When will they get it right?

Pisses me off... whenever there is a debate over whether Roger Federer is the greatest tennis player ever, why is it so hard to be accurate and qualify it by saying "male?"

Federer has 14 Grand Slam singles titles, which is far fewer than:

Margaret Court (24)
Steffi Graf (22)
Hellen Wills Moody (19)
Chris Evert (18)
Martina Navratilova (18)

And if you add doubles, it's even more lopsided. Just looking at the men, Roy Emerson leads with 28 total Slam titles. (Although I suspect only a minority of us still consider versatility to be part of "greatness.")

 

Federer would beat any of them. No qualification needed.

 

Because women are clearly inferior.

 

No. Because he is better than they were. Period.

 

I understand your point. Obviously, he'd be the greatest for his gender, but he wouldn't match the top women in terms of numbers.

But if you're getting into everybody in the same hopper, the greatest male player WOULD beat the greatest female player every time, and without exception. So that case can be made.

The Emerson argument is another one altogether.

 

I'd say they are getting it right. Unless you want to put money on Court in a hypothetical "in their primes" match.

 

They're not wrong. They just have a different opinion than you. You can't equate Helen Wills Moody winning pre-WWII majors to what Federer is doing. Graf is in the modern era, yes, but even Court wasn't facing anything like today's level of elite players.

 

Court won 11 of her Slam titles at the Australian Open, which other players rarely played during her career. Players just didn't jet off to Australia for 2 weeks around Christmas in those days (Billie Jean King played 5 Aussie Opens in her 25-year career).

So Court basically feasted on her home turf against a horribly depleted field. Not her fault, but let's put those 24 Slams in perspective.

55-year-old Bobby Riggs d. Court 6-2, 6-1. Enough said.

 

Chris Evert was the cutest. Steffi would be right there with a good nose job.

 

Agreed. Up until the last decade, the depth of the field in women's tennis wasn't so great.

 

No need for blue font in the context of this discussion.

I don't even think Billie Jean King would argue that Steffi Graf or Martina Navaralitova (sp?), Chris Evert, Monica Seles, the Williams sisters, Martina Hingas, Court or any other woman in their prime would stand a chance against the top men's players in the world.