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August 10, 2006
No doubt about Federer
Debate over tennis' No. 1 being rendered academic
By Steve Simmons, Toronto Sun
Can anyone name the best hockey player in the world without some kind of debate?
Best baseball player? Best football player? Best basketball player?
Best soccer player who doesn't head-butt?
Roger Federer makes it easy, and sometimes he makes it look easy. There is no question with him. He eliminates debate.
He is the best tennis player in the world. Point and match.
He is the dominant figure in a sport where the names of the contenders forever change, but not the name of the champion.
Lleyton Hewitt tried before he fell off the map. Andy Roddick was
supposed to play the part of the foil. But Federer so exposed Roddick
that the American now needs to Google himself to find his game. Rafael
Nadal is the flavour of the month, but who knows how long the flavour
lasts? After that, tennis has troubles.
According to its own confounded computer, the names of its top 10
players include David Nalbandian and James Blake and Ivan Ljubicic and
Nikolay Davydenko and Tommy Robredo -- most of whom would not be
household names in their own homes. If they ever did matter, Federer's Swiss
precision has rendered most of them unimportant. He eliminates his
opponents and their credibility. Ivan Lendl shows up at the Canadian
Open and is a larger celebrity than almost anyone playing. That's good for Lendl. Not for tennis.
Federer should be the one breakout athlete in the game, but he is still waiting for a complete worldwide breakout.
He is more complete than Bjorn Borg, more skilled than John McEnroe,
more competitive than Jimmy Connors, more interesting than Pete
Sampras. And yet, those of us caught up in this small-minded North
American prism don't necessarily welcome him as an athlete who
transcends his sport. His record shows he should transcend his
sport, but the fact that he is not, ahem, American, means he doesn't
get complete exposure in the land of the free, the brave and the
xenophobic. But shouldn't he be the largest star in sports if he happens to be most dominant?
He is infinitely more human than Tiger Woods, more precise, more
likable, more honest, less robotic, seemingly enjoying his place as a
tennis player for the ages. Some athletes come to loathe the
spotlight. He has accepted his role and doesn't hide from it in any way
and he remains appreciative and humble all at the same time. In any of the six languages he happens to speak.
"I'm very happy to hear that people compare me with Tiger and other
people," Federer said, after a rather workmanlike, matter-of-fact 6-3,
6-3 victory over Sebastien Grosjean at the Rexall Centre yesterday. There was never a moment in the match,
hardly even a volley, where there was any kind of question about the
outcome. Most of the time, most of his career, Federer eliminates
doubt. You watch him -- even yesterday, when he
wasn't terrific -- and he does things that belie physics. He makes the
impossible seem possible. And he does so much of it with an
unexplainable ease. UNALTERED LEGACY
He can do that in the final of a Grand Slam tournament or on centre
court at the Rexall Centre on the campus of York University in a Rogers
Cup tournament that will not alter his legacy in any way. "I know what I'm doing is not the usual thing, only losing four, maybe a maximum 10 to 15 matches a year," Federer said.
This year his record is 57 wins, four losses. That's three Cy Young seasons in one.
"I'm very aware what I'm doing," he said. "It is, of course, a pity to
see other players kind of fading away, coming back, not being able to
play consistent ... It's not so easy to make the final every week, like
what Nadal and myself have been able to do over the last one and a half
years ..." And still, there are goals ahead for a kid
who happens to be a year younger than the forever developing Nik
Antropov. That's what he tend to forget about Federer. He just turned
25. This could just be the beginning. "I guess (I want to be) the one with the
most Grand Slams," he said. "Because that's where you probably are
measured at the end of your career. Of course, it would be nice to have
the longest No. 1 in the world or the most titles. I think one of those
three is definitely very special." ---
FEDERER-WOODS ... TALE OF THE TAPE
ROGER FEDERER TIGER WOODS
25 Age 30
7 Years on Tour 11
6-foot-1 Height 6-foot-1
177 lbs. Weight 185 lbs.
39 Tournaments won 50
7 Majors/Slams won 11
6 Wins this season 4
$24,731,458 Career Earnings $60,898,324
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