nehmeth said:
But for the back going out on him, he may well have tied Sampras at 14 last Sunday. Pretty sure he will reach 14 at the French. I'd like to see him tie Fed wherever Fed ends his slam count. That will make the Sampras/Fed "goat debates" of 2008 look like tea time with a bunch of little girls and their dolls.
I think if they tie most will give the GOAT crown to Rafa, although I suppose there will always be the weeks at #1 to Roger's advantage.
federberg said:
For my part.. if they end up tied.. I would concede that Rafa is the better player. But I would still have to debate the issue of who was the greater player. Let me clarify.. I use "better" to capture factors relative to one another... H2H being the most significant issue, albeit not the only one. But "greater" I use to capture factors relating to records and achievements... 5 consecutives at (in my opinion) the two most important slams, time at number 1 etc..
But it would be close indeed. Not sure I would really want to participate in that discussion. I'm not much for backing down.. and I know others on this board are just as stubborn :lolz:
Interesting point. I would change it slightly and say that it seems clear that Rafa is overall the
greater player - not only is he dominant over Roger, but he's been more dominant against his opponents than Roger has, especially vs. other elites - but at this point Roger still has the
better career. In other words, his overall accomplishments are still head and shoulders above Rafa.
In other words, "greater player" and "better career" are not the same thing. Roger's career is still significantly better than Rafa's and may always be so, mainly because he was more consistent, struggled with less injury, and had that lovely six year peak (2004-09) that Rafa will never have. But Rafa is the superior player.
