Grand Slam Titles Leaders: Rafael Nadal With 15, 3 Behind Roger Federer

by Tom Gainey | June 11th, 2017, 2:53 pm
  • 18 Comments

Could Rafael Nadal catch Roger Federer’s 18? It seemed unlikely at the start of the year but with the way the Spaniard is playing – winning his 10th French Open and third without losing a set – anything seems possible.

Nadal’s win moves him alone on the historic all-time men’s Grand Slam leaderboard with 15, which is three behind Federer’s 18.

Nadal as previously tied with Sampras for the last three years at 14.


ALL TIME GRAND SLAM TITLE LEADERS (men)
Roger Federer 18
Rafael Nadal 15
Pete Sampras 14
Novak Djokovic 12
Roy Emerson 12
Bjorn Borg 11
Rod Laver 11


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18 Comments for Grand Slam Titles Leaders: Rafael Nadal With 15, 3 Behind Roger Federer

Armend Says:

Nobody would be surprised if Nadal wins another major this year. And only by winning another one this year does he stand a real chance to surpassing RF’s record. Hopefully he stays healthy, but as injury prone as he has been, it is difficult to envisage him playing a couple of years injury free, and less likely to see him comeback to this level as easily as he has done time and again.

Again tying at 18 does not seem impossible at all, by which time if he were to also get an AO, and the H2H, he would be the deserving GOAT.


chrisford1 Says:

I think “la Decima” is going to hurt Rafa’s image as a one surface wonder while of course piling on evidence that as everyone knows, he is the best clay player ever…
But like Sampras and Djokovic, Nadal never played in a Weak Era. So I would not blame his fans if they “adjust” his Slam Count for the highly competitive times he plied his wares in. Only two guys in all the hundreds he played against had a better H2H against him if he played a foe more than a handful of times.
Davydenko who avoided him on clay, and of course Djokovic.
And he might get that H2H back from Djoker.

Nadal’s fans can not be dismissed out of hand if they argue that what Rafa did was more impressive than what Roger did in his career, due to the high level of competition Rafa faced.


Willow Says:

Back handed compliment, if ever there was one ….


kjb Says:

@cf1 Djokovic got the majority of his slams in the weakest of all weak eras.


kjb Says:

@cf1 And I would like to add that since Rafa won his first slam until now he has won 15 and Fed has won 14. You talk nothing but nonsense.


FedExpress Says:

Dont think he can catch Federer now. The AO final loss was too big.


rognadfan Says:

No way Rafa’s 10 FO feat is better than Rogers grand total. In modern tennis greatest competition is always in hard courts, not in Clay. Looking at two men’s records, Fed is 5, 5, 7, 1, Rafa is 2, 1, 2, 10. He’s clearly is a weaker player outside of clay, even if you don’t compare with other great champions.
Roger has only one clay but he lost 4 finals and 1 semi to Rafa.
Because of his only 1 title, most tennis aficionados tend to think that Federer is not good on clay at all. In fact, Federer is one of the best clay court players in all of tennis. You can’t say the same thing about nadal on hard courts when you put their records side by side.

Not to discredit his 10 feat but the argument that 10 FO is better than overall 18 is totally garbage.

Now, he may surpass or match Fed in Total GS tally (can’t tell anything based on this FO result). If he wins wimby then he may get to 17 by next FO. I think that will be it for him.
But even after watching today’s game, if Fed and Rafa met at wimby final, I’d still pick Fed. Anyone else, I think he gets 15.

So, the ‘GS tally’ dynamic is getting very interesting.

Let’s just wait and see.


chrisford1 Says:

Hahaahah! Look at Fed’s foes in the 12 weak era Slam Finals he won and look who Rafa had to beat to get his titles. For that matter, look at the level of competition Andy and Novak faced.

And sorry Fedards, this thread is about Rafa’s win and not the guy that skipped not just Paris, but all clay tournaments this year because he knew what would happen to him.

Rafa Nadal is in the debate as GOAT – in the small numbers of tennis fans and participants that care at all about GOAT.


skeezer Says:

You lose everytime you bring up a weak era argument, especially when it comes from the church lol


Humble Rafa Says:

Thank you all for the wishes. It means a lot. All the hard work that Uncle Toni and I put in are paying off.

To answer a few questions.

1) Yes, beating a Swiss is more satisfying. Who wants to beat a Latvian anyway.

2) All Swiss have weak backhands. That’s now resolved.

3) Yes, the FO trophy tastes good. It has a tingy metallic taste, not cheap metal like other Grandslams.

4) 18 is on my mind. If I play well, things take care of themselves. Obviously, the easiest route is 13 FOs. That could very well happen.

5) No, I am not skipping the grazing season. I will play on grass though I have no respect for the surface.

6) This one is for Uncle Toni. He won’t be back next year.

7) No, the Arrogant One has not sent me congratulatory messages personally.


Andrew Miller Says:

Nadal enters grass as a favorite to me. He’s moving very well, great footwork, speed is fastest I’ve seen him years, and he’s excited to be on the court. That spells trouble for opponents on the lawns. I also think Federer made a mistake to skip Roland Garros and the clay season, because it’s no matches. But he entered Australia with few matches also and he’s had a heckuva year, even a very good 2016. Only if this title runs through Nadal I think Nadal looks ready to get another one on Federer and run up his win-loss record. Nadal simply looks better than ever, and without peak Djokovic and with only slightly off peak Federer to deal with, he’s probably looking forward to grass season.


skeezer Says:

Andrew,
“Nadal simply looks better than ever,…”
But everyone was saying the same about a 35 yr old Fed after AO…..and then the run on the Masters circuit. We’ll see should be a cracker @ WImby


rognadfan Says:

HR, Good self assessment and realization of what is sour, eh? :)

Andrew Miller,
I’d say Nadal is among the favorites two favorites. and Should they meet, hopefully it’s a repeat of 2008.


Raj Says:

La Decima in 500, 1000 and grand-slam tournaments.. Wow..


Andrew Miller Says:

Skeezer that’s true. And Federer was playing as well as ever down in Australia. I think I am astonished to see them win the year’s first two majors, as if Djokovic doesn’t exist and that last few years have been a mirage. Rognadfan based on how they both played so far, it looks like that could happen, they could square off.
I think Murray probably has some say here as defending champion and having come up empty in 2017, though having a nice run in Paris on the dirt.
Should be fun. I do think though that Nadal enters grass season feeling as like he has a pair of sweet soccer cleats (sorry on the spelling, however you spell them!).


Wendel Says:

I doubt Rafa can catch Federer’s 18 majors. It maybe a possibility but Roger’s still playing and if he keeps playing like the 4 tournaments he played then 18 major might go up which probably will be out of reach from anybody.


DC Says:

In the net two years , Nadal might be able to catch Rogers 18 ; but the question is – will he be able to catch Rogers 20


Tennis Vagabond Says:

DC, that’s a good point. I don’t expect Roger to win any more slams. As a fan, I’m thrilled if he can add, but he’s too old to ‘expect’ more of.
However, if I can be objective (which is doubtful, but I’ll try), I think he has a better chance than Rafa of adding to his tally, for the simple reason that they are both living on borrowed time, and Roger would have to be favoured over Rafa at the next 3 Slams. It is also more likely that Rafa will need a health-timeout than Roger.

We’ll know very soon if Fed’s winter streak was a 1-time lightning-in-a-bottle period, or if he is legit at or near the top of the pack when it matters.

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