Officially, Roger Federer needs to win two more major titles to match Pete Sampras' total of 14. But in my rankings, if Federer decided to walk away from the game today, he is the best player of the open era.
The statistical system I've set up rewards dominance and no one has been more dominant than Federer over the past four seasons. Out of the 10 greatest tennis campaigns in the open era, Federer has the second (2007), third (2006) and sixth best (2004) ever.
Only Rod Laver's grand slam ranks higher and that was back when three of the four majors were played on grass.
Really, the only knock on Federer is that he has not won the French to complete the feat of winning on all three surfaces -- grass, hard court and clay -- like Andre Agassi and Jimmy Connors. People forget one of Jimbo's U.S. Open titles was won on clay.
But Federer has made it to the past two French finals -- Sampras didn't make any French finals and John McEnroe made just one -- only to face Nadal, who may go down as the best ever on clay.
Really, Federer has beaten all kinds of players. Roadrunners like Lleyton Hewitt, pure power players like Andy Roddick (three times) and Marat Safin, an all-time great giving it has last big shot in Andre Agassi and young guns like Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Nadal seems to be somewhat closing the gap on other surfaces and Djokovic could develop into a nemesis, so maybe we've seen the best of Federer. It certainly is the best of the open era.
Here are the updated standings for the all-time men's tennis tournament (active players are in bold):
Rank, Player, Country, Years, Total
1. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2003-2007, 688.00
2. Pete Sampras, United States, 1990-2002, 656.50
3. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1974-1981, 648.50
4. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1981-1991, 619.50
5. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1974-1984, 597.00
6. John McEnroe, United States, 1979-1985, 558.00
7. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1982-1988, 472.50
8. Andre Agassi, United States, 1990-2005, 470.00
9. Boris Becker, Germany, 1985-1996, 423.50
10. Stephan Edberg, Sweden, 1985-1993, 409.00
11. Rod Laver, Australia, 1968-1971, 355.50
12. Jim Courier, United States, 1991-1993, 334.50
13. Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 1975-1982, 323.00
13. John Newcombe, Australia, 1968-1976, 323.00
15. Ken Rosewall, Australia, 1968-1974, 295.50
16. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 2005-2007, 264.50
17. Jan Kodes, Czechoslovakia, 1970-1973, 228.00
18. Arthur Ashe, United States, 1968-1975, 214.50
19. Illie Nastase, Romania, 1971-1976, 197.00
20. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 2001-2005, 192.50
21. Marat Safin, Russia, 2000-2005, 191.00
22. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil, 1997-2001, 166.00
23. Stan Smith, United States, 1968-1980, 156.50
24. Pat Rafter, Australia, 1997-2001, 155.50
25. Yevgeny Kafelinikov, Russia, 1996-2000, 145.00
26. Pat Cash, Australia, 1987-1988, 141.00
27. Michael Chang, United States, 1989-1996, 134.00
28. Sergei Bruguera, Spain, 1993-1997, 133.00
29. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, 1992-2001, 131.00
30. Andy Roddick, United States, 2003-2006, 130.50
31. Michael Stich, Germany, 1991-1996, 121.50
32. Johan Kriek, South Africa, 1981-1982, 113.00
Here are the greatest years in the open era:
1. Rod Laver, Australia, 1969, 55.00
2. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2007, 44.50
3. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2006, 44.00
4. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1974, 42.00
5. John McEnroe, United States, 1984, 41.00
6. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2004, 40.50
7. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1988, 39.50
8. Pete Sampras, United States, 1995, 37.00
8. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1978, 37.00
10. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1987, 36.00
11. John McEnroe, United States, 1981, 35.00
11. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1980, 35.00
13. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1986, 34.00
13. Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 1977, 34.00
15. Boris Becker, Germany, 1989, 32.00
16. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1982, 30.50
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