At Wimbledon four years ago, he nobly congratulated Roger Federer on matching his five straight titles and now everyone here is hoping he will be at Roland Garros this afternoon to shake hands with Rafael Nadal should the Spaniard equal his landmark of six French Open crowns.
Not that Nadal is in the slightest preoccupied with all the talk that, should he beat Federer, he would cement his claims to being the greatest clay-court player in history, even ahead of the Swede.
“Seriously, I don’t think about that. A lot of respect for the great Bjorn but I am only focusing on trying to play well,” said Nadal after his semi-final triumph over Andy Murray. “For me it’s much more important to win Roland Garros again than to equal Bjorn.”
Nadal turned 25 on Friday and is now at that point in his phenomenal career when tennis historians are already trying to assess his place in the pantheon.
There are those who argue, as an expert panel assembled by French sports paper L’Equipe did last year, that Nadal is already the best clay-courter. After all, the man who lost just once at Roland Garros (to Robin Soderling) now has a better winning percentage than Borg, who lost twice to the same man – Italian Adriano Panatta – during his 1974-1981 reign where he won his six titles in eight Opens. Nadal is going for six from seven.
The Spaniard has already won more career titles on clay (31 to Borg’s 30) and victory over Federer for the fifth time at Roland Garros today — including the fourth time in a final — could clinch the argument, considering his serial Swiss victim’s claim on being the best in history.
Of course, each major title the Spaniard annexes adds fuel to the belief that we should look beyond the claims for clay-court supremacy and consider that, as John McEnroe suggested last year: “There is an argument that Rafael Nadal may be the greatest player ever, eventually. Even possibly now.”
Borg himself still believes Federer is history’s best but each time Nadal improves his impressive head-to-head against the Swiss — he currently leads 16-8 — it becomes harder to defend that thesis. And the Swede is under no illusions that Nadal may well consign his own records to ancient history by eventually winning “seven or eight French titles”.
For while Borg hung up his wooden racket at 26, weary of the grind of the circuit and unable to come to terms with life as world No 2 in the shadow of McEnroe, Nadal’s hunger for more glory in his 26th year shows no sign of being satiated.
The Spanish press have been a bit worried about him here, saying that he has not looked happy, but after his victory over Murray, he evidently felt it was time to put them right as they asked what the difference was between the 19-year-old Rafa, who burst into Paris without a seeming care in the world to win the title at the first attempt, and the 25-year-old serial champion.
“Well, when you are a kid and you win here for the first time, what you think is 'Oh, OK, I’ve won one match’. You might think it’s going to be easier in my career now that I’ve won titles but that’s not at all the case. It’s a lie. If you win now, there’s even more pressure on you.
“And when you win, you want to win more. It’s always renewed. The appetite is still there. It’s an incredible feeling and I’d like to continue on the same path.” But don’t tell him he is the best there ever was because he will tell you who owns that accolade. It is the bloke who will stand across the net today.
“I know how good he is. What Roger has done in his career is impossible to repeat for any of today’s players,” is Nadal’s eve-of-final tribute. “You are more surprised than me that Roger is in the final.”
source:telegraph.co.uk
“Seriously, I don’t think about that. A lot of respect for the great Bjorn but I am only focusing on trying to play well,” said Nadal after his semi-final triumph over Andy Murray. “For me it’s much more important to win Roland Garros again than to equal Bjorn.”
Nadal turned 25 on Friday and is now at that point in his phenomenal career when tennis historians are already trying to assess his place in the pantheon.
There are those who argue, as an expert panel assembled by French sports paper L’Equipe did last year, that Nadal is already the best clay-courter. After all, the man who lost just once at Roland Garros (to Robin Soderling) now has a better winning percentage than Borg, who lost twice to the same man – Italian Adriano Panatta – during his 1974-1981 reign where he won his six titles in eight Opens. Nadal is going for six from seven.
The Spaniard has already won more career titles on clay (31 to Borg’s 30) and victory over Federer for the fifth time at Roland Garros today — including the fourth time in a final — could clinch the argument, considering his serial Swiss victim’s claim on being the best in history.
Of course, each major title the Spaniard annexes adds fuel to the belief that we should look beyond the claims for clay-court supremacy and consider that, as John McEnroe suggested last year: “There is an argument that Rafael Nadal may be the greatest player ever, eventually. Even possibly now.”
Borg himself still believes Federer is history’s best but each time Nadal improves his impressive head-to-head against the Swiss — he currently leads 16-8 — it becomes harder to defend that thesis. And the Swede is under no illusions that Nadal may well consign his own records to ancient history by eventually winning “seven or eight French titles”.
For while Borg hung up his wooden racket at 26, weary of the grind of the circuit and unable to come to terms with life as world No 2 in the shadow of McEnroe, Nadal’s hunger for more glory in his 26th year shows no sign of being satiated.
The Spanish press have been a bit worried about him here, saying that he has not looked happy, but after his victory over Murray, he evidently felt it was time to put them right as they asked what the difference was between the 19-year-old Rafa, who burst into Paris without a seeming care in the world to win the title at the first attempt, and the 25-year-old serial champion.
“Well, when you are a kid and you win here for the first time, what you think is 'Oh, OK, I’ve won one match’. You might think it’s going to be easier in my career now that I’ve won titles but that’s not at all the case. It’s a lie. If you win now, there’s even more pressure on you.
“And when you win, you want to win more. It’s always renewed. The appetite is still there. It’s an incredible feeling and I’d like to continue on the same path.” But don’t tell him he is the best there ever was because he will tell you who owns that accolade. It is the bloke who will stand across the net today.
“I know how good he is. What Roger has done in his career is impossible to repeat for any of today’s players,” is Nadal’s eve-of-final tribute. “You are more surprised than me that Roger is in the final.”
source:telegraph.co.uk
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