Roger Federer

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HangTime

HangTime

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In the world of (mainstream) Sport, is there anyone currently active who is a more perfect exponent of their chosen discipline? Discuss.



(Yes, I appreciate it is hard to compare between sports. Just a general thought I'm putting out there for us to mull over not too seriously).
 
The only person i can think that comes close is Tiger Woods other than that you'd need to go outside of mainstream sport and look to the likes of Phil Taylor and Ronnie O'Sullivan and even those 2 are no longer dominating like they were 2 years back.
 
BaZ87 said:
The only person i can think that comes close is Tiger Woods other than that you'd need to go outside of mainstream sport and look to the likes of Phil Taylor and Ronnie O'Sullivan and even those 2 are no longer dominating like they were 2 years back.
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Tiger Woods and Phil Taylor certainly are/were comparable to Federer. But in terms of dominating their sport Ronnie O'Sulivan doesn't even come close imo, he was the best player for a few years but never won enough tournaments compared to Woods/Federer/Taylor, certainly not enough to to regarded as a legend of his sport.

Looking at examples from the last few years you could also add Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi, Lance Armstrong and Stephen Hendry to the list of people who have completely dominated their profession.
 
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Agree - generally only Tiger Woods, but perhaps moreso, Phil Taylor, can compete in terms of their sport's dominance.

Ronnie O'Sullivan, however good a player, is undeserving of even a mention in this category.
 
Nah, he's good but he's no better than Hendry was at his best. He's been built up by the media too much. Hendry is still better than him now come to think of it imo.
 
You think? I wouldn't agree with that. Bring statto Baz out of the woodwork and go find their head to head record :)
 
BaZ87 said:
He said perfect exponent not dominating. O'Sullivan said himself that he finds Snooker easy, im sure that if he had the commitment of others he would win every tournement there is.
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For someone to be the "perfect exponent of their chosen discipline", I would suggest commitment is a huge factor to be considered, it's not just about natural ability.

Also, I'd say Williams, Hendry and Higgins at their best would all come in front of Ronnie (imo)
 
Ripper said:
You think? I wouldn't agree with that. Bring statto Baz out of the woodwork and go find their head to head record :)
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Not sure how i'll be coming our the woodwork as im already talking to you :confused: Anyway without looking at any stats im pretty sure O'Sullivan will come out on top and if im not mistaken he's quite a way ahead (remember them bringing it up when they played a while back).
 
Roger is by far the best player in history of tennis, i guess most will disagree since he hasnt won french open =/
 
Head to head between Ronnie and Hendry wouldn't be very fair anyway as Hendy's quite a few years older.

You wouldn't justify who's better out of Davis and Hendry based on head to heads would you?
 
weringo said:
Head to head between Ronnie and Hendry wouldn't be very fair anyway as Hendy's quite a few years older.

You wouldn't justify who's better out of Davis and Hendry based on head to heads would you?
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I wasn't basing my view on that, Ripper mentioned it. But come to think about it im pretty sure O'Sullivan used to beat Hendry on a regular basis even while Hendry was dominating.

When you hear the ex-pros talk about O'Sullivan they all talk about him having the most talent a player has ever had, whether or not he's had the commitment to take advantage of that in order to be as consistently successful as Hendry etc is another matter but i wouldn't consider that under being a perfect exponent.
Ripper said:
ignore, site i found only lists up to 2001
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out of interest who came out on top?
 
weringo said:
You wouldn't justify who's better out of Davis and Hendry based on head to heads would you?
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No, I wouldn't do the same for O'Sullivan and Hendry either I just thought it'd be an interesting stat as I expected Hendry to be on top.
 
You could probably find out the Hendry O'Sulivan head to head on The Snooker Forum, theres some useful stats people on there.

Down for maintenance atm.
 
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