Bud Collins

WIMBLEDON, England - Maybe the best analogy of how far ahead of the pack Roger Federer is would be to think of Federer as the space shuttle while the rest of the men's players are just simple airplanes.

And I can assure you that at this point and time none of the other guys on the tour are close to taking down the Swiss sensation.

Moving towards unmatched greatness
The only way I can see the other top men's players beating the Federer we saw on the court in the Wimbledon men's singles final against American Andy Roddick is if they gang up on him three-against-one, but I don’t think the rules allow for that kind of competition.

It doesn’t surprise me at all that’s the way it is in the men’s game today.

I know that Federer had two off days this year, losing to Marat Safin in the semifinals of the Australian Open, and to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the French Open.

Casting that aside, if you want proof of Federer’s supremacy in the game just look at the fact that he beat up on Roddick this year worse than he did in last year’s final at the All-England Club.

Last year Roddick was able to push Federer to a fourth set.

This year Federer needed only three sets to post a extremely convincing 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 win. I’m not quite ready to call Federer the greatest player of all time, but make no mistake about it he’s probably headed towards that distinction.

His best is yet to come
Right now I’d put Federer in the company of players like Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, and Pete Sampras -– all Hall of Famers.

But the thing about Federer is that he has more to his game than those players did so if he stays on course at his current rate, unless he gets bored and loses motivation or gets injured, he certainly could become the greatest to ever play the game.

FREE VIDEO Sensational Swiss July 3: Switzerland's Roger Federer tells NBC Sports' Bud Collins he's thrilled to have beaten Andy Roddick to win his third Wimbledon. NBC Sports

Of course, and it’s almost scary to write this, Federer's only 23 and he’s a work in progress.

Sure, he’s won three consecutive Wimbledon titles on his beloved grass, joining Bjorn Borg and Sampras as the only three guys in the Open Era of tennis to win at least that many in a row.

Federer has also now won all five majors he’s contested for in a final and that’s just a very astonishing statistic.

The only other player to achieve that feat in the post-war (1946 onwards) era is American Tony Trabert.

And Trabert never had a chance to improve on that record because he turned professional and couldn’t compete at the majors back then because only amateurs could enter the draws.

Federer has already won the title at three of the four majors –- only the French Open crown has eluded him.

But I would suspect that winning on the red clay in Paris is a big goal of his now, and I think he can conquer that surface too.

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