I am afraid this massive hype may well create loads of pressure for rafa! see what media hype did to murray!! he was the favorite to win OZ but ws knocked out in the 4th rnd! rafa is rafa and i will luv him to win a career grandslam (a celandar grandslam wud be awesum ).He is the big big favorite at RG..only a player called "Mr injuries can beat him at the parisian clay..nt sure even this player can extinguish the burning desire of this spanish lion.Rafa will win a record breaking 5th french title withput losing a set! for wimby..if he runs in to roger in the final..rafa will beat him once more in a nerve jangling final..roger shud hope sum 1 pulls of a miracle and beats rafa before the final.At US..all depends upon rafa's health..t sure why he is playing at Rotterdam!he shus take as much rest as possible.Also the surface at US is quicker than the one in Oz..its not that much conducive to rafa's topsin forehand aswell,but the way rafa flattened out forehands and especially bakhands in Oz was nuthing short of remarkable! GO RAFA GO!! i hope u win every match u play this year..lol..

hehe too much to ask vamosrafa :)

I am a Rafa fan and I think this record talk should wait until Rafa has 13 GS titles. He has only six now and there is still a long road ahead of him. I agree that too much hype is not going to help Rafa. Luckily, he concentrates only on the next task and hopefully won't be distractyed by all this GOAT/sampras?Greatness talk.
I think Federer is much closer. He needs one or two wins and he is still the defending champion in US open.

lol. Max.yeah may b too much to ask but i have faith in rafa!he hardly disapoints

Lets see !

Jokes apart guys . way to go rafa & roger. Max is more practical than Vamosrafa .
Vamousrafa is a bit optimisit which is understandable.Max where as is on facts.Rafa is now way behind 14 major.So who has seen tomorrow,we can only predict hope Rafa will break Rogers record instead of Sampras.

the good thing about this is that Nadal has never concerned himself with what people say he could or should do. Somebody is going to ask him about this, and he's going to call it ridiculous. And he's right, of course.

I think it is quite premature to talk about breaking Sampras' record when he isn't even halfway there yet.

Luckily, Rafa has a good head on his shoulders and no matter what pressure the media puts on him, he and his team will be able to keep him grounded.

I never talked abt sampras' record .Yes its far away..i just gave my predictions for this year as RICKY gave his at the start of the year.I dont believe in predictions,no matter who makes them coz predctions are predictions.And i dont xpect others to believe in my pred aswell,so this is how it goes.Competition is fierce and anything can happen..may b rafa is unable to live up to the xpectations ..who knows..being a fanatic rafa fan i can just pray and stay positive+optimistic =)

It should be discussed, but I'm sure it won't affect Nadal one way or the other. Even if it did put added pressure on Nadal, as vamosrafa suggests, well...we've all seen how Nadal handles pressure. It's irrelevant to him.

I think there are no mental issues there but, there may be some physical due to his combatant tennis play style.

I think I've now heard enough! first all this about Murray Murray, and bet on Murray,
now this one! WILL ALWAYS BE FEDERER FAN, WHENNN FEDERER RETIRES THERE IS NO MORE TENNIS FOR ME!!

The funny thing is that Rafa would say "ridiculous to think about a year slam now", because that's the way he is. To him all there is right now is his next tournament in Rotterdam. That's precisely why he may be such a strong candidate for the year's grand Slam. We haven't had a stronger candidate since Agassi. Sampras couldn't come close to win the French, and Federer has Rafa in his way.
Rafa played in grass as if it were clay, so RG and Wimbledon are a strong posibility. This time he will beat Roger easily in both Slams.
As for the US open, there is no Olympics this year, so Rafa won't be as tired. He is getting better and better every day on Hard Courts. I know he wants to win in NY badly, and when Rafa wants something badly, he and Toni know how to get it, and trust me, they will. I don't think a year slam is out of the picture, considering the stellar year Rafa had in '08 and considering that Rafa has done nothing but improve by leaps and bounds every single year. He doesn't look like he's done getting better... not by any stretch of the imagintion. Only Rafa can do it now, and he has all the tools.

i agree with cheryl about the "hype" in regards to rafa. he doesn't allow others to put pressure on him to achieve anything in particular. he seems to always be content wherever he is 'achievement-wise" at that moment. that kind of attitude is rare, but admirable! he knows how hard it is to remain a constant at the top. he would probably laugh at the idea of him potentially becoming the "greatest of all time." he lives in the moment and one of the reason why he is so successful is because he doesn't try to prove that he is the best. he goes about his business and, win or lose, he accepts his fate! if being the "greatest" is his destiny, he will get there. all he needs to do is live by these words that he so often repeats, " i will continue to improve and try my best." and he will. everything else will follow!

When we watch Tennis , we dont think in terms of two millionaires battling it out. We just see Roger and Rafa, but the the fact is they are. They make break records or not but they have already achieved enough to have a cosy life post tennis.

If nadal keeps working on his game and adds to it like he has been doing for the last two years, he can make it. As Cheryl pointed out, its too early to predict Rafa breaking the record, but to me; the only thing that will stop him is his health or a rival who plays consistent excellent tennis. In both cases, you can count on Rafa to work towards injury prevention and figure out a way to better his rivals. And when I say rivals, if Roger Federer doesn't beat him anytime soon, he can be discounted from the equation.

As for early predictions, I remember people predicting Federer at very premature stages.

samprallica, my thoughts too.

The only thing that has giving me angst in watching tennis last 4-5 years is worrying about Nadal's physical health. Then came that interview with uncle Tony in Dec 07 where he called the issue with the knees a grave problem, and the ensuing shush.

At any rate, in 2008 and at this AO Nadal has shown he is doing a lot to prevent injuries, as you pointed out. I do hope he will have a long career - some players with such physical games have had long ones. Everything else he has more control of and takes care of, and whatever achievements he will reach will be impressive and inspiring no doubt. And I hope he gets his other wish, besides a long career: to be able to comfortably play soccer with his friends after he retires.

Shouldn't have said discount Roger from the equation. He's too talented for it. But if he doesn't win Wimbledon and beat Rafa anytime soon, it will require a huge mental effort from him.

I agree that Rafa can get 20 Slams if he keeps playing like this but he needs to deal with the new generation who is not scared of him. I think Fed should just keep quiet and he'll be treated as an underdog and then quietly suprise everyone by winning his 14th and 15th in the next 2 years. Unless, he does gym work and buff up.

nadal's entered into whose equation? stupid and way too early for this to come up.

It is scary that should he win RG this year it will be 4 out of 5 Slams for him. That will be Federer-like

I agree that Nadal is showing some consistency in his game and he'll definitely get a few more slams.. but i'd still think that it's rather too early to assume that he'll break sampras record. First, he's more prone to injury due to his game type.. and there are other players, who are showing aggressiveness, like verdasco and murray and some others. If you would rewind the match of nadal and verdasco.. the latter is the one more aggressive and won points far better than rafa. Nadal was just way lucky that Verdasco committed two double faults on the most crucial part of the game. My point is, If Verdasco will continue to play like that.. then that will be a big hindrance for Nadal.. Same with Murray who have proven that he can beat Nadal. So, let's just wait and see..In the meantime, let's wait first for Roger to break Sampras Record, he's the one who's only a slam away.. Nobody thought that he can still grab a slam last year, but he did it on the US open.. so who knows?? That guy has tremendous love for Tennis, and he's no way gonna stop in achieving his goal.

i don't think anyone is suggesting that federer won't eventually tie or surpass sampras's record, that's crazy! to surpass sampras, he only has to win two more. it's not the easiest thing to accomplish, but it's not an impossibility for someone like roger. i suppose we are discussing nadal because winning a major on hardcourt is a testament of his desire and determination, and he has proven that it is also possible for him to soar to even greater heights, but it's not a given! he will not go unchallenged! i'm definitely not discounting other players. that would be a mistake!

It is scary that should he win RG this year it will be 4 out of 5 Slams for him. That will be Federer-like
torres9 , 2/6/09 3:39 AM

Should he win the RG?? What a strange question!! Is there still any doubt as to who is going to win the RG not just this year but at least until 2012 if he doesn't get injured?? The only person on this planet from what i've seen is anywhere near challenging Rafa to take him off a set is Verdasco, that is if he puts on another superhuman effort and he has to play at least 200% better than he did at the AO to even take Rafa to another 5 sets. Otherwise i predict Rafa to win this yrs French with on court time of less than 13 hrs all up!

AZN2NVY , 2/6/09 6:17 AM

i agree with u, there is no one who can beat Nadal in clay this year.he is at his very best or we can say its the golden age of his tennis career where he is performing like a monster at every court(hard,grass & clay). so there is a little chance for any one else if we think practically.

But we hav seen miracles happen in the past & it will happen in future too.So we can only predict according to the stats but can't be 100% correct. Possibly Nadal is gonna loose this time or win again , only time will tell. But i want him to bag clay GS again this year.But will be happy too if roger wins(a little chance but not little)

yes, nadal is the king of clay..he's the best so far in that area.. but that doesn't mean that he will surely get the RG this year..maybe most probably, but not 100% This is Tennis... a game.. and anything can happen. and the competition is getting tigther and tougher among the players.. which is good for us tennis fanatics. i'm expecting a major movement in the ranking this 2009. goodluck to all the players!

As I said to a buddy: Yes...the Fed needs one more to tie Sampras. And time is not waiting for Roger...

Nadal -- with class -- encouragingly suggested from the podium that matching or exceeding Sampras could still be in the cards for the Fed.

I note, amused however, that he'd like to make his own brand of history: What? a career GS -- should he win the US Open some time -- something Roger may never achieve. And the very real possibility of the coveted calendar GS this year -- should he win Wimbledon and the US Open along with the French that everyone thinks he owns.

Indeed...history is for those who make it... I can just hear Rafa's thoughts: "Sorry, Roger... you're my friend... but history is history."

Dear AZN, I never said I don't think Nadal will win. But RG is has not started and eventho it's a 99% win for Rafa it still hasn't been won so that's why i wrote 'should he win'. He can still get injured or some miracle might happen. Fed was slowed down by mononucleosis last year and it is not even a caused by tennis. So anything can happen. But of course a 100% Nadal will 100% win Roland Garros.