Making history in a hurry

November 9th, 2008
RAFA UPDATE: Rafa wlll have further tests done on his knees today in Barcelona and will make a decision on weather or not he will participate in the Davis Cup final in Argentina either today or tomorrow. We will keep you posted.

How does Nadal's 2008 rank among the greatest years in Open era history? The pinnacle is Rod Laver's unmatched 1969 calendar-year sweep of all four Slams. Five years later, Jimmy Connors won 99 out of 103 matches and every Slam he entered, the only gap resulting when Connors' participation in World Team Tennis led to his banishment from Roland Garros (another mitigating factor: the extreme shallowness in those years of the Australian Open field). In 1988, Mats Wilander also won three Slams, losing in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.
In a three-decade span from 1969 to 1999, there were 20 different years when a man earned two Slams in a calendar year, led by Pete Sampras accomplishing this on four occasions between 1993 and '97.
Federer has topped everyone but Laver, notching a trio of three-Slam years in 2004, 2006 and 2007.
So while certainly Nadal's 2008 has been spectacular, it joins a long list of other notable tennis seasons. But perhaps the most engaging part of Nadal's success is his youth – and the way everything from his success to his demeanor gives evidence of even more great things to come.
If Nadal's sprint up the mountain hasn't been quite as fast as Borg's, it's pretty darn close. The Swede is the youngest man in tennis history to have earned a fifth Slam, reaching that figure the week he turned 22 at the 1978 French Open. Nadal's fifth Slam, at Wimbledon, came a month after his 22nd birthday.
The two also share a stylistic affinity. Like Nadal, Borg burst on the scene as a precocious, understated prodigy graced with an alluring mystique, the hair of a rock star and an iron will. Having built a cult as tennis' "Teen Angel," Borg earned his first of six French Open titles in 1974, 10 days after he turned 18. As is the case currently with Nadal, Borg on clay was a human backboard, able to cover the court for hours on end with scarcely an unforced error. But just like Nadal, early in his career, Borg's dominance on clay threatened to overshadow his overall excellence.
Like Nadal, Borg at first was considered too much of a defensive baseliner to make an impact on the grass of Wimbledon. Everything from his grips to his volley skills was considered unworkable at the All England Club.
Soon enough, though, the Swede and Spaniard proved the world wrong. In the quest to win Wimbledon, Borg and Nadal each dramatically improved his serve, slightly adjusted his court positioning closer to the baseline and, perhaps most telling of all, displayed a willingness to shed innate defense in favor of selective offense.
"What's so impressive about Nadal is his increased understanding of how to play on grass," nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova said on the lawns of the All England Club. "He's hitting his backhand earlier, he's slicing it intelligently and his movement is just incredible."
But in a less quantifiable, more emotional sense, Nadal and Borg part ways. Though Borg was unquestionably an all-time great by his early 20s, he'd also grown increasingly world-weary. The pressures of turning back such ravenous competitors as Connors, McEnroe and an ascending Ivan Lendl, the monk-like rituals he followed in practice, the demands of fame and, perhaps most painfully, the limitations of his attrition-based playing style – all of it made Borg more of a reluctant ruler than an ambitious, blood-thirsty warrior.
Nadal, of course, is just the opposite. There's nothing jaded or bored in Nadal's attitude, no sense as Borg displayed that the life of a tennis pro is a drain on one's soul. There came a point in Borg's career, for example, when the smaller events meant far less to him than the majors, a pragmatism that perhaps in some ways hindered his growth as a player – and certainly revealed his competitive fatigue.
"It's not a question of opting for quantity or quality," Nadal says about his active playing schedule. "You go for what there is, you play what you can play. There is no alternative but to play. Nothing more, nothing less."
In that sense, while Nadal's grinding game has its ancestral roots in Borg (and even more closely, another clay-court maestro, left-handed Argentine Vilas), his battle-hungry temperament is more like Connors. This is a man who loves to compete, day in and day out. Not content to merely peak for the majors, Nadal has already won 12 ATP Masters Series titles, third all-time behind Andre Agassi's 17 and Federer's 14.
How large a legacy Rafael Nadal will leave is one of the great questions of contemporary tennis. In large part it's a question that's been under a rock for many years but is now, much like Nadal, staring the entire sport – and Roger Federer most of all – right in the face. He faces many more battles. But while Borg waved his white flag and surrendered at the age 25, Nadal wouldn't have it any other way.
"I only want to progress," says Nadal. "That's what you have to do if you are No. 1 and want to stay there. I want to stay there and I will fight to do that."