[allin1]

damn shari, this stuff is amazing about fed.

so maybe he isn't on drugs or had a facelift. maybe he is just that f@%$#& good.

[jsmithj88]

shari that's all well and good but tennis is always dominated by one or two men/women

sampras was 40-2 on center court at wimbledon

nadal made 23 out of 25 quarter finals or better

navratilova won a grand slam title 17 straight years

and on and on and on


i'll take the celtics 8 titles in a row, jordan's 6, uconn women 90 game win streak, dimaggio 56 straight games, gretzky 30 straight, or a hundred others before this federer streak of quarterfinals

those are all team achievements. i dont think its comparable since tennis is a singular sport.
but what you say is true, the competition in the early rounds of majors arent exactly the best .....

[shari91]

those are all team achievements. i dont think its comparable since tennis is a singular sport.
but what you say is true, the competition in the early rounds of majors arent exactly the best .....

Yeah I agree with the QF part to a certain extent although as we saw with Nadal/Rosol, players are never safe. Which brings me back to my harping on it being an individual sport. Have an off day or your opponent suddenly channels Nadal vs Nadal and there's no one to back you up. Jordan could shoot 30% in a game and yet the Bulls could still win because his teammates stepped up and carried the Bulls through. No one has your back in tennis. And it does make me wonder why all of the guys we think of as legends in tennis have never hit that record but I guess it goes back to Rosol/Nadal. You just never know what you're going to be up against in any match. Fed's other achievements are much more important to me and I had initially assumed this record should just be ignored... but top players can lose/retire at any time. It says something that he's the first one to achieve it for the men.

[russiaboss]

Awesome accomplishment. I still rate Farve 297 straight above it.

[Le_Donk]

Edwin Corley Moses (born August 31, 1955) is a former American track and field athlete, who won gold medals in the 400 m hurdles at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics. Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 107 consecutive finals (122 consecutive races) and set the world record in his event four times

[Le_Donk]

michael schumacher won five straight championsship in F1
eddy merckx and lance armstrong both were beats in cycling

[jjgold]

Lendl has some unreal streaks too

8 straight us open finals
1 grand slam final for 11 straight years
9 straight masters finals

[shari91]

Thinking about it more, things that set tennis apart from sports like cycling, motor sport, track or swimming: The actual time spent on the court during a Grand Slam, especially for men, and the relative closeness to the crowds for sustained periods of time. Some of these players face pretty hostile environments - we saw it especially at the French Open this year - and they have people in the crowd trying to f up their serve, cheering when they make an error, etc. When a player shanks a ball, there's no team mate there to get the rebound or slap your ass and say a few words of encouragement. Cyclists whiz by too quickly. Motor sport - too quick and enclosed in a car for the non bike guys. Track or swimming - time frame doesn't come close to comparing as we're talking seconds or minutes for the longer events. Only one that does is marathon running but those athletes are never in front of the same crowd. They run a route through them.

Maybe golfers? But even then the same gallery doesn't move from hole to hole and the endurance aspect is removed as is the chance of injury for the most part.

Surely there's a sport that offers a decent comparison to tennis?

[Holtgetsback]

Fed was great for many years

needs to retire now

just another washed up has been who will never win another majour tournament

thanks

[gregm]

And my disclaimer is that my favourite sportspeople of all time are Roger Maris, Gretzky, Jordan and Gordie Howe.

But they never achieved what Fed did. Take away the fact that tennis is an individual sport so there isn't a Pippen there to feed you the ball, no Phil Jackson to coach you every 2 minutes, no taking timeouts when the game gets rough or to try to re-route strategy. No fielders to catch your shonky pitch and no defence men to clear people out of your way. Show me someone else in an individual sport who has accomplished and dominated as Fed has and I'll agree with you. Guy has NEVER RETIRED in a match. That in itself is unbelievable. Especially when you consider his main competitors for how long will also eventually rank up there as the best players of all time (obviously Nadal's already there).

People who dont follow tennis dont realize what an accomplishment is to have a career as long as Fed and never retire in a match. Withdrawals and Retirements in tennis have become so common in tennis, it really is like a favre type stat and shows how tough Fed is and the great conditioning he went through. I doubt we will see that or favres record touched. What we need is a thread profiling great accomplishments in wimpiness and quitting. Tipsarevic has a career golden slam in retirement. A career golden slam in retirements!

He threw the towel in at the olympics in 2008, wormed his way out of matches 3 times at the US Open, called it a day at the french open in 2009 and the aussie in 2009, and threw the towel in at wimbledon in 2011. That is an amazing stat, an amazing display of defeatism and can't do spirit.

Loved Ones Recall Local Man's Cowardly Battle With Cancer

More profiles in cowardice from The Onion

On Jan. 26, just four days after visiting the doctor for what he thought was severe indigestion or maybe an ulcer, Russ Kunkel got the dreaded news: A malignant, fist-sized tumor had metastasized between his stomach and liver. It was cancer..Right then and there, faced with the prospect of a life-threatening disease, the 34-year-old Florissant, MO, husband and father of three drew a deep breath and made a firm resolution to himself: I am not going to fight this. I am a dead man. He was right .On Feb. 20, less than a month after he was first diagnosed, Kunkel died following a brief, cowardly battle with stomach cancer.

"Most people, when they find out they've got something terrible like this, dig deep down inside and tap into some tremendous well of courage and strength they never knew they had," said Judith Kunkel, Russ' wife of 11 years. "Not Russ. The moment he found out he had cancer, he curled up into a fetal ball and sobbed uncontrollably for three straight weeks."Said Judith: "I can still remember Russ' last words: 'Oh, God—I'm going to die! Why, God, why? Why me? Why not someone else?'"

According to Russ' personal physician, Dr. James Wohlpert, the type of cancer Russ had generally takes at least four months to advance to the terminal stage. But because of what he described as a "remarkable lack of fighting spirit," the disease consumed him in less than one.

"It's rare that you see someone give up that quickly and completely," Wohlpert said. "Cancer is a powerful disease, but most people can at the very least delay the spread of it by maintaining a positive outlook and mental attitude. This, however, was not the case with Russ."

Russ' friends and acquaintances saw that same lack of fighting spirit.

"Russ did not go quietly, that's for sure," said longtime friend Bobby Dwyer. "He did a tremendous amount of screaming."

In those final days, like so many who realize their day of reckoning is near, Russ Kunkel turned to a higher power. "Russ came to me in his time of need," said Pastor Charles Bourne of Holy Christ Almighty Lutheran Church. "But when I tried to comfort him by saying he would be with God soon, he only stopped bawling long enough to say, '**** God. There is no God.' I had to get a couple acolytes to help me pry him out from underneath the pews."



Rest of the article- The Onion http://www.theonion.com/articles/lov...ttle-with,772/

[Le_Donk]

Thinking about it more, things that set tennis apart from sports like cycling, motor sport, track or swimming: The actual time spent on the court during a Grand Slam, especially for men, and the relative closeness to the crowds for sustained periods of time. Some of these players face pretty hostile environments - we saw it especially at the French Open this year - and they have people in the crowd trying to f up their serve, cheering when they make an error, etc. When a player shanks a ball, there's no team mate there to get the rebound or slap your ass and say a few words of encouragement. Cyclists whiz by too quickly. Motor sport - too quick and enclosed in a car for the non bike guys. Track or swimming - time frame doesn't come close to comparing as we're talking seconds or minutes for the longer events. Only one that does is marathon running but those athletes are never in front of the same crowd. They run a route through them.

Maybe golfers? But even then the same gallery doesn't move from hole to hole and the endurance aspect is removed as is the chance of injury for the most part.

Surely there's a sport that offers a decent comparison to tennis?

i think cyclists are in more hostile einvornments then tennis player ( during the mountain stages ) and if you are having an off day your teammates cant help you that much.

[Le_Donk]

Surely there's a sport that offers a decent comparison to tennis?

table tennis

[Goat Milk]

Fed was great for many years

needs to retire now

just another washed up has been who will never win another majour tournament

thanks

imbestalian. you shall eat your words

[milwaukee mike]

shari the same gallery follows tiger

and he has to put up with people snapping pictures 2 feet away from him and yelling get in the hole before he finishes his swing

just the way matches/tournaments play out in tennis the top couple players are going to be in the finals quite often

[milwaukee mike]

i would argue that tennis has the least hostile atmosphere of any major sport by far

i havent seen too many tennis players get batteries thrown at them, beer poured on them, etc

[matt1216]

33 straight grand slam qtr finals

Nothing even close or comparable

Its almost impossible

Are u serious... nothing comparable????? how about 500 wins by a pitcher?????? tell me whos gonna break that record!!?? Federers 33 SU wins is good but half of the guys he faced wernt even top notch! ya the quaterfinals are great in all, but its like a great hockey team making the playoffs every year... its kind of expected and this record has a chance to be broken. Not saying this isnt a great record this is top 10 all time but not the best. 500 wins by a mlb pitcher is impossible now think about it.


Federer great streak but not the best of all time not even close

[InTheDrink]

i would argue that tennis has the least hostile atmosphere of any major sport by far

i havent seen too many tennis players get batteries thrown at them, beer poured on them, etc

well you are right depending on what you mean by "etc"

[makman]

Federer is not a great warrior.
but a GREAT tennis player dominating the Men tennis.
He is a great sportsman, a model, who doesnt cheat, who doesnt get much injuries.
He is lucky but mostly clever not to get injured
Also his style of play is not extremely physical like those of Nadal and Djokovic.

Federer is already going into history. I do not think he will be in top 3 by the year 2013

Djokovic is the player of the new era of 2010s
He is just a machine when he is at his peak.
Roger is not anymore at his peak.
I would like to see a Djokovic athis peak against an Federer at his peak. The meetings would be epic.

Unlike these two Nadal is not great model of sportsman imo. He is mostly a cheating pussy with a play based on physical condition. Who needs to complete best-of-5 sets games in two halves in two different days, against an opponent like Joker even on clay.

[jjgold]

Fed gives Joker trouble now at an advanced tennis age
All so close

[Optional]

Fed is by far the winner

"By far"? even over Laver?


Most singles titles won in history of tennis, with 200 career titles.

World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years.

The only male player and the first player, male or female, to have won the Grand Slam during the open era.

Only tennis player to have twice won the Grand Slam (all four major singles titles in the same year)

Won a total of twenty major tournaments, including eleven Grand Slam tournament titles and nine Pro Slam titles. In 1967, Laver also won the Professional Grand Slam. In addition he won nine Championship Series titles (1970–75) the precursors to the current Masters 1000.

Laver won and excelled on all the surfaces of his time (grass, clay and wood/parquet), and was also ranked as the best professional player in the world during the five-year period he was excluded from the Grand Slam tournaments.

Rod Laver is the last male player to win each major title twice in his career.

(shamelessly copied from wikipedia)

[delpiero7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Vergeer

Esther Vergeer (born 18 July 1981, Woerden) is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player. Combining singles and doubles, she has won 42 Grand Slams, 22 year-end championships and 5 Paralympics titles. Vergeer has been the world number one wheelchair tennis player since 1999. In singles, she has not been beaten since January 2003 and is on a winning streak of 457 matches. She is often mentioned as the most dominant player in professional sports.

Now close this thread.

[milwaukee mike]

delpeiro that is impressive but come on, there is almost no real competition in wheelchair tennis. She's probably a 100-1 chalk every match like federer was in those early rounds

[Goat Milk]

federer has way better streaks than this. Not including Nadal an Djoker, Federer is like 165-4 against opponents in Grand Slam matches.

Federer for sure will break every record by the time he retires. No one will be close.

[shari91]

"By far"? even over Laver?


Most singles titles won in history of tennis, with 200 career titles.

World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years.

The only male player and the first player, male or female, to have won the Grand Slam during the open era.

Only tennis player to have twice won the Grand Slam (all four major singles titles in the same year)

Won a total of twenty major tournaments, including eleven Grand Slam tournament titles and nine Pro Slam titles. In 1967, Laver also won the Professional Grand Slam. In addition he won nine Championship Series titles (1970–75) the precursors to the current Masters 1000.

Laver won and excelled on all the surfaces of his time (grass, clay and wood/parquet), and was also ranked as the best professional player in the world during the five-year period he was excluded from the Grand Slam tournaments.

Rod Laver is the last male player to win each major title twice in his career.

(shamelessly copied from wikipedia)

The thread is about streaks - not about who is the most accomplished player ever.

[milwaukee mike]

The thread is about streaks - not about who is the most accomplished player ever.

yeah shari, and you and jj are the only people in the world that think this is the most impressive streak in sports history

[Goat Milk]

yeah shari, and you and jj are the only people in the world that think this is the most impressive streak in sports history

Kobe Bryant 4 straight games with 50+ points. Federer's record not even close. No one will score 50 in 4 consecutive games in the modern era of basketball. No one will even do it twice. Most superstars (Lebron, Durant, Wade) can't even score 50 more than once in a whole season, if even once.