Wimbledon - Reed: Federer seals greatest status

Eurosport - Mon, 06 Jul 18:59:00 2009

Eurosport-Yahoo! blogger Simon Reed believes that in winning his 15th Grand Slam title, Roger Federer deserves to be called the greatest player of all time.

TENNIS 2009 Wimbledon Roger Federer - 0

I believe that Roger Federer should be called the greatest player that has ever lived after his 15th Grand Slam title, beating Pete Sampras's record.

Federer has done absolutely everything required of him, having won such a huge quantity of titles, and on every surface at that.

Sampras, to his credit, was very quick after the match to acknowledge that Federer is the greatest player to have lived, and you would be hard pressed to disagree.

Rod Laver missed seven years of his career when he would most probably have won many more majors, but it will not stop people ranking the top players.

Laver did have two real Grand Slams to his name - i.e. winning all four Slams in a year, and that has to count for a lot, despite taking fewer titles in total.

What can be said with absolute certainty is that Federer is the best player since Laver, and nobody can argue with that.

It must have been shattering for Roddick, because he was so brave throughout the match, and he was always firmly in the contest.

When it got to 9-9 and 10-10 in the final set, it was the American who was making the chances and he was desperately unlucky to lose at the end of it.

Roddick will be left to rue that second set tie-break when he was leading 6-2 and let it slip from his grasp. If he had won that breaker, I do not think he would have lost the match.

It took until the end of the second set for Federer to find his form, and Roddick would have taken the match had it continued in that manner.

With the match level at 1-1, Federer then becomes the favourite again, and from that point on, Roddick was always fighting to retain parity.

I think he will remember that backhand volley he had on set point for the rest of his life: it is very sad for him, it will stay with him forever.

I sensed that Roddick was tiring and Federer had the edge from about 15 minutes before the end, and I think the Swiss picked up on that.

As it turned out, Roddick did crack, but I do not think it was mental as he is so strong, I just think he was very worn out physically.

From 1-1, I felt that Federer always had the edge, but there was the odd point in the fifth set when I fancied that Roddick might squeeze it: it was incredibly tight.

I do not think that the match was actually that thrilling for the spectators until the final set, at which point it became terrific entertainment.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen the fifth set go to a tie-break, as you can certainly stretch a good thing too far.

The problem is, Wimbledon will always be reluctant to change.

You have to say, that was probably Roddick's last chance at winning Wimbledon, and that is a great shame for all his efforts.

I think the American could still win a US Open, and his performance against Andy Murray was even better than today: it was a stunning effort.

I am unsure about Federer: fatherhood may change his mental approach to tennis having achieved so much, but it is impossible to say for sure.

---

The women's final was unfortunately a very poor match, which was not thrilling by anyone's reckoning.

It really needed a stunning contest to ignite the crowd's enthusiasm, but the match drifted away before the spectators could really get into it.

I believe that Serena Williams is the better player, and she is up there as one of the best players ever.

Venus is probably better on this surface and I would expect her to win more Wimbledon titles, but Serena is an astonishing talent.

It was a shame that the final was uninspiring, but both Williams sisters can be proud of having dominated yet another tournament at SW19.

Simon Reed / Eurosport

Comment 248 - 267 of 267

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  1. To Post 267.
    You are right. Mr Reed is continuously and­ unashamedly contradicting himself, except as far as A.­ Murray is concerned.

    From thabo m, on Thu 9 Jul 10:19AM
  2. I agree with some of the comments posted. Many tennis­ greats like Mcenroe, Sampras, Agassi and Bjorg have­ themselves said the RF is the greatest and now its not­ a matter of opinion, there's good hard evidence the­ he is. 15 grandslams, we'll just have to wait and­ see what number he can set for others to try. Good ­ luck Roger.

    From rap_kash, on Wed 8 Jul 10:25PM
  3. If Andy Murray had won wimbledon Simon Reed would of­ said he was the greatest.Roger is of course the best­ ever and always will be.Good luck roger.

    From AJ, on Wed 8 Jul 3:13PM
  4. Mr Reed, 5th Set tie break!!! Would you have said that­ if Murray was playing against Roddick, I think not!! ­ There are posts on this forum which show a greater­ knowledge and perspective on the tournament than your­ mostly xenophobic and biased pronouncements, you seem­ to contradict yourself on a regular basis. Perhaps a­ change of career beckons.

    From annemcnaughtan, on Wed 8 Jul 12:40PM
  5. To Vic M.: Yes. You are right. In the past year, this­ clear-sighted observer and expert has constantly been­ proclaiming that RF is finished. When RF lost at­ Wimbledon last year, he affirmed that, maybe, RF might­ win another slam, no more. How many slams has RF won­ since then, Mr. Reed ?

    From thabo m, on Wed 8 Jul 10:03AM
  6. I`m happy for Nadal, Murray and Djokovic, guys that­ will continue to kick a s s, but from now on of­ "the best tennis player that ever walked happily­ on planet earth" ... such honour ;-)

    Bravo Lucky­ Luke !

    From Igor K, on Wed 8 Jul 8:00AM
  7. y u nadal fans forget abt the match in Madrid where­ nadal was beaten on clay...

    pls. understand he is not­ gonna survive from five years from now, maybe the drugs­ that he inject might help him to survive few­ rounds...no more grand slams for him... federer,­ roodick and murray will dominate.., nadal has no more­ future ahead.

    From ratheesh08, on Tue 7 Jul 10:37PM
  8. Federer is not the greatest and will not be the­ greatest. Maybe when pigs grow wings!

    From Anna, on Tue 7 Jul 9:04PM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    15 GS for Federa is a number and as far as greatestness­ is concerned he is not the greatest player. He is a­ lucky player as the men's tennis is gone since his­ dominance. There is no challenge from the men's­ tennis except Nada. Roddick would have stopped him as­ the GS he won atleast 3 from Roddick.

    From Augustine A, on Tue 7 Jul 8:44PM
  10. "his performance against Andy Murray was even­­ better than today"...

    Are you­ joking????!!!

    proof? Yes it was better performance­ against murray

    From Hans G, on Tue 7 Jul 6:07PM
  11. @ 256 : FYI, Mcenroe himself (along with Sampras, Borg­ and Laver) said that Federer is a true tennis genius,­ and most gifted and naturally talented player in the­ history of tennis...

    From Luka P, on Tue 7 Jul 1:17PM
  12. Federer Is very good, But is still missing the Olympic­ singles gold!
    Agassi had them all

    From wulfnoth, on Tue 7 Jul 12:45PM
  13. Federer Is An Amazing Player Its Like A Machine,­ Specially He's Very Very Lucky Cz Since He Begin­ Playing There Is No Strong Players Against Him, Like­ Pete Sampras, Becker, Kraytchek, Patrick Rafter,­ Ivanevic, Philippousis Ect...
    Pete Sampras Is The Best­ Ever.

    From spoofnix, on Tue 7 Jul 12:10PM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    When you are giving such huge credit to one player, you­ must take the picture in whole.. he is not even close­ to Sampras, or even Agasi.. thise were the reall­ fellows ;-)

    From Igor K, on Tue 7 Jul 11:25AM
  15. When will you stop simon reed from reporting anything­ to do with sports and especially tennis. after his­ analysis of roddick before and after the murray match­ and before the final, he needs a very long holiday on­ the dole. Still haven't seen a public repentance­ for his blunder of an assessment of the match and­ roddick. Are you going to openly repent simon reed?

    From CHARLES E, on Tue 7 Jul 11:08AM
  16. congratulations federer but nadal is the best

    From Faris, on Tue 7 Jul 9:39AM
  17. hi

    From georgymantana2000, on Tue 7 Jul 8:44AM
  18. I remember Mr Reed saying the final would be a breeze­ for Roger. :) Why does Eurosport still keep this guy?­ His predictions are never even close. He always­ predicts what he wants to happen, which isnt't very­ objective, I'd say.

    From rado_apolo, on Tue 7 Jul 12:28AM
  19. Why sudden change of tune now Mr Reed? You were­ undermining Roger even before the start of Wimbledon­ and praising Murray. Just stop talking @#$% and keep­ your stupid comments to yourself.

    From Non, on Mon 6 Jul 11:16PM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Federer is the most titled. It doesn't mean­ he's the best tennisman in history.
    Talent &­ titles are different things.
    he's lucky not to be­ often injured. it helps a lot.
    If we talk about­ legends, The Genius is Mc Enroe, not Federer.
    What is­ to remind about 2009 final ? 50 aces & more than 4­ hours before breaking Roddick's serve.
    I'm not­ sure it's related to a genius.

    From hubert, on Mon 6 Jul 11:13PM
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