Someone once said that Nadal's career is "the second in ten thousand years". In the fierce competition for the "best in history", he has always lagged behind Federer and Djokovic.

Because in the early stage of the strong rise of Nadal's career, he had to face Federer at his peak; and not long after Nadal gradually matured and became stronger, he had to face the unstoppable Djokovic, so that he suffered back and forth attacks , "The peak period of sweeping away thousands of troops" is really too short and too short.

In a way, this is true.

Professional tennis consists of three types of courts: hard courts, clay courts and grass courts. Hard courts cover two-thirds of the season, while clay courts and grass courts divide the remaining third. Naturally, players who perform better on hard courts , has an advantage in world rankings and the number of champions.

It can be seen from the data that as of 2021, in terms of digital records for the number of weeks ranked first in the world:

Djokovic is 380 weeks, the first in history; Federer is 310 weeks, second in history; Nadal is 209 weeks, sixth in history, and there is Sampra in front of him Three legends, Si, Ivan-Lendl (Ivan-Lendl), and Connors.

It can be said that from the perspective of the number of weeks ranked No. 1 in the world, Nadal is indeed slightly inferior; moreover, among all the professional honor lists of Nadal, the poor performance of the European indoor carpet/hard court season at the end of the year has always been a shortcoming , which also made him never reach the top of the year-end finals held on indoor hard courts.

It is precisely because of this that Nadal, known as the "King of Clay", has become a fatal shortcoming of "severely biased". When arguing about "the best in history", it is often the focus of fans.

But is it true?

Looking at it from another angle, it is not true.

From a strong confrontation with Federer in the first six years of his career, to a tit-for-tat confrontation with Djokovic and Murray in the middle of his career in the six years of his career, and to a three-legged confrontation with Federer and Djokovic in the latter five years of his career, Nana Dahl's career is solid beyond imagination.

There is a statistic worth mentioning separately. Among the Big Four, three fell behind and only one entered the semi-finals of the Grand Slam. Nadal has the most times, four times; and in these four times, Nadal won all the championships , to defend the strength of the Big Four dominating the tennis world.

Since Nadal reached the top of the French Open for the first time, discussions about his style of play, his injuries, and his physical consumption have never stopped. Countless professionals predict that Nadal's career glory may only be Three to five years, and then it will disappear like a meteor.

However, Nadal did not. From 2005 to 2021, the "King of Clay" remained in the top ten of the world rankings. This record was not achieved by Federer and Djokovic; Nadal's record of winning at least two championships for 16 consecutive years is also the only one in history.

In addition, on the year-end world ranking record list for the first time, Djokovic won the championship seven times, followed by Sampras six times, Federer, Nadal and Connors all five times. In other words, although Nadal's number of weeks in the world's No. 1 position is not as good as that of his old opponent, the number of times at the end of the year is not inferior.

Everyone knows that the brilliance of the "King of Clay", the 81-game winning streak in clay-court events, the double figures in the number of championships in two clay-court masters, and the 13th French Open are all historical records. Absolute dominance on clay; but that's not all brilliance.

In the early stage of Nadal's career, he was indeed partial and serious, and all his competitiveness came from clay courts. However, Nadal later gradually realized that hard courts are the focus of professional tennis. Two-thirds of the annual schedule is hard courts. If he's going to stay competitive, he's going to have to improve on the hard courts.

In fact, Nadal did it too

Nadal changed his style of play on the hard court, continued to improve and transform, and later under the guidance of his former world No. 1 Spanish compatriot Carlos-Moya, he also has strong competition in the hard court season force.

One Australian Open champion, two Wimbledon champions, four US Open champions.

Among Nadal's 20 Grand Slam championship trophies, five are on hard courts and two are on grass courts. Such a record is already brilliant.

Among them, there are four US Open championship trophies, second only to Conners, Sampras and Federer's five championships, and one more than Djokovic; in addition, Nadal and Roddick are the only two players It is also a feat for a player who can complete all the championships in the North American season.

It is very, very worth mentioning that Nadal's number of hard-court championships ranks seventh in history, and the number of hard-court finals is even more than that of "King of Hard-court" Sampras.

Moreover, there is another detail, Nadal is the second male player to achieve the Golden Slam after Agassi:

That is, the four Grand Slams plus the Olympic champion. This is also a record that Federer and Djokovic have been pursuing but have not been able to achieve yet.

The point is, when Nadal won the Olympic title in 2008, he did it on hard courts.

In other words, everyone says that Nadal has a serious bias, but in fact, his competitiveness on the hard court is not inferior to the clay court.

Just like Djokovic, people seem to have an impression that he is very dominant in hard court events, but look at his twenty Grand Slam trophies:

There are nine Australian Opens, two French Opens, six Wimbledon and three US Opens.

It can be seen at a glance that the Australian Open is Djokovic's blessed place, and it is also the most difficult venue for Djokovic to beat, and the other hard-court Grand Slam US Open, Djokovic's performance Not as dominant as expected. Of course, the 12 Grand Slams on hard courts are still temporarily ahead.

The player who really has absolute dominance on hard courts should be Federer, known as the "King of Grass", with six Australian Open titles, five US Open titles, and eight Wimbledon titles.

The line of sight returned to Nadal.

In fact, including Federer and Djokovic have said the same point of view on different occasions:

What really makes Nadal great is his indomitable tenacity and will to continue to improve

From the king of clay in the first half of his career, he has gradually grown into a comprehensive player who is competitive on different venues; from the Mallorca chasing boy who turned out to challenge Federer's rule, to the king of Spain who has sympathy with Djokovic , Throughout the 16 years of tennis glory, the only thing that remains the same is the figure who never gives up on the court.

It is precisely because of Nadal's continuous transformation and improvement that it stimulates Federer and Djokovic to constantly strive to become better selves:

Facing Federer~www.mtlnovel.com~24 wins and 16 losses; facing Djokovic, 28 wins and 30 losses; facing Murray, 17 wins and 7 losses.

bull.

This is Nadal's definition of himself. He always thinks that his talent is mediocre, so he needs to work harder and sweat more to create a sky.

And this is the key to Nadal's greatness.

Also, because of this, after Agassi, Gawain's personal favorite tennis player is Nadal, not because of the number of first weeks in the world or the number of Grand Slam champions, but because of the hard work on the court. A will and a spirit of continuous improvement.

And now, Gao Wen is about to win the opportunity to challenge Nadal, just a thought in his mind already makes Gao Wen extremely excited.

After the post-match press conference, Gao Wen did not return to the hotel to rest, but went to the training ground

Extra practice.