Falling to his knees, Roger Federer was overwhelmed with emotion as he served out the match point in the final of the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Sunday. By winning the match, Federer also tied Pete Sampras for the most majors won in the sport of tennis with 14. The 14th was made even sweeter by the fact that this victory was the missing piece Federer needed to complete the career Grand Slam, a feat that only five other men have accomplished, one being Andre Agassi, who presented the trophy to Federer.

With this victory, has the Swiss Federer earned the title of the greatest tennis player of all time?

The fact that the defending French Open champion had not made it to the final sours the argument. Rafael Nadal, who defeated Federer in three of the last four French Open Finals, had been eliminated by Soderling in a five-set match earlier in the tournament. With a losing record against Nadal at 7-13 in previous meetings, many wonder if Federer would have won the match had he been playing Nadal.

One of Federer’s challengers for the title of the greatest in the sport is Australian Rodney Laver. Although he merely won 11 Grand Slam finals, he completed an unbelievable task. He won all four majors over the course of one year, a task that took Federer more than six years. That isn’t even the best part. Laver completed this single-year feat not only once but twice in his career.

People are also losing sight of other great players of the past, including Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Sampras, who never even won a final at the French Open. Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl, but does that stop people from considering him one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game of football?

Being considered a great player isn’t always about who can win every major. The character of the player should also be considered. Federer seems to be lacking little in this department. In a sport where the average match lasts more than three hours, when it seems like the match is going to be kept to a mere three sets, the crowd usually rallies and cheers for the losing player in order to drain as much tennis as possible out of the players. However, on Sunday this was not the case. During the final, the crowd never faltered in their support for the Swiss, from the moment he walked onto the court for warm up until he served the match point in the third set.

During the presentation of the trophy, Federer did the impossible. He gained even more support from the Paris crowd when he gave his acceptance speech in not only English but French, as well. Even his defeated competitor, Soderling, spoke highly of Federer, joking that he was the only man who could beat him 10 times in a row.

Federer has undoubtedly earned the consideration for the greatest tennis player of all time. However, with Roger Federer turning 28 this year in August, he hopes to continue playing well into his thirties. With that in mind, it may be wise for people to leave it merely a consideration until he retires from the sport.