Rafa Nadal has the opportunity to add another chapter to his storied career, and intensify an already robust debate, should he beat Stanislas Wawrinka in today’s Australian Open final.
A victory would make the Spanish left-hander the third man to win all four grand slam titles twice, joining Australians Rod Laver and Roy Emerson, and also draw him level with Pete Sampras on 14 career major titles.
It would also leave him three behind Wawrinka’s compatriot Roger Federer, who Nadal beat in the semi-finals, and would no doubt generate another round of debate as to who can justifiably be called the greatest player of all time.
“Is there one greatest player of all time?” Sampras replied when asked by reporters if Nadal or Federer could be labelled with that mantle.
“I believe when you look at the history of the game, each decade has their player.
“Certainly Roger has been the best player for the last 10 years. Rafa is up there with him. (Novak) Djokovic is pushing. So it’s really hard to say.”
Both sides have a strong case in the Nadal vs Federer debate.
Fans of the Swiss suggest Nadal’s record is skewed by his claycourt dominance over the years, while the Spaniard’s supporters point to his 23-10 head-to-head record over Federer.
If Nadal does beat Wawrinka, however, it is inevitable the question will be asked whether he can achieve what no man has done since Laver in 1969 and win a calendar grand slam.
Few would bet against him winning his ninth French Open title in early June. He has lost just one match at the claycourt grand slam since 2005.
And the manner in which he accounted for 17-times grand slam winner Federer suggests he will be hard to beat at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Nadal is only focused on the challenge posed by the 28-year-old Wawrinka.
“He’s playing better than ever... if I don’t play my best tennis, I don’t have (a) chance to beat him,” he said.
Nadal holds a 12-0 career record over Wawrinka but he has every reason to be concerned about the challenge from the softly spoken Swiss player, who has found a new level of consistency and seems confident he can reach the upper echelon of the men’s game.
He pushed Djokovic to five-sets in both the Australian and US Open last year.
Wawrinka started 2014 by winning his fifth career title at Chennai and then beat Djokovic, again in five sets, in the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park, ending a 14-match losing streak to the Serb.
He handily beat seventh Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals at Melbourne Park.
Wawrinka said his past record against Nadal had not entered his thoughts.
“The record is not what I’m looking at. That’s what it is... I don’t care about having lost 14 times.
“But I had some good matches last year against Rafa and I have more confidence in myself.”