Your view: Nadal the greatest

Eurosport - Thu, 23 Apr 18:53:00 2009

Eurosport Yahoo! readers have overwhelmingly voted current world number one Rafael Nadal as the greatest clay court player, according to our latest poll.

Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in their final of the Monte Carlo Masters - 0

The Spaniard, who last week won a record fifth consecutive Monte Carlo Masters title, beat former world number one Bjorn Borg for the accolade despite still only being 22.

We asked: Who is the greatest clay court player of all time?

You said:

Bjorn Borg: 23 per cent

Rafael Nadal: 77 per cent

With 4,545 votes cast as of 10:30am UK time on Thursday April 23.

Borg had a formidable record on clay, becoming the youngest winner of the French Open when his first lifted the title at 18 in 1976, a record since lowered - first by fellow Swede Mats Wilander and subsequently Michael Chang.

The 11-times Grand Slam winner, who won a total of 28 clay court titles during his career, still holds the record for number of titles at Roland Garros, lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaires six times.

Only Adriano Panatta managed to beat the Swede at the French Open, with the Italian twice downing Borg - in the fourth round in 1973 and in the quarter-finals in 1976.

Borg also holds third place in the list for most consecutive wins on the red dirt, with 46 victories from 1977-79.

But Nadal has the record, having won 81 consecutive matches between April 2005 and May 2007. The Spaniard has is also fast approaching Borg's total number of clay court tournament wins - with 23 victories already to his name.

Nadal has amassed four successive French Open trophies and, barring injury, is clear favourite to add another to his tally on June 7.

Nadal has lost just twice on clay in the past four years - to Roger Federer at the Hamburg Masters final in 2007 and to Juan Carlos Ferrero in Rome last year, and is unbeaten at Roland Garros, having won the 2008 title without even dropping a set.

Pippa Davis / Eurosport

Comment 65 - 84 of 84

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  1. Sampras was born to­ Greek parents. How does that make­ him American?

    From Vlada V, on Sun 26 Apr 2:23PM
  2. #82.
    If Djoker was really as great as u keep saying,­ then he should have finished off Baghdatis in under 2­ hours and had more time to rest.
    Poor Djoker, always­ the one to lose out..to the weather , to the­ organisers, to everything!
    BTW, Monica was born to­ Hungarian parents. How does that make her Serb?

    From y.soserius, on Sat 25 Apr 10:10AM
  3. Seles made greatest results under Yugoslavia flag,and­ she took American passport later (two years before she­ retire) under strange conditions...

    From Vlada V, on Sat 25 Apr 8:48AM
  4. Yeah,but on grand slam you play five set match so you­ need one day to rest and Novak didnt get it before the­ semi final of wimbledon 07....

    From Vlada V, on Sat 25 Apr 8:45AM
  5. and djokovic is an elite athlete, and i'm right in­ saying that when he plays in the circuit away from the­ slams he and the rest of the players play every day so­ your argument that he wasnt prepared means that he is a­ rubbish athlete.

    From ajpbolton, on Sat 25 Apr 8:34AM
  6. seles didnt have a gun to her head when change nation,­ she changed bacause at the time she was an up coming­ athlete and yugoslavia couldnt support her in her quest­ to become the best, that is why she went to the US.

    From ajpbolton, on Sat 25 Apr 8:31AM
  7. ajpbolton...
    Monica Seles was from Serbia too,but she­ took American passport under pressure,what a poor­ country America is.....

    From Vlada V, on Sat 25 Apr 7:57AM
  8. ajpbolton,...
    And do you remember that Novak played­ almost 5 hours with Bagdatis one day before semi final­ with Nadal in Wimbledon 07 ??? So,he didnt have 20­ hours for rest before semi final and you need to be­ 100% ready to play on high level against Nadal...That­ was a big shame for wimbledon organisers....

    From Vlada V, on Sat 25 Apr 7:52AM
  9. i remember wimbledon 08, i also remember the year­ before when the cheat retired in the semis when he was­ down in the match, he is a joke.

    From ajpbolton, on Sat 25 Apr 7:41AM
  10. So Novak lost from Safin in Wimbledon 08 who is also­ great player but his problem (Safin) is that he is not­ constant, so you never no what to expect from­ him,something like Berdich....

    From Vlada V, on Fri 24 Apr 11:18PM
  11. Novak is high quality player,he prooved that in Monte­ Carlo final when he play with same quality with Rafa­ over 2 hours...Of course, Rafa is much stronger, great­ athlete ,masculine and mentally very strong so he beat­ Novak in second part of the third set very easy....All­ credit to Nadal, i wish him the best because he act­ like true champion, but you cant compare Novak with one­ dimensional players like Roddick,Karlovic or Ivanisevic­ because Novak is all round player with great tehnique­ and his serve is not his main weapon,he dont have such­ powerfull serve over 200km/h....

    From Vlada V, on Fri 24 Apr 11:04PM
  12. Vlada V my sweety, same thing with djoker. take away­ his serve, hell never get past 2nd round of any­ event....remember wimbledon 08? go find it in youtube.­ come back to us and share your view after you watch it.

    From Ray V, on Fri 24 Apr 7:32PM
  13. ajpbolton...
    you can't compare Roddick to­ djokervic..I agree with you,take serve from Roddick and­ he would not be in first 100, not even the average­ player..:)))

    From Vlada V, on Fri 24 Apr 7:17PM
  14. There is only one tennis player "Don Rafael­ Nadal"
    Too much mediocrity around. I have never­ seen that before.
    It is very bad for tennis, specially­ on USA where only few people are interested on tennis­ but they know mediocres do not need to apply.

    From Prophet, on Fri 24 Apr 6:41PM
  15. Nadals just such a wonderful player to watch and a­ great sportsman, so I really hope he has a successful­ season all round because of his dedication to turn his­ game around the way he has outside clay is phenomenal­ so he deserves it. Go Rafa!!! we all love you!!

    From faeelisabethcoleman, on Fri 24 Apr 5:20PM
  16. you can't compare Roddick to djokervic, Roddick is­ a sportsman, fights to the end wether he is loosing or­ winning, djoker will try anything to win, blame the­ weather when loosing, call the trainer to upset the­ opponents rythm, then retire when he knows he isnt­ going to win, that is sly not sportsman like, Roddick­ is in a different class altogether and its a better­ class in my view.

    From ajpbolton, on Fri 24 Apr 4:21PM
  17. Vlada V...U are clearly a moron. Didn't I tell u to­ start yr own fanclub?
    At least Roddick became no 1, was­ finalist for 2 yrs in Wimbledon etc etc.
    Has more­ career titles and better career record than your wimp a­ ss Djoker.
    The rest of the Serb players are just as­ rubbish.

    From y.soserius, on Fri 24 Apr 4:12PM
  18. sampras isnt greek, his parents were greek imigrants,­ he was born in washington dc making him american, get­ it?

    From ajpbolton, on Fri 24 Apr 4:07PM
  19. Ray V...
    It is all clear to my now....So, in USA there­ is no good players,so you must be Rafa suporter....I­ dont blame you, who can suport such a worthless players­ like carpenter Roddick, Fish,Isner....Except James­ Blake who is great player and big gentleman on­ court,all of them are just group of pathetic one­ dimensional lossers..:)
    But dont worry,soon or later­ some great champ from Europe will took American­ passport (Sampras- country of origin Greece) and you­ will be happy again,meanwhile you must suport other­ great players...So,how things going between you and­ vamos,rafa? What happend after first date? First­ kiss?:)))

    From Vlada V, on Fri 24 Apr 3:51PM
  20. Hello, fans!I'm an amazing girl from UK. I like­ this team very much. I have a blog on
    -- Seekingtall­ Co m -- I like to share the funny things of the team­ with other fans,esp handsome guys~~

    From salawhite02, on Fri 24 Apr 2:44PM
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