Nadal Part Deux
After winning the US Open - and following an incredible year overall - Nadal has made a huge step toward being considered the greatest of all time; a much, much bigger step than he took just by winning the French.
First, the irrelevant points:
*Head-to-head vs. Federer - we know this. I covered this. The age difference is something you absolutely cannot discount.
*French Open - Nadal established himself as the best clay-court player of all time years ago. If he plays five more years, winning nothing but the French Open every year, does that tell you anything? Does that change the narrative? Of course not.
Now, the relevant points:
*US Open Wins - this is his second. That lags a number of players, of course, but it is an important stride forward showing that he can win - and continue to win - on any surface, not just clay.
*Overall Majors - yes, he still lags Federer, and much like Federer was dominant on Wimbledon, Nadal has racked up more than half of his major victories on the French. However, he still has, well, an enormous metric crap ton of major victories, including a Career Grand Slam, so you absolutely cannot discount the overall number of victories.
*Rivalries - while you can throw out the last couple years (or even three or four) against Federer as mostly irrelevant, you can't throw out the first few years; and you definitely must give significant weight to the matches he's won against Murray, and especially Djokovic. If there is a "Big Four" right now, Nadal has had the best year, and overall has the best head-to-head record. Nadal did not win his majors against sub-par competition.
I think history will still favor Federer, but Nadal's case did not get weaker after yesterday's impressive win. Credit win it's due.
First, the irrelevant points:
*Head-to-head vs. Federer - we know this. I covered this. The age difference is something you absolutely cannot discount.
*French Open - Nadal established himself as the best clay-court player of all time years ago. If he plays five more years, winning nothing but the French Open every year, does that tell you anything? Does that change the narrative? Of course not.
Now, the relevant points:
*US Open Wins - this is his second. That lags a number of players, of course, but it is an important stride forward showing that he can win - and continue to win - on any surface, not just clay.
*Overall Majors - yes, he still lags Federer, and much like Federer was dominant on Wimbledon, Nadal has racked up more than half of his major victories on the French. However, he still has, well, an enormous metric crap ton of major victories, including a Career Grand Slam, so you absolutely cannot discount the overall number of victories.
*Rivalries - while you can throw out the last couple years (or even three or four) against Federer as mostly irrelevant, you can't throw out the first few years; and you definitely must give significant weight to the matches he's won against Murray, and especially Djokovic. If there is a "Big Four" right now, Nadal has had the best year, and overall has the best head-to-head record. Nadal did not win his majors against sub-par competition.
I think history will still favor Federer, but Nadal's case did not get weaker after yesterday's impressive win. Credit win it's due.