Fed Express

I'm not attempting to brag in this blog...okay, I am. While most of the sports world was jumping off the Federer bandwagon like it was on fire, I stayed calm. Granted, most of the sports analysts that were ripping Fed know as much about tennis as I do calculus, but they are the analysts that people see--primarily ESPN. First Take, Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption, Mike & Mike in the Morning, and many of the radio shows produced by ESPN; these are the sources of information for most average tennis fans. Listening to this cohort led many to believe that Fed was done--he would never get 14 majors, he wouldn't win the French, he was overrated, etc, etc, etc. Yeah, most of these "experts" had a quick fact sheet in front of them and with a difficulty understanding basic tennis stats, came to crazy conclusions.

What? Wait, I'm confused? Did Federer win his 14th at the French? This caused about half of the "experts" to jump back on the bandwagon, with a few holdouts claiming that the win at the French is tainted because it wasn't against Nadal. What? Nadal lost in the 4th round to the guy Fed beat in straight sets in the Final (he also just beat Soderling in straight sets--ironically, in the 4th round--at Wimbledon). Roger is one win away from his 21st, TWENTY FIRST!!!!!!!, straight semi-final in a major. The old record was 10 by Ivan Lendl; that means that for over 5 years, for every major, Roger has gotten no worse than the Final Four. Out of those 21 semi's, he's got 13 championships, 19 Finals, and the chance to make that 14 wins in 20 tries if things go as planned over the next few days. That is the single greatest streak in all of sports, better than Dimaggio's 56, Ripkens 2000+, or any other streak that is hallowed. Making 20 straight semi's and counting is the greatest record and most impressive aspect of Federer's career; it's the stat that when factored in with everything else makes him the GOAT, hands down. With lots of sports streaks, if a player misses a game or an event, that isn't counted against the player. Roger made one of those semi's (and one of his few losses before a final) while he had Mono. That is absolutely nuts; I've had Mono, and when I did I could hardly make it up the stairs. I'm the biggest Jordan fan on the planet, but this puts the "flu game" to shame, and at least equals Tiger's US Open win on 1 leg. No excuses, no pull outs, no injuries, no ducking, Fed has played every major for over 5 years and won over half of them, made the final in most, and never missed a semi. INSANE.

During the Federer Era, Roger had a 3 year stretch where he went 317-24 and made every major final, winning 9 of 12. That stretch alone would put him in the in the discussion for GOAT. The longest streak of consecutive finals in Tennis history used to be 4; Roger made 12 in a row, lost in a semi with the help of Mono, and now he's made 5 in a row and counting. Not a bad slump--2 majors, the second longest Finals streak in history, with 2 of the 3 finals losses coming in 5 setters to Nadal. That is why I never jumped off the bandwagon. I realized that Fed was simply coming down slightly from his non-human status. He made winning majors and for that matter, every match he played, seem easy and guaranteed. He had a stretch that warped our perceptions of tennis and that warped perception affected a lot of people. When Federer started winning a the rate of say, Pete Sampras, he was considered washed up by the "experts". Nice work ESPN, with your top notch analysts crying wolf, you managed to convince a lot of people that Roger was done. Your crazy, stupid analysis should prevent you from broadcasting the major tournaments, that should go to the tennis channel. Whether Federer wins or loses this Wimbledon doesn't matter. He's still performing at a higher level than everyone else in Tennis, and he's still playing at a higher, more consistent level than anyone has in the history of the game. Wake up and realize that he will get 15 majors--FOR SURE--whether it comes Sunday or not. He's too good and too consistent to not get a couple more majors, at least. He'll probably win 3-5 more in my--and Pete Sampras'--estimation. Anyway, for those of you who don't know much about tennis, take my word for it, Roger Federer has had the most impressive career in Tennis history. That's as far as labels can really go when we're comparing generations, but with that in mind, the greatest career garners the greatest player label--even if that part of it is subjective.