re: Let's Talk About The Great Great Rafael Nadal

quote:

---

Rafa is an incredible tennis player who will go down as one of the best male tennis players of all time, no question. However, in my personal opinion, Roger Federer holds the edge for career achievement and overall prowess.

Let's compare their resumes (I'm not going to include their doubles resumes because they're basically the same):

Roger Federer

-Professional Record: 1207-264 (82.1%)
-Career Prize Money: $124,293,122 (second all time)
-Career Titles: 101 (second in the Open Era)
-Grand Slam Singles: 6 Australian Opens, 1 Roland-Garros, 8 Wimbledons, 5 US Opens (for a total of 20 Singles Grand Slam Titles)
-Olympic Medals: Gold in 2008 Doubles, Silver in 2012 Singles

Rafael Nadal

-Professional Record: 951-185 (83%)
-Career Prize Money: $109,533,646 (third all time)
-Career Titles: 82 (fourth in the Open Era)
-Grand Slam Singles: 1 Australian Open, 12 French Opens, 2 Wimbledons, 3 US Opens (for a total of 18 Singles Grand Slam Titles)
-Olympic Medals: Gold in 2008 Singles, Gold in 2016 Doubles

Head-to-Head

-Rafa leads 24-15 all time

If you want a more detailed h2h breakdown, here it is

---

I didn't intend for this to be a Rafa v. Fed thread, though perhaps it was unavoidable for it to go in that direction.

That being said: I'll simply offer up that the Smug v. Rafa argument is objectively very arguable. As in, notwithstanding the fact that I love me some Rafa, any adherence to intellectual honesty would dictate a conclusion that solid cases can be made on both sides.

Oh, but man if Rafa would have held on in that '17 aussie final....