Category Archives: Pat Cash

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“The next couple of years is the only time he will have been challenged by more than one person, Nadal has a winning edge over him and he has it over him mentally, too. I think (Juan Martin) del Potro and Andy Murray are really troubling him lately and I just hope we haven’t seen Federer peak when there weren’t any challenges.”

“It doesn’t really make it a fair indication of how good he really is if there hasn’t been anyone really to challenge him. It will almost be a false impression of how good he really is. But I think over the next few years we’ll see how good he really is. You’ve got to look at who you play. You can’t just put a man in a boys’ tournament and say, ‘Wow, how good is he?’ Because suddenly you drop another man in there and think, ‘He’s not as good as we thought he was’. And at the moment for me, that’s what is still in question.”

- Pat Cash on whether Roger Federer, self proclaimed greatest of all time, is in fact the greatest of all time.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

I don’t debate he’s brilliant. I don’t doubt that his records will stand for some time. However, I don’t think you can compare different eras, particularly with the new technologies and the fact that Rod Laver wasn’t allowed to play for a few years. Federer has yet to claim a calender year slam and I would debate he only got a career slam last because Nadal arrived at Roland Garros injured.

Federer has also been lucky enough to face the dark horse in the finals numerous times by the time the dark horse has run out of gas – think Marcos Baghdatis, Fernando Gonzalez, Robin Soderling… To add to this (although the sheer number of slam finals he’s played, and the consistency in which he’s appeared in them is amazing) when Federer was at his prime there were no real other contenders besides maybe Andy Roddick… Until Nadal.

Since Nadal has come along Federer has had to work a hell of a lot harder. He doesn’t even hold a winning record against Rafa, that and Rafa got a slam on all 3 surfaces before Federer. How can you be the greatest ever, or even the best player in the world if you cant beat the second best player? How can you be a great champion if you don’t lose with dignity and grace, specifically robbing a man who displayed amazing conditioning, recovery skills and will to win of his deserved glory by weeping like a little boy and the AO trophy presentation last year. I don’t doubt it’s difficult to lose at that elite level but you never saw Rafa or Roddick weep during the Wimbledon presentations.

Federer needs to at least reign in nemesis Nadal before he can continue to claim he is the greatest (and really win Roland Garros with a healthy King of Clay in the mix).

Food for thought.