Who Is The Greatest Men's Player Of All Time

Now that Roger has won the French the debate over who is the greatest player of all time is back on.

Below I will state the case for the 3 players most often discussed in this on-going debate.

Rod Laver-Won fewer Grand Slams than the other 2 contenders. There was a reason for this; during his time the players were all amateurs. At the height of his skill, he and other players broke away from the tour for 7 years, to start what was to become the ATP. During this time he was ineligible for the Grand Slam events. He was ineligible for 28 events!! He was dominant enough to have surely won more than Sampras'/Federer's 14. My guess would be 18-20.

He won the French twice. The coolest thing was that he won the 4 majors in the same calendar year 2 times...But get this: He wins the first 4 and then is ineligible for the 7 years. Then the game became a Pro game, totally because of the sacrifice of these players that split away. He then wins the 4 again, making it essentially 8 majors in a row!

The catch on this was, that at that time, 3 of the 4 majors were on grass--Wimbledon, Australian and US Open (at Forest Hills), so it wasn't nearly the same test of a well-rounded game.

Laver was far ahead of his time. A big all court game in the era of only serve and volleyers. He had a big topspin forehand and BACKHAND, when only a few of his peers had even a moderate topspin forehand. No one except Laver hit a topspin backhand in his era.

That is his case.

Pete Sampras-The two main points in Sampras' favor are his 14 Grand Slam wins and the fact, that for his career he had a 65% winning percentage against other Top Ten players, far higher than Laver. Federer's career is not yet done, but his is higher so far.

Sampras is also said to have had the toughest competition overall than the other 2, including Agassi and Courier, both multiple Grand Slam winner's as well.

On the down side, Sampras never won the French, or even came close for that matter. I know he never reached a Final, and it is my recollection that he never even reached a Semi's.

Technical strength's: Big serve, especially when down or at crunch time. Big forehand, slice and topspin backhand and a good volley. Deceptively good court coverage.

Roger Federer-The case for Federer is much more known to all of you. A dominant 4 years, the most dominant 4 years of any player ever.

Now he has the career slam and unbelievable consistency in getting to at least the semi's of a lot of Slam events in a row.

He is now tied with Sampras in career slam wins and will pass him this year, probably at Wimbledon in a week.

The 2 most common knocks against Federer are the fact that he has so many losses to to Rafa Nadal and the general consensus is that he isn't facing quite the quality of overall opponents as either Sampras or Laver.

Technical Strength's: Nice all court game. Lots of weapons. A good, but not over powering serve, but strong under pressure. Probably the best mover of all time. All court player. Equally good at baseline or net, a rare combination.


So, there are the cases. Do a little web searching on your own and find out more. It will increase your enjoyment of the game.

PLEASE vote below for your choice. I am hoping for 80% of you voting or better.