Now this is interesting! Rafael Nadal’s coach, Uncle Toni, famous for his humility, canny coaching and insistence that Rafa play left-handed as a kid, went on Spanish radio on Monday to talk GOAT. Here’s his analysis of where Rafa currently stands in the conversation:
“I think Rafael is at the second or third level if we talk about tennis players in history. In the first level would be three players, Roger Federer, Björn Borg and Rod Laver and then the group in front of Rafa would be Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl …”
He went on to say that Rafa still has a lot of room for improvement and a lot of unfinished business to complete on court before he will be considered a player at the highest level.
There’s nothing wrong with Uncle Toni’s analysis if we’re looking only at the present moment (except that I’m wondering why Sampras is in the second tier while Fed’s in the first – can someone explain?) But there’s no doubt in my mind that his nephew will be at the pinnacle of Uncle Toni’s ranking system by the end of his career. Nadal’s not stopping without at least 10-12 titles on a variety of surfaces. 15+ is not unreasonable, and the Grand Slam is still in his sights for this year!
Click here for the full article from Marca and here for the newspaper’s fantastic comparison of Nadal’s stats vs. those of Federer, Sampras, Borg, McEnroe and Lendl.
What I also find fascinating about this article is Uncle Toni’s obvious desire to keep his nephew grounded. I don’t think any other coach on the circuit could say these kinds of things about his protege without getting kicked to the curb. Maybe Richard Williams could get away with it, but the words “humble” and “second best” are most definitely NOT in his vocabulary!
What do you think of Uncle T’s ranking system? How do you place Rafa and Roger in history?
I like to think of Roger as the Rod Laver, and Rafael Nadal as the Bjorn Borg of this generation. It would be an ideal situation to me if Nadal won the Grand Slam, while Roger beat Sampras and maintained the greatest amount of Major titles. Both are great in their own ways, and I’d like it if history recognized them for their unique talents and achievements. It’s also fun to think about the sport’s not-yet-upcoming players who will inevitably shatter Rafa and Roger’s records in the future. . .scary, but fun.
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Europe
Tags: ATP, Federer, Nadal, tennis
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I don’t know how I place them anymore. I suppose I always assumed that despite Rafa leading the H2H, Roger would still be regarded as the better player when all’s said and done. Obviously now I’m not so sure. And that’s a little upsetting. Because when it comes down to it I’m a Roger fan, and I don’t particularly want to see Rafa win the Grand Slam, or 15+ majors. I don’t want to see all of Roger’s records and achievements completely eclipsed before they’ve even had the chance to stand by themselves a while. But hey, I didn’t want Rafa to beat him in major finals on all three surfaces, or lead their H2H by an embarrassing amount, so I guess I can’t be too picky.
Sorry, I might be having a bad day. Or maybe I’m just pissed at how everything in 09 seems to have sucked so far
Hi Eve!
No, I totally understand. As a huge Fed fan, I too, want Roger to be anointed the God of Tennis for ever and ever with nobody even coming close to his records.
(Although at some point he will retire and then I’ll have to be obsessed with another player, so I don’t know how I’ll feel then.)
I just think it feels better to acknowledge Rafa’s achievements and to be excited about what he’s capable of doing – otherwise, it’s like trying to keep a genie in a bottle! And it’s good for tennis to have a champion like him, as well as Roger.
And I try to see it as a test for Roger instead of a threat from Nadal. If Roger’s as good as we all believe he is, he’ll find a way to beat Nadal and Murray when it counts. And if he doesn’t. . . .well, I’ll still love him anyway
For the most part, Uncle Toni’s “rankings” make sense except that he seems to have a bit of an anti-American bias. A fair observer would definitely move Sampras up to the first group (his unequaled among male players 14 Major championships alone should qualify) and would add Agassi – whose achievements, including career Golden Slam and championships on four different surfaces, are unique among male players – to the second group. As for Nadal, by the end of this year he may already be worthy of inclusion into this second group. No one except Borg (among male players of course) – not even Federer – achieved as much at such a young age. If Rafa can stay healthy for two or three more years, he has a good chance of reaching the very top tier.
Yeah, really interesting that Sampras is one step below. . .I wonder if Pete’s achievements are slightly less impressive to Europeans – or maybe Uncle Toni just wanted to talk up Federer a bit by putting him higher than Sampras. Toni can be a little over generous in his praise of Fed, sometimes, but maybe that’s my paranoia talking.
Yep, Rafa’s definitely nipping at the heels of greatness. . .maybe his Uncle will invent a new tier for him.
Interesting, definitely. As a Rafa fan, I think that his potential is unfilled, and that as he continues to hopefully win slams and such, he will be regarded as one of the greatest players-I don’t know if he will always remain below Federer but each of them are so, so different that it’s really hard to compare.
Hey Izzie! Well Rafa’s only one or two away from tying Roger’s Masters Series titles, so he’s really nipping at his heels in more ways than one! I really do think (even as a Fed fan) that Rafa’s going to be one of the all time greats.
I know history will admire both players equally for their unique abilities and talents – obviously in the midst of the rivalry everyone feels the needs to take sides. Allez Roger! Vamos Nadal! It makes it more fun, anyway
I’m just hoping Roger can perk up a bit and turn this into a rivalry again.
COME ON WORLD… NADAL HAS TOTALLY EARNED THE #1 SPOT IN TENNIS AND IT IS ABOUT TIME HE IS GIVEN THE RESPECT HE DESERVES….EXTREMELY GIFTED, EXCITING,DOWN TO EARTH,AND ,OF COURSE, EASY ON THE EYES AS IS UNCLE TONI……..GOOD LUCK AND CONTINUE TO GIVE US THE BEST TENNIS EVER…
I think if nadal had come to the big picture a few years earlier…
Roger would have taken him down not with ease but still he would have done it, but now i am tentative, but we cant write him off with our comments, Coz he is the GREAT not us…for him impossible is nothing….
i agree with Uncle Toni regarding Sampras. I do also believe freakyfrites is into something when he note that the europeans might not see Sampras as great as the american as used to see him. After all, Sampras was an average player in clay. And most of his career he was flat out a bad player on clay.
The GOAT is not someone who just cannot play on an specific surface.
That would make Sampras the Greatest fast court specialist, but not by any means the GOAT.
Besides, there is a more important number.
52. The number of Slams it took Sampras to make it to 14.
Federer is far below that number. And if you remember Borg, he took 11 Slams and went to the finals in 4 more in half the attempts it took Sampras to reach his record.
The numbers Sampras accumulated are impressive, but, then again, he kept playing way past his prime. When he won his last Slam, he did it in a afterthought. He was completely removed from his heyday.
For me, it is shame that Agassi did not have an Uncle Toni handling him while he was young. Agassi was more talented than Sampras and even with this disorganized life he was able to hang in there. He is an example of an athlete who wasted his prime.
As a prove of Agassi extraordinary level we can see that he was able to come back at 29 and basically being the top dog or stay at the top tier level for 2 or 3 years until Federer started his dominance.
So, I agree with Uncle Toni when he leaves Sampras on a second Tier, but i agree with freakyfrites when he remembers us about Agassi.