Is Nadal the greatest athlete in history?

initialize said:
What does H2H have to do with eras? Plus Fed was still the much better player on anything save clay from 2004 to 2009 (not counting 2008 due to Fed’s mono and back issues)
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Leave those idiots...they have no iota of knowledge about eras.

If Nadal was of Federers era first of all he would have been a serve and volleyer like Federer was in his initial years.

Federer,roddick,hewitt and safin are of same era and generation. Nadal peaked early that doesn't mean he is of same era
 
Sport said:
Nadal is 4 years and 10 months younger than Federer. Their respectives primes coexisted in 2005-2009, and Nadal still led the H2H over Federer those years.
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If Nadals prime coexisted then the weak era arguement you guys make falls flat. Decide yourself
 
It is simple. You can not compare from one sport to another. Neither by accomplishments nor stature. Period.

Even if you do individual sports only, how are you going to compare a tiger and a rafa and a bolt and a Phelps.

Not possible to do with any legitimacy.
 
Lleytonstation said:
Orr is like the Pete sampras. Yeah he was great and all but got surpassed by better players. Yet the old guard will fight for him till the end.
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It's not a dissimilar debate to whether you want to say "greatest adjusted for competition."

It's like yes, I know Babe Ruth wouldn't make contact against Jacob deGrom, but he was also hitting more home runs by himself than most other teams combined.

Orr was so dominant when he was out there and so much better than his contemporaries that for me, he deserves the title.
 
weakera said:
It's not a dissimilar debate to whether you want to say "greatest adjusted for competition."

It's like yes, I know Babe Ruth wouldn't make contact against Jacob deGrom, but he was also hitting more home runs by himself than most other teams combined.

Orr was so dominant when he was out there and so much better than his contemporaries that for me, he deserves the title.
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:oops: have you seen Gretzky play?
 
If you limit it to Tennis, then it's a tie with Djokovic as of now I think. In football I am amazed by Zlatan and Ronaldo, they are many more I think.
 
He may yet be the greatest tennis player of all time but greatest athlete is a stretch.

Personally I have a lot of respect for ultrarunners.
 
I still go with Jordan.. The stuff he could do even 40 years ago is mindboggling even to do this day. He was the epitome of a basketball player. No weakness at all. Perfect physical and Mental gifts and the way he could contort his body and score in mid-air etc.. Nadal is certainly up there though. Gretzky too
 
This is an absurd list.

Not only are the people listed not at all accepted to be the GOATs within their own sports, but athletics and swimming have a multitude of subdisciplines which makes any kind of intradisciplinary comparison meaningless. How would you even compare someone like Usain Bolt to Kenenisa Bekele?

If you include someone like Tom Brady (who plays a globally niche sport) on this list, then where are the likes of Sir Don Bradman or Jonah Lomu?

Considering that football is by far the most popular sport in the world - in terms of both participation and viewership - then the ludicrosity of this list really cannot be understated...
 
clayqueen said:
Is Nadal the greatest athlete in history?
His latest triumph puts him in a conversation with the greatest of all time



Rafael Nadal's 22nd Grand Slam victory means the Spaniard is no longer in discussion as just tennis' greatest star, but also as one the greatest athletes of all time.

It's impossible to name one person as the greatest given the long list of impressive names in the conversation, but let's take a look at some of the athletes that have set themselves apart from the rest and entered rarified sporting air.



Michael Jordan

Perhaps the most popular athlete of all-time, Jordan's impact with the Chicago Bulls made him a mega star across the world. Despite retiring over 20 years ago, he continues to leave his mark on the world of basketball.

Michael Phelps

The most decorated athlete of all time, his genius in the water saw him win an astonishing number of medals. Nadal's 14 Roland Garros titles may never be equalled, but the same can be said for Phelps' 23 Olympic golds.

Tiger Woods

Woods changed the world of golf, with his explosion onto the scene resulting in him becoming the highest paid athlete in the world. Having done things that nobody had seen before, injuries are all that prevented him from moving past Jack Nicklaus in terms of majors, though he still has time...

Usain Bolt

The fastest man in history with the charisma of a star. Few things were better than watching him set records in the 100 and 200 meters. Will anyone be able to beat them?

Tom Brady

From the 199th pick in the draft to the greatest quarterback of all time, Brady's career has been something out of a movie. With seven Super Bowl rings to his name, along with the most passing yards all time, it's hard to think someone will ever top him.


Mohamed Ali

An athlete who transcended sports, his anti-war sentiments and fight for civil rights was a jolt to American society. Owner of the heavyweight title for close to two decades, his fights remain the stuff of legends.

The fight over who is the greatest extends to other sports as well, with football fans unable to reach a consensus. Maradona or Pele? Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo? It's a debate that will continue to rage on.

The same can be said when discussing other sports like cycling, Formula 1 or MotoGP. Eddy Merckx or Miguel Indurain? Michael Schumacher or Lewis Hamilton? Valentino Rosso or Marc Marquez?

www.marca.com

Is Nadal the greatest athlete in history?

Rafael Nadal's 22nd Grand Slam victory means the Spaniard is no longer in discussion as just tennis' greatest star, but also as one the greatest athletes of all time. It's impossi
www.marca.com www.marca.com
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No.

Outside of anyone born in Bethlehem, he is the greatest person in history.

(Which is weird for a guy who hasn’t beaten Federer or Novak off clay in a long long LONG time)
 
Can there even be a single greatest athlete in history, when there are so many sports that require categorically different physical parameters and skills?

Gymnastics, for example, a sport I find truly fascinating. The top competitors do things with their bodies that to me seem hardly humanly possible, yet most of them would not be able to excel at, say, basketball, because of height limitations. Sprinters can do what marathon runners can't, and vice versa; none of the Big 3 could ever compete with Olympic swimmers in the pool; the greatest skiiers can't do even the basic of jumps that ice skaters perform, and the list goes on and on.

The best athletes in history, from any sport, are all incredible in their own way.
 
article-2284717-184DB959000005DC-266_308x185.jpg
 
He’s definitely in the S Tier of global athletes ever though most certainly not undisputed or goat athlete. Impossible to compare across sports
 
The Fedfather said:
Can there even be a single greatest athlete in history, when there are so many sports that require categorically different physical parameters and skills?

Gymnastics, for example, a sport I find truly fascinating. The top competitors do things with their bodies that to me seem hardly humanly possible, yet most of them would not be able to excel at, say, basketball, because of height limitations. Sprinters can do what marathon runners can't, and vice versa; none of the Big 3 could ever compete with Olympic swimmers in the pool; the greatest skiiers can't do even the basic of jumps that ice skaters perform, and the list goes on and on.

The best athletes in history, from any sport, are all incredible in their own way.
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Tennis incorporates virtually all the skills in other sport i.e. coordination, endurance, speed, strategy, balance, precision, mental fortitude etc. The time spent in doing the coin toss is as long as it takes Usain Bolt to win a 100 mtrs race.
 
clayqueen said:
The time spent in doing the coin toss is as long as it takes Usain Bolt to win a 100 mtrs race.
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The time Bolt had to spend to train in order to run below 10 seconds is not even comparable to tennis players though. He literally had to throw up during his training sessions. A sprinter is one of the most hard working athletes.
 
clayqueen said:
Tennis incorporates virtually all the skills in other sport i.e. coordination, endurance, speed, strategy, balance, precision, mental fortitude etc. The time spent in doing the coin toss is as long as it takes Usain Bolt to win a 100 mtrs race.
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Usain Bolt was the fastest person on the planet at one point. Who in tennis, with all the skills it incorporates, can claim being close to such athletic ability and feat? What's Rafa's 100 neters time?

The point in my post went over your head, I think.
 
The Fedfather said:
Usain Bolt was the fastest person on the planet at one point. Who in tennis, with all the skills it incorporates, can claim being close to such athletic ability and feat? What's Rafa's 100 neters time?

The point in my post went over your head, I think.
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But that's all Bolt can be the fastest. The skills needed to win one tennis match let alone a tournament is immense. to win a slam, you have to beat 7 people in best of 5 sets matches.
 
Thetouch said:
The time Bolt had to spend to train in order to run below 10 seconds is not even comparable to tennis players though. He literally had to throw up during his training sessions. A sprinter is one of the most hard working athletes.
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So you think tennis players don't train they just turn up for a tournament? Some train for 6 hours every day on court plus the gym.
 
clayqueen said:
So you think tennis players don't train they just turn up for a tournament? Some train for 6 hours every day on court plus the gym.
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Of course they train hard. But you made it look as if all Bolt had to do was to show up and sprint for 10 seconds and then go home. You don't seem to know what he had to do to be able to run so fast.
 
Thetouch said:
Of course they train hard. But you made it look as if all Bolt had to do was to show up and sprint for 10 seconds and then go home. You don't seem to know what he had to do to be able to run so fast.
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In actual competition, a sprinter doesn't need to run for up to 5 hours to win a race.
 
clayqueen said:
Tennis incorporates virtually all the skills in other sport i.e. coordination, endurance, speed, strategy, balance, precision, mental fortitude etc. The time spent in doing the coin toss is as long as it takes Usain Bolt to win a 100 mtrs race.
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The thing about tennis is that most of the best athletes in the world go to the NBA or NFL or other sports.
If all these athletic specimens had trained specifically for tennis from a young age, perhaps the big 3 would never have existed.
There are many physical athletic specimens out there who are far superior to the likes of Medvedev, Tsitsipas, etc in terms of pure athleticism.
How good could the likes of Jordan, Bolt, Lebron, etc have been had they trained for tennis from age 4-5 years old?
 
clayqueen said:
But that's all Bolt can be the fastest. The skills needed to win one tennis match let alone a tournament is immense. to win a slam, you have to beat 7 people in best of 5 sets matches.
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The disrespect lol. Him being the fastest, like 99.99% percent of athletes can't be, is not impressive to you. What is there to say? You know that in your head you can anoint Rafa as the greatest thing to exist in the universe? I won't be stopping you. Just gave my perspective on the thread subject.
 
clayqueen said:
But that's all Bolt can be the fastest. The skills needed to win one tennis match let alone a tournament is immense. to win a slam, you have to beat 7 people in best of 5 sets matches.
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Bolt trains specifically for running. With his god-given abilities, he probably would've been an elite level tennis player had he trained for tennis at a young age.
Let's compare like and like.
Juan Martin Del Potro and Ussain Bolt. Both are the same height. You see how Bolt moves and then see how Del Potro moves and you'll instantly realize that Bolt is leagues ahead of Del Potro in terms of speed and athletic ability.
Then factor in that Del Potro was top 4 at one point and a US Open champion. Who's to say that great athletes like Ussain Bolt and LeBron James couldn've have destroyed the likes of Federer and Nadal had they trained for tennis as kids?
 
The Fedfather said:
The disrespect lol. Him being the fastest, like 99.99% percent of athletes can't be, is not impressive to you. What is there to say? You know that in your head you can anoint Rafa as the greatest thing to exist in the universe? I won't be stopping you. Just gave my perspective on the thread subject.
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I know. Being the fastest human to have ever lived means nothing to clay queen. Hitting a ball over a net though is god-like ability. LOL
 
clayqueen said:
In actual competition, a sprinter doesn't need to run for up to 5 hours to win a race.
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Duh, that's why he trains 5hrs a day on his start, technique, accelaration, speed, endurance and he lifts weights and so on to be prepared for the final moment. Imagine you are in the olympic final which you can only reach every 4 years and millions of people are watching, the pressure is not even comparable to any athlete at this moment. One simple mistake, even false breathing can cnst you the race. A tennis player who is 0:6 0:6 0:5 and 0:40 still can win the match. Guys like Becker and McEnroe went 6 hours against each other but everybody knows they weren't high on putting too much effort in their training sessions.
 
Mike Sams said:
The thing about tennis is that most of the best athletes in the world go to the NBA or NFL or other sports.
If all these athletic specimens had trained specifically for tennis from a young age, perhaps the big 3 would never have existed.
There are many physical athletic specimens out there who are far superior to the likes of Medvedev, Tsitsipas, etc in terms of pure athleticism.
How good could the likes of Jordan, Bolt, Lebron, etc have been had they trained for tennis from age 4-5 years old?
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Says who? This is the most worthless comment I have ever seen.
 
The Fedfather said:
The disrespect lol. Him being the fastest, like 99.99% percent of athletes can't be, is not impressive to you. What is there to say? You know that in your head you can anoint Rafa as the greatest thing to exist in the universe? I won't be stopping you. Just gave my perspective on the thread subject.
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Where did I say I'm not impressed? I can't even run for a train so of course I am impressed that someone can run 100 mtrs in 9 seconds; but do I think it's as impressive as being a great tennis player? Of course I don't.
 
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