Federer is the best player to (ever) live - correct or not?

[Dominik92]

Hello all.

I know I can say: Federer is the best player to have ever lived.


However I am curious to know whether the following sentences are correct :

- Federer is the best player to ( ever ) live.
- Federer is the best player to (ever) live on this planet.

To me these two sentences doesn´t sound ok but I haven´t been learning English that long to be 100%. I am not quite sure whether "ever" is necessary in these sentences.


Thank you very much

 

[Tarheel]

If you want to say he is the best player ever you don't have to add the "to live" part.

 

[bhaisahab]

Is tennis played on other planets?

 

[Tdol]

Federer is the best player ever works better for me.

 

[Dominik92]

Thank you.

But still..is my original sentence acceptable ? Please tell me.

- Federer is the best player to (ever) live.

 

[Rover_KE]

It's not acceptable to me — with or without 'ever'.

 

[Tarheel]

Well, it's a grammatical sentence. However, better would be:

Federer is the best player in the history of the game.

Or something of that sort.

 

[Tdol]

If you want to take it to the absolute limits, you could use something like the following:

Federer is the best player to have walked the face of the earth.

 

[Rover_KE]

As a stand-alone sentence, we must mention the game he is (arguably) the best player of.

We have to acknowledge that a sizeable proportion of the world's population has never heard of him.

 

[Barb_D]

Best. Tennis player. Ever.

That's how the young folks do it these days.

 

[Dominik92]

Thx for all the options.

To sum it up:

Grammatically I can say : Federer is the best player to (ever) live. However it is not the that much used + it is much better to add something like - Federer is the best player to play this game ?

 

[emsr2d2]

Thx

Please don't use non-standard contractions on the forum. The word is "Thanks" (or "Thank you"). Also, remember that we don't put a space before a question mark.

 

[Tarheel]

Thx for all the options.

To sum it up:

Grammatically I can say : Federer is the best player to (ever) live. However it is not the that much used + it is much better to add something like - Federer is the best player to play this game ?

Close. Try:

Federer is the best tennis player ever.