Subtle shift in tennis power

Roger Federer's last goals of a grand slam and winning all four major tennis titles is growing even more remote.

Rafael Nadal looked unbeatable at this French Open, and considering how well he has played at Wimbledon, the days of Federer lording over men's tennis is over. Especially in light of Novak Djokovic's win in Australia earlier in the year.

That being said, I disagree with Bjorn Borg's contention that Federer would be considered the greatest ever if he won the French. Unless Borg was including the pre-open era and talking about Pancho Gonzalez and Rod Laver, Federer, at least in my ranking, already is the greatest men's tennis player of the open era.

Sampras never made a French final, in fact he only advanced to the semis once. His legend was almost entirely built at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

Borg didn't even bother with Australia and was 0-for-4 in U.S. Open finals. All his titles came at Wimbledon and the French.

Federer already has five Wimbledons, four U.S. Opens, three Australian titles and he's lost three French finals to a player who may go down as the greatest clay court player ever. If it wasn't for Nadal, Federer most likely would have matched Laver's two Grand Slams, and Laver's were won on just two surfaces, grass and clay.

Here are the updated rankings of the greatest men's tennis players:

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Total
1. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2003-2008, 102.83
2. Pete Sampras, United States, 1990-2002, 92.63
3. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1974-1981, 90.42
4. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1981-1991, 86.07
5. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1973-1991, 85.57
6. John McEnroe, United States, 1979-1985, 81.72
7. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1982-1988, 68.92
8. Andre Agassi, United States, 1988-2005, 65.32
9. Boris Becker, Germany, 1985-1996, 62.07
10. Stefan Edberg, Sweden, 1985-1993, 59.37
11. Jim Courier, United States, 1991-1995, 52.67
12. Rod Laver, Australia, 1968-1971, 50.00
12. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 2005-2008, 50.00
14. John Newcombe, Australia, 1968-1976, 48.60
15. Ken Rosewall, Australia, 1968-1974, 39.33
16. Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 1975-1982, 36.12
17. Jan Kodes, Czechoslovakia, 1970-1973, 35.00
18. Arthur Ashe, United States, 1968-1977, 32.58
19. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 2000-2005, 30.17
20. Illie Nastase, Romania, 1971-1976, 28.83
21. Marat Safin, Russia, 2000-2005, 28.67
22. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil, 1997-2001, 25.33
23. Pat Rafter, Australia, 1997-2001, 24.50
24. Stan Smith, United States, 1968-1980, 23.50
25. Yevgeny Kafelinikov, Russia, 1996-2000, 23.00
26. Pat Cash, Australia, 1984-1988, 22.00
27. Michael Chang, United States, 1989-1996, 21.67
28. Andy Roddick, United States, 2003-2007, 20.67
29. Sergei Bruguera, Spain, 1993-1997, 20.33
30. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, 1990-2001, 19.83
31. Michael Stich, Germany, 1991-1996, 18.83
32. Johan Kriek, South Africa, 1981-1982, 18.00