Woods vs. Federer – who would dominate?

William Clark Sr.
June 29, 2010
Senator baffled by Obama’s view on La. oil
July 1, 2010
William Clark Sr.
June 29, 2010
Senator baffled by Obama’s view on La. oil
July 1, 2010

Roger Federer or Tiger Woods?

This argument happens every, single year in early July.


In part, it’s because this time of the year is the peak of both the golf and tennis seasons with golf’s British Open coming up in a few weeks and tennis’ Wimbledon currently taking place.


But another reason is just simply because most sports fans (myself included) are utterly ridiculous and have to always have a clearly defined “best” or “worst” in every given athletic situation (see also: Kobe vs. Jordan or 2003 LSU vs. 2003 USC).

And then there’s also the part about there not being very many sports going on right now, so we just don’t have a ton to talk about, so we’re forced to rehash this topic again.


But whatever the reason may be, I’ve always stayed away from this one.


Both players are the best ever in their particular sport, so I never really thought it fair to compare either to one another.

Until now.


Roger or Tiger?


My pick? Give me Mr. Woods.

Let me first start out my defense of Woods by saying that unlike tennis, golf is a wide-open sport, where literally 100 different players have a chance to win every, single weekend.


A quick search of the past eight men to win major championships show me that Angel Cabrera, Lucas Glover, Graeme McDowell, Stewart Cink and Y.E. Yang are all on the short list.


Before you ask me who those guys are, I’ll tell you that only one of them (McDowell) is currently ranked in the Top 20 in the most recent World Golf Rankings. And McDowell is only on the list because he just got finished winning the U.S. Open.

So, long story short, I don’t know who those guys are, either.


How often do you see the No. 100 player in the world win a major tennis tournament? Heck, how often do you see the No. 10 player in the world win a major tennis tournament?


The answer is close to never.

Tennis is a sport that is defined by eras. When it’s someone’s era, they win – every single time.


Rod Laver did it. Pete Sampras did it, too. Even Bjorn Borg did it.


It is very rare that you see an underdog shine and shock the world in a major tennis event. It just doesn’t happen.

Golf is not quite the same.


You’re never competing with just one guy in a day, but you’re competing with 150 players all in the same day throughout four days.

I’d like to think Tiger would have a lot more major championships, too, if he only had to legitimately worry about two or three players at the beginning of the week when he stepped onto the golf course.

The next reason I go with Tiger is this – Rafael Nadal.

Nadal absolutely owns Federer, winning 14 of the 21 matches the men have played in their storied rivalry.

I challenge you, check that, I triple, dog dare you to find me another golfer who has beaten Tiger Woods head-to-head 66 percent of the time they’ve gone against one another.

I bet you wouldn’t even be able to find another guy who’s beaten Tiger head-to-head 35 percent of the time, either – the dude’s been just that good.

From Phil Mickelson to Ernie Els to Vijay Singh all the way down the line to Sergio Garcia, they have all eventually buckled, crashed, and then burned when faced with Tiger’s wrath.

The same cannot be said in tennis.

You can’t be the most dominant athlete ever if you’re not dominating everyone in your sport, right?

But the last reason I will go with Tiger is because of the impact he has had on his sport.

Tennis 60 years ago still resembles tennis today.

They play on grass, clay and hard surfaces. That’s it. Grass in London is the same as grass in New Orleans. Hard courts in New York are the same as hard courts at Renaissance Tennis Club here in Houma. There just isn’t much variation.

Aside from some technological changes in equipment, there isn’t much change in the way the game is played, or the rules of the game.

In golf, there is “Tiger-proofing”.

With every week being a completely different course layout, course designers in the early 2000s began to tweak their courses with longer holes and more narrow fairways to try and level the competitive advantage Tiger gained in the beginning part of the millennium.

The moves did initially have a major impact on Woods, and he went “majorless” from late 2002-2005.

He took their tweaks, changed his swing and reinvented himself, and the end result has been six more majors and counting.

Imagine if tennis all of a sudden told Federer today he wasn’t allowed to serve the ball more than 100 mph?

Think he’d win every tournament then?

So that’s my thoughts on what is probably the most common summer argument ever among sports fans.

You truly can’t go wrong with either, but if someone forced me to choose, give me Tiger, and I promise I won’t lose any sleep over my decision.