Roger Federer & Tiger Woods: Head-to-Head

Thank God for Kobe.

 

Winning a set against Federer at Wimbledon is a non-Nadal miracle; a non-Tiger golfer shooting a 67 for 18 holes at Augusta is far more likely. Yes, the career arc of a golfer is far longer, but the odds of a top-3 men's tennis player winning a given major are exponentially better than a top-3 men's golfer winning one, even Tiger.

 

Andy Roddick.
Magnus Norman.
Marcelo Rios.
Nickolay Davydenko.
Ivan Ljubicic.
James Blake.
Tommy Haas.
Guillermo Coria.

All top-4 (or higher) players at one point. With exactly one major to show between them.

Let's be careful how we use that term "exponentially."

 

Here are some relevant words on the comparison between the two athletes from Harvard-educated tennis player James Blake:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060909/ai_n16723514


Blake, one of the most eloquent and even-minded of tennis players, did not agree with a recent suggestion that Woods is in the process of surpassing basketball's Michael Jordan as the best athlete of the modern age. "That's a joke," Blake said after losing 7-6,6-0,6-7,6-4 to Federer in Arthur Ashe Stadium. "I don't want to take anything away from Tiger Woods because he's an unbelievable golfer, but I'd make a case for Roger Federer being the best athlete of our time - not best tennis player, best athlete.

"Tiger's won 12 majors, but put him in a match-play situation, where you have one bad day and you're out, and I think he's won maybe only two of those tournaments. That's what we do every single week.

"Roger is winning every Grand Slam except for the French, winning every Masters series tournament. That means he can't have one bad day. That's incredible. Not to mention that he has to be out here for four hours running as opposed to walking while carrying one club. Tiger is an unbelievable athlete and has proved himself every Sunday every time he has a lead, but look at Roger's record in Grand Slam finals. He's lost one and won eight. That's unheard of."

Blake added: "If he keeps going at this pace, I don't know how people can argue - and I am by far the biggest Michael Jordan fan I know. I've had both my bedrooms in my houses painted Carolina blue. I've got Bulls jerseys. I still have Michael Jordan posters up in my room."
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It also should be noted that Blake made these statements when Federer had 'only' 8 majors to his name. That is, 3 majors less than the 11 he now holds.

 

Federer is more dominant in his sport...

But Tiger is more now... ;D

 

TTIUWOP. James Blake is hot.

 

Tiger finishes the year strong, and now sits +2 majors on his younger fellow-Nike-pitchman friend Federer.

Big props to Tiger for coming through in the PGA to make sure he got one major this year. Now it's on to the U.S. Open to see if Federer (who lost in the finals of a tune-up today) can close his majors season as well as did Tiger.

 

I wonder who'd win in dogfighting ...

 

Make it fucking stop.

 

The comparison continues to be as dumb as the originator of the thread, but ...

Given that Woods has 10 or more prime years left and Federer has maybe five, I doubt that Tiger's overly worried about where the totals are going to end up.

 

Wow, Rok is a Nike marketing exec's wet dream ...