Is this a fair analogy; Nadal is Agassi Federer is Samparas?

Question

In the late 80's and all through the 90's the one man that stood in Agassi's way of winning many more majors was Sampras. Would it be fair to say the same thing now about Rafa? Rafa will be great but will never win the majors (U.S Open, Wimbledon, Australian) as long as Federer is playing.

Answer 1

I like the comparison which you have made. I can see one difference though, Agassi could play on all surfaces, while Rafa's game is very much suited to clay. There is one thing I want to say that in the majors, Fed never came in the way of Rafa except for the last two Wimbledons. At Australian open, Rafa lost to other players like Tsonga, or even at the USopen, he lost to players like Ferrer. Rafa never lost to Fed at the majors, barring Wimbledon of course. Fed can be Sampras, if and when he gets two more slams.

Answer 2

omg, NO way.

Sampras never even got to the finals on clay. Not once. He's a one surface man. Sampras' style is completely different than Federers. NEVER compare that apeman to Federer.

Agassi is like Rod Laver if anyone. He's FABULOUS! I love him. I love that he FIGHTS forever. He didn't even retire until it was impossible, and he was still in the top ten I think, or very close. Nadal is totally unique on clay. No one ever played like him.

So we're lucky - two unique best players ever are Nadal and Federer and we get to live it!

Answer 3

wow...great analogy.  I hope not tho.  I really hope Rafa can win Wimbledon.  It is one he really wants.

And it certainly is no slam to be compared to Agassi.

Answer 4

u could say it

Answer 5

This is a great question. I do see alot of simularities in both rivalries.  I still love the Agassi-Sampras rivalries better.  What's rafa's record against  Roger in the majors?

Answer 6

No all 4 have completely different manner of play. It's a fun analogy, but no.

Roger can play on all surfaces too, so his game is more like Agassi in that respect, and Samprass can't play clay AT ALL, so he's the opposite of all of them.

Answer 7

Come on, Rafa's so young, how can u give him that title now itself? He should and hopefully he will only get better and go on to win a lot of majors by the time he throws in the towel.

Answer 8

no way... nadal can win also wimbledon, australian and us open.. just wait.. he's still young...

Answer 9

Their matchup is closer to the brief time when Muster jumped up in the rankings and even briefly took over the #1 spot.  Muster was unbelievable on clay, while Sampras was in control of hard courts and grass.

Answer 10

Except that Sampras lead Agassi 20-14 on head to head, while Federer trails Nadal 9-6.