![\"Roger](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1_Roger-Federer.jpg\")
Roger Federer has named his five tennis GOATs(Image: Getty)<\/p>\nThe question of who stands as the greatest tennis player ever will probably continue indefinitely, yet Roger Federer has singled out just five contendersRoger Federer has named his five tennis GOATs(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n
Roger Federer has named who he considers to be the five greatest tennis<\/a> players ever – and, in a display of his trademark humility, he did not include himself. Instead, the Swiss icon named long-time rivals Rafael Nadal<\/a> and Novak Djokovic<\/a>, alongside Pete Sampras<\/a> and Boris Becker<\/a>.<\/p>\n Predictably, the first four choices generated little surprise. But it was his fifth pick that caught many off guard. “I gotta go back to, you know, who inspired me,” Federer<\/a> told the Complex YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n “For me, I needed my GOAT people, who were on the wall at home and I wanted to be like them. And for me, that was Stefan Edberg<\/a>, Swedish guy.”<\/p>\n Offering a little insight into how his own fluid style developed, Federer continued: “He was super elegant. He was the coolest.”<\/p>\n He then discussed the other players on his list. “Boris Becker, from Germany. They [Edberg and Becker] used to play against each other, so I used to be watching them on TV. And then Pete Sampras was the next one, from the US. And then, of course, Nadal and maybe Djokovic.”<\/p>\n READ MORE: ‘I faced Federer, Nadal and Djokovic – one made me feel like I could never win’<\/a>READ MORE: Rafael Nadal sheds light on Roland Garros ban and opens up about ‘very difficult’ decision<\/a><\/p>\n Though not frequently mentioned in conversations about the greatest of all time, Edberg’s achievements would have stood out in any era. From 1985 to 1992, he claimed six Grand Slam singles titles, including two at Wimbledon<\/a>.<\/p>\n He is also remembered as one of the finest serve-and-volley players the sport has ever seen – his rapid footwork letting him move effortlessly across the court, much like Federer himself. Also like Federer, Edberg employed a one-handed backhand, but unlike the 20-time Slam champion, his was a tool of surgical accuracy – a signature stroke as deadly as his forehand.<\/p>\n Yet despite his brilliance, Edberg never quite reached the relentless, trophy-laden heights of some of his contemporaries. In fact, 10 Open Era players have collected more major titles than he did – including two fellow Swedes: Bjorn Borg<\/a>, with 11, and Mats Wilander<\/a>, who won seven.<\/p>\n Other notable names missing from Federer’s list included Jimmy Connors<\/a>, Ivan Lendl<\/a>, Andre Agassi<\/a>, and John McEnroe<\/a> – all of whom won eight Grand Slam championships.<\/p>\n By sheer numbers, Djokovic leads with an unprecedented 24 major singles titles. Nadal follows with 22, while Federer ranks third with 20. All three have, at various points, held the record as the most successful male player in history – a title once held by American legend Sampras, whose 14 Slams remained the record until Federer surpassed it in 2009.<\/p>\n That Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have so decisively outshone the greats of earlier generations highlights not only their incredible talent but also their determination. To achieve Slam totals far beyond those of icons like Sampras, Borg, and Edberg, while maintaining peak performance for nearly two decades, reflects a rare combination of skill, consistency and mental resilience.<\/p>\n Remarkably, despite years of fierce competition at the top, the trio never developed the kind of bitter rivalry that marked clashes like Connors vs McEnroe. While matches were highly competitive, respect off the court remained intact – and continues to this day.<\/p>\n “I was really happy and fortunate to play against them almost 40 to 50 times each so I have a lot of memories from a lot of great matches, battles,” Federer said of Nadal and Djokovic in 2023. “I have answered questions about them so many times and I can only say the best things about them. It has been great to share the court with them for so many years.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The question of who stands as the greatest tennis player ever will probably continue indefinitely, yet Roger Federer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,5873,3592,3575,964,965,85,151089,747],"class_list":["post-255875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boris-becker","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-pete-sampras","tag-rafael-nadal","tag-roger-federer","tag-sports","tag-stefan-edberg","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Stefan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Stefan-Edberg-at-Wimbledon-in-1990.jpg\")
Federer says he idolised Stefan Edberg growing up(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Djokovic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Djokovic-and-Nadal.jpg\")
Federer also included rivals Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic on his list, as well as Pete Sampras and Boris Becker(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n