Roger Federer is Still the Casual Viewer’s GOAT

Roger Federer’s statistical accomplishments may have been eclipsed by his contemporaries by now. He is ending his storied career with less major titles than Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – a fact that may have seemed bizarre even three years ago. Federer no longer holds the title of statistical goat. In my opinion, however, Federer will always be the greatest player of all time to the casual tennis viewer. Here’s why.

Federer is the most generally likable of the three

And don’t debate me here. In a group of 200 different levels of tennis fans, if you ask them their favorite member of the Big Three, the majority will say Federer. He has not made any recent controversial decisions like Djokovic’s stance on vaccination and does not have as many idiosyncrasies as Nadal. Federer is highly non-controversial and very standard with his on-court habits, which makes him a much more accessible player. 

Federer’s style of play is the most flashy of the three

I don’t necessarily mean he is the biggest showboat of the three or the most audacious; but generally, Federer is a more offensive player than either Djokovic or Nadal, playing higher-risk tennis with more net points and varied shots. Fans enjoy seeing variation in tennis; it’s why clips of tweeners and drop shots get millions of views on YouTube shorts and TikTok. Federer brought more variation to the table than either Djokovic or Nadal.

Federer returned the sport to a “gentlemanly” game

This ties in with my first point – Federer is a classy player, a good sport, and an obvious gentleman. In an immediate post-Agassi-Sampras-Chang-Becker-Lendl era (and Agassi was an amazing player with an amazing story, so don’t get anything I say twisted,) Federer returned the game to a more calm environment externally by both being a champion and by being respectful to his opponents in a time when the media was usually able to coerce at least a passive aggressive remark out of players about their competition (see Andre Agassi’s Open for several examples.) Federer has always been highly professional and respectful, and has been doing so longer than Nadal and Djokovic. Roger Federer restored tennis to a state in which drama remained on the court at the highest level. Federer may not be the greatest player in terms of major titles anymore. But he remains the greatest of all time in impact for the aforementioned feat alone, which is why in the eyes of the casual viewer, Federer will be number one for some time.