made for Sampras over Federer. Even if Federer stopped playing today, and thats not going to happen. Realistically, Federer will have 6-8 more majors than Pete by the time this is over and is a much, much better player on clay. Not even close.

Originally Posted by Smooth Operator

Not sure who "The Crying Swede" is, pgardn ... but the great Swiss just threw a straight set whoppin' at the guy who beat Nadal in the tournament.

I thought of this mistake whilst fishing.

So we will call him Swiss Cheese.