Former World No.1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov has opened up on the GOAT debate, stating that most of the experts have cut off Roger Federer from the discussion. Federer is one of the most successful and flamboyant players of all time, winning a total of 20 Slams in his glittering career.

On the other hand, Federer’s biggest rivals – Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, won 22 and 24 Majors in their impressive careers. While Federer and Nadal have called time on their careers, Djokovic is still looking to clinch his record-breaking 25th Slam. The Serbian also made it to the final of the Happy Slam recently.

Meanwhile, the Big Three, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic – won a total of 66 Slams between them and collectively spent a total of 947 weeks as the number one player in the ATP rankings.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov said on First&Red podcast, “To be honest, everyone has already forgotten Federer. That’s my personal opinion. He has 20 Grand Slam titles. Objectively, Rafael Nadal has 22 and Novak Djokovic 24. For some, Federer will remain the greatest player of all time, but the numbers don’t lie. Performance is measured by the number of tournaments and titles won.”

Federer, on the other hand, said it is not fair to make comparisons between the players.

He said in an interview with AP, “People always like to compare. I see it every day with my twins. Without wanting, you compare them. You shouldn’t — ever. Naturally, we do the same in tennis. I am my own career, my own player, that needed those challenges. They needed a challenger like myself. We made each other better. So at the end of the day, we’ll all shake hands and be like, ‘That was awesome’.”

“What I know is they are truly amazing and greats of the game and forever and will go down as one of the — maybe THE — greatest.”

Federer spent a total of 310 weeks as the number one player in the ATP rankings and won a total of 103 titles in his career.