Can Nadal Ever Enter GOAT Discussion?

Question

I'm not a fan, but I respect accomplishments even if I disrespect the person.

That said, Nadal has yet to break a single Slam Final on Hard Courts.

He's only 22, yes, but any tennis player will tell you his style of game will not keep him up to his late 20s.

He will win a Hard Court Slam eventually, but just how many?

Pete Sampras never won in Paris, only one semifinal, and he owns his Slam collection to his 7 Wimbledons and 5 U.S. Opens, but that's pretty huge, to win 5+ titles on two surfaces ( 8 Total Finals At U.S. )

Nadal has his 7 Slam Finals and 5 Wins, but they're on two surfaces and it's unrealistic to think he can win on Grass more than two more times.

Can he ever enter the GOAT discussions?

Roy Emerson is not heavily mentioned and he won 12 Slams, albeit half in Australia he did win at least twice at the other 3 Slams, yet all of his wins coming before the Open Era.

Nadal winning 10 Slams is questionable and you'd have to think of that as the magic number.

Answer 1

Nadal could enter the GOAT discussion if he wins at least the following: One more Wimby, 2 US Open, 2 Aussie Open, and 2 year end master cup.  That will bring him to a total 10 GS and 2 year end master cup winners.

I think he has enough master series titles on his resume.  But so far he only has 5 GS with 4 FO and 1 Wimby.  No hard court GS titles yet.  Somehow winning a single hard court GS is not enough to put him in the GOAT discussion.  Lots of people think winning a GS once "could" be a fluke, including myself lol.  So if somehow Nadal make his GS titles looks like the following, then he can be in the GOAT discussion for sure.  That's my 2 cents :)

AO: 2 or more wins

FO: 4 wins (He doesn't really need to win any more FO to be called the king of clay, he is the king of clay.  He only needs to play for clay court records now)

Wimby: 2 or more wins

USO: 2 or more wins

Answer 2

My opinion parallels your own.

I am not a fan of Nadal, but I respect him as a player.

He may be accomplish 10 slams, but he will ALWAYS be in the shadow of Federer when anyone mentions the years 2000 on.

Answer 3

nadal will break sampras record of 14 slams!

Answer 4

A very argumentative question. I like it. I think Nadal will at least tie 14 grand slams or just get at least 12-13. Look now! Nadal doesn't seem to have too much trouble with anyone else besides Djokovic and Federer, right? But now Fed and Djoker are starting to lose their pizazz.

Nadal is taking complete advantage of this. Federer almost lost to Ginepri yesterday and it took Djokovic 2 tiebreakers to take down someone low ranked (can't remember his name.) Nadal will win at least 4-5 hard court grand slams.

Answer 5

i think nadal will be able to secure atleast 8 slams and i think he will be able to pull of a us open/australian open win and he is already well on his way with a recent masters win on a hardcourt. i also think he will be able to win wimbledon atleast another 3 times and will acheive atleast a career slam and possibly even a calender year slam sometime in his career

Answer 6

well nadal will do quite well.

the french open will be his for atleast 2 more years and i feel he has a great chance of winning the us open this time.

as for greatest of all time, we just have to wait and watch.

though everyone says that he will retire early whats the bad thing if he wins in 4 years what others win in 7.

i think he will win 2-3 hard court slams but will do well at wimbledon and the french.

Answer 7

He has a way to go yet

Answer 8

Even though I dislike nadal as well, there is a chance for him to be the GOAT, albeit a slim one.  

Nadal would need many more grand slam titles to even be considered, and win them on other surfaces than clay.  He would also have to win more than federer.

That being said, he could be the G (clay courter) OAT if he continues his run at the French.