Roger Federer: Was His Tennis Generation of Competitors Really so Weak?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: October 1, 2012

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The 2012 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals arrives in November, and No. 1 ranked Roger Federer still tops the list. Eight years have passed since his meteoric rise to the top of the tennis world, and while other great players have challenged and disappeared, he has outlasted the usual shelf life for greatness.

Tennis fans and critics often scrutinize Federer’s prime years. The pro-Federer perspective is that he really was much greater than his own tennis generation, including the likes of Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick.

Often, it’s the next generation of tennis players’ supporters who dismiss Federer’s best years as built largely on the shoulders of 98-pound weaklings. Certainly Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray present a historically superior cast of competitors. Right?

Was it true that Federer’s 2004 rise demoralized his championship competitors, or were the others a worn-out group that was already slipping from their flirtations at the top?

 

The Lost Generation

Federer’s tennis contemporaries are often disparaged. After all, three of its brightest stars burned out before their time. Safin, Hewitt and Roddick had all tasted early Grand Slam success but were then eclipsed by Federer’s rising sun.

They were a generation that faced tennis upheaval. Some called them soft or mentally weak. Others said they were traumatized by Federer’s mighty ascension.

Fair or not, the others did not hang their heads. It was doubtless, at times discouraging, but they did not shrink away from the fight. Even talented David Nalbandian won matches from Federer and could be a tricky opponent. The best of the rest made their marks.

Safin was the talented 6’4” Russian with friendly eyes, dark, curly hair, a scruffy chin and a muscular physique. He figured to win many Slams behind booming groundstro...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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