The GOAT debate isn't just about Grand Slams, and Federer is proof

I don’t recall when ‘Greatest of All Time’ first infiltrated men’s tennis.

- EASHAN GHOSH

As a long-standing tennis fan, though, I’ve frequently cursed the day it did. Today, through tedious overuse, Greatest of All Time (with its egregious acronym in tow) is as hateful as it is inescapable; the microplastic debris polluting the ocean of tennis conversation.

This GOAT debate resurfaced recently, following Roger Federer’s decision to call time on his glittering 24-year career. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, duelling suitors to the title of men’s GOAT, have both lately surpassed Federer’s Grand Slam record. Federer’s retirement is confirmation that he’ll no longer add to his number. Some are now asking whether Federer, once the consensus GOAT, should be a power at this table anymore.

Even set against the absurd claims that are commonplace in tennis debates, this is extraordinary. On it, I’ll say two things.

One is that greatness doesn’t respond solely to the language of accolades. By whatever name called, the GOAT discussion has always shadowed men’s tennis. For much of its history, the Grand Slam titles won — the flagship GOAT yardstick inflicted on us in the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era — has been but a tiny part of it.