🎾 Tennis | The Tennis GOAT Debate

As an avid tennis fan through my uni years and a bit on and off as of late, you can’t really read any news updates about tennis without the greatest of all time (GOAT) debate being mentioned.

There’s a lot of if’s and’s or but’s being thrown around FB, YouTube and IG comment sections, but I’m curious as to what everyone thinks here. I won’t provide a list or do a poll as I believe there’s more candidates than the big three.

Here’s my :2cents:

I’m a big Fedal fan, but based one one single stat, my vote goes to, Steffi Graf. Two words, Golden Slam. Winning all four majors plus Olympic gold all in one calendar year.

What do you guys think?

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I thought you were talking about the current big three in men’s tennis.

I would go with Federer over Djokovic and Nadal, but based on class not number of wins.

Like I said in the other thread, overall I found Sampras the most invincible during his time, might be because he didn’t have the guys above to compete against… and he had the hairiest legs ever.

There is something about Borg that made him more special than all the guys above, though. I think he’s my GOAT.

Venus Serena is probably the top pick on the women’s side, but again, if class is more important than wins, Steffi is the GOAT… and she had the prettiest legs ever.

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This is absolutely incredible:

In 20 years, Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal have a combined record of

63-16 final wins in Grand Slams.

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Rod Laver.

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I have nothing to add to the discussion, but…

Wow, I’ve heard people being referred to as goats for awhile now, but I had no idea it was actually an acronym :exploding_head:

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On paper, with the stat of overall GS wins, Serena gets the check, but I would argue that Steffi had a shorter career and achieved more in that time.

image

Interesting stories to the acronym. The positive connotation (supposedly) started with M. Ali.

*The Origins of GOAT, the Greatest of All Time, in Sports - Atkinson Common Newbury Port

I meant Serena of course…

GOAT makes me think of LeBron

Too young to have seen him play.

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Seconded. Two calendar grand slams either side of an eight(?) year ban.

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Yeah, if you take out 8 prime years out of any player in the discussion, there won’t be any discussion, that’s for sure, at least when it comes to success in the big tournaments. Who cares about any of the smaller events.

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Laver won the Amateur Grand Slam in 1962. He turned pro at the end of 1962 but of course the Pro’s were not allowed to compete against the Amateurs until the 1968 Wimbledon Open, which Laver duly won. He then went on to win the Open Grand Slam in 1969.

He lives in Carlsbad, California, these days, aged 83 - his wife was from the USA, they married in 1966 and she died in 2012.

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I clearly know how to read.

If the credentials were having a tournament AND a stadium named after you. No competition. :zipper_mouth_face:

2 posts were split to a new topic: From tennis

He certainly seems to be the least likeable of the big three, but then, I don’t know any of them personally.

Didn’t he win all grand slams in a Calendar year twice. I remember something like that from a trivia comp at uni.

Federer is unanimously considered 3rd in the men’s GOAT debate right now. He won only 4 majors after 2010 (when he was 28). Djokovic and Nadal were 23 and 24 years old respectively at that time, and Djokovic wasn’t in his prime yet then. Djokovic won 3 majors in 2011, and has been fantastic since then. Federer didn’t win as much once Nadal and Djokovic hit their prime.

I honestly think Nadal and Djokovic are both GOATs. They are both equal IMO, each having better qualities on certain surfaces. The big tournaments are skewed towards hard courts (2/4 Grand Slams + ATP Finals) which favors Djokovic’s game a lot more. Nadal has been the GOAT on slow surfaces (Clay + better than Novak at US Open, which is a slower hard court). Federer is the most “elegant” and “stylish” for sure, but he is a bit behind Djodal in the GOAT argument.

Personally, I respect Nadal and Federer a lot more than Djokovic because of their discipline and conduct on and off court. Nadal, for example, has never broken his racquet on court when having a bad day. Djokovic has broken dozens, and even been defaulted mid grand-slam…

I’ve been a big tennis fan since childhood, would love to make a group with fellow Forumosans in Taiwan who watch/follow the sport.

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I would never want to meet such a jerk unless he’s giving me money.