Now that Roger Federer has become the oldest Wimbledon champion with a straight sets victory over Croatian Marin Cilic in Sunday's final, many sports lovers will have one question on their mind: Is the Swiss maestro the greatest tennis player of all time?
Well, the vast majority of tennis fans will say yes as the 35-year-old Federer now has won 19 Grand Slam titles.
Federer's great rival Rafael Nadal, 31, has won 15, one more than Pete Sampras (14), and Novak Djokovic, 30, has won 12.
But it's Federer's fairy-tale comeback from a six-month injury lay-off that has stunned the tennis world.
Following a heartbreaking five-set defeat to Milos Raonic in the 2016 Wimbledon semifinal, Federer, who was 34 then, decided to miss the rest of the season to allow his knee injury to heal completely.
So, he came into the 2017 season without anyone expecting anything from him as his ranking hit as low as 17. Before the Australian Open started in January, nobody thought Federer could even reach the quarterfinals in Melbourne.
But the ageless Swiss genius stunned the world by winning the Australian Open with three straight five-set wins in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final (against Nadal) against younger rivals.
After two more titles on hard court, he decided to skip the clay season as he knew his real chance was in Wimbledon.
His strategy worked again as he won his eight Wimbledon title without dropping a set. And now he will be the overwhelming favourite to win his sixth US Open in eight weeks' time in New York.
It has really been an extraordinary year for Federer.
So, now we have a poll for you. We don't want to know whether you think he is the greatest tennis player of all time. But what we would like to know whether you think Federer is the greatest sportsman of all time?
Is he better than iconic sporting figures like Muhammad Ali, Pele, Michael Jordan, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Phelps?
We have given you 10 options below. Choose your favourite.
Source: Khaleej Times
GMT 19:40 2017 Wednesday ,01 November
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All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
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