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

[kalyan4fedever]

Originally Posted by mmk

Fed would make a great cricket player

Cricket is boring.

[batz]

Originally Posted by Feather

One World Cup win (199, Euro win (2000), one World Cup final (2006), what more you expect from a guy? Imagine France without him in all those tourneys

Let Messi and Ronaldo win titles for their national team first, titles as in not premier league ones, the BIG ones..

To be fair mate, ZZ didn't win those titles on his own. ZZ was great, but Messi is greater IMO. Messi is the greatest player I've ever seen - and I'm onld enough to remember Pele in the 1970 World Cup and El Diego in the 80s.

[Breaker]

Ronaldo best forward of the last decade, Messi and Ronaldinho right up there with him though with Messi soon surpassing due to consistency and lack of injuries.

[Feather]

Originally Posted by batz

To be fair mate, ZZ didn't win those titles on his own. ZZ was great, but Messi is greater IMO. Messi is the greatest player I've ever seen - and I'm onld enough to remember Pele in the 1970 World Cup and El Diego in the 80s.

Oh you have seen Pele !

Messi is greater than Zidane, but Maradona ? I feel it's too much. Anyway, we can agree to disagree..

I like Messi too

[helloworld]

I think these two sports requires a very different set of talent to be successful. Messi playing tennis would not have been very successful, while Federer playing soccer would not have been as successful as Messi either.

[dominikk1985]

Originally Posted by 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)

Fed is rightfully the GOAT in tennis and has done more than nadal, sampras or laver but I don't see him as dominant as jordan, ruth, bolt, woods or phelps were. neither of those were owned by their main rival (yes I know most were on clay but the best GOATs owned their rivals even when conditions were unfavorable-jordan won a championship while having fever).

the head to head is of course skewed by most matches being on clay so this doesn't prevent fed from being the goat but it keeps him from being one of inner circle GOATs.

[helloworld]

Messi would have been another Ferrer or Hewitt if he chose to play tennis. You need more than just a fancy footwork to dominate tennis. Will Messi have Sampras serve or Federer forehand if he plays tennis? I doubt it. These two sports are vastly different that it is impossible to compare.

[Cesc Fabregas]

Originally Posted by monfed

Zidane's better and more beautiful to watch.

Messi is far better than Zidane.

[Cesc Fabregas]

Originally Posted by Breaker

Ronaldo best forward of the last decade, Messi and Ronaldinho right up there with him though with Messi soon surpassing due to consistency and lack of injuries.

Messi is better than real Ronaldo, when did Ronaldo ever score 80 goals in a calender year? Plus Messi is a far better all round footballer in terms of dribbling, passing etc.

[forzamilan90]

I think it's inevitable Messi will become the GOAT attacking player. In that sport I think players should be judged only amongst their positions (unfair comparison to Zidane since Messi is sort of hybrid attacking mid/striker while Zidane was a maestro, a scientist)

[Fedex]

Originally Posted by 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.

Tennis is a far more difficult sport, both technically and physically, than football.
You have to put in vastly more hours of practice to achieve top level success.
When you look at top class tennis players, the skill and cosistency is simply mind boggling.
Far more people play football but you can get away with a lot less skill and dedication.
The likes of Federer, Murray and Nadal would find it much easier to change careers and slot into top class football.
A top footballer would have absolutely no chance of slotting into tennis.

[BauerAlmeida]

Originally Posted by Ronaldo

You cannot be serious!

Zidane and Ronaldo are pretty close. Both were legends. They're missed, but Zizou was a bit better I think. Ronaldo was unlucky with injuries, if not maybe he would have been one of the 2 or 3 best players ever.

Originally Posted by Cesc Fabregas

Messi is better than real Ronaldo, when did Ronaldo ever score 80 goals in a calender year? Plus Messi is a far better all round footballer in terms of dribbling, passing etc.

They're close. Both are clearly better than Cristiano Ronaldo though.

When things are done Messi's career will be a lot better than Ronaldo's, but the brazilizan was very unlucky with injuries. He had a thousand different injuries and was out of the game for long periods of time. In terms of dribbling and passing they're close imo. Ronaldo in PSV and Barcelona was a machine.

[Sabratha]

Originally Posted by helloworld

Messi would have been another Ferrer or Hewitt if he chose to play tennis. You need more than just a fancy footwork to dominate tennis. Will Messi have Sampras serve or Federer forehand if he plays tennis? I doubt it. These two sports are vastly different that it is impossible to compare.

Hewitt's H2H against Federer (before 2004):

1999 Lyon
France Carpet, R32.
Winner: Hewitt.
7-6(4), 2-6, 6-4.

2000 AUS V SUI 1RD
Zurich, Switzerland Carpet, RR.
Winner: Hewitt.
6-2, 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-1.

2000 ATP Masters Series Canada
Toronto, Canada Hard, R64.
Winner: Hewitt.
3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

2000 Basel
Switzerland Carpet, S.
Winner: Federer.
6-4, 5-7, 7-6(6).

2001 's-Hertogenbosch
The Netherlands Grass, S.
Winner: Hewitt.
6-4, 6-2.

2002 ATP Masters Series Miami
FL, U.S.A. Hard, S.
Winner: Federer.
6-3, 6-4.

2002 ATP Masters Series Paris
France Carpet, Q.
Winner: Hewitt.
6-4, 6-4.

2002 Tennis Masters Cup
Shanghai, China Hard, S.
Winner: Hewitt.
7-5, 5-7, 7-5.

2003 AUS v. SUI WG SF
Melbourne, Australia Hard, RR.
Winner: Hewitt.
5-7, 2-6, 7-6(4), 7-5, 6-1.

And you're acting like Hewitt didn't dominate the sport at some point.

[dominikk1985]

Originally Posted by Fedex

Tennis is a far more difficult sport, both technically and physically, than football.
You have to put in vastly more hours of practice to achieve top level success.
When you look at top class tennis players, the skill and cosistency is simply mind boggling.
Far more people play football but you can get away with a lot less skill and dedication.
The likes of Federer, Murray and Nadal would find it much easier to change careers and slot into top class football.
A top footballer would have absolutely no chance of slotting into tennis.

snooker is also more difficult than soccer but that doesn't mean it is harder to reach the top.

the opposite is true: a more difficult sport means that the technical education plays a big role which eliminates a lot of talent from the talent pool because of mediocre coaching. who knows how good some soccer players would have been had he had exactly the same technical education that fed received.

the same is true in baseball. it is technically very difficult so a lot of guys "from the hood" will not make it while in football and to some extend basketball the most gifted athletes usually succeed.

[tennisaddict]

Fed will be the GOAT in whatever sport he plays.

It is like asking whether god will play great hockey or football.

GOD may or may not be GOAT, but Fed surely will.

[edmondsm]

Not to bash the Swiss but a football prodigy in Switzerland is like a 3rd tier player in other countries.

[Ronaldo]

Originally Posted by dominikk1985

snooker is also more difficult than soccer but that doesn't mean it is harder to reach the top.

the opposite is true: a more difficult sport means that the technical education plays a big role which eliminates a lot of talent from the talent pool because of mediocre coaching. who knows how good some soccer players would have been had he had exactly the same technical education that fed received.

the same is true in baseball. it is technically very difficult so a lot of guys "from the hood" will not make it while in football and to some extend basketball the most gifted athletes usually succeed.

Try to find a baseball diamond in the hood. Or find a kid who ever played basball. May be surprised how early some kids start football or basketball when their parents or family members play. 2-3 yo

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by tennisaddict

Fed will be the GOAT in whatever sport he plays.

It is like asking whether god will play great hockey or football.

GOD may or may not be GOAT, but Fed surely will.

He would have no chance in basketball, American football, or even international level volleyball, which is dominated by much taller players.

In track and field, he would not fare well compared to African athletes.

In related racket sports like table tennis and badminton, he would come up against the Chinese machine and it would be unlikely that he could make it from Switzerland.

[edmondsm]

Originally Posted by Fedex

Tennis is a far more difficult sport, both technically and physically, than football.
You have to put in vastly more hours of practice to achieve top level success.
When you look at top class tennis players, the skill and cosistency is simply mind boggling.
Far more people play football but you can get away with a lot less skill and dedication.
The likes of Federer, Murray and Nadal would find it much easier to change careers and slot into top class football.
A top footballer would have absolutely no chance of slotting into tennis.

Sorry dude, there is no more difficult sport to succeed at then soccer/football. It has nothing to do with what you deem as being more difficult. It has everything to do with the size of the pool you have to contend with. Soccer is far and away the largest sport on the planet with nearly all of the 6 billion people on earth playing it at one time or another. No other sport even comes close.

[dominikk1985]

Originally Posted by Ronaldo

Try to find a baseball diamond in the hood. Or find a kid who ever played basball. May be surprised how early some kids start football or basketball when their parents or family members play. 2-3 yo

tennis courts are rare in the hood too.