Is Roger Federer the greatest tennis player of all time?
Comparisons are odious but sometimes inevitable. How would, for example, Australian tennis legend Rod Laver have fared against Swiss great Roger Federer? Impossible to answer. The racquet Laver used was made of plain wood; Federer's is composed of high-tech carbon fibre and aluminium with a large head, a scientifically stretched gut and a huge sweet spot.
And yet, if we had to pick the five greatest tennis players of the past 50 years (going back further to the era of Don Budge and Fred Perry would be too contentious), here's my pick:
1. Rod Laver
2. Bjorn Borg
3. John McEnroe
4. Pete Sampras
5. Roger Federer
Laver won the Grand Slam (all four majors in one calendar year - the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) as an amateur in 1962 and then again, in the professional era, in 1969. He's my first GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).
Borg was a prodigy. During the 1970s, tennis was dominated by Australians and Americans like John Newcombe, Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle, Stan Smith, Bob Lutz, Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe. Then came along a long-haired blond Swede called Borg. He won five consecutive Wimbledons from 1976 through to 1980 before he was beaten in an epic five-set final on centre count by McEnroe in 1981. He's my second GOAT.
McEnroe was as volatile as Borg was icy cool. He had an incredible touch game at the net. As a left-hander (like Laver), his matches with Borg and Connors were the stuff of legend. He's my third GOAT.
The fourth GOAT is another American, Pete Sampras. Of Greek descent, Sampras brought a quiet efficiency to the court. He was a brutal serve-and-volleyer but, unlike compatriot McEnroe, Sampras never lost his cool and never abused match umpires.
The fifth and final GOAT is Roger Federer. One of the very few contemporary players with a one-handed backhand, Federer is possibly the most complete tennis player since Laver. In all, Laver won 11 majors. Federer has won 17 and he's not done yet. Sampras won 14 majors, McEnroe seven and Borg 11.
Statistics of course aren't everything. Boris Becker of Germany won his first major (Wimbledon) at the precocious age of 17 in 1985. He won two more Wimbledons in 1986 and 1989 but never quite lived up to his early promise, winning just three other majors in a 14-year-long career. Sweden's Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander, Australia's Leyton Hewitt, Czech Ivan Lendl and, in an earlier era, Spain's Manuel Santana and Manuel Orantes, Australia's Ken Rosewall and America's Chuck McKinley could all have won more majors than they did.
India's Ramanathan Krishnan reached two Wimbledon semi-finals and Vijay Amritraj reached one Wimbledon quarter-final and one US open quarter-final. In 1973, Amritraj beat Connors to win the Bretton Woods tournament. He was 19 and many expected him to be India's first winner of one of the four majors. It was not to be. Vijay gently faded though he has built a fine career as an affable TV commentator, coach and mentor.
What about our doubles champions - Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza? They've done India proud. But it's hardly tennis' greatest secret that doubles is regarded by connoisseurs as a sideshow. It requires dexterity and quick reflexes but not the speed, power, stamina and skill of singles.
McEnroe, as brutally frank at 56 as he was at 22 when he sent Borg packing at Wimbledon in 1981, echoed most people's thoughts when he said: "Doubles don't count as much because they're not as good as the singles players. Would it be better off, no disrespect, but would it be better off if there was no doubles at all, and we invest all the money we save elsewhere so that some other guys, who never really got into a good position in the sport, end up playing more in singles?"
India's loss in the Davis Cup to the Czech Republic exposed how Paes, Bhupathi and Sania's doubles success has lulled Indian tennis into complacency. We simply have no players of quality in singles anymore. And the talent pipeline is dry.
Kunal Pradhan put it well in India Today: "India's best singles player, Yuki Bhambri, is ranked 125th on the ATP tour. He is followed by Somdev Devvarman, now 30 years old, at 164th, and Saketh Myneni at 195th. Remember any of them staring at you from TV screens or newspaper pages recently? Our top women's player, Ankita Raina, is ranked 238th. None of them have won a World Tour title. Over the last decade, and particularly since 2010, Indian players got into the habit of chasing minor glories rather than striving for the ultimate prize. The blame for this, for no fault of their own, must fall on Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. The two had come together as a doubles team at a time when their own singles careers were on the wane. Their chest-bumping chemistry lit up the circuit, giving them six titles in 1997, and taking them to all four Grand Slam finals in 1999. That was a time when doubles, although in decline, had not been sidelined completely.
"However, as doubles deteriorated into a pleasant pastime, Indian players who followed Paes and Bhupathi picked up all the wrong pointers from their success. They saw the format as a meal-ticket, something for which they didn't have to work as hard, and which would give them enough money to stop bothering with their singles careers altogether. Once their new-found success was toasted by the Indian media, with no riders attached to add perspective, there was no turning back."
To produce a GOAT - like Laver, Borg, McEnroe, Sampras or Federer - Indian tennis must shift its focus from doubles to singles. It won't be easy. Doubles delivers great financial rewards and you can play the majors well into your 40s as Paes has shown. But it's singles that counts and for that you need more than just quick hands at the net and a fierce forehand. Ask any GOAT.