Is Rafael Nadal Better Than Roger Federer?

                  In the world of tennis Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer don’t need introduction. They are rated as greatest players in the history of lawn tennis. Their rivalry has been considered as the greatest rivalry in open Era of tennis. Rafael Nadal and Federer are very good friends off the field, but on field their rivalry is known to everyone. Before comparing these two greats of tennis, first we go through their achievements till now in their career individually.

King of Clay Rafael Nadal or Swiss Legend Roger Federer

Roger Federer

                Currently ranked number 3 in world , Federer holds the record of holding the position of rank 1 for longest time. He was ranked world number 1 for the record 302 weeks. He also holds the record of winning the most number of grand slams. He has won 17 grand slams in his glorious career. He won Wimbledon 7 times, US open 5times, AUS open 4 times and French open once. For all his records and achievements he is considered as the greatest of all time.

Rafael Nadal

                He is ranked 5 in the world currently and referred as the "King of Clay". He has won in total 13 grand slam in his tennis career out of which he has won French Open 8 times, Wimbledon and US Open  twice while AUS Open once in his glorious career. In the list of top grand slam winners his position is 3^rd after Roger Federer and Pete Sampras. Rafael Nadal is only player in tennis history to win single grand slam 8 or more times. Nadal has also won the Olympic gold medal and he is one of those players who have completed the Golden Slam.

                As both of them have played most of their tennis at same time and they are still playing. So its quite normal to compare them and also figure out who is greater between two. If we examine the individual achievement of these two then Federer got clear edge over his arch rival Rafael Nadal. Federer started his professional career in 1999 and won his first grand slam in 2003.  Rafael Nadal started his professional career in 2001 and won his first grand slam in 2005. Federer aged 31 expected to retire soon while, Nadal aged 27  have all the chance in world to get closer to the Swiss legend’s 17 grand slam records.

Rafael Nadal

                        Observing these stats and numbers the question arises who is better in these two? To find out the better of these two, I have compared their individual matches leaving apart rest of the things. Comparison of two greats is never an easy task but as they have played at the same time, so it gets little easier in this case. They have faced each other 30 times in their career. Their head to head win-loss record is

Head to Head

                           Matches                      Nadal Won                  Federer Won                                                             31                                              21                                                 10      

Court Wise  

                           Court                        Nadal  Won                    Federer Won
                             Clay                                  13                                       2

                             Hard                                   7                                       6

                             Grass                                  1                                       2        

                     
                        If you look at the head to head record between these two stalwarts, you get to know Nadal has much better record against the Federer. They are even on the Hard court, while clay court is totally dominated by the Nadal and Federer has better record on grass court. But they haven’t played too many matches on that court. So with the record of 20-10 in favor of the Nadal he has clear dominated the Federer.    

 

Head to Head in Finals

                       
                      Total Matches                 Nadal Won                        Federer Won

                               20                                    14                                         6

                        In the finals too Nadal has better record against the Roger Federer. It makes him better than the Federer as there is huge pressure in the finals but he has maintained his cool and won 14 finals out of the 20 meetings. So from the overall study of their matches against each other, no rocket science is needed to declare that Rafael Nadal is better than the Roger Federer in head to head comparison.

                     So in my point of view Nadal is better than the Roger Federer. What do you feel about this ? Do you agree with me ? Who is better in your point of view ?