How Good Is Rafael Nadal?

[klunderbunker]

It's more or less a given that Roger Federer is the best tennis player ever or at worst is second behind Sampras. However now that his career seems to be drawing to a close with another quarterfinal exit, this time at his signature tournament, Nadal is arguably the best player in the world now.

He's the only guy that beat Federer with any kind of consistency in the last 5 years or so and is ranked number one in the world for the second time now. He has 7 majors and is in the final four at Wimbledon. With only a handful of other guys being able to contend with him, it's very likely he'll start piling up majors and could realistically hit double digits by the end of this season and him eventually surpassing Federer isn't completely out of the question.

So what I want to know is how good is he on the all time ranks? Could he eventually be better than Federer or at least more successful?

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

It's more or less a given that Roger Federer is the best tennis player ever or at worst is second behind Sampras. However now that his career seems to be drawing to a close with another quarterfinal exit, this time at his signature tournament, Nadal is arguably the best player in the world now.

He's the only guy that beat Federer with any kind of consistency in the last 5 years or so and is ranked number one in the world for the second time now. He has 7 majors and is in the final four at Wimbledon. With only a handful of other guys being able to contend with him, it's very likely he'll start piling up majors and could realistically hit double digits by the end of this season and him eventually surpassing Federer isn't completely out of the question.

So what I want to know is how good is he on the all time ranks? Could he eventually be better than Federer or at least more successful?

I'm going to say he's going to be a little less successful than what Federer is. Roger is dominant at Wimbledon while Rafael is dominant at the French Open. However, Nadal's flaw seems to be that he struggles constantly at the U.S. Open. With his past knee injuries, I think his time span will be shorter than Federer's which hurts him a bit. Roddick and Djokovic will be in the hunt for a while and I like the crop of newcomers especially del Potro. If Nadal can have a good streak against better competition than Federer faced, I believe people will view him as better but I don't right now.

 

[Theo Mays]

I definitely think Nadal can become better than Federer. We know that Nadal can beat Federer more so than any other tennis player. Right now there are still plenty of guys I'd rank ahead of Rafa. Sampras, Federer, Agassi, Bjorg, Laver, etc...

But with Federer looking to be dwindling down Nadal could very easily surpass some of these guys. I definitely think that Rafa will get into double digits in Grand Slam wins. He would only need 3 more and I think he definitely has at least 5 more Grand Slam titles in him, which would put him at 12 and that would tie him with Roy Emerson and place him 2 behind Sampras and 4 behind Federer (assuming he doesn't win another Slam in his career). Right now I'd rank Rafa in the top 15-20 all time and when the time is done I think he could very well be a top 5-7 tennis player.

 

[Super Hans]

The problem with Nadal is his style of play,he is an all action player who uses up alot in matches,this has caused the tendonitis in his knees.He is nigh on unbeatable on clay and is improving all the time on the hard courts,but in my eyes he will always be behind Federer when its all said and done.My reasoning is simple,Nadal will not be around at the top on all surfaces when he is 29 like Federer is and thats because he exerts much more on the court therefore picking up more injuries.I cant remember an injury of more than a month that Federer has ever had.Also there are more threats out there now than 4/5 years ago so it will be tougher to win the non clay grandslams for Rafa.

Federer will go down as the greatest ever.Rafa most likely top 5/6.

 

[TheAnimal]

Nadal will have a great career, he'll definitely be in the top 5 of all time. But the only question to me is how long will his career be? His style does not make for a long career which can affect the amount of slams he could win. Obviously this includes time off with injuries, he is very young and is already skipping some tournaments to recover between majors so this could be a worry for him.

If he keeps himself fit and healthy and relatively injury free though, he could be truly 1 of the best of all time.

 

[Brilliant Human Being]

Nadal is probaly the best tennis player in the world. But I do not think he will become one of the greatest of all time. Does he have the potential and the mindset to be? Sure. But as has been said before, his style of play counts against him, and he does not have the longevity both of style of play and luck with injuries that Federer has. The secret to Federers success is that he can mix finesse very easily with all out brute force, something that Nadal finds it difficult to do I feel. The fact that he has had mjor problems with his knees already could mean that he ends up retiring for the good of his health in the next few years, while guys like Murray, Tsonga, del Potro and Djokovic all grow stronger.

He defenately has the mindset to become the greatest of all time, whether his body is as reciprocating remains to be seen.

 

[Josefien]

Ohh, a tennis thread. Count me in!

I'm going with the sentiment that Rafael Nadal will never be as good as Roger Federer, or rather he will not be seen as someone that's as good or better than Federer.

The reasoning for this is simple - during Federer's more dominant years, he seemed virtually unbeatable and it was mostly Rafa who could sometimes be percieved as a threat.
Nowadays though, while Roger is in the decline and it could be Rafa's time to shine, there are more worthy opponents and better players overall.
klunderbunker, you called them 'only a handful of other guys', but I think that is not giving possible competition enough credit.

For example, you have Ernests Gulbis, who was the first one to take a set off Rafa on clay this year. Unfortunately, he is injured right now but I think he could become a major threat if he keeps his interest in tennis.

Other examples of course include Robin Söderling, if he can shake off the nervousness, and Juan Martin Del Potro, as well as Novak Djokovic when he isn't being plagued by his allergies. You could even name Philipp Petzschner, who almost beat Nadal on Saturday, hadn't it been for that pesky injury timeout.

I could go on and on about other players, but it comes down to this:
With more competition for Rafael Nadal, he will not seem as unbeatable as Roger Federer did.
Even if he played the better tennis (which he doesn't, but that has been covered by everyone else already), he just wouldn't be recognized as invincible.