u/Painful_Flatulence80

Hendry and O Sullivan are regarded as the greatest of all time, I feel most would say Ronnie was GOAT, but Hendry to a lot of others is still GOAT. So how do you rank players objectively? Do you use stats or what your heart tells you?

For me as a huge Tennis fan, players “greatness” is objectively measured simply by grand slams. A player can win nothing but slams and be classed as the greatest, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have mostly won everything with Djokovic the only player to win absolutely EVERY major tournament twice , including slams, world tour finals, masters 1000s and the Olympic gold, essentially he’s completed tennis,yet for me, Federer is still the greatest.

I always thought Federer was Ronnie, an artist, but in reality Federer had periods like Ronnie where he was untouchable but then periods where he was just outplayed, but also played like Stephen, complete domination for a period of years by winning 5 Wimbledon titles and 5 US open titles back to back, a record I think will never be beaten. Djokovic has never had that level of domination like Federer, Federer at his best reached 23 consecutive semi finals and 10 straight finals. Djokovic has never had those numbers, not even close

Stephen winning the worlds 5 x in a row mimics Federers Wimbledon run, reaching 6 straight finals and losing in the 6th one, like Federer lost to Nadal. 5 straight world titles and reaching a 6th straight final is absurd for a snooker player and surely that stat alone has to put Hendry in argument for the greatest. I doubt anyone will ever see that record broken in today’s game

But then if it’s a numbers game, why does nobody ever mention Ray Reardon who also won 6 titles alongside Davis, why does nobody ever one mention Joe Davis who won 15 world titles? Surely he should be considered greatest of all time?

It’s the same argument with Margaret Court in the women’s game winning 24 majors but being “ equal” to Novak yet the numbers don’t match at all, Novak played best of 5 sets, the women play best of 3, Novak won against the best competition, Margaret often got immediately placed in the QF or Finals of a slam by proxy for being defending champion.

If Ronnie were to win an 8th I still think Hendry would have an argument but obviously 8 is more than 7. I guess it all boils down o who your favourite is or head to heads, Hendry at his greatest vs Ronnie at his greatest.