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Is Rafael Nadal Already an All-Time Great All-Around Player?
Published: December 15, 2012
Winning the French Open a record seven times and achieving other remarkable feats on the slow dirt, he has succeeded by utilizing his defensive capabilities and unprecedented lefty spin.
Many critics claim the Spaniard has much more to do in his career to achieve the status of an all-around athlete.
This may not be the case.
He is one of only a handful of players to have won a career Grand Slam while also amassing over 10 Major titles. He has captured the Wimbledon trophy twice and the other two respective Slams once each.
He has won more ATP 1000 titles than athletes his age are supposed to have acquired (he and Roger Federer, who is 31 years old, share the record for most titles at 21), and four of these came on hard courts.
But are his six noteworthy hard court titles (the Majors and ATP 1000 wins) enough?
Surely, his accomplishments at the All-England Club have been superb, earning him two Majors and landing him in three other finals in his eight years of competition at Wimbledon. This is especially impressive since the grass season comes immediately after the clay stretch, and the adjustment can be excruciating.
Rafa even changes his game play and strategy for grass events, stepping closer inside the court and hitting change-up serves.
But his Australian Open and U.S. Open successes and failures are where his all-around game, or lack thereof, is exposed.
The Australian Open, surely the slower hard court Major, has seen Rafa play some of his most physically intense matches—the 2009 semifinal and subsequent final serving as prime examples. The 2012 semifinal and final matches were also brutal, though the latter is more memorable for the demonstration of incredibl...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis
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