We all saw it. Federer, a grown man, crying like a child whom had his favorite toy taken away. Federer did try his best to contain himself when he lost that heart-breaker to Nadal at Wimbledon. But the Australian Open was just too much for the master. He must have had flashbacks of Bjorg – McEnroe rivalry. Bjorg had the upper hand early but McEnroe caught up and surpassed him. Bjorg never really stuck around to allow us to see the end of that rivalry. But Roger has stuck around and Nadal has beaten him 3 straight times in Grand Slams (all finals). Roger may be a candidate for the GOAT, but so is Rafa.
Will Roger get back to No. 1? I am not sure he is interested in doing that. Roger wants to be considered the greatest of all time and for him to do that he needs to do 3 things:
- win 15 slams or more
- win the French Open
- beat Nadal in a Grand Slam final a few times
Roger hasn’t done any of those yet. I doubt he will actually win a calendar slam now that his window has closed. But he can still win the French in the next couple of years. He just needs to figure out how to beat Nadal on clay similar to how Nadal did it to him on grass. Will it happen? Probably not! Federer’s best chance to be considered the greatest of all time is to win 16, 17, or even 18 slams. He needs to put a big distance between himself and Sampras and make sure he denies Rafa from catching up to him. Rafa has 6 already and is 22. If Rafa wins 3 more French and a few other slams, he could catch up to Roger by the time he is 27. If Rafa gets too close or equals what Roger has done, Federer will have to be satisfied to be one of the greats and not the greatest. That is something that is even more repulsive to Roger than being the World No. 2.