Woods vs Federer

tennis tournaments

As the two pre-eminent sportsmen in the world at the moment, people often question who is the greatest sportsman in their field, or in fact even on the planet. Both Tiger Woods and Roger Federer are in the process of chasing down long-standing records in their individual disciplines, the most grand slams amassed by an individual ever, but who is better? This is obviously a difficult question as there are huge differences between golf and tennis. Most importantly, in golf you have to compete against yourself week in week out, if you're playing badly, with sixty other professionals in the competition, not everyone will be playing so badly that you might still sneak a victory. In tennis you just have to beat who is opposite you, if they have a bad day, you just need to have a slightly better one and you will win.

This is a simplification, talent plays a huge part in it. A bad day for Woods is evidently not the same standard as a bad day for any other golfer on the tour. The remarkable thing about Woods' recent run is how he has managed to simply play towards the top of his game for weeks on end, something that Federer achieved with his run of victories last year, but has so far failed to emulate in the 2008 tennis season. In Federer's defence we must consider the physical impact of the two sports. Whatever happens, for Woods to win a tournament he has to play four days of golf, as does every other professional who makes the cut. Then, once this is done, the same happens the following week and so on. There must be an attritional effect, but everyone must suffer it equally because they all play the same amount of holes. For Federer this is not the case, he has to go toe to toe through tournaments and win every game that is put in front of him. Quite often he will then go into the next competition and play someone who has had a few days, or a weeks, rest and accordingly will be fresher. Federer has to play at a sufficient standard to overcome not only his opposition but the impact of playing many more games than most other players throughout the course of the season.

Currently Federer is experiencing a dip in form, either that or the rest of the field is coming up towards him, and we must consider that Federer has to do it on all different surfaces. There is variation in golf, but not to the same degree. Both are exceptional talents, and both, no doubt, will claim the records that they are currently moving towards. On the back of his defeat in the Wimbledon final 2008, Federer is, perhaps, coming to the end of his dominance. Players like Nadal are younger, quicker, and hit the ball harder, which makes it harder to be so clearly the best as before. Sports betting are tipping Nadal to lift the trophy in the final tennis grand-slam of the year, The US Open, with odds of 7/4, but with Federer's odds of 2/1, it's just too close to call.

For Woods you can't see where the opposition is going to come from, so long as he manages to stay at the top of his own game as difficult as that may be. Either way, both have graced their respective sports and we are lucky to say that we saw them at their best.