Watching tennis with less noise and no real fan presence is not ideal, but it does make a few things more obvious. Sliding on hard courts used to seem insane. More and more players can do it. Roger Federer’s squash shots of 2004 are not uncommon to see when a player is streched today. I…
Tag: Tennis GOAT
Serena Williams reaches 2019 US Open Final and Won the 1999 US Open
My point is that the sports landscape was radically different two decades ago. Yet, Serena Williams is still here.
My Last Male GOAT Column for at Least 5 Years
I admit it. I am bored with speculating about who is the greatest of all time (GOAT). Has any topic gotten more ink or pixels in the tennis universe over the past 20 years? It started with Pete Sampras closing in on Roy Emmerson’s then record 12 major titles. Then Andre Agassi won the career…
Serena vs. Steffi Revisited
Right after Sam Stosur won the 2011 US Open, I wrote one of my more revisited pieces on how Stosur used a Graf game plan to win that match. Between that match and 31 January 2015, Serena has added 3 US Open titles, 1 Wimbledon, 1 Roland Garros, 2 Gold Medals, and most recently 1…
The Top 5 Tiers of Tennis Champions
In any career comparisons or GOAT discussions it becomes clear that there are constellations of players with similar levels of achievement. Running through various players in my head, I have arrived at 5 levels of achievement. For the sake of simplicity I am going to move from Jimmy Connors forward as he strikes me as…
3 Phases of the GOAT Discussion
GOATs on our Mind Tennis GOAT discussions and debates have been good for fans and the press because we’ve always got something to contemplate. Here is my breakdown of events that amped up GOAT debates: Career slams and Pete chasing Emerson get the credit or blame Andre Agassi completing the career Grand Slam in 1999…
Men Who Stare at Tennis GOATS Part 5 – The Usual Suspects: Rafael Nadal
Part 1 Laid out Key Questions Part 2 Looked at Bjorn Borg’s Credentials and the Difficulties of the GOAT Debate Part 3 Looked at Pete Sampras’ Credentials Part 4 Looked at Roger Federer’s Credentials Rafael Nadal Why Rafael Nadal Might be the GOAT – Rafa’s claim to the GOAT title revolves around three areas of…
Men Who Stare at Tennis GOATS Part 4 – The Usual Suspects: Roger Federer
Part 1 Laid out key questions Part 2 Looked at Bjorn Borg’s Credentials and the difficulties of the GOAT Debate Part 3 Looked at Pete Sampras’ Credentials Roger Federer Why Roger Federer might be the GOAT – Roger Federer has a compelling case to make on both fronts of the GOAT argument. He holds many of…
Men Who Stare at Tennis GOATS Part 3 – The Usual Suspects: Pete Sampras
Part 1 – Laid Out Key Questions Part 2 – Discussed the Difficulties of Naming a GOAT while Examining Bjorn Borg’s Case Men Who Stare at Tennis GOATS Part 3 Pete Sampras Why Pete Sampras Might be the GOAT – Pete Sampras holds fourteen Grand Slam singles titles and seven Wimbledon titles. Pete Sampras spent…
Men Who Stare at Tennis GOATS Part 2 – The Usual Suspects: Bjorn Borg
Setting Difficulties Aside In part 1, I asserted that the GOAT question is hard to answer, but that two separate but related questions contribute to the process of naming a GOAT. Who played tennis at the highest level and who accomplished the most in his or her career are rarely the same thing. No one…
Tennis Abides: Dan Martin on Tennis and Life 