Would Federer be better than Messi if he chose to play football?

[Razoredge]

We all know Federer was a football prodigy before playing tennis, do you think he would've been a GOAT player had he chose to play football? Better than Lionel Messi?

[forzamilan90]

What position did Fed play back in the day? Question only applies if attacking midfield/striker position.

[Razoredge]

Pretty sure he was a striker.

[forzamilan90]

Probably not as a good as Messi, more like Heskey level

[dominikk1985]

He certainly would have been good with his talent as would nadal but you have to consider that the talent pool in soccer is way larger. A tennis career from age 5-18 costs more than half a million dollars (coaches, travel...) so it is still a rich mens sport.

and we all know that most superior athletes come from a poor background (like all the runners, basketball and football players...). this is because there are more of them but also because they have more need to succeed. probably there are a lot of soccer players out there who would have the talent to be better tennis players then fed and nadal.

Maybe fed would have been as good as messi but the chance is equally high that he would only be a bench striker in some first league club. I'm not sure if his speed is enough to be as good as messi or ronaldo. he is super quick and moves great but we would need to see how fast he is in a 60 feet sprint.

[TMF]

Federer can be a great soccer player but to expect him to be as great as Messi is highly unlikely, let alone better. And Messi wouldn't be a great tennis player(too small) had he chose to play tennis. They both are great in their own sport, however, Federer is more dominant in tennis than Messi is in soccer. Very few athletes were more dominant than Federer(ie Gretzky, Rice)

[sureshs]

[ATXtennisaddict]

Messi could've been slam dunk champ if he only played basketball.

[Francis27]

I saw Rafa doing some football tricks with Ronaldo on a commerical for nike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y_wJR1I-9s

[augustobt]

Different styles.

Federer seems to be more like Zidane.

[Gizo]

Given how tennis is a completely irrelevant and minuscule sport compared to football, being the best football player of a single generation (which Messi is of this current generation) is probably more impressive than being the greatest tennis player of all-time (which Federer has a very strong claim of being).

The number of active professional football players nowadays alone is much, much greater than the number of amateur or professional players in tennis history.

Is Messi undisputably the best. I thought many also believed Cristiano Ronaldo was. I have seen both play but dont follow much European football anymore.

[Gizo]

Well Messi does outperform Ronaldo year after year in the Champions League which is the biggest stage in club football, and probably the highest quality football tournament in the world.

Both players score an incredible number of goals every year, although it looks likely that Messi will outscore Ronaldo again this year. However Messi creates far more goals than Ronaldo does.

[BauerAlmeida]

Originally Posted by NadalAgassi

Is Messi undisputably the best. I thought many also believed Cristiano Ronaldo was. I have seen both play but dont follow much European football anymore.

Messi is only 25 years old and has 3 Ballon D' Or (best player in the world award that is given each year). And is probably going to win a 4th one in January.

Ronaldo is 27 and only has one.

Messi is ahead of Ronaldo. Ronaldo and Iniesta are probably the second and third best player in the world.

Originally Posted by TMF

Federer is more dominant in tennis than Messi is in soccer. Very few athletes were more dominant than Federer(ie Gretzky, Rice)

Messi is destroying records every match he plays and is only 25. It's impossible to compare because one is a team sport and the other is individual, but Messi is as dominant or more than Federer. Both are one of the most dominant in history though (with Jack Nicklaus, Kelly Slater, Michael Jordan, etc)

[Goosehead]

Originally Posted by Razoredge

We all know Federer was a football prodigy before playing tennis, do you think he would've been a GOAT player had he chose to play football? Better than Lionel Messi?

it isnt possible to be better than lionel messi at football,

i always watch him and barcelona play in la liga (skysports) every sat/sun,

messi is the gift that keeps on giving,

for he be the goat meh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eehhh.

[axel89]

i doubt federer would even make a living out of soccer the competition is 10x due to soccer being a much larger sport

[forzamilan90]

Originally Posted by NadalAgassi

Is Messi undisputably the best. I thought many also believed Cristiano Ronaldo was. I have seen both play but dont follow much European football anymore.

Both incredibly talented and heads and shoulders above anyone else currently. Messi's achieved more, but he's on the stronger team and scores a bit more and assists more. He's really good at what he does (Godly dribbling past defenders), but in terms of completeness I got to go with Ronaldo. In terms of the whole package he's up there. Overall though I think they are equal.

[tennisMVP]

Nadal is apparently the best golfer on the ATP tour, and was just as good at soccer as tennis. Never heard of Federer being good at sports outside of tennis.

[Ronaldo]

Originally Posted by sureshs

Who is this Ronaldo?

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by Ronaldo

Who is this Ronaldo?

Isn't it Humbalito?