British tennis great, Tim Henman, has offered his opinions on the sport’s “Big Four” players this week in a radio interview. The former world number four spoke to talkSPORT in particularly glowing terms about Roger Federer, when asked to name his most insurmountable career opponent, saying: “I played Federer the most and I felt that he had the most complete game, he could play on any surface, had very few weaknesses, and there wasn’t a specific area that you could necessarily attack.”
Serbian maestro Novak Djokovic represented a death knell for Henman’s career, losing to the then-burgeoning 19-year-old at the 2006 Indoor Championships at the quarter-final stage, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. The defeat made an impression on the then-32-year-old Englishman, as he remembered: “I only played Djokovic once when he was young. I think, sort of 18, 19, and his game was developing then, he didn’t serve quite so well, but it’s been incredible to watch how their games have developed over the years.”
The Big Four’s Domination of Tennis
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray have carried the sport
Federer, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray accounted for 30% of all Grand Slam wins in the Open era, with 69 of the titles up for grabs in the sport’s history since 1968 going to the quartet. Djokovic leads the way in terms of title wins, with 24 across a 22-year career.
Despite Henman’s infamously routine semi-final stumbling blocks – six defeats at the penultimate hurdle across his career, he duly cast a retrospective glance at the four figureheads.
“If you’d have said to me back then when I played them all for the first time, can they win a Slam? I would have said yeah, I think they can win a Slam or maybe two. But I certainly didn’t think they were going to go on and win 69 between them. For me, Federer was the most complete player that I ever played against.”
Tim Henman Names Tennis’ Goat
The Brit was clear in his mind about who is the greatest tennis player
Further elaborating on the sport’s biggest stars, Henman was then asked to name who he thinks is the GOAT of the sport, and for him, it was an easy decision.
|
Comparing Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer’s success at the biggest tournaments in tennis |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Competition |
Novak Djokovic |
Rafael Nadal |
Roger Federer |
|
Australian Open |
10 |
2 |
6 |
|
Roland Garros |
3 |
14 |
1 |
|
Wimbledon |
7 |
2 |
8 |
|
US Open |
4 |
4 |
5 |
|
ATP Tour Finals |
7 |
0 |
6 |
|
Olympics |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Indian Wells |
5 |
3 |
5 |
|
Miami |
6 |
0 |
4 |
|
Monte-Carlo |
2 |
11 |
0 |
|
Rome |
6 |
10 |
0 |
|
Madrid |
3 |
5 |
6 |
|
Toronto/Montreal |
4 |
5 |
2 |
|
Cincinnati |
3 |
1 |
7 |
|
Shanghai |
4 |
1 |
3 |
|
Paris |
7 |
0 |
1 |
“For me, it’s fairly straightforward that Djokovic is the greatest male player of all time. How do you judge that? I think it does become a numbers game. It’s who has won the most Grand Slams, who has had the most weeks at number one, who has won the most Masters 1000 – and it’s Djokovic. So for me, it’s a pretty straightforward conversation that Djokovic is the greatest male player of all time.”
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