saram
Legend
Who has conquered all surfaces?
Laver? The US Open was played on grass at the time.
Agassi has conquered all four surfaces and against pace, none the less....
Who has conquered all surfaces?
Laver? The US Open was played on grass at the time.
again, relative. Mac is one of the greatest doubles players ever, your opinion doesnt make anything definite. People use slams as a counter for GOAT but dont consider general success at other tournaments. Mac had a ton of doubles titles, one of them coming just a year or two ago (did laver do that?). plus mac has kept good form and still competes with people a good bit younger than him on both seniors tours. Again, GOAT is relative. He's still the Goat to me, if Laver is to you, thats fine, but at least say that it is only "definite" to you.
A word on surfaces; some folks will say that bc fed hasnt won RG, he wont be the GOAT, but when you look at his talent on clay, he's possibly the second best claycourter out there. Again, lots of folks point directly to slams as specific to GOAT status, but not to the persons talent on a surface. If nadal were not around, Federer would have won the last three French Opens. Nadal may be the best claycourter of all time, and be better on clay than fed (possibly the best overall player of all time), but the fact that fed is a lock to get to the finals of most clay tournaments and a good bet to win clay tournaments that nadal isnt in shows that he's still successful on the surface. Down the road these folks that say he hasnt won RG and thus isnt the GOAT will forget that he's had more success on clay than Sampras could have dreamed of. Its a matter of *possibly* the best overall player of all time only not having a french open title because he ran into *possibly* the best claycourter of all time.
Agassi has conquered all four surfaces and against pace, none the less....
Everyone seems to have their own GOAT criteria. For me, it's total number of slams period. So the current GOAT for me is Sampras with 14 and if Fed reaches 15, then he is GOAT period (regardless of whether he wins the FO).
So Pancho Gonzalez is where on your list?
How many slams did Gonzales win? I am only aware of his 1948 and 49 wins at the US Open. It does not look like he would fare to well on my GOAT criteria. I assume he turned pro early on and lost out on many opportunities to win more slams.
Everyone seems to have their own GOAT criteria. For me, it's total number of slams period. So the current GOAT for me is Sampras with 14 and if Fed reaches 15, then he is GOAT period (regardless of whether he wins the FO).
I think people are talking about singles GOAT here. Singles and doubles are very specialised and different sports. Woodbridge is way ahead of mac in the doubles GOAT.
How many slams did Gonzales win? I am only aware of his 1948 and 49 wins at the US Open. It does not look like he would fare to well on my GOAT criteria. I assume he turned pro early on and lost out on many opportunities to win more slams.
Grand Slam = Four Majors consecutively.
Major = not Grand Slam
Basic terminology.
Laver is the GOAT for Mac because Laver is the player that Mac grew up idolising. Its very hard to "let go" of our childhood heroes.