If someone were to ask you who the most dominant player in all of sports is right now, what would you answer? Tim Duncan? LeBron James? Tiger Woods? Barry Bonds? A-Rod? Sidney Crosby? Peyton Manning? Tom Brady? My guess is, not too many people around the world would pick the right name. Heck, before last weekend, I probably wouldn't have even picked the right name. However, there's really no arguing the point, there is a clear-cut winner here. Roger Federer is the most dominant athlete in all of sports, and it isn't even close. 

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a tennis buff, and yet even I can appreciate watching Federer play. He's a master of every technique on the tennis court, and his technical prowess was on full display in his Wimbeldon final against Rafael Nadal. Frankly, Federer is as technically brilliant as any tennis player who has ever played. He can serve (24 aces to 1 against Nadal), he can play the net, his forehand and backhand are both brilliant, and he's ridiculously accurate. Just how good is Federer? Since 2004, he has missed the finals of a Grand Slam event only 3 times. He has appeared in 9 consecutive Grand Slam finals, and won 7 of them. He won the Australian Open this year without dropping a single set! His 11 Grand Slam titles put him only 3 behind Pete Sampras for the all-time record, and Roger is 5 years younger than Sampras was when he won his last title. He has won 5 straight Wimbledons, 3 straight U.S. Opens, and 2 straight Australian Opens. Simply put, if you weren't playing on clay over the last few years, then you were probably losing to Roger Federer. He isn't just the greatest player in the game today, he's the greatest player of all time.

It's an interesting situation in the world of tennis right now. Arguably the greatest tennis player of all time is playing at the same time as unarguably the greatest clay court player ever. Nadal's brilliance on clay (his 81 consecutive clay court victories is a record, and he's never lost a match at the French Open) is probably the only thing that has kept Federer from already passing Sampras'  record. However, yesterday's hard-fought 5-set thriller at Wimbledon provides hope that the younger, more athletic Nadal's brilliance may be stretching beyond the clay courts to challenge Federer away from Roland Garros. After years of one-sided dominance in tennis, there hasn't been a better time to start paying attention than now. Forget the fact that there are no good American players in the game today, we're witnessing one of the all-time greats try to cement his legacy with that elusive French Open title, and we get to see if the young challenger Nadal can break Federer's grip on the other 3 Slams. Even if you don't follow tennis, it's time to wake up and recognize Roger Federer. It's not often that you get a chance to watch someone who is the greatest of all time at what they do, so take the chance while you can.