Someone once said that Nadal's career has been that of "the second best in history". In the fierce competition for the "best in history", he has always lagged behind Federer and Djokovic.
Because in the early stages of Nadal's strong career rise, he had to face Federer at his peak; and not long after Nadal gradually matured and became stronger, he had to face the unstoppable Djokovic, so that he was attacked from both sides.
, the "peak period of sweeping thousands of armies" is really too short.
From a certain perspective, this is true.
Professional tennis includes three types of courts, hard courts, clay courts and grass courts. Hard courts cover two-thirds of the season, while clay courts and grass courts divide the remaining one-third. Naturally, players who perform better on hard courts will
, has advantages in world rankings and number of championships.
It can be seen from the data that as of 2021, the digital record of the number of weeks ranked first in the world:
Djokovic has 380 weeks, ranking first in history; Federer has 310 weeks, ranking second in history; Nadal has 209 weeks, sixth in history, and there is Sampra ahead of him.
Si, Ivan Lendl (Ivan-Lendl), Connors are three legendary players.
It can be said that from the perspective of the number of weeks ranked first in the world, Nadal is indeed slightly inferior; moreover, in Nadal's list of all professional honors, poor performance in the European indoor carpet/hard court season at the end of the year has always been a shortcoming.
, which also means that he has never won the year-end finals championship held on an indoor hard court.
It is precisely because of this that Nadal, known as the "King of Clay", is "seriously biased" and has become a fatal shortcoming. When arguing about "the best in history", he is often the focus of fans.
But is this really the case?
Looking at it from another angle, it is not true.
From a strong confrontation with Federer in the first six years of his career, to a tit-for-tat confrontation with Djokovic in the middle six years of his career, with the addition of Murray, to a three-way confrontation with Federer and Djokovic in the last five years of his career, Na
Dahl's career has endured beyond imagination.
There is a statistic worth mentioning separately. Among the three of the Big Four, only one has reached the semi-finals of the Grand Slam. Nadal has the most times, four times; and in these four times, Nadal successfully won the championship.
, to defend the power of the Big Four to dominate the tennis world.
Since Nadal won the French Open for the first time, discussions about his playing style, his injuries, and his physical exertion have never stopped. Numerous professionals predict that Nadal's career may only be brilliant.
Three to five years, and then it will disappear like a shooting star.
However, Nadal did not. From 2005 to 2021, the "King of Clay" has always stayed in the top ten in the world rankings. This is a record that neither Federer nor Djokovic has been able to achieve; and,
Nadal's record of winning at least two tournaments for sixteen consecutive years is also the only one in history.
In addition, on the historical record list for the number of No. 1 world rankings at the end of the year, Djokovic leads the list with seven times, followed by Sampras with six times, and Federer, Nadal and Connors all have five times.
times, that is to say, although Nadal's number of weeks as the world's number one is not as good as that of his old rival, the number of times he has been number one at the end of the year is not inferior.
Everyone knows that the glory of the "King of Clay", 81 consecutive victories in clay court events, double-figure wins in two clay court Masters events, and 13 French Open titles are all historical records. We have witnessed Nadal's success in all aspects.
Absolute dominance on clay; but that's not all the glory is.
In the early days of Nadal's career, he was indeed very partial to science, and all his competitiveness came from clay courts. However, Nadal later gradually realized that hard court events are the focus of professional tennis, and two-thirds of the year's schedule is on hard courts.
If he wants to remain competitive, he has to make progress on the hard court.
In fact, Nadal also did it——
Nadal changed his playing style on the hard court and continued to improve and transform. Later, under the guidance of the former world No. 1 Spanish compatriot Carlos Moya, he also became a strong competitor in the hard court season.
force.
One Australian Open champion, two Wimbledon champions, and four US Open champions.
Among Nadal's twenty Grand Slam championship trophies, five are on hard courts and two are on grass. Such a record is already brilliant.
Among them, there are four US Open championship trophies, second only to Connors, Sampras and Federer's five championships, one more than Djokovic; in addition, Nadal and Roddick are the only two players
It is also a feat for a player to win all the competitions in the North American season.
It is very, very worth mentioning that Nadal's number of hard court championships ranks seventh in history, and he has reached more hard court finals than even the "King of Hard Courts" Sampras.
Moreover, there is another detail. Nadal is the second male player to achieve the Golden Slam after Agassi:
That is, the four Grand Slams plus the Olympic championship. This is also a record that Federer and Djokovic have been pursuing but have not yet been able to achieve.
The point is that when Nadal won the Olympics in 2008, he did it on hard courts.
In other words, everyone says that Nadal is very biased, but in fact, his competitiveness on hard courts is no less than on clay.
Just like Djokovic, people seem to have the impression that he dominates hard court events very well, but look at his twenty Grand Slam trophies:
There are nine Australian Opens, two French Opens, six Wimbledons and three US Opens.
It can be seen at a glance that the Australian Open is Djokovic's blessed place, and it is also the most difficult venue for Djokovic to defeat. As for the other hard-court Grand Slam US Open, Djokovic's performance
It is not as dominant as imagined. Of course, the twelve Grand Slams on hard courts are still ahead temporarily.
The player who truly dominates the hard courts is Federer, who is known as the "King of Grass". He has six Australian Open titles, five US Open titles and eight Wimbledon titles.
His eyes returned to Nadal.
In fact, both Federer and Djokovic said the same point of view on different occasions:
What truly makes Nadal great is his unyielding tenacity and will to continue to improve——
From the king of clay in the first half of his career, he has gradually grown into a comprehensive player who is competitive on different surfaces; from the Mallorca boy who emerged from nowhere to challenge Federer's dominance, to the King of Spain who has sympathy with Djokovic.
, has completely gone through sixteen years of glory in the tennis world, and the stars have changed. The only thing that remains unchanged is the figure who never gives up on the court.
It is precisely because of Nadal's continuous transformation and improvement that it stimulates Federer and Djokovic to continuously strive to become better versions of themselves:
Facing Federer, he had 24 wins and 16 losses; facing Djokovic, he had 28 wins and 30 losses; facing Murray, he had 17 wins and seven losses.
Pretty awesome.
This is Nadal's definition of himself. He always believes that his talent is mediocre, so he needs to put in more effort and sweat to fight for the sky.
And this is the key to Nadal's greatness.
Similarly, because of this, after Agassi, Gao Wen's personal favorite tennis player is Nadal, not because of the number of weeks as the world's number one or the number of Grand Slam championships, but because of the hard work on the court.
A will and a spirit of continuous progress.
And now, Gao Wen is about to win the opportunity to challenge Nadal. Just a thought in his mind has already made Gao Wen extremely excited.
After the post-match press conference, Gao Wen did not return to the hotel to rest, but went to the training ground——