With US Open title, Nadal would close in on greatest ever – By Matt Cronin

Written by: on 5th September 2013
With US Open title, Nadal would close in on greatest ever - By Matt Cronin  |
NEW YORK- Rafael Nadal may not win the 2013 US Open title, but he is certainly favored to. If he does, he will move one step closer to being called the Greatest of All Time (GOAT).
 
He still has two majors hurdles to leap to become the King of New York for the second time: the flashy Richard Gasquet in the Sunday semifinals, whom he has never lost to in eight meetings but who is on a roll, and then should the Spaniard win there, either the red hot Swiss Stan Wawrinka, or his primary rival, Novak Djokovic, who defeated him in a rough and tumble final the last time they faced off in New York in 2011.
 
A second US Open crown would give the 27 year old 13 Grand Slam titles, one more than amateur era player Roy Emerson of Australia, and just one behind the man many considered the GOAT before Roger Federer’s ascension – American Pete Sampras. 
 
Assuming that Nadal’s chronically sore knees hold up another two to three years, it’s safe to assume that he will win at least another two majors beyond 2013, as he has only lost once at Roland Garros and still appears to be nearly unbeatable on clay. He already holds two Wimbledon titles on grass and if he can just manage to show up in London healthy again – which he has not since 2011 when he lost to Djokovic in the final – he has strong possibilities there, too.
 
He has pocketed one Australian Open on hard courts and is on the verge of a second US Open crown. Amazingly, after taking seven months off between July of 2012 and early February of 2013, Nadal has not only managed to dominate clay court play again, but hard courts too: he has won three 2013 prestigious Masters Series crowns on cement at Indian Wells, Montreal and Cincinnati. He came into the US Open undefeated on hard courts  and has won five straight matches without dropping serve – and that’s not even his most effective stroke.
 
He is full of energy, super motivated and cranking on all cylinders. He does not have to nail gigantic serves because the second he gets control of rally from inside the baseline with his forehand, he is almost guaranteed to win the rally with his iron grip.
 
“Well, he might not serve as hard as he did probably when he won the US Open in 2010,” Djokovic said.  “I think that was the hardest he served ever in his career on hard courts, actually.  But now he’s using the serve very efficiently.  He’s going for precision.  He knows that he can back it up.  He has one of the best second shots in the game. That’s why he doesn’t feel as much maybe pressure and that’s why he’s more relaxed and he can, have a lot of variety.  He’s a lefty, which is advantage because he doesn’t get to play many lefties. Well, majority of the players are righties, and he can have this great slice and open up the court. He’s been playing well, no question about it.  He’s confident, and he’s very dangerous opponent on any surface.”
Nadal has proven his all court prowess, but will that be able to put him over the top as the GOAT upon his retirement?  Some analysts think that because many of his titles are on clay courts, that he cannot be considered to be as good as an all-round player as Roger Federer, who owns 17 Grand Slam crowns and like Nadal has won majors on all surfaces.
 
But let’s tackle Sampras first, who had a few shining moments on his worse surface, which was clay, but never even reached the French Open final. Of Nadal’s current 12 major titles, eight have come on dirt at the French Open, but seven of Sampras’ came on grass at Wimbledon, five at home on quick hard courts  and two at the Australian Open on a slow hard-court.
 
Nadal has already won a major on his so-called worst surface – the fast hard courts of the US Open – and has also gone deep at the tournament on other occasions. Sampras only made the final four at the French once. Plus, Nadal has won or been the runner up at every hard court Masters 1000, while Sampras only won a single clay court Masters Series, Rome.
 
With that said, Sampras still does have the edge over Nadal in contain categories such as indoor titles and the numbers of years he finished the season in the top spot. But if can stay healthy and play until the age of 31 like the Southern Californian did, Nadal may put a few more of Sampras’s marks in the year view mirror.
 
But really, it’s not Sampras who Nadal is chasing when it comes to GOAT status, it’s Federer, who is holds five more Slam titles than he does. It is conceivable that Nadal could tie that number, but it’s still a long way off.
 
However if Nadal even gets close to that number, and say ends his career with 15 major crowns, should that be enough to be call him the GOAT considering he holds a 21-10 head to head record against the Swiss – including an 8-2 record against the Federer at the majors —  which is dominating mark?
 
Perhaps he would be because no all time great player – not Sampras, not Bjorn Borg, not Rod laver – ever had such a negative record against one of their primary rivals. Can  a player really be the GOAT if they were owned by the guy whom the measured their success against?  Maybe yes, maybe no as it depends on what statistics are used in the used in a historical analysis.
 
But first things first for Nadal. A win over his friend Gasquet in New York and then another victory in the final. He will approach his semifinal the same way he approaches every match – humbly and believing that if he doesn’t focus hard and put up his best he can lose. That may not appear to be the case outside the court when the Spaniard looks so much more formidable than most of his foes, but that’s been a winning formula for Nadal, so why change it now?
 
“I hope to be at my 100%,” said of facing Gasquet. “That’s the only way I feel I’m going to have my chance in that match.”
 
 
 
Rafael Nadal by the numbers
 
Number of Grand Slam titles prior to the 2013 US Open: 12
 
Number of ATP Masters 1000s titles: 26
 
Number of Olympic gold medals: 1
 
Number of Davis Cup titles: 4
 
Head to head records against other members of tennis’ so-called Big 4:
 
Vs. Roger Federer: 21-10
Vs. Novak Djokovic: 21-15
Vs. Andy Murray: 13-5

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