Why Roger Federer Doesn't Get Enough Respect

    The smoothest, consistent, exceptional athlete of the 2000's is not Tom Brady, it's not Kobe Bryant, it's not Albert Pujols, don't even think of saying it's Tiger Woods, it's Roger Federer. Talk about dominating the sport, Federer has won more majors than everyone, he was a top the tennis world longer than anyone for a whopping 237 consecutive weeks, he has appeared in 23 Grand Slam finals, etc. etc. So why exactly am I talking about Federer?
     Well, he just lost to Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals in the Australian Open and ESPN was showing some statistics about the Federer/Nadal rivalry and how Nadal has dominated of late. To anyone who says that doesn't make Roger Federer the greatest player of the generation, they are wrong. The Federer/Nadal rivalry was dominated by Federer when he was in his prime. Granted, Rafael Nadal had yet to reach his prime. By the time Nadal reached his prime, which was around the time when he beat Roger Federer in that epic Wimbeldon final a couple of years ago, Federer was just starting to slow down. The Federer/Nadal rivalry cannot accurately identify who is the better tennis player because both players were in different stages of their careers over the course of the rivalry. Look at some other recent player v.s. player rivalries. Tom Brady v.s. Peyton Manning can accurately identify who is the better quarterback because both players were in the mist of their primes when they competed against each other. Sidney Crosby v.s. Alex Ovechkin both were in their primes a couple of years back, so you can identify who is a little bit better than the other. This isn't the case for Federer and Nadal, so you can't base everything off of the rivalry alone.
     My second issue with people not giving Federer enough respect has to do with the fact that Federer is "slowing down." How far exactly has Roger Federer slipped since Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic took over the top two rankings? He has slipped to third. He went from the having the most dominating individual run in tennis and possibly even sports history to only the third best player in today's game. So how the fuck can you mention Roger Federer's "demise" in the same breath as Tiger Wood's? Tiger Woods went from dominating to not even being in the top 50! Woods isn't even a lock in tournaments that don't feature some of the bigger names like Rory Mcllroy and Phil Michkelson. He can't even beat the mediocre golfers in today's game! If Roger Federer was playing in a tournament and guys like Rafa, Djokovic and Murray weren't in the tournament, you're telling me that Federer wouldn't win a tournament like that at least 8 out of 10 times? The comparison between Federer and Woods right now is incomprehensible. Show a little bit more respect for Roger Federer everyone, he is after all the best, classiest and most under appreciated athlete of our generation.