Join The Roar
Become a member to join in Australia's biggest sporting debate, submit articles, receive updates straight to your inbox and keep up with your favourite teams and authors.
Oops! You must provide an email address to create a Roar account
When using Facebook to create or log in to an account, you need to grant The Roar permission to see your email address
By joining The Roar you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions
Login and get Roaring
Oops! You must provide an email address to create a Roar account
When using Facebook to create or log in to an account, you need to grant The Roar permission to see your email address
In the wake of Rafael Nadal’s ascent up the world tennis rankings, nobody gave a chance to the “King of Clay” again reaching the dizzy heights of world No. 1 at the beginning of 2013.
Yet somehow, after one of the most remarkable years on the tennis tour, Rafa will achieve just that.
So much has been said about Nadal’s incredible comeback in 2013 following an eight-month injury layoff in 2012. Even without all the superlatives used to describe Nadal’s 2013 comeback, his record this year speaks for itself.
After reaching 13 of a possible 14 finals so far in 2013, and converting 10 of the 13 finals into victories, Rafa is two tournament wins away from equaling Roger Federer’s most successful year on tour in 2006.
With a 27-0 record on hard court surfaces this year and a 61-3 record on all surfaces, you wouldn’t bet against Rafa winning two of the five remaining hard court tournaments in 2013.
On the back of an incredible season, many tennis pundits are now seriously giving respect to the question of who will be considered the greatest player of all time?
No doubt Federer currently holds that distinction, but with a five-year age gap between the two players, anything could happen.
Two legends of the game, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, both gave their thoughts on the matter in saying that Nadal could overtake Federer by the end of his career.
Looking at the statistics, they may just have a point.
Most notably, Nadal holds a 21-10 head-to-head record against Federer.
When comparing the two players at the same age, they had both claimed 13 grand slams victories, however Nadal holds four more ATP tour tournament victories then Federer did at the same age.
What makes Nadal’s record even more incredible is that he has won more tournaments then Federer despite playing 17 fewer at the same age.
Many of Nadal’s victories have come on the clay court surface, a fact many tennis spectators argue diminishes Nadal’s claim to becoming the greatest of all time.
Yet with Nadal’s incredible dominance on the hard court surface in 2013, that argument is becoming less and less credible.
The next five years are going to be critical in answering the enticing debate on who will be considered the greatest.
But one thing is for sure – after season 2013, there’s every chance the “King of Clay” could become the “King of Tennis”.
World number 13 Roberto Bautista Agut became the latest tennis player to attract the ire of Australia, after a video emerged of the Spaniard describing hotel quarantine conditions in Australia to ‘jail… with Wi-Fi’. ‘These people have no idea about tennis, about practice courts, about anything. It’s a complete disaster because of that,’ Bautista Agut […]
I applauded in my previous article the colour and excitement that the current 32 qualifiers will bring to the Australian Open when it commences on 8 February.
A further 25 Australian Open players have been forced into quarantine on arrival in the country ahead of the season’s first tennis major, bringing the total number of competitors now isolating in hotel rooms to 72.
The Australian Open lead-up has been plunged into chaos with at least 47 players now confined to their hotel rooms for the next 14 days following three positive coronavirus tests from two separate charter flights into Melbourne.
The 32 Australian Open qualifiers have completed their tournaments in the Middle East and are now (with a further six alternates) winging their way to Australia to prepare for their moment on the big stage – a match in the main draw of one of the four Grand Slam events held throughout the year.
The Australian Open may still be just over four weeks away, but the tournament has already produced its best story.
