Will Rafa Nadal win 20 Grand Slams or more?

©Mal Taam/TennisClix/CSM

A few days ago, I wrote that during the fall lots of people will debate whether Rafa Nadal will end up being the best player, ever. That is true. There are a lot of people who really like him, especially in Spain. Nadal is a terrific player, a very intense person on court, he competes and thinks on every point he plays. He now has 19 Grand Slam titles when he won the 2019 US Open, outlasting Daniil Medvedev in five very tough sets. 

Nadal is 33-years-old and he does get hurt nearly each year. But, this season, he didn’t destroy his body. Now hee actually rests, for the first time. At the 2019 Australian Open, he reached the final, but then the No. 1 Novak Djokovic crushed him. Nadal wouldn’t play for another month, and he came back, but it was pretty slowly. His legs weren’t quite there yet, with his sore legs.

And then it changed, in mid-May, winning Rome and Roland Garros. Nadal was more enterprising and stoic at the same time.

At Wimbledon, he lost to the fantastic Roger Federer in four sets in the semis. The Swiss loves grass, he has won it eight times, he goes into the net, very quickly. He can slide or hit elegant drop shots from the net. Nadal has won it twice, most notably in the 2008 epic final against the 20-time Grand Slam titlist Federer. The Swiss is the ruler of grass. Kind of.

Back on hard courts, Nadal was hooked in. He won Montreal and the US Open. Maybe he was tired a little bit, but he just kept pounding, minute after minute. 

He barely beat Medvedev, 6-4 in the fifth. The Russian is 10 years younger, 23 years. He doesn’t get exhausted at all, and he hits some wonderful shots. His big forehand and his hard backhand are strong. But he couldn’t step on Nadal. At the Slams, in 2020, maybe Medvedev can trip him up. But he has to wait until January.

However, he could face him again during the fall. There are some big tournaments coming, like Shanghai, Paris, the ATP Final and the Davis Cup final. That could be a blast again, with the No. 2 Nadal versus the No. 4 Medvedev.

Eventually, Medvedev will be able to beat Nadal because Nadal can’t beat the clock. That is reality. But, in the next three years, if Nadal is healthy, then the Spaniard can win at least a few more Grand Slams. How about 21 majors, or 22?