I did a thread this year fully appreciating Nadal, and now it's Federer's turn. I have no issue saying this as a Djokovic fan. Nole achieved the most, and he should be proud of that. I personally see the three in the same tier, at the end of the day. When you reach 20+ slam, you are in a very special company, and at that point, people can argue for whoever they want to. It's more than understandable at that point. A few points swinging in a different way and the slam count could easily look different after all. They all achieved ridiculous things to use for countless arguments (if you can spare the time to argue non-stop about "GOAT"). They are all GOATs in their own way. It took me a lot of time to reach this level of wisdom, but I'm here seeing more and beyond my favourite player's achievements.
That said, this thread isn't about "GOAT". To me, Federer is truly the greatest by far in terms of impact on the tennis world. It's not just the tennis artistry, winning or peak level. The person himself created an insane interest in the tennis world. He wasn't promoted by the media as the next big thing (at least no more than Safin, Roddick or Hewitt initially), so all this interest Federer created in the sport was due to his hard work. It was all Federer. He was too original and too good. Alcaraz/Sinner can win 30 slams, but they can't be Federer (and they don't have to it's ok). Even with style aside, they are just nowhere as intriguing personality-wise. Roger just had an unmatched aura. A perfectionist to the core. Too stubborn (or maybe too greedy) to settle for just winning. He wanted to look perfect while doing it, too (@florentine talked about this in detail before). That certainly added a lot to the appreciation. He has earned the establishment's love, if anything lol.
Alcaraz has a great image (Sinner too, perhaps) so far, and he is very likable, but Federer had a very special edge to him. His angry and raw moments made him more likable and more human. His crying made him more human. He was perfect yet flawed, but that only made him more and more interesting. He was able to speak several languages fluently, and you could just sense he is extremely intelligent. The languages aren't just for show. You could just sense there is way, way more to him than meets the eye. He was the full package for the tennis world. Such an intriguing personality.
The other three (Djokovic, Nadal and Murray) who competed hard with him are very interesting in their own ways too and they had a lot of edge to them as well, but Federer was understandably too special for most of the tennis world. It would be interesting to see if he writes a book and learn more about him as a person and how he sees life outside tennis, what truly matters in life for him. Does Federer even believe in God, and how spiritual is he? Perhaps Federer was God's ultimate tennis masterpiece, and we were just lucky to witness it.
There is soul and spirit behind the artist. There was a deep, relentless desire to create something truly special that meant the most to Federer himself, even if that came at a cost sometimes. Maybe only he could fully understand it. Safe to say he left his signature on almost everything in tennis and more than achieved what he wanted. He inspired something beyond just winning, and that has to be admired. Denying this is disrespecting the unbelievable hard work he put into perfecting such artistry. He didn't just happen to play such polished, pretty tennis. He tinkered with everything relentlessly to dance on the court in such an aesthetically pleasing fashion.
Summary: Too much aura + a lot of winning + intriguing personality, not just some simple nice guy + combined winning with style to perfection + fluent in several languages + authentic energy and a good family man + Too much aura again. All these factors contributed to Federer being the most iconic player we will ever see.
Can't wait to see his interview with Roddick soon. Hopefully new things to learn about him.
That said, this thread isn't about "GOAT". To me, Federer is truly the greatest by far in terms of impact on the tennis world. It's not just the tennis artistry, winning or peak level. The person himself created an insane interest in the tennis world. He wasn't promoted by the media as the next big thing (at least no more than Safin, Roddick or Hewitt initially), so all this interest Federer created in the sport was due to his hard work. It was all Federer. He was too original and too good. Alcaraz/Sinner can win 30 slams, but they can't be Federer (and they don't have to it's ok). Even with style aside, they are just nowhere as intriguing personality-wise. Roger just had an unmatched aura. A perfectionist to the core. Too stubborn (or maybe too greedy) to settle for just winning. He wanted to look perfect while doing it, too (@florentine talked about this in detail before). That certainly added a lot to the appreciation. He has earned the establishment's love, if anything lol.
Alcaraz has a great image (Sinner too, perhaps) so far, and he is very likable, but Federer had a very special edge to him. His angry and raw moments made him more likable and more human. His crying made him more human. He was perfect yet flawed, but that only made him more and more interesting. He was able to speak several languages fluently, and you could just sense he is extremely intelligent. The languages aren't just for show. You could just sense there is way, way more to him than meets the eye. He was the full package for the tennis world. Such an intriguing personality.
The other three (Djokovic, Nadal and Murray) who competed hard with him are very interesting in their own ways too and they had a lot of edge to them as well, but Federer was understandably too special for most of the tennis world. It would be interesting to see if he writes a book and learn more about him as a person and how he sees life outside tennis, what truly matters in life for him. Does Federer even believe in God, and how spiritual is he? Perhaps Federer was God's ultimate tennis masterpiece, and we were just lucky to witness it.
There is soul and spirit behind the artist. There was a deep, relentless desire to create something truly special that meant the most to Federer himself, even if that came at a cost sometimes. Maybe only he could fully understand it. Safe to say he left his signature on almost everything in tennis and more than achieved what he wanted. He inspired something beyond just winning, and that has to be admired. Denying this is disrespecting the unbelievable hard work he put into perfecting such artistry. He didn't just happen to play such polished, pretty tennis. He tinkered with everything relentlessly to dance on the court in such an aesthetically pleasing fashion.
Summary: Too much aura + a lot of winning + intriguing personality, not just some simple nice guy + combined winning with style to perfection + fluent in several languages + authentic energy and a good family man + Too much aura again. All these factors contributed to Federer being the most iconic player we will ever see.
Can't wait to see his interview with Roddick soon. Hopefully new things to learn about him.
