What would Federer choose if given this choice?

[Blocker]

Assume you are Roger Federer. You have determined your retirement tournament to be the 2016 Olympics. You find a bottle, you rub it and a genie appears. You are granted one wish, from two options. The options are:

Option 1
Win 2 more majors of your choice, except the FO, before you retire. And nothing else.

Or

Option 2
Before you retire:
* Win 1 more FO, beating Nadal in the final; and
* Win the singles gold medal at the 2016 Olympics; and
* Win the Davis Cup once for your country; and
* Overtake Nadal in your head to head count by beating him constantly in R16s, QFs, SFs across all slams plus the FO final stated above; and
* Finish one more year as year end number 1.
And nothing else.

Option 1 takes you to 19 majors.

Option 2 takes you to 18 majors but ticks every other box as far as undisputed GOAT is concerned.

Which option do you choose and why?

[Bobby Jr]

Clearly option two... A second career slam with the French win, the Davis Cup and the Olympic title would be massive additions to his resume.

The head to head is completely and utterly irrelevant so far as the history books go and will be quickly forgotten by the world other than a few die-hard Nadal fans.

[Blocker]

Originally Posted by Bobby Jr

Clearly option two... A second career slam with the French win, the Davis Cup and the Olympic title would be massive additions to his resume.

The head to head is completely and utterly irrelevant so far as the history books go and will be quickly forgotten by the world other than a few die-hard Nadal fans.

I agree with you. Option 2 for me. I had this discussion over a few drinks with some friends of mine, they all said option 1. I was the only one who said option 2. IMO, a FO win over the FO goat, a DC and a singles gold medal would be worth forgoing the extra major.

Finally someone agrees with me.

[Candide]

Good question. I think it'd be a knife edge with the possibility of putting Nadal to the sword in Paris would making it a difficult decision for him. I think the other elements wouldn't carry much weight for him however and in the end the lure of two majors would win the day. He's only playing against the history books now and the former would be the more resounding entires on that score. Option B would be sweet but is more a personal pride and ego list which I think he would decline.

[AnotherTennisProdigy]

It has to be option 2. Doing everything you couldn't do in your career is a big deal.

[joeri888]

Option two by a million miles. Majors are the main thing, but winning 50 MS tourneys is still bigger than winning 1 major. It's not even a close call for me.

[tennis_pro]

If it was 20 majors vs 18 I'd take 20 compared to 18 and everything else.

But in this case I take 18.

[SStrikerR]

This is like asking if you'd rather drive a Ferrari or a school bus.

[Steve0904]

This is obvious. So much so I'm not even giving my answer.

[Magnetite]

Option 2 ..

Beating Nadal at the FO would be glorious for Fed.

Nadal came into Federer's house (Wimbledon), and took it from him.

Federer hasn't been able to give Nadal much trouble in Nadal's house (FO).

The options are a bit ridiculous. Pretty sure everyone would pick #2, even Federer, for a number of different reasons.

[BauerAlmeida]

Option 2 and it's not even close.

[AnotherTennisProdigy]

I would still pick option 2 if it were only the french final vs Nadal.

[raphMODE]

Well... Even if I agree with you all about winning FO by beating Nadal in the final, getting the record of titles at Wimby and USO would be amazing too...
+ Most of the people remember the true Tennis Legends by the number of slams won, and the number of title by slam. Not really any of the other records/tournaments.
–
Would pick option 1, maybe...
(don't throw anything on me, please. thanks)
–

[joeri888]

Originally Posted by raphMODE

Well... Even if I agree with you all about winning FO by beating Nadal in the final, getting the record of titles at Wimby and USO would be amazing too...
+ Most of the people remember the true Tennis Legends by the number of slams won, and the number of title by slam. Not really any of the other records/tournaments.–
Would pick option 1, maybe...
(don't throw anything on me, please. thanks)
–

He's already remembered enough. I rather see him winning 10 more things than just two. Beating Nadal would be cool. Not only in the FO but everytime. Winning Rio, same thing.

[Tennis_Hands]

Majors are Majors.

Option 1.

[Cup8489]

It'd still be option 2 if the ONLY part of option 2 was beating Rafa in the finals.

with all the other stuff added in, it's not even close.

[Sabratha]

Option two.

[single_handed_champion]

In addition, option 2 would mean he still wins a huge prize in 2016 (in addition to beating Nadal all the time), meaning he might even continue at that point . If he just wins an odd Slam in 4 years and be barren otherwise, it is kinda unlikely he would stick around for that long.

On the other hand, option 1 is way way way likelier.

[Candide]

It's interesting that so many people are picking option 2. I think that the rivalry between the two is magnified in the frothy arguments on this site. There's no doubt that Federer would like to get the monkey off his back on the biggest stage but I still believe that it's probably not as big an issue for him as many people who repeatedly post "H2H!" believe it to be. Just because I think that with a cool head and a view to History he would choose the two majors and not give a crap if he beat a limping Radek Stepanek to get there.

[Shaolin]

Originally Posted by Magnetite

Option 2 ..

Beating Nadal at the FO would be glorious for Fed.

Nadal came into Federer's house (Wimbledon), and took it from him.

Federer hasn't been able to give Nadal much trouble in Nadal's house (FO).

The options are a bit ridiculous. Pretty sure everyone would pick #2, even Federer, for a number of different reasons.

You conveniently forget that both the US Open and WTF are "Roger's house" as well.