Who in your opinion has produced the highest level of tennis?

Which player took tennis to the highest level?

  • Sampras

    Votes: 21 6.2%
  • Federer

    Votes: 245 72.7%
  • Nadal

    Votes: 31 9.2%
  • Agassi

    Votes: 7 2.1%
  • Laver

    Votes: 7 2.1%
  • Borg

    Votes: 5 1.5%
  • Connors

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • McEnroe

    Votes: 9 2.7%
  • Lendl

    Votes: 1 0.3%
  • Other

    Votes: 11 3.3%

  • Total voters
    337

piece

Professional
I think last years AO (bar the 5th set) was better than those two as well. Incredible tennis.

And of course - 2005 TMC Nalby vs Federer.

This.

Two best federer losses in terms of outrageous shotmaking (maybe include rome '06). Wimby finals don't compare.

2005 AO Semi was a more solid performance from Fed than any of his other losses though I think - it just lacked the truly spectacular moments of the 2005 TMC final and the 2009 AO final.
 

piece

Professional
Fair enough. I do think the 2007 and 2008 Wim finals were the best Fed will ever play vs Nadal outside of indoors or a very fast hard courts (where the conditions are such he can dominate Nadal which is when he looks most great vs players). Nadal is just such a bad matchup for him and doesnt allow the best of Federer, so the 2007 and 2008 Wimbledon finals are really the best tennis he can do vs Nadal on a surface Nadal is comfortable on.
No way man!

What about rome '06 or hamburg '07? And Fed has random patches of play all over the place where he absolutely dominates Nadal (first set hamburg '08, wimby '06, dubai '06, FO '06), he just never keeps it up. The match up issue makes it tough for federer to beat nadal in general, but there's been so many times when he is just coming off a single set performance that really indicates that his best tennis is enough to overcome the matchup issue and all of a sudden he has a mental blowout.

Anyway, there weren't any sets in the '07 '08 wimby finals where fed played as well as he has in many other non-fastcourt sets against nadal. And he's had better overall matches on slow courts against nadal anyway.
 

piece

Professional
lmao, Federer played virtually the same match that he played against Agassi and embarrassed Agassi on his BEST surface. He nearly beat Safin, but it just wasn't enough. Federer was playing extremely well, virtually close to his best.

Yeah. Agreed. Federer played "virtually close to his best". I think it's the best all round performance he's EVER displayed in a match that he's lost. You keep saying things like "what a joke" or "lmao" at my comments, and then you go on to construct a straw man argument. You're arguing against things I haven't even said.

All I've been saying is that Federer has had much better shotmaking performances in other matches than the one he put up in the AO 05 semi. I don't care if you think Federer played so well in that match that he would've demolished other good players. It just seems to me that, for whatever reason (maybe safin didn't let him), federer's shotmaking in that match wasn't close to some of his best shotmaking performances. The fact that safin was playing too well (or something to that effect) to let Fed's shotmaking really shine is irrelevant, because if fed's shotmaking didn't really shine, regardless of why this was so, then my point still stands.

Get it now?
 

abmk

Bionic Poster
Much of those same people would also say that:

-Fed is GOAT
-Fed is better than Pete

So if we don't take those things for granted just because people say it(and I know you don't) than we shouldn't also take for granted that 2007 and 2008 Wimbledon finals are better than 2005 AO SF.

I personally think that 2005 AO SF was better than both 2007 and 2008 Wimbledon finals,for me personally it is by far the best match I've ever seen quality wise.

Amen to the bolded part !!!
 

abmk

Bionic Poster
Fair enough. I do think the 2007 and 2008 Wim finals were the best Fed will ever play vs Nadal outside of indoors or a very fast hard courts (where the conditions are such he can dominate Nadal which is when he looks most great vs players). Nadal is just such a bad matchup for him and doesnt allow the best of Federer, so the 2007 and 2008 Wimbledon finals are really the best tennis he can do vs Nadal on a surface Nadal is comfortable on.

umm, he played better against nadal in hamburg 2007 ( final 2 sets ) on clay, rome 2006 finals than he did in wimby 2007,2008 finals ... federer was off by himself to an extent in those wimby finals ( though he did play well ), it wasn't just nadal imposing , although that did play a part

... oh and yeah, he played clearly better in the 2006 wimby finals as well !
 

abmk

Bionic Poster
As far as the sampras-lendl match in USO 90 is concerned, that was a pretty good achievement by sampras. But I am yet to see anyone put that win down as cesc stated ! :confused:

As far as the federer-sampras match in 2001 is concerned, that was a high quality match ( though neither of them were at their best ) and sampras was playing MUCH better than in the 2nd round match vs barry cowan ...

its not that sampras brought out his best in the early round matches always ...

He had a shot at taking the championship if he'd taken out federer. He was clearly taking his level up from the earlier round matches and knew how to peak
 

dh003i

Legend
Fair enough. I do think the 2007 and 2008 Wim finals were the best Fed will ever play vs Nadal outside of indoors or a very fast hard courts (where the conditions are such he can dominate Nadal which is when he looks most great vs players). Nadal is just such a bad matchup for him and doesnt allow the best of Federer, so the 2007 and 2008 Wimbledon finals are really the best tennis he can do vs Nadal on a surface Nadal is comfortable on.

You're welcome to your opinion, but it is ridiculous. Nadal fans consistently want to maintain that Federer and Nadal both played their best in the '08 Wimbledon final. The reality, Nadal peaked on grass in a down-year for Federer, and when Federer's return of serve had started to decline. That was the very best level Nadal ever produced on grass, and he just barely managed to eek out a win vs. Federer not returning well by career standards. Likewise, Nadal's very best level ever on HC in the AO '09 still needed 5 sets against Federer serving absolutely awfully (no, this had nothing to do with Nadal, Federer has served much better vs. Nadal in other slam finals).
 

abmk

Bionic Poster
You're welcome to your opinion, but it is ridiculous. Nadal fans consistently want to maintain that Federer and Nadal both played their best in the '08 Wimbledon final. The reality, Nadal peaked on grass in a down-year for Federer, and when Federer's return of serve had started to decline. That was the very best level Nadal ever produced on grass, and he just barely managed to eek out a win vs. Federer not returning well by career standards. Likewise, Nadal's very best level ever on HC in the AO '09 still needed 5 sets against Federer serving absolutely awfully (no, this had nothing to do with Nadal, Federer has served much better vs. Nadal in other slam finals).

absolutely, federer was dumping easy 2nd serves on breakpoints into the net in wimby 2008 finals ! how is that excusable and how can one say that is his best level of tennis ...

and yeah 2009 AO final, nadal had nothing to do with federer's crappy serving. It was all federer himself
 

aceX

Hall of Fame
Every year the number of incredibly talented tennis players grows. Every year the knowledge of tennis expands. The knowledge of physical conditioning and sports psychology continues to accumulate.

Obviously it's impossible to compare between time periods but to be honest I think any current top 20 player could have beaten Sampras or Agassi.

Highest level ever = Fed and Nadal
 

ViscaB

Hall of Fame
Federer set the highest level and then Nadal raised it. No player can match them. I would pick both.
 

kiki

Banned
Laver is the player more close to perfection at least according to my criteria, that played this game.Just forget about conditions rackets,strings etc and concentrate on pure talent and flaw.Fed and Mac would not be far away, neither would Sampras or Rosewall.But , if I had to see a player 20 times in a row, no one compares to Rod.
 
N

nikdom

Guest
I would watch a Fed in full flow any day against any player from any era. The shot making, the repertoire, touch, court coverage and tennis IQ are unmatched.

That said, just for dogged retrieval and fight Nadal is a great watch. If I wanted to watch someone win with the least ripples and drama, it would probably be Sampras.
 
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