Posted:
#26
Quote Originally Posted by Delpo:
BG says that if Nadal beats Federer on sunday to complete the career grand slam, that he will no longer accept anyone calling Federer the greatest ever because he would have been dominated so handidly by his closest rival. Also says that if they meet it would be the biggest match in mens tennis history.
To me anyone who cites Nadal's ownage of Fed in the h2h as an argument for him being the best ever is missing one vital, vital factor: The majority of their matches have been on clay.BG says that if Nadal beats Federer on sunday to complete the career grand slam, that he will no longer accept anyone calling Federer the greatest ever because he would have been dominated so handidly by his closest rival. Also says that if they meet it would be the biggest match in mens tennis history.
In a sense the fact that Roger has had success on clay right up until he meets Rafa where Rafa many times has been beaten by other players before even getting to Fed on a hardcourt has worked against him. It is like holding his success against him because everyone knows Rafa was born to win on clay and is the clay GOAT by a mile. Of course he is going to dominate the h2h in that area.
They played two times I believe on indoor fast hardcourts and Rafa did not win a set. If they played mostly on indoor hard this h2h would be even more tilted in the other direction. This is why I never understood people using the h2h to say Rafa is the better overall player when all it proves is that he is the far better clay court player.
There is no doubt in my mind that Peak Fed would beat Peak Rafa on a hardcourt. Fed has done things I have never seen Rafa do. His offense when he is in the zone is simply surreal and since I think great offense beats great defense (outside of clay) I will probably always consider him slightly better.
But Rafa is the best right now by a mile because of superior consistency and will. And he is the favorite should they meet in this final IMO, simply due to his ramped up serve. He does have the potential to surpass Fed I suppose but there is no doubt which of them has better offense and likewise no doubt which has better defense, so in my mind it is hard as hell to compare them when they are both 100% effective at entirely different brands of tennis.
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Fed is currently in rare form and untouchable when he's like this. Hope Nadal gets through cos it's gonna be an absolute classic
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