Psyside
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Oд редакцијата на ESPN ни доаѓа еден артикл - анализа, која зборува за достигнувањата и рекордите на Федерер, како и прашањето, дали тој е најуспешиот - најконстантниот спортист на сите времиња....
And it's worth asking again since "He" messed around and won Wimbledon. Again. For the seventh time. A Grand Slam. Again. For the 17th time. Became the No. 1 player in the world for a record 286th total week (a record ranking that will be all his on Monday when he begins week No. 287 as the world's No. 1).
When I looked for tears that refused to fall from his eyes as he stared into the Wimbledon crowd while everyone else looked back at him with a sense of awe so great it felt like clapping just wasn't enough, I realized that in all of sports, this -- this level of greatness by one person -- just might be the one thing we may never see again.
I was forced to revisit.
So … is Federer better with a racket in his hands than Jordan was with the ball in his? Or Woods with a club in his? Gretzky with a stick? Greater at tennis than Ali was at boxing? Pele at soccer? Is he a greater tennis player than Ruth was a baseball player? Is he better on the court than Phelps is in the pool? Bolt on the track?
My friend/colleague/idol Rick Reilly wrote a great comparison of Federer and Woods, but this is so beyond just comparing Roger to Tiger it's not funny. All of "the others" must now be brought into the conversation. Tiger needs their help.
For me, the separation of Federer from everyone else comes in what he's done when he hasn't won. True, the 17 Grand Slams are bananas, but it's the 33 consecutive quarterfinal appearances in those Grand Slams that remain beyond comprehension and -- to me it is this fact that trumps almost all others' feats in all other sports -- that seven-year period in which Federer reached at least the semifinals in 23 straight Grand Slams. That is like Woods going seven years straight and never coming in worse than fourth in a major. Just let that marinate for a minute. Finished?
Monumental and epic, even. It really affirms the one element that characterizes greatness more than anything: Consistency. That separates Federer from sports icons and transcends into non-sports categories when trying to universally determine precisely what greatness is.
http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/8160374/is-roger-federer-greatest-athlete-ever
And it's worth asking again since "He" messed around and won Wimbledon. Again. For the seventh time. A Grand Slam. Again. For the 17th time. Became the No. 1 player in the world for a record 286th total week (a record ranking that will be all his on Monday when he begins week No. 287 as the world's No. 1).
When I looked for tears that refused to fall from his eyes as he stared into the Wimbledon crowd while everyone else looked back at him with a sense of awe so great it felt like clapping just wasn't enough, I realized that in all of sports, this -- this level of greatness by one person -- just might be the one thing we may never see again.
I was forced to revisit.
So … is Federer better with a racket in his hands than Jordan was with the ball in his? Or Woods with a club in his? Gretzky with a stick? Greater at tennis than Ali was at boxing? Pele at soccer? Is he a greater tennis player than Ruth was a baseball player? Is he better on the court than Phelps is in the pool? Bolt on the track?
My friend/colleague/idol Rick Reilly wrote a great comparison of Federer and Woods, but this is so beyond just comparing Roger to Tiger it's not funny. All of "the others" must now be brought into the conversation. Tiger needs their help.
For me, the separation of Federer from everyone else comes in what he's done when he hasn't won. True, the 17 Grand Slams are bananas, but it's the 33 consecutive quarterfinal appearances in those Grand Slams that remain beyond comprehension and -- to me it is this fact that trumps almost all others' feats in all other sports -- that seven-year period in which Federer reached at least the semifinals in 23 straight Grand Slams. That is like Woods going seven years straight and never coming in worse than fourth in a major. Just let that marinate for a minute. Finished?
Monumental and epic, even. It really affirms the one element that characterizes greatness more than anything: Consistency. That separates Federer from sports icons and transcends into non-sports categories when trying to universally determine precisely what greatness is.
http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/8160374/is-roger-federer-greatest-athlete-ever