Nadal, Djokovic and Federer could be rolled by the dices, but i chose Nadal just because he's just 1 shy of the GS record, while also having 2 olympic golds in singles and having done that by having his best results on the clay, which is about 2 months of the year. The domination he has shown on the clay is unmatchable, guy is something like 120-2 in 5 setters on clay, which is ridiclous in such a competitive 1v1 sport as Tennis is. Also, him beating Federer 2008 at Wimbledon still remains to be something that Federer never got done on clay against Nadal. I'd put even Djokovic ahead of Federer by now and Djokovic could become the greatest Tennis player in history, even tho most of the people would not agree with it just because as always, these lists are always fandom based instead of looking at the greater picture and Djokovic as the greatest of all time doesn't sound cool as it is with the Federer/Nadal. Federer is and will always be my favourite player of all time, i own my one-handed backhand to him but it doesn't mean i'll close my eyes to the facts, for example him winning just 5 GS's last decade. It leaves 15 GS's from the first one at 2003 to 2009, and during those times and Nadal being 17-23yr and Djokovic being 16-22yr isn't exactly the prime years of anybody's career, so Federer sneaked up basically atleast 12 GS's or something before those guys even were somewhat in their primes. Federer was still 28 most of 2010 and that is nothing for a guy who still plays at 38 at the very top of the game, but still managed to win just those 5 GS's from 28 ->, which in my opinion is almost pathetic, as harsh it feels to say.
Phelps is a good candidate, but top 5 so tough that it needs to included the most played sports on earth, the world's fastest man and Ali has to be there, so Phelps doesn't make it to top 5, but would make it top 10.
Also, getting back on the Jordan vs Ronaldo and their importance to their teams and so on, i'll remind you about something: it's "easier" to have higher impact on the game/result in a 5v5 game than it's in 11v11 game. It would become the easiest on 1v1, because it's just you and you only, who's responsible for the result. Now saying that Jordan is way ahead of him, is just stupid, because he clearly isn't. If he would be ahead, it would be by the smallest possible gap, but i do think he's behind and it's just because of the sports they're playing and football being the most competitive sport on earth, so being best at it is harder than being best at something else. For example, i could include Karelin on my list as well, i could include Mayweather as well for being undefeated but my main criteria is based on the popularity of the sport around the globe.
Phelps is a good candidate, but top 5 so tough that it needs to included the most played sports on earth, the world's fastest man and Ali has to be there, so Phelps doesn't make it to top 5, but would make it top 10.
Also, getting back on the Jordan vs Ronaldo and their importance to their teams and so on, i'll remind you about something: it's "easier" to have higher impact on the game/result in a 5v5 game than it's in 11v11 game. It would become the easiest on 1v1, because it's just you and you only, who's responsible for the result. Now saying that Jordan is way ahead of him, is just stupid, because he clearly isn't. If he would be ahead, it would be by the smallest possible gap, but i do think he's behind and it's just because of the sports they're playing and football being the most competitive sport on earth, so being best at it is harder than being best at something else. For example, i could include Karelin on my list as well, i could include Mayweather as well for being undefeated but my main criteria is based on the popularity of the sport around the globe.
