I will begin by disclosing that Federer is my favorite player since Borg. He passed 17 drug tests in 2004, and innumerable ones since. Although I do not like Djokovic, I believe that he is a phenomenal athlete (who is preternaturally quick, agile, and limber), rather than a cheater. His stamina is a combination of superb fitness and the fact that like Nadal (the strip miner ever seeking to rediscover the Comstock Lode) he continually gets away with time violations: bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, et cetera. He is gracious in defeat, as Nadal is in both victory and defeat. I would suggest that Lendl (from 1985 onward) had the prototypical tennis physique. Federer combines the pinpoint serving of Sampras (his mentally tougher predecessor) with superior speed and groundstrokes. I do not deny that with today's equipment Sampras' serve would be even better (although not radically so.
The only players of consequence who have tested positive are: Korda (who accomplished little after his suspension) and Coria, who paid for independent testing, thus proving that the banned substance was contained in a vitamin supplement that he was taking. I do not count mediocrities such as Chela, Odesnik, and Puerta, who was suspended several weeks after a suspect run to the 2005 French Open final. I am unaware of any subsequent accomplishments
I must take issue with the notion that anti Serena Williams sentiment must stem from racial animus. I am not a self hater, I simply find SW to be gauche and uncouth. I liked Noah and like Stephens. I would attribute Williams' personality to her surly, dim witted father rather than steroids. I am sceptical (but not dismissive) of the steroid theory. The perception that a 6'1 187 pound man is thin is a result of the fact that we have ballooned over the last quarter century. I should also note the because of the impotance of lateral movement, Djokovic, and (when healthy) Nadal may cover the court more effectively than Blake, who in his prime mau have won a footrace.

Journailists and collectivists (but I repeat myself) love a few things above all others: gun control, subsidized illegitimacy, profligate social spending of every other sort, urban thugs, tax increases ad infinitum, sneering at employed non urban Americans, and spending billions (if not trillions) per annum abroad. Illegal immigration promotes all of these objectives. Moreover, environmental extemism becomes more appealing as America becomes less like the nation my parents came to, (legally) and more like a giant shantytown.

Sir,
Thank you for posting that link. Borg has been my favorite athlete since (as a ten year old), I watched his Wimbledon final rematch against Connors. Even by current standards, he was extraordinarily quick. I remembered that Armitraj was a tremendously gracious and affable fellow who had a good serve, but I forgot how fluid, elegant, and effortless his groundstrokes were.

I find it interesting that France, which has fewer people and a smaller black middle class, produces more good black male tennis players (Noah, Monfils, Tsonga) than the US. The only post Ashe black American male players of note have been Washington and Blake. I do not count Young because he was only good as a junior.
It is equally curious that white Americans, who were #1 and #2 in 1995, are no longer to be found in the sport's upper eschelons; Sampras has had no successor. I am aware of Allen, Garrison, McNeil, Rubin, and the Williams sisters, but women's tennis is an altogether different kettle of fish.

Mr Rutherford is the greatest stereotype shatterer since Pietro Mennea and Arthur Ashe.