[quote author=Rouge Penguin link=topic=42302.msg1199752#msg1199752 date=1287386579]
Senna was better.
Google some of his qualy laps at monaco, he was awesome.
Tennis. Sampras?
There were great riders before lance. Forgive the spelling but induran, merkcx, hinault
[/quote]
Agreed, I don't think anyone has been better than Senna at his best.
Sampras was great but I don't think anyone gets close enough to Laver to really say they could be argued the best. Both Sampras and Federer say very plainly that the best they've seen was Laver and they both had the same goal - to try and emulate him in performance.
Neither Sampras or Federer managed a grand slam while Laver managed two. I know he only had two surfaces to contend with but he won it twice and that includes being out of the competition for so many years because he turned professional.
There would be more arguments on the womens game though I think Steffi Graf is the best I've ever seen. Once again the surface types, raquets etc are an issue but her "golden slam" in '88 was against some tough opposition and yet she almost always seemed like the one to determine the outcome - only she could beat her. Serena, Seles, Martina, Court etc - all amazing players and some super athletes in there as well but none as good as Graf IMO.
Jordan is a good shout though I hear people talking about Wilt Chamberlain as though he was the unmatched but I never saw him play.
Tiger was/is an all time great but is he really a better player than the Golden Bear? Jack had an enormous amount of incredible competition while Woods really did come along during a lull in the games performers. I remember Norman - who could not, IMO, have matched his earlier contemporaries - coming back from injury in his late 30's and seriously testing Woods when he was being lauded as unplayable.
Not quite as international a sport but when Wally Lewis was at his prime in the mid 80's he was so far and away the best player in the best national rugby league team it was unbelievable. Players before him like Gasnier, Raper, Chuchill, Malcolm Reilly were all great players but none dominated like Lewis.
How about Carl Lewis in athletics? 4 Gold medals at one Olympic Games, the world record in the 100m and, briefly, the greatest long jump in history. I know people will talk about Michael Johnson or Usain Bolt but, IMO, neither of them are there because they didn't dominate across enough events. Johnson in the 400m, though, was a dominance I don't think we've ever seen before. A shame he and Bolt didn't over lap for the 200m.
Oh, and LMFAO at whoever it was suggested Maradonna could possibly described as an "undisputed greatest of all time". :laugh: That is quality comedy right there.