Is Rafael Nadal The Goat?

Is Rafael Nadal the Goat? I guess it depends on what you score and calculate.
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[tennisdigest]

Is Rafa the GOAT? I guess it depends on what you measure....

[stefanstefanovic]

When you talk about who is the GOAT in tennis, you can't help but mention Djokovic's disqualifications, deportations, the canceled Wimbledon, and now the ban at the US Open. Those things I mentioned completely changed the course of tennis history, and only because of those things Nadal has the most GS today. Under normal circumstances, at the end of 2022, Djokovic would have 3.4 GS more than Nadal, not to mention the number of weeks in first place, and there he would probably reach 450+ weeks. Hypocritical Western media do not talk at all about those injustices that happened to Djokovic and that completely changed the course of tennis history

[joelpaule]

I think you may need amend your video…calling Rafa one dimensional?? Really?

If you knew the history of tennis and all the greats agree on one thing only: that is whoever ends with the most grand slams is GOAT.

I agree all the other stats can be taken into consideration if there was a tie breaker and it was 24:24 slams each then maybe look at the other statistics but for now there is only one goat…that is of course NADAL!!!

[luckyluke]

There is one big reason why Nadal is the Greatest ever.
Rafa faced A peak Federer from 2005-2011 and than A peak Djokovic from 2011-Now. That’s why Nadal is the GOAT and Djokovic and Federer are close 2nd and 3rd.

[rileyreese]

There is no question, it's a fact he is the GOAT, inside and out, on court and off, sportsperson and human.

[robert]

The FO is the most grueling, physically and mentally of all the majors. To win it once is impressive, twice is a huge feat... but 14 times....

[fraerot]

no it isn't
Djokovic got his 23 GS

[shehanns]

You are forgetting Olympic Gold medal, nadal is the only player to have that. Some say that is the biggest achievement as it comes once every 4 years. Nadal also played the least number of Grand Slams and he got injured in Grand Slams the most. More injuries means less chance to win ATP titles and Ranking number 1. Also Nadal and Federer are more selective when they decide their calendar where Djokavic is more focused on being number one and collecting points.

[edburke]

Rafa and Novak have moved ahead of Federer in my opinion.

As for the GOAT, it's incredibly close. Rafa is better on clay, Novak on hard court. Rafa has the better forehead, Novak backhand and serve. Rafa is better at the net... Both the same for movement.

I think they're about the same in terms of ability and achievements on court, but Rafa gets the GOAT crown for effort. He is the greatest fighter ever.

[williamtaylor]

Out of the big 3 only Nadal has won the Olympic singles gold medal. He is the only holder of the golden Slam. He is as of today the GOAT

[isaacwillis]

I’ve never seen anyone play better when healthy than Rafa. He can for sure outplay both Fed and Djok. His ceiling by the eye test is just higher, assuming injuries kept him from playing his best in some of those finals. I give a slight edge to Djok in mental toughness against Nadal when they face each other, except on Clay.

Nadal beat Fed when Fed was supposedly unstoppable. Fed did not have excellent competition from 04-07 except Nadal. And to say Nadal is only clay is ridiculous. He went to the Wimbledon final three times and beat Fed the last time. Took him to five sets twice. And almost one in 3 sets in 08 against the supposed goat on grass. And he has won 4 US open titles. And now 2 Aus opens and he went to the final at least two different times in Aus and would have beat wawrinka in 2014 if he hadn’t been injured.

DJokovic has been at times a poor winner and a sore loser. That diminishes his greatness. He breaks so many racquets while the other two break zero. I know Nadal has never broken one. Not sure about Fed. DJoks attitude is not great. Same with Serena. Threatening people. That is not greatness that’s the low end of the totem pole. You can’t be great and doing those things. Sorry.

Nadal is the goat for me. He has dominated one surface by far more than the others and done well against the others on their strength surface way more than they have done well on his strength surface. I believe he lost to Djok at the French because he wasn’t full strength but that’s a theory.
Nadal has beaten DJokovic plenty of times on hard courts in big moments, much more than the others have beaten him on clay. That’s a huge indicator for me.
And just that sense of injury makes me think man Rafa is the better player and greater. His ceiling is higher imo.
Injuries plagued nadal way more than the other two.
2-14-2-4 in context of beating the others on other surfaces and the injury factor and the comebacks seal it for me.
If Nadal wins Wimbledon 2022 that should seal it for everyone else.

[vincentbilly]

1 Djokovic 2 Federer 3 Nadal sources : ultimate tennis statistics GOAT list

[mw]

The guy does not know tennis at all, only a fool calling nadal game one dimensional, Nadal has achieved double career slam, only djoker able to do that in open era, Fed didnot achieve that... let that sink in....

[aBeatleFanever]

Rafa has won 22 of the 64 Grand Slam tournaments that he has entered (.344 W%).
Novak has won 20 of the 67 GS tournaments he has entered (.299 W%).
Roger has won 20 of the 81 GS tournaments he has entered (.247 W%).

Those numbers above, all by themselves, put Nadal well ahead of the other two.
But when people wake up and realize that Novak gets to play 3/4 of the GS tournaments on surfaces that favor him over Rafa.... then the fact that Nadal has a 45 point lead over Djokovic (.344 to .299) in these events - makes the comparison between the two a huge route by Nadal. Despite getting to play just 1 of the 4 GS tournaments on a surface that favors him - Nadal still has a pretty big lead. Juts imagine if Rafa got to play 2 of the 4 on his best surface. He would be so far ahead - that the others would barely be able to see him. Then imagine if the surface favored Nadal in 3 of the 4 (which is what Novak has going for him). Nadal would have completely buried Djokovic by a massive amount.

The same thing is true in regard to the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. Six of the nine are played on hard courts... and still Novak is ahead of Rafa by just two titles (38 to 36). And if Rafa had not broken a rib just before the clay court season - he would probably be even are maybe even ahead of Novak right now. Novak has this HUGE "court surface" advantage... and he has basically the same number of titles. Again, just imagine if Rafa got to play 6 of the 9 on his favorite surface. His lead over Novak would be gigantic.

When people finally come to understand this huge court surface advantage that favors Novak by such a massive amount... then it becomes clear that Rafa has easily been the best. And it is not even close.

[PabsgonChannel]

If, if, if...
Sports, all sports, have a lot of metrics and criteria available. There is always a way to choose whatever one wants to make a point, if 2 teams or players are close enough.
However, every sport has built its own tradition, its own legend, its own path to glory, through the years. If you are a footballer, you would like to win the Champions with your team and the World cup with your nation. If you are a basket player, you would want to have NBA titles. If you are a golfer, your dreams are the 4 majors. Etc.
There's a tradition. It's in every one mind now, and so it will be.

In tennis, the tradition is the number of slams. Period.
In 50 years time, or more - when we all reading this are dead - the GOAT will be that one who had more slams.
This is the real abstraction to make, not this chit-chat that goes nowhere.

(But I do understand that you do it to make the mass happy with the debate. But there's no _debate_.)

[mw]

The video is total BS, did you know Nadal reached at least 5 finals for each slams? Nadal reached AO final 6 times, won 2 of them, reached USO final 5 times, he won 4 of them. Nadal has 4 USO titles more than Djoker. HIs 14 RG titles, should be his advantange, NOT drawback. No one ask Roger NOT to win 14 W titles, NO one asks Djoker NOT to win 14 AO titles.

[pintoacr]

Federer won french open 2009 nadal wasn’t playing Djokovic won 2016 french open nadal wasn’t playing nobody has missed more slams than nadal through injury Djokovic won Wimbledon 2021 no nadal no federer no thiemnadal is the greatest player of all time he should have 24 slams should have beaten Djokovic 2012 and wawrinka 2014 and federer 2017 he has more slams than Djokovic and federer and less losses nadal 21.8 federer 20.11 Djokovic 20.11 nadal vs federer slam finals 6.3 nadal and nadal vs Djokovic slam finals 5.4 nadal by right Djokovic should only have 18 slams should never have beaten federer in 2019 Wimbledon final and nadal 2012 Australian open final and federer should have 19 slams should never have won 2017 Australian open final imagine if nadal played every slam he’d at least have 30 and also nadal is the youngest player to complete the career slam just 24 years so that’s why he is the greatest

[anthonydecastro]

you have to look at the margins as well. Rafa has a truly lopsided h2h against Roger; Novak has a less dramatic h2h against Roger. Novak has a better but marginal h2h record against Rafa. Then you have to look at surfaces as well. the majority of tournaments are played on hard court, Novak's best surface. including the 1000s. where Novak has more than the other two, but marginally against Rafa, with these two having considerably more than Roger. if Novak wins Wimbledon, he'll narrow the gap in the slams count by one against Rafa while he advances past Roger by one. one finally has to remember that all three are still active players. so, in a sense, this GOAT debate cannot as yet be resolved definitively. perhaps in two to three years time...

[Vaisin]

As a Rafa fan, I believe the GOAT race isn't over yet. All 3 have arguments in their favourite (probably Roger has the last tho). I have to say I don't agree with a thing you said: You describe Novak's deportation from Australia a ''ridiculous visa incident connected with him not being vaccinated''. Even though I disagree with the way he was treated, I think the deportation was fair. If, to enter a country, you have to be vaccinatded, you can't just make someone try to enter without meeting those requirements. I think Tennis Australia (who organize the Australian Open) made a mistake by granting those medical exemptions. Still the 2022 Australian Open was one of the greatest Grand Slams I have ever seen and I don't think it should be marred just because Novak wasn't allowed.

[pintoacr]

Rafa has won 22/64 Grand Slams, Novak 20/67, Fed 20/81. Rafa has had by far the most bad injury luck of them all 36 and under (missed 2003/04 FO injured + 10 Wimbledon/USO/AO + 2016 3rd round FO wrist injury). If he had better injury luck he has 25-27 Grand Slams right now instead of 22 and way more masters 1000s also. He’s missed 4 Wimbledon and US opens each since 2016 alone! Novak has def been the best since 2011 (19 GS, Nadal 13, Fed 4 since then) and has good record vs Nadal since then, but Nadal has good record vs Novak the 6-7 years before that. All 3 have arguments but imo 100% healthy on their A game Nadal the GOAT on any surface except indoor hardcourt which is Novak or Fed.