Every tennis fan felt forced to make a choice in the midst of the sport's recent golden age. Who was the strongest between Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal?
By 2012, the three jockeys of men's tennis had won everything, couldn't lose to anyone but each other, and were taking the sport into the future with their whirling topspin forehands and incredibly accurate backhands. I dragged it in. They opened up the possibility of tennis perfection, so much so that I felt I had to choose a side in the arms race.
I ended up choosing Federer, the oldest but most successful at the time. He never seemed too upset or excited, and it was a motivated game, in contrast to my matches, which sometimes included broken rackets and screams of indignation. He wore a cool headband instead of a hat, and his one-handed backhand was smooth. When he played against Djokovic, I gave him the nickname “Roger Better'' as opposed to “Novak Choke Ović.''
Djokovic has spent the last 12 years convincing me that I chose the wrong side, calling himself the winner of the most Grand Slams, the No. 1 ranking most weeks, the Olympic God, the Olympic God. he declared, convincing me that he reminded Napoleon of being crowned emperor to show where he was. He believed his power came from there. While Federer retired as perhaps the most dominant player of the decade, Djokovic has stood the test of time.
The strange person was Nadal. He retired on Thursday morning after a 23-year professional career in which he won 22 Grand Slam titles, second only to Djokovic. He was the second or third greatest player of all time and dominated every clay court he set foot on. He has explosive reactions, a vibrant and likeable aura, and is perhaps the most physically gifted male tennis player of all time.
He was almost perfect and he will go down as the icon he was. The next generation of tennis terminators all owe a debt to Nadal for the blueprint he wrote and the stature he maintained. But I also remember most things, and even think he could have or should have done better
At his peak, Nadal was a beast that even Djokovic and Federer couldn't handle. His picturesque left-handed forehand spun faster than anyone elseOn a resilient clay court, with the power of a thousand suns, I was able to tee off a slowly bouncing ball without making too many mistakes. He grew up playing on clay courts in Spain, so it would be unfair for Nadal's talent to be lost on this surface to other countries around the world where hard and grass courts are more common.
Of his 22 Grand Slam wins, 14 came at Roland Garros, his only major clay tournament. From 2005 to 2022, Nadal won three times in a row and four times, but choosing someone to beat him there was as clumsy as it was foolish. Not only did he feel it was inevitable, he actually was. His 81-match winning streak on clay is the longest streak on any surface, but it felt three times longer. It was absurd, invincible, and even boring at times. No one else had a chance. Until now.
His body was created on a laboratory bench to play tennis on clay. His legs were long and flexible, yet built like tree trunks, allowing him to glide to balls that were out of reach. However, his shoulders and torso are compact, allowing him a free range of motion in his upper arms, allowing him to hit shots from different angles while maintaining power. Federer and Djokovic beat the others by playing perfect longer and more often, but Nadal took out the shotgun and beat them.
He was always able to hit the ball harder than his opponents, so he figured out how to maximize that advantage. Nadal proved that running around the backhand to reach the forehand was a viable move, but he only invented a tactic that has come to dominate modern men's tennis. Why hit a weak, hard-to-control backhand when you can twist the top third and hit a 100 mph forehand at will?
Nadal was able to maintain a physical advantage over his two contemporaries until his body began to give in to Nadal, when Djokovic's ruthless, slow style became too effective to resist. But he went on to win the French Open again and again.
His one-sided dominance is a double-edged sword. While this is an unprecedented feat, it is also an argument against his greatness. Nadal won at least two Grand Slams on every surface in his 22 tournaments, but winning the French Open every year sometimes felt cheap. Nadal knew this – towards the end he was planning to skip other majors in order to be healthy enough for July. While Djokovic and Federer were locked in contention at every tournament they played, Nadal calmly built up the French Open, racking up more slams and winning preliminary hard-court titles here and there.
Should that diminish his greatness, making him a 2B to Federer's 2A and a player with two more Grand Slams than him? Perhaps it is fairer to say that the two men achieved their positions by different calculations. It may be accurate to call Nadal one of the “greatest” players in the history of men's tennis on both grass and hard courts, and the “greatest ever” on clay. He achieved the title of “second greatest'' player through a different method than the Swiss maestro. All-round portfolio.
And his physicality has allowed his game to shine during Federer and Djokovic's long march toward perfection. The image of Nadal would be without his powerful roar and full-body fist pump after a spectacular victory, and his infectious smile that shows his tennis body extended to convey the right level of euphoria after a victory. is not completed.
Hearing of Nadal's retirement may have reminded me of all the things he once was, but no matter the degree, he was ultimately really, really great. He was the creator of his own destiny. It was completely inevitable as he progressed towards the French Open, international fame, and ultimately the end. He showed that tennis can be cool, explosive and passionate. Nadal was both unique and a pioneer of today's generation of physical players with a forehand of mass destruction. Federer and Djokovic captured my imagination, but Nadal may have done more than either of them to make the match the beautiful battlefield it is today. For that reason, I remember him fondly.
