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This is always impossible to answer totally objectively, but it is interesting to ask the question and get different thoughts on this very thought provoking question. The ATP lists the individuals with the best 5 set record. This does provide us with some interesting information, but more than just physical fitness plays into this statistic. Many of the individuals high on this list had huge serves. Some interesting individuals were rather low on the list. Andy Roddick was the lowest world number one at 168 and Carlos Moya (another world number 1) was 156. Ivan Lendl (who is widely credited with changing the physical nature of tennis) is 49 and someone with such a great reputation as having an outstanding fitness work ethic and fighting spirit is Lleyton Hewitt and he comes in at 51. Pete Sampras probably never given enough credit for his fitness comes in above Rod Laver, Andy Murray and Thomas Muster. Possibly the most surprising is Roger Federer. Many consider him the greatest player of all time and he comes in on this list at 114. It is also worth mentioning that Jim Courier (who many describe as the hardest working tennis player they have ever seen) comes in at 91. After taking a look at this list feel free to provide your subjective opinion on who you think is the fittest male professional player of all time and whether this 5 set record table is correlated with fitness or some other factors?
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