Will he surpass Marat if he wins tomorrow? And what he needs to achieve in order to surpass Hewitt?
I'm not sure. Hewitt in 2001-2002 was a beast. They play a similar style too, I think it would be close.Peak vs Peak, he'd destroy Hewitt.
2008-2010 wasn't post prime, it was just Federer coming back to Earth after 4 years of stratospheric play. Not as consistently great as he was before, but still more than good enough to handle anyone apart from Nadal at Slams. It was in 2010 that he had a noticeable physical decline.Is 28 years old "post-prime"? I'm sorry, but that's nonsense. No reasonable person who saw the 2008 USO final and 2010 AO final could say that Federer wasn't peaking in those matches. He was phenomenal in both.
They were luckier because the top of the game was not as strong.2008-2010 wasn't post prime, it was just Federer coming back to Earth after 4 years of stratospheric play. Not as consistently great as he was before, but still more than good enough to handle anyone apart from Nadal at Slams. It was in 2010 that he had a noticeable physical decline.
The point is though that you make it sound as if Hewitt and Safin were luckier than Murray with the era they peaked in, which is beyond absurd. If Murray's peak had coincided with Federer's like theirs did, odds are Murray would have never even sniffed a Slam.
I'd agree with that. Although, I don't think his ability has fallen off the proverbial cliff, unlike some.Federer's decline began around 2010. Anything before that can be attributed to form fluctuation.
Actually, most of Murray's best results have come on the fastest courts. People think his best surface is slow hard courts, but it really isn't.The courts are very different now, they are slower. Murray wouldn't play the way he does now if he was playing back then. I still think he would have been successful, but his gamestyle isnt so suited to lightening quick courts. why? because big serving, S+V, and 1-2 punch tennis is not something that is unique to Andy, loads of guys in 90/s early 2000's played that way.
So it truly is difficult to say just HOW successful Andy would have been in another era.