Federer greatest? Becker doubts
LONDON: He is a 20-time Grand Slam champion but Boris Becker does not believe Roger Federer would be able to beat John Mcenroe and Bjorn Borg in their prime.
Widely regarded as the greatest player of all time, Federer became the first man to win 20 Slams following his five-set victory over Marin Cilic in last month’s Australian Open final.
The 36-year-old Federer, who can replace Rafael Nadal as world number one after accepting a wildcard into the Rotterdam Open, missed most of 2016 through injury but the veteran has enjoyed a renaissance – winning three of the last five Majors.
However, six-time Slam champion Becker questioned Federer’s standing among some of the past greats.
“You have to say he is the most successful, but how can you decide for sure that he is the best ever?” Becker told Tennis365 when asked if Federer is the best player in the history of the game.
“Comparing generations is tough, especially in tennis, but he ticks many boxes as the greatest ever. He has 20 Grand Slams, the most ever. He has the most weeks at world number one, which is an impressive record.
“However, would he have beaten Mcenroe when he was at his very best in the 1984 Wimbledon final using a very different type of racquet to the one he has now? I doubt it.
“Would he have beaten Bjorn Borg at his very best when he was dominating at the French Open and Wimbledon? Again, I doubt it, but that is not to belittle Federer’s achievements for one moment,” he said.
Pressed on the evolution of racquets and whether it makes it impossible to compare players from different eras, Becker added: “It makes it difficult, for sure. I started with a wooden racquet and you simply could not do some of the things guys like Federer and (Rafael) Nadal have done in recent years using that type of equipment. It would not have been possible. So they would have had to adapt their styles.
“I would love to see Federer and Nadal play a match with a wooden racquet and see how they get on. It was a very different sport when Mcenroe and Borg did their thing, but clearly the guys winning the big tournaments now deserve to be respected.” Between July 1874 and June 1875, British Army officer Major Walter Clopton Wingfield sold over a thousand tennis sets that included rubber balls, racquets, net, poles, court markers and an instruction manual. The racquets were made entirely from wood.
The post World War II era saw tennis racquets made of laminated wood, made famous by Lacoste. Being a fraction of its weight in solid wood, this racquet allowed new techniques to be incorporated in tennis. The real game changer however was the T2000 Wilson steel racquet. With Jimmy Connors adopting it as his main racquet, this equipment quickly found popularity. US equipment maker Weed made an oversized but lighter aluminium racquet that never really gained prominence.
Prince — designed by Howard Head —made its debut in 1976. This was also oversized but with a bigger sweet spot that made it an instant hit with the players. Dunlop shook up the market with its revolutionary graphite racquets. Its signature Max200g was the most popular and was endorsed by John Mcenroe and by Steffi Graff.
To counter Dunlop, Wilson came out with the Pro Staff racquet, made of graphite. Wilson then produced Profile racquets in 1987. With a heavier head that produced better shots, the Wilson Hammer again became a game changer when it entered the market in 1990. This was the racquet that helped Andre Agassi win 37 titles, including the Atlanta Games singles gold in 1996.
Prince changed the racquet by altering the string size. Rather than traditional pin-hole style stringing, the Prince 03 featured much larger strings that enabled hits travel faster. Rafael Nadal used the Aeropro Drive that had an aerodynamic design for smoother and more efficient strokes. This racquet was a constant for Roger Federer, who used his signature K Factor to win 17 Major titles.