Can a greatest of all time exist?

[~ZoSo~]

Or is it all purely hypothetical?

Many people here are argueing the case for their favorite player to be regarded as the greatest player of all time, thereby implying that their man would beat any player from any era.
Surely the impossibility of proving this makes it implausible to determine in anything but subjective terms.
Greatest career of all time seems more appropriate and easier to determine.

 

[raiden031]

Of course they can exist, but can never be proven without a doubt.

 

[stanfordtennis alum]

they can but no one will ever know who it is due to our life... in 50 yrs from now, no one will have ever seen how ashe, rod laver played, etc...

 

[r2473]

Can a greatest of all time exist? Or is it all purely hypothetical?

I'll post my photo if it helps.

 

[~ZoSo~]

Of course they can exist, but can never be proven without a doubt.

If it cant be proven, how can it exist?

 

[Arietta]

If someone comes along and beat Fed, Nadal and everyone else to win the next20 slams with a couple of CYGS, then he may be considered GOAT. Wait! Even then, you may have some whiners claiming Fed not at his peak, Nadal with his bad knee, etc...

 

[Swissv2]

From my experience:


Young posters: GOAT status would be attributed to current stars

Mid-Aged posters: GOAT status attributed to the guy with the best record.

Older posters: GOAT status attributed to some champion of the past that they honestly believe would beat any current or future player.

And those few people: GOAT status attributed to a player that they want to have GOAT status, no matter their success.

 

[ACE123]

I think that there can be "greats" of all time but no one specific great of all time. Different players from different eras faced different opponents, played with different rackets and even different rules. Greatest of all time is basically an opinion.

 

[InvisibleSoul]

It can exist, but it's mainly hypothetical, and also subjective. First of all, you would need an actual definition of what "greatest of all time" actually means.

As it is, with no true definition, people can argue about it till the cows come home but it'll never get anywhere.

 

[benasp]

I think that the mankind is constantly improving, tennis included. The best player of the 2000's is better than the best of the 80's. The physical training, athlete preparation ... is getting better. So if you ask me, federer is better than sampras and this is normal and sampras has nothing to be ashamed of.

 

[FedFan_2009]

The next generation - Dimitrov will be better then Federer due to improved diet/fitness/raquet technology or have we hit a limit with all that? I saw Dimitrov wearing knee-bands the other week....

 

[akv89]

If all the tennis players who ever lived were brought up in the same era and made to play a tournament, the winner would be the GOAT. Since there must be a winner, there must be a GOAT

 

[namui]

If all the tennis players who ever lived were brought up in the same era and made to play a tournament, the winner would be the GOAT. Since there must be a winner, there must be a GOAT

Even then, what would be the equipments ? (ball, racquets, court surface, lighting, etc.) what would the rules ? (# of sets, tie-breaking, time between points). Each player would be more effective if those factors match what he had been familiar with.

GOAT may exist ... but only in each individual mind.