Soldato
After the thread last week about Federer, I thought I'd start a more direct discussion. Having a good conversation with my brother last week, we got chatting about the Sampras win over Federer. We then started chatting about who was the better of the two.
Eventually, we concluded Sampras, regardless of Grand Slam wins etc. This was mainly to do with the depth of strength in the men's game throughout the 90s.
Federer has had just Nadal, a claycourt specialist, pushing him thus far in his career. Roddick and Hewitt came and went quickly, otherwise, I can think of no other real challengers to him.
Sampras had Kuerten, Moya, Courier, Agassi, Hewitt (at his peak), Rafter, Ivanisavic, Becker (just past his peak), Marat Safin, Stefan Edberg, Kafelnikov, Henman.
Obviously Federer's career is nowhere near over, but unless Djokovic and Murray improve and really put pressure on him soon, where is the challenge coming from?
Eventually, we concluded Sampras, regardless of Grand Slam wins etc. This was mainly to do with the depth of strength in the men's game throughout the 90s.
Federer has had just Nadal, a claycourt specialist, pushing him thus far in his career. Roddick and Hewitt came and went quickly, otherwise, I can think of no other real challengers to him.
Sampras had Kuerten, Moya, Courier, Agassi, Hewitt (at his peak), Rafter, Ivanisavic, Becker (just past his peak), Marat Safin, Stefan Edberg, Kafelnikov, Henman.
Obviously Federer's career is nowhere near over, but unless Djokovic and Murray improve and really put pressure on him soon, where is the challenge coming from?