Rafael Nadal: Can Nadal Become the Greatest Men’s Tennis Player in History?

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at Internationaled.org

Published: July 2, 2011

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Right now, the most accomplished player in the history of men's tennis is Roger Federer, certainly when it comes to grand slams.

With 16 grand slam titles, 23 finals, 23 consecutive semifinals or better, and 29 consecutive quarterfinals or better (and counting), it's really hard to argue that point.

He's also won the career grand slam and is one of only three players to do that with the grand slams being played on their current surfaces.The other two are Andre Agassi and Federer's primary rival, Rafael Nadal.

Nadal is in the finals at Wimbledon 2011, which is the for the 13th time in his career he's been this far at a grand slam. He's won 10 of the previous 12 finals that he's been in, with the only two losses coming in 2006 and 2007 to Federer, both at Wimbledon.

Regardless of what happens in the 2011 final against Novak Djokovic, can Nadal become the best player ever?

Well, that depends on who you believe the best player of all time is right now? If you believe it's Roger Federer, then yes, Nadal can become the best of all time. If you believe it's someone from a prior era, it won't be as simple.

The first name that jumps the minds of most people when thinking about previous eras is Rod Laver. In reality, while he's not as accomplished in terms of raw numbers as Federer, it's hard to argue against him.



Laver won the grand slam twice. Just to be clear, that doesn't mean that he won each grand slam twice throughout his career, that means he won all four titles in one season twice.

In 1962, as an amateur, he claimed all four titles. Then seven years later, the first full year of the Open era, Laver claimed the grand slam again.

He won three additional grand slam titles throughout his career, giving him a grand total of 11. He didn't win anything after 1962 before Wimbledon in 1968 because as a professional, he wasn't eligible to participate.

Laver...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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