Becoming the G.O.A.T. When It’s Least Expected

Published July 6, 2018 9:05am ET



No matter what happens at Wimbledon this year, Roger Federer will retain the famous, though unofficial, GOAT title in men’s tennis: Greatest of All Time. But it’s about time we stop discussing it until both Federer and Rafael Nadal—and for that matter, Novak Djokovic—finish their careers.

Why? Because the last few years of tennis have been unthinkable. Many people thought that Federer, then in his mid-30s, was finished by the end of 2016, when he was injured and hadn’t won a major title since 2012. The same for Nadal, who went without a Slam for three years and looked like he would never solve Djokovic. And then everything changed. Since the beginning of 2017, Federer and Nadal have won three more major titles each. Federer, who will be 37 years old in August, now has 20 Grand Slam titles—the most in men’s tennis history. Nadal, 32, has 17, the second-best.

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