Novak Djokovic

Rafael Nadal has won a record 21 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other male player in tennis history. Nadal has appeared in 29 Grand Slam finals which is second to Roger Federer’s and Novak Djokovic's 31 finals. He has appeared in at least five finals at each Major (a feat equaled only by Federer and surpassed only by Djokovic's six) and has won multiple majors on hard, grass, and clay courts, a feat matched by Djokovic at French Open 2021. Nadal completed the Career Grand Slam and the Career Golden Slam, becoming the youngest player in the Open Era to achieve this feat, having won all four Majors and the Olympic title by the age of 24 years, 3 months and 10 days. At the 2022 Australian Open, he became the fourth man in history (joining Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, and Djokovic) to complete the Double Career Grand Slam, winning each Grand Slam title at least two times. Known as the “King of Clay”, Nadal won the French Open 9 times in his first 10 attempts, and 13 times overall, with a match record of 105–3 (97.2% win rate), which is viewed by many analysts as one of the greatest feats in the Open Era. Nadal won the French Open on his first attempt as a 19-year-old in 2005 and went on to win 4 consecutive crowns from 2005 to 2008, defeating then-world-No. 1 Roger Federer in three consecutive finals from 2006 to 2008 (he also defeated Federer in the 2005 semi-finals) and again in the 2011 final (Nadal is the only player to defeat Federer in four finals at the same Major. Nadal is also the only player to beat Federer in the finals of three different Grand Slams, the French Open, the Australian Open, and Wimbledon). His sole loss at the French Open during this period came at the hands of Sweden's Robin Söderling in 2009 in the round of 16. Nadal then went on to avenge his loss to Söderling by defeating him in the 2010 French Open final. He would go on to win 5 consecutive crowns from 2010 to 2014. Nadal furthered his place in history by achieving "La Decima", a 10th title at the 2017 French Open, where he did not drop a set and lost only 35 games, only three shy of Borg's record of 32 games lost. He would then win 4 consecutive crowns from 2017 to 2020, making Nadal the only player in history, male or female, to win 13 Grand Slams at a single Major (ahead of Djokovic's 9 Australian Open titles and Federer's 8 Wimbledon titles. The best female record is Margaret Court's 11 Australian Open titles). Additionally, his 2020 French Open win also made Nadal the only player in history to have 3 streaks of 4 consecutive titles at a Grand Slam event (Borg and Federer each had 2 streaks), as well as 3 streaks of 30+ consecutive match wins at the same event. He has never been taken to five sets in the final of the French Open, and is the only player to achieve this type of dominance at any single Grand Slam tournament. Additionally, Nadal is 25–0 in best of 5 matches on clay at other events, bringing his total match record, in best of 5 on clay, to 130–3, a win percentage of 97.7%. Nadal did not lose a single semifinal on clay courts for 12 years (52–0) from the 2003 Croatia Open (lost to Carlos Moya) to the 2015 Rio Open (lost to Fabio Fognini)