Roger Federer The Greatest But Novak Djokovic My Favorite, Mike Tyson Says

Roger Federer is widely considered the greatest ever tennis player in the history of the game not only because of the titles he has won, but also because of the way he has dominated the sport for over a decade. And "Iron" Mike Tyson is the latest to label him the Greatest Of All Time.

The Swiss maestro has won 20 Grand Slam titles — four more than the next best Rafael Nadal — he holds the record for most consecutive weeks as the world number and the most overall weeks at the top of the rankings.

Federer won his 17th Grand Slam title in 2012 and after that he went almost four years without a major title during which period a number of former players questioned his ability to return to the top and challenge for the major titles. The doubts became bigger when he suffered a major injury in 2016 that saw him miss the last six months of the season.

But Federer showed why is considered the GOAT when he returned at the start of the 2017 season and picked up seven titles which included two Grand Slams. He continued the momentum into 2018 and became the oldest world number one in history with a win at the Rotterdam Open.

Moreover, the 36-year-old achieved his nine title successes in the last 15 months playing a limited schedule — just 16 tournaments. He opted to skip the entire clay court season in 2017 and made the decision to skip it in 2018 also after his losses at the Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami. He is keen to remain fit for the events later in the year and Tyson believes Federer is entitled to the break.

“It's fantastic that he plays at this level at this age! His record at the beginning of the year was impressive, unfortunately, he lost two matches in Indian Wells and Miami,” Tyson said recently, as quoted on Tennis World USA. “And now he has stopped (for the clay season). A good decision, I think. He can afford it. He is the greatest of all time.”

Tyson may have hailed Federer as the greatest of all time, but revealed that Novak Djokovic is his favorite tennis player at the moment. The Serb is currently making his way back from a long-term injury absence and is struggling to put together a winning run.

The former world number one’s last title success came at the Eastbourne Open in June last year, after which he has played just five tournaments with the quarter-finals being his best result. Of the five events, four have been in 2018, owing to an elbow injury that kept him out for six months in 2017.

Djokovic admitted recently that he is finally playing without pain in his arm, but he is some way off from rediscovering the form that saw him dominate the sport in recent years. The 12-time Grand Slam champion will resume his comeback at the Barcelona Open this week with his first match against either Martin Klizan or Federico Delbonis.

“He is my favorite at the moment,” the former heavyweight champion said talking about Djokovic. “If he is okay, I really like to watch him. He played some good matches in Monaco now, it doesn't look so bad. Luckily he recovered after an elbow injury.”