Pete Sampras is still the greatest tennis player

Roger Federer may have won his 15th grand slam title registering his name as the greatest tennis player in history, but that is only for the records' sake. The fact is Pete Sampras is and will always be the best ever. The world today may be going gaga over Federer's feat and the fact that he took just six years to reach this level against Pete's 12 years but has anyone really bothered to have a look at the list of the rivals of Sampras in comparison with Federer? In that case, it will be crystal clear who stands where. While Sampras had to edge out some of the greatest tennis players to reach the feat of 14 grand slams (Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Jim Courier, Patrick Rafter to name a few), Federer never really faced any tough hurdle from anyone barring Nadal, who like other players of this generation has fallen an easy prey to injuries now, thereby giving a clear path to the so-called greatest player. Even the tennis experts feel that the great rivalries like that of Steffi-Monica or Sampras-Agassi have now become the thing of the past. Federer never really faced a stiff competition from anyone barring Nadal as others like Andy Roddick, who gave him a tough fight in Wimbledon final, never really could achieve the status of arch-rivals. Most of the other tennis players of today's generation have been quite inconsistent and injury-prone and could never give an Andre Agassi-like fight to a geat champion. The greatness of any player is judged by the greatness and quality of his rivals whom he has to beat on his way to top. Pete Sampras did just that by overpowering Boris Becker, who was regarded as the best net player of his time, and Andre Agassi who had the best return. There is no denying that Roger Federer is one of the bests in the history having won all grand slams including the elusive French Open, but his feat of 15 coveted titles comes nowhere near Pete's 14 wins. Sampras is and will remain the best player ever, even if Federer goes on to win another 15 grand slams, which doesn't look impossible, seeing the lack of quality rivals against him. Federer is one of the bests and certainly not the best as that title will always be reserved for Pete, if not in record books then certainly in the hearts of millions of fans like me.