Rafael Nadal takes Career Grand Slam

Haven't done an update in a while, more due to a lack of motivation, interest and other things going on in the outside world. Usually I try not to write about Federer or Nadal, there are enough people in the world can fawn over Fedal and their domination of the sport, but this occasion is different.

Rafel Nadal winning the US Open has completed the career slam and only becomes the 8th person to do so. It's an outstanding and well deserved achievement, sure most of his fanbase are gelationus parasitic tapeworms who just followed tennis since 2005, therefore think he invented topspin and nothing existed before then and it will end when he retires. These people will go on and on, but will forget like all players that Nadal will decline eventually.

Enough of this nonsense. Nadal was clearly the best player for the whole 2 weeks and whether people like it or not, players don't fluke Slams and there always is a certain amount of luck to win a Slam. Federer won RG without playing Nadal in the final, and vice versa here it doesn't mean any less for this instance. Sure, the guys that give Nadal the most trouble on hardcourts like del Potro are injured, Murray not good enough to pass Wawrinka, Söderling and Davydenko, one out of form and the other not up to it against Federer and Federer not beating Djokovic. In other words can only beat what is front of you and have to be good enough to take advantage of this.

In the final Nadal had an awful break point conversion rate which is an area where he is so strong, but his serving throughout the event was of a very high standard. Not just spinning it in to move the opponent around, was able to hit some big serves when needed. This and being more willing to hit the forehand down the line helped him prosper in this event, sure he wasn't under a huge amount of pressure. Even when Djokovic won the 2nd set of the final, there was still a feeling of inevitability that this was Nadal's day and event.

Since I don't believe in the whole GOAT nonsense, because it's really just an excuse for people to rant about something when it's not impossible to compare very different eras. Yes, Nadal has benefitted from surface homogenisation and racquet/string technology, but got to have the ability and aptitude to use it your advantage and he has done that, so kudos to him and he can only exist in his particular time. Can't use a time machine to transport him back to the days of the wooden racquets or the 90s where there were glorified ice rinks posing as tennis courts and vice versa.

History alone will decide where Nadal's place is in the game. He will always be remembered whatever else happens to his career. This triumph more aggression from the baseline, better serving, taking advantage of the opportunity when it was there to win a Slam when the big dangers weren't in his path. Nadal went out there and got the job done to win the career Slam and no one can or will take that away from him, whether they like it or not.