To me, Rod Laver is the greatest but Rafael Nadal is up there with Borg, Connors, Federer & Djokovic: Sports columnist Tony Kornheiser
Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal strengthened his claim to the GOAT title after winning a record-extending 22nd Grand Slam title at Roland Garros on Sunday. The Spaniard has been part of the GOAT debate alongside the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and even Rod Laver since his early days, but now has a statistical advantage.
But On ESPN's 'Pardon The Interruption' show, co-host and long-time sports columnist Tony Kornheiser said he believes that Nadal is not the greatest player of all time. Kornheiser stated that to him, Rod Laver is the greatest of all time and that the likes of Nadal, Djokovic and Federer are a rung or two below.
"No, not to me. I'm old, Laver is the greatest tennis player of all time. Nadal is in there with, you know, Borg and Connors, sure, and Federer and Djokovic, you know, all of those people. You know what, he gets to sit 1,2,3,4,5, second seat in the back, we don't know who is in the front yet."
We're talking men's tennis GOATs today...
So where is Rafael Nadal on Tony and Mike's lists? https://t.co/fXZD7S1KWM
Rafael Nadal's French Open win was his only claycourt title of the year
Rafael Nadal reigned supreme at the 2022 French Open but it wasn't all smooth sailing for the Spaniard on clay this season. The 36-year-old missed the Monte-Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open due to a rib stress fracture he sustained at Indian Wells.
🗓 June 5th 🗓
17 years and 14 titles later...
@RafaelNadal #RolandGarros https://t.co/Xnwv8fPzvT
On his return to the tour, he lost to fellow countryman Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open. Nadal aggravated a long-standing foot injury in Rome in his loss to Denis Shapovalov in the third round.
This meant Nadal entered Roland Garros without having reached a final of a claycourt tournament for the first time in his career (excluding 2020 when only the Italian Open was held).
That being said, Rafael Nadal did not put a foot wrong at the second Major of the year, beating four top-10 players en route to the title. He dropped only three sets in the entire tournament, two in his thrilling fourth-round encounter against Felix Auger-Aliassime and one in the quarterfinals against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
The French Open was the Spaniard's only clay title of the season.