A two-time Grand Slam winner has sensationally claimed that Roger Federer shouldn’t be considered on the same level as Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. The three players dominated men’s tennis for the best part of two decades, with Federer the first of the trio to retire from the sport. He played his last tournament at the Laver Cup in 2022, hanging up his racket at 41 years of age.
Federer is widely considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, with Djokovic and Nadal also firmly in that conversation. However, a fellow Grand Slam champion believes the Swiss icon has ‘already been forgotten’. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who won the Australian Open and French Open during the 1990s, delivered his brutal verdict on a recent episode of the First&Red podcast.
He said: “To be honest, everyone has already forgotten Federer. That’s my personal opinion. He has 20 Grand Slam titles. Objectively, Rafael Nadal has 22 and Novak Djokovic has 24.
“For some, Federer will remain the greatest player of all time, but the numbers don’t lie. Performance is measured by the number of tournaments and titles won.”
Djokovic is the only member of the Big Three still competing, with the veteran Serb reaching the final of the recent Australian Open where he was beaten by Carlos Alcaraz.
Nadal hung up his racket two years after Federer, who previously weighed in on the debate by downplaying the need to make comparisons.
He said: “People always like to compare. I see it every day with my twins. Without wanting, you compare them. You shouldn’t, ever. Naturally, we do the same in tennis.
“I am my own career, my own player, that needed those challenges. They needed a challenger like myself. We made each other better. So at the end of the day, we’ll all shake hands and be like: ‘That was awesome’.
“What I know is they [Djokovic and Nadal] are truly amazing and greats of the game and forever and will go down as one of the, maybe the, greatest.”
Federer remains one of the most extraordinary players to have ever graced the sport of tennis. His professional career spanned 24 years and saw him spend 310 weeks at the top of the ATP rankings.
He won a total of 103 titles on the ATP Tour, with 20 of those coming at Grand Slam events. He achieved glory at Wimbledon on eight occasions, more than any other male player in history.