Boris Becker has claimed that Roger Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time, if you are only going by statistics.
The German tennis legend said of Federer that: “If you ask about the numbers, Roger Federer is the most successful player.”
The numbers demonstrate this: he has been the number one player for the longest time in terms of total duration and in the number of consecutive weeks he achieved. He also has contested the highest number of Grand Slam finals (31) and has the most Grand Slam wins (20).
However, he was reluctant to declare the Swiss the undisputed great, arguing that different eras produced their own best players.
“If you ask about the best of all times, it’s difficult because tennis was played in the 70s, 80s and 90s on different surfaces, so you can’t always compare with numbers how good a player was,” Becker explained.
Tracy Austin a former American number one player, believes that Serbian Novak Djokovic will ultimately usurp Federer.
Speaking on the Tennis Channel, she said: “At the end of the day I think it’s going to be Novak.
“First of all, he’s not had a lot of wear-and-tear so I think he has another four years.
“Another four solid years where he can win on any surface. When Rafa is still around, Rafa’s still the GOAT on clay but I think the fact Novak has that head-to-head already against Roger and against Rafa. The fact of the matter is this is the young guy who had to breakthrough and every single major that he won, he’s had to play against Roger and Rafa.”
“Roger had a kind of staggered start where he got a couple in before the other two got involved in that three-way trifecta. I think that’s been toughest on Novak and at the end of the day I think it’s Novak who’s going to have the most”.
Current player, US star Tennys Sandgren, speaks from personal experience and believes that Djokovic is already the best.
“There is no doubt that Federer is more beautiful to look at, but Novak is the best ever,” he said.
He continued: “We do one thing and he does another. We try to hit a winner, while he places the ball in difficult and irritating areas, where it is impossible to surprise him
“He suffocates you slowly. What he does is just incredible.”
ATP Rankings: Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal lead the field
The week behind us brought three ATP tournaments, with players chasing points in Rotterdam (the first ATP 500 event of the season), New York and Buenos Aires. There were no changes in the top-12, with Novak Djokovic spending the 268th week on the ATP throne, standing just eight behind Pete Sampras in the second place.
Novak has won all 13 matches so far in 2020, scoring massive points at the ATP Cup and the Australian Open to pass Rafael Nadal and begin his fifth reign, the one that should last for long if he continues to play this way.
Novak is 325 points ahead of Rafael Nadal, with both players returning to action next week in Dubai and Acapulco where they will continue the no. 1 battle. Roger Federer is more than 2000 points behind Nadal, preparing for his second event of the season in Dubai where he could compete as world no.
4 if Dominic Thiem reaches the semi-final in Rio de Janeiro this week. The Austrian is just 85 points behind Roger, hoping to pass him as soon as possible and achieve a career-high ranking after that massive boost gained with the final of the Australian Open.
Daniil Medvedev lost early in Rotterdam, staying far behind Thiem but more than 1000 points ahead of Stefanos Tsitsipas who has won only three matches so far this year, with 250 points to defend this week in Marseille. The Australian Open semi-finalist Alexander Zverev is almost 1000 points behind Tsitsipas, having to defend the final next week in Acapulco to stay in touch with the players above him.
Matteo Berrettini, Gael Monfils and David Goffin complete the top-10 company, with the Frenchman securing the title defense in Rotterdam to stay on the same amount of points with the Italian and remain in the top-5 chase, hoping to crack that group for the first time in a career.
Diego Schwartzman, Andrey Rublev and Denis Shapovalov all moved ahead of Stan Wawrinka, with Rotterdam finalist Felix Auger-Aliassime gaining three positions to return into the top-20. There were no new players in the top-30 and we should notice the milestone ranking for Buenos Aires winner Casper Ruud who moved ahead of his father Christian to become the highest-ranked Norwegian player in the ATP rankings history.
New York champion Kyle Edmund passed 17 rivals after claiming those 250 points, delivering his second ATP title and already looking much better than in the entire 2019. Jannik Sinner, James Duckworth and Andreas Seppi also had a good week while there are two new players in the top-100, Vasek Pospisil and Alexei Popyrin.
