‘Roger Federer, believe it or not, is my number three’ in GOAT debate says former world No 1
Roger Federer has been described as “Picasso with a tennis racket”, but he is only number three on the list of greatest tennis players of all time (GOAT) as ranked by a former world No 1 as well as one of the Swiss’s former coaches.
Federer was many people’s favourite to finish his career as the GOAT as he was the first man to win 20 Grand Slams and was also the first to spend more than 300 weeks at No 1 in the ATP Rankings.
But then Rafael Nadal came along and broke his major milestone as he won 22 Slams – including a record 14 at Roland Garros – while he also achieved numerous other feats.
But Novak Djokovic has surpassed both Federer and Nadal as he currently sits on 24 Grand Slams, won the most ATP Masters 1000 titles (40) and most ATP Finals (7) and topped the rankings for an astonishing 428 weeks.
The GOAT debate is one of the most popular topics in tennis and following Nadal’s recent retirement, former world No 1 Jim Courier and Paul Annacone, who coached Federer from 2010 to 2013, was asked about the greatest player and they both had the same player at No 1.
“Roger Federer, believe it or not, is my number three,” Courier said on the Tennis Channel podcast.
“I would’ve thought 10 years ago Federer was unequivocally the very best and then along comes this guy, at number two, the man we’re celebrating today Rafael Nadal and he unlocked the key to getting inside Federer’s game.
“And then this guy at number one would end up tracking them down. A lot of comes down to me to head-to-head records as well. I think if you look at it Djokovic is slightly better against these guys.”
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Djokovic, of course, can still add to his records as he remains active and has indicated that his main goal is to add to Grand Slam tally.
Although Annacone feels Federer, who retired in 2022, “was something special”, he also can’t look past Djokovic as the greatest player.
“Number three, the great Roger Federer. He was something spectacular, he was Picasso with a tennis racket,” he said.
“Number, the great Rafael Nadal. At number one, for the same reason as Jim Courier, just look at the h2hs. This guy (Djokovic) has just been a little bit better than the other two for a longer period.”
