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12/28/09 - Roger's Run

Roger Federer - For this final edition of the decade of our 'Weekly Picks', we're featuring the single person from around the sports world who deserved to be picked before everyone else in the Lottery Draft. That person, beyond any shadow of a doubt is Roger Federer. After winning the French Open this year, he is decisively the greatest tennis player to ever live - which is quite an accomplishment. There are very few major sports where there is a clear cut greatest ever - its a list that includes Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth from previous decades and Lance Armstrong & Michael Phelps from this generation. The reason the other two didn't make the list is pretty easy - cycling has been marred by drug use and Lance took a few years off this decade, and Phelps has really only had two spectacular runs (04 & 08 Olympics). However, Roger has just been steady and dominant. In the middle of the decade Federer won 5 straight US Opens and 5 straight Wimbledons, something no one else has even come close to, while en route to a record 15 major titles. Not including the French Open, which they play on clay (a rarely used modern surface - akin to an NBA team having to play on a gravel streetball court with chain nets), Federer won the first 12 grand slam titles he played in. Jordan won all 6 of his NBA finals and Montana won all 4 Super Bowls - but 12 for 12 is just insane, particularly when you consider its one match for all the marbles and its a one-on-one sport, meaning a single leg cramp can easily derail a championship. Over his major championships, he has beaten a record 11 different opponents, meaning he is better than anyone that could be thrown at him. And, just as we all thought he was aging, he finished off the decade with probably the two greatest matches ever played - first a loss to Nadal in the '08 Wimbledon final that should have been enough to drive a man to suicide, then a similarly exhilarating victory over Roddick in '09, where he closed out the decade as the Greatest Of All Time.

Poll
If you had the first overall pick in the sports star draft of the last decade, who would you pick?
Lance Armstrong
3 votes
Roger Federer
143 votes
Michael Phelps
6 votes
Kobe Bryant
0 votes
Tom Brady
1 votes
Alex Rodriguez
1 votes
Tiger Woods
4 votes
None of the above - check the comments
1 votes

159 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs  |  Comment 3 comments |

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you people are all insane

if i wanted one person on my team it would be Tiger by a landslide…assuming the whole thing with the whores didnt happen.

PSTIM1

Master of Everything

by PSTIM1 on Dec 29, 2009 12:36 PM EST reply actions  

did this article get linked to..

iwanttolickrogersballs.com?

youve seen his wife havent you? you realize he is gay right? that chick is a housefrau looking 5.5 Roger should be hooking up with different international 11’s every day

PSTIM1

Master of Everything

by PSTIM1 on Dec 29, 2009 12:38 PM EST reply actions  

I wouldn’t dismiss what Roger has done so fast. People talk about Tiger-proofing courses, however what has gone relatively unnoticed is how tennis has become Federer-proofed.

http://sportsonmymind.com/2008/07/08/how-the-courts-of-wimbledon-stole-immortality-from-roger-federer-and-made-rafael-nadal-appear-great/

Wimbledon plays slower now than it did at the beginning of Roger’s Grand Slam run, which started at the 2003 Wimbledon, forcing him to adjust from being a serve and volley kind of player to one with the greatest all-court game of all time. If Pete Sampras, perhaps the greatest serve and volley player ever, were to play today he would struggle to win the Wimbledon championships that he did

Additionally the Australian also plays slower than it used too. These are both great advantages for a play like Rafael Nadal whose game is predicated almost totally on all-out hustle and consistency from the baseline with a wicked sidespin on his forehand.

Federer has reached the semi-finals in 22 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals. stretching from this past year’s U.S. Open all the way back to Wimbledon 2004. During that time the only losses has in Grand Slams are to Rafael Nadal, Juan Martin del Potro, Marat Safin and Novak Djokovic who were all top-10 players when they beat him. That’s real domination right there.

by aramnath on Dec 29, 2009 1:10 PM EST up reply actions  

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