The greatest male player of all time

You have a point. I've been fortunate enough to see all these people play (Rod Laver when I was a kid), and I must say his game made the greatest impression on me. Perhaps, that is because one is more impressionable as a child. Going by records however, Laver is the only guy to have won two Grand Slams (i.e. all four Grand slam events in the same year). Another great, Pete Sampras, never won the French. Ivan Lendl never won Wimbledon. Borg is a candidate, sure. So, is Roger, but he has always struggled on the slower clay surfaces. The other major difference between then and now was that three of the Grandslams (Australian, Wimbledon and the US) used to be played on grass, only the French was on clay. Grass, as you know, is highly variable and is different court to court. These days, it's all hardcourt except the French, so there is a large element of standardization. Racquets have gotten much better, it was different back then with wooden racquets with small heads, and a very small sweet spot. So, all in all, I would still go with Laver.

Yes, of course it is. Sorry about that. But it's such a pity that the Aussie Open has become hardcourt and so has the US Open! The days of the great serve and volley players is gone.

Federer has only won the French title once, because Nadal got beaten on the way by Soderling. But Laver won the grand slam (that is all four major titles in a single year) on two separate occasions. Federer has not done the grand slam even once. Dominance on the court is what makes a player great, Laver dominated by winning all four titles in two separate years, which is something no other male player has ever done. It is like Bradman, people have made more centuries, made more runs, played many many more matches, but nobody has the average that Bradman has (99.96). Compare with Tendulkar, around 55.