Chapter 561 King of Clay
Someone once said that Nadal's career is "eternal runner-up". In the fierce competition for "the best in history", he always lags behind Federer and Djokovic.
Because in the early stage of Nadal's career, 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 he was attacked from both sides. His "peak period of sweeping the enemy" was really too short.
In a way, this is true.
Professional tennis includes three types of surfaces: hard court, clay and grass. Hard court covers two-thirds of the season, while clay and grass account for the remaining one-third. Naturally, players who perform better on hard courts have an advantage in world ranking and number of championships.
It can be seen from the data that as of 2021, in terms of the number of weeks ranked in the world: Djokovic is 380 weeks, first in history; Federer is 310 weeks, second in history; Nadal is 209 weeks, sixth in history, and ahead of him are three legendary stars: Sampras, Ivan-Lendl and Connors.
It can be said that Nadal is indeed slightly inferior in terms of the number of weeks he has spent in the world rankings; moreover, in all of Nadal's career honors list, his poor performance in the year-end European indoor carpet/hard court season has always been a shortcoming, which has also prevented him from winning the year-end finals held on indoor hard courts.
It is precisely because of this that Nadal, known as the "King of Clay", has a fatal weakness of "serious imbalance in certain subjects", and is often the focus of fans' criticism when debating the "best in history".
But is this really the case? From another perspective, it is not true.
From the strong competition with Federer in the first six years of his career, to the six years in the middle of his career when he could compete head-on with Djokovic and Murray, to the last five years of his career when he was in a three-way competition with Federer and Djokovic, Nadal's career has been stronger than one can imagine.
There is one piece of data that deserves to be mentioned separately. Among the Big Four, three of them fell behind and only one made it to the semi-finals of the Grand Slam. Nadal has done it the most times, four times. And in these four times, Nadal won all the championships successfully, defending the dominance of the Big Four in tennis.
Ever since Nadal first won the French Open, discussions about his playing style, his injuries, and his physical exhaustion have never stopped. Countless professionals have predicted that Nadal's brilliant career may only last three to five years, and then disappear like a meteor.
However, Nadal did not. From 2005 to 2021, the "King of Clay" has always remained in the top ten in the world rankings, a record that neither Federer nor Djokovic has been able to achieve; in addition, Nadal's record of winning at least two tournaments for sixteen consecutive years is also unique in history.
In addition, on the historical record list of the number of times the world ranking was held at the end of the year, Djokovic topped the list with seven times, followed by Sampras with six times, and Federer, Nadal and Connors with five times each. That is to say, although Nadal's number of weeks as the world's number one is not as many as his old rival, his number of year-end number one is just as high.
Everyone knows about the glory of the "King of Clay". The 81 consecutive victories in clay court tournaments, more than double-digit wins in two clay court Masters tournaments, and 13 French Open titles are all historical records, which testify to Nadal's absolute dominance on clay in every aspect. But this is not all of the glory.
In the early stage of Nadal's career, he was indeed seriously biased and his competitiveness came entirely from clay courts. However, Nadal later gradually realized that hard court events are the focus of professional tennis, and two-thirds of the annual schedule is on hard courts. If he wants to remain competitive, then he must make progress on hard courts.
In fact, Nadal also did it——
Nadal changed his playing style on the hard court, constantly improving and transforming. Later, under the guidance of his Spanish compatriot Carlos-Moya, the former world No. 1, he also became very competitive in the hard court season.
One Australian Open title, two Wimbledon titles, and four US Open titles.
Of Nadal's 20 Grand Slam championship trophies, five are on hard courts and two are on grass, a record that can be described as brilliant.
Among them, he has won four US Open championship trophies, second only to the five titles won by Connors, Sampras and Federer, and one more than Djokovic; in addition, Nadal and Roddick are the only two players who can win all the tournaments in the North American season, which is also a feat.
It is very worth mentioning that Nadal's number of hard court championships ranks seventh in history, and he has reached the hard court finals more times than even the "King of Hard Court" Sampras.
Moreover, there is another detail. Nadal is the second male player after Agassi to achieve the Golden Grand Slam:
that is, the four Grand Slams plus the Olympic championship. This is also the record that Federer and Djokovic have been pursuing but have not yet been able to achieve.
The point is that when Nadal won the Olympic gold medal in 2008, he did it on a hard court.
In other words, everyone says that Nadal is seriously biased in his studies, but in fact, the competitiveness he shows on hard courts is no less than that on clay.
Just like Djokovic, people seem to have the impression that he is very dominant in hard court tournaments, but look at his twenty Grand Slam trophies: nine at the Australian Open, two at the French Open, six at Wimbledon, and three at the US Open.
It can be seen at a glance that the Australian Open is Djokovic's lucky place, and it is also the venue where Djokovic is most difficult to beat. In the other hard court Grand Slam, the US Open, Djokovic's performance is not as dominant as expected. Of course, the 12 hard court Grand Slams are still temporarily ahead.
The player who truly has absolute dominance on the hard court should be Federer, who is known as the "King of Grass", with six Australian Opens, five US Opens and eight Wimbledon titles.
Our attention returns to Nadal.
In fact, both Federer and Djokovic have said the same thing on different occasions: what really makes Nadal great is his unyielding tenacity and his will to keep improving.
From the king of clay in the first half of his career, he gradually grew into a comprehensive player who is competitive on different courts; from the Mallorca wind chaser who suddenly emerged to challenge Federer's dominance, to the Spanish king who has a mutual understanding with Djokovic, he has been through sixteen years of glory in the tennis world. Although time has passed, 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 progress that Federer and Djokovic are motivated to continue to work hard to become better themselves:
Against Federer, he has 24 wins and 16 losses; against Djokovic, he has 28 wins and 30 losses; against Murray, he has 17 wins and 7 losses.
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Bull.
This is how Nadal defines himself. He always thinks that he has average talent, so he needs to work harder and sweat more to create a future for himself.
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 he has been world number one or the number of Grand Slam titles, but because of his will to fight on the court and his spirit of continuous improvement.
And now, Gawain is about to win the opportunity to challenge Nadal. Just the thought in his mind makes Gawain very excited.
After the post-match press conference, Gao Wen did not return to the hotel to rest, but went to the training ground.
Practice more.
(End of this chapter)