Rafael Nadal and his place in history
Rafael Nadal has played his way into the history books.
The young Spaniard, often referred to as “Rafa,” defeated Novak Djokovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the US Open Final last Monday at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City. With the victory, which took almost four hours to decide, Nadal became only the seventh
player in the history of the game to own the career Grand Slam.
To accomplish this feat, players need to win each of the four majors at least once. In addition to the U.S. Open, the other three are the Australian Open, The French Open, and Wimbledon.
"At 24, for me it's more of a dream to have the U.S. Open," Nadal said after the match. "I worked all my life through difficult moments to be here. But I never imagined to have four Grand Slams."
The US Open was the only major title missing from Nadal’s impressive player resume. Nadal has been ranked number one in the world since his latest French Open victory last June.
Nadal now has nine major titles, still far behind Roger Federer with 16 and Pete Sampras with 14. But in total majors won, Nadal now ranks sixth in the world with his nine victories, jumping a host of players, including Andre Agassi, with his victory Monday.
With the win, the 24-year-old broke a few records.
1.) Nadal became the youngest player ever to win the career Grand Slam in the Open Era, which began in 1968 with the tour allowing pro tennis players to participate in the majors. Federer was three years older than Nadal when he won all four. Andre Agassi
was five years older when he completed the feat.
2.) Nadal has now won the last three majors, including the French Open and Wimbledon. He becomes the first player on the men’s tour to do so.
3.) Nadal won his first nine majors in his first 26 tries. This track record is second-only to Bjorn Borg who won his first nine in his first 22 attempts. Federer did it in 30 tries and Sampras hit the number after 31 attempts.
Nadal has been able to tailor his game to the different surfaces that each Grand Slam event offers. Because he grew up playing on clay, nobody was really surprised with his dominance on the red clay at the French Open, which he has won five times. He learned
to adapt to the grass surface at Wimbledon and has two titles there. His lone victory at the Australian Open in 2009 left only the US Open to conquer..
Many thought the hard-court surface of the US Open tournament would be the hardest for Nadal. They proved to be correct but Nadal also proved that he is capable of playing on any surface.
His struggles to win the US Open were similar to those of Federer and Agassi when it came to conquering the red clay at the French Open at Roland Garros. Federer finished runner-up three times before finally breaking through in 2009. It took Agassi seven
years after his first Grand Slam title to finally add Roland Garrosto to his resume. Both men own one French Open title. Sampras has never won one.
At his young age, it is likely that Nadal will win more US Open titles in his career. But another more difficult question to answer is whether he will manage to eclipse Federer’s major wins total of 16.
Nadal is five years younger than Federer and has now won more major titles than Federer had at the same age. The best thing to do is wait and see, according to Nadal.
“I think talk about if I am better or worse than Roger is stupid,” he said. “His titles say he is much better than me. We will see what happens in the future. I am not a genius."
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