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I just realized that Hewitt played and beat Safin, Federer and Ferrero one after the other.
We now have at least 5 players (Hewitt, Safin, Federer, Ferrero, Gonzalez, Paradorn) who are all in the same age group and they'l be fighting it out for the next 5 years. I believe that whoever dominates in the next 5 years should be more highly regarded than Sampras was in his heyday. because Sampras never had to face that many contemporaries who were as good as he was. Sampras had Becker, Andre and Pat but the four of them were never at their peak together. Becker retired, Andre was in and out of the game because of his love life and Pat came unto the scene late in Sampras's career. I am not saying that Sampras is not the best player of all time. I believe he is. I am simply saying that we would have had a better measure of his greatness had he been forced to meet Boris, Pat and Andre on a regular basis. Should any of the 5 players listed above dominate the game the way Sampras did for 6-7 years, that player in my mind will be a better player than Sampras whether or not he wins 14 slams.
This is a theory in progress but let me know what you think.
We now have at least 5 players (Hewitt, Safin, Federer, Ferrero, Gonzalez, Paradorn) who are all in the same age group and they'l be fighting it out for the next 5 years. I believe that whoever dominates in the next 5 years should be more highly regarded than Sampras was in his heyday. because Sampras never had to face that many contemporaries who were as good as he was. Sampras had Becker, Andre and Pat but the four of them were never at their peak together. Becker retired, Andre was in and out of the game because of his love life and Pat came unto the scene late in Sampras's career. I am not saying that Sampras is not the best player of all time. I believe he is. I am simply saying that we would have had a better measure of his greatness had he been forced to meet Boris, Pat and Andre on a regular basis. Should any of the 5 players listed above dominate the game the way Sampras did for 6-7 years, that player in my mind will be a better player than Sampras whether or not he wins 14 slams.
This is a theory in progress but let me know what you think.