Melbourne TimeTrue, that is if you compare what both had achieved at the age of 24 years, 4 months and 7 days – the age Rafa is today after claiming the Japan Open in Tokyo.
Roger on the other hand can claim the lead in the number of weeks at Number One – he’d already been an incredible 97 weeks at the top when he was Nadal’s age.
| Status after Japan Open 2010, comparing both players at 24y, 4m, 7d (Nadal’s age on 10/10/2010) | ||||||
| ATP | Master | Majors | Weeks No 1 | |||
| Nadal | 24y, 4m, 7d | 43 | 18 | 9 | 65 | |
| Federer | 24y, 4m, 7d | 33 | 8 | 6 | 97 | |
See the full comparison by age between Nadal and Federer here.
fascinating. Nice work.
RAFA FOREVER!
Impressive work!
So the earlier part of Nadal’s run is better than Federer; and it remains to be seen if Nadal’s run after this is equal or better or worse than Federer.
We are SO SO SO Lucky as Tennis fans to have these TWO Great champions!
It is so pointless that so many Rafa-holics and Fed-natics rage an beat up the stats of the champion they don’t support – they are both great and who is greater will only be seen when both their careers are over.
Go -TMF and Vamos Rafa!
This is awesome. Thank you for taking the time to create this list for all of us to see.
Go Rafa. I hope you stay healthy to overtake Federer. Vamos!
Thanks for the positive feedback. Reassuring to know I am not the only statistics geek around here
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What I find interesting is seeing just how amazing Federer was at 23 and 24.
From 23rd birthday to 23 years and 10months Rafa incredibly won no titles, while Roger won TEN in the same period.
Now that he is back from injury, Nadal seems to be rebuilding or at least maintaining the lead he established up to the age of 22.
Considering the playing style of Nadal, I don’t think he would be able to last as long as Federer will.. I still think there are more years to Federer..
Go on Fed!!!
Well said, Noyawns! I support Nadal, but at this point in time Federer is a bigger champion and he’s not done yet! Some people just say “Federer” over “Nadal” because they don’t follow tennis. Just like anyone who doesn’t follow Basketball, F1, or Chess would say Michael Jordon, Michael Schumacher, or Gary Kasporov, respectively.
The statistics are great and very impressively compiled! Would it be possible to make a summarized table? To paste the link to those who are not willing to go through it in detail?
I cannot be sure as I didn’t spend too much time confirming (or then didn’t understand how it’s progressing), but I think these are typos:
Major is 2, but should be 1 in:
Federer 1.2.2003
Major is 1, but should be 2 in:
Federer 6.7.2003
Federer 12.10.2003
Federer 16.11.2003
Sorry if I’m wrong.
Rather those perhaps aren’t typos but then remove “won Australian Open” in 2003 since Agassi won it.
Hi Omar, thanks, pleased you spotted that. The 2003 Australian Open was meant to be entered as 2004, entered the date wrong and then the sorting messed it up. Fixed now, and tried to summarise a little to make it easier to compare by age
Great idea! It’s much easier to compare and also read now.
Hope that the competition is still tight as the list keeps on being updated! The US Open shall prove to be really interesting this year. I think there are a significant number of more people who believe that Nadal can win it now compared to last year!
Fed has a better serve and better slam record.PERIOD
Rafa has better backhand, forehand, mental toughness & control, better Davis Cup record, more Davis Cup Championships, better Olympics [1-0 [that is Zero for two tries for Fed], better head to head record, MUCH BETTER Masters Series record [even though he's five years younger],
better records for winning most consecutive on one surface, I believe the only player in history to win 3 consecutive Masters, and even though Rafa was not even close to his peak yet, won the all time million $ grass/clay court showdown.
The Fed worshippers always have to preface their slobbering love-mantra with Feds Grand Slam record is…. The Grand Slams are not the end-all-be-all that they and Fed try to sell us…. and we should not let them downplay the other 44 weeks a year. Roger amassed his fine slam record in an average of 15 days per year,[that's how long it takes to get 16 slams over 10 years] he was the best G.S. player… when you compare the other 50 weeks per year, Rafa is so far and away superior to Fed,it’s not even close.
Oh by the way, they have played twice in doubles, and Rafa won both times. There is lots more, I could go on and on.
GO RAFA!!!!
That’s a nice analysis. However, it all depends on what the majority believe in – be it a stupid reason! And the majority will put “All-Time Greatest” with the highest slam winner, even though all these top players (e.g. A. Agassi or B. Becker) are great players (and perhaps in one way or another even the “greatest”). For that reason, let’s just hope Rafa continues to win grand slams
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As we all see, Nadal is way ahead of Federer at age of 24, and considering his best friend and sparing partner Carlos Moya, he will mantain this level for at least 6 more years. Just look at Carlos’s achievements at age AFTER 30… They are very similar physically, and the ONLY thing Nadal has to improve is flatten his serve on hard courts. Which he already did. Then he will not have to run so much, because comparing ALL of the players active, HE HAS THE BEST SHOTS FROM BASELINE BY FAR!!! Vamos Rafa!!!
Instead of using age, I think it is fairer to use attempts. By winning the 2007 Australian Open, Federer won his sixth Grand Slam title in his last seven attempts, an open era male record. Federer’s best streaks of 7 Grand Slam titles in 9 attempts, 8 in 10 attempts, 9 in 13 attempts, 10 in 14 attempts, 11 in 16 attempts, 12 in 18 attempts, 13 in 21 attempts, 14 in 23 attempts, 15 in 25 attempts and 16 in 27 attempts are all all-time male records.
People also keep mentioning their head to head record, to be fair to Federer, he has reach almost all clay finals thereby facing Nadal,(he went to four consecutive roland garros final) Nadal doesn’t even reach finals in the hard court season, and because they are always no. 1 and 2, they can only meet in finals. Roger Federer is the only player to have won at least 9 tournaments on Clay (even with Nadal around), Hard and Grass. (Imagine if they were as plenty ATP 1000 tournaments on Grass, as there is on clay or hard court).
Apart from his 16 grand slams ( which I think Nadal might finally reach if he is consistent in the coming years, although he has to be careful with Djokovic, Murray, Delpotro and Soderling breathing down his back), Nadal most match some of his records (listed below) first before he can dethrone Federer as best ever. I have highlighted ones I think is unbeatable. Nadal’s emergence did well to tennis, if not, Federer would have dominated everything (like winning 25 out of 28 last grand slams before 2010), in fact it did good to Federer as well, helping him lift his game. Let’s wait till both retire before we finally conclude this debate, but CONSISTENCE matters, I hope Nadal can do that just like Federer.
1. Federer’s 237 CONSECUTIVE weeks as no. 1 is virtually unbeatable (more than 4 years)
2. Federer has been ranked World No. 1 for a total of 285 weeks (two separate periods only), one week behind all-time leader Pete Sampras (286 weeks, eleven separate periods). Even great Sampras had to do it eleven separate periods.
3. Federer is the only man to be ranked World No. 1 every week during a calendar year for three consecutive years (2005–07).
4. Federer reached an all-time male record ten consecutive Grand Slam finals (2005 Wimbledon – 2007 US Open).
5. Federer is the all-time male record 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals holder (2004 Wimbledon – 2010 Australian Open) (7 years, unbeatable), even Nadal admits that, Nadal’s best is five.
6. Federer won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year four CONSECUTIVE years (2004-2008) (unbeatable). Remember this award is not for only tennis.
7. Federer is the only male player in the open era to reach five consecutive French Open semifinals. (Even Nadal in his backyard hasn’t done that yet).
8. Federer has reached an all-time record 18 finals out of 19 Grand Slam tournaments (2005 Wimbledon – 2010 Australian Open, excluding the 2008 Australian Open) (unbeatable)
9. Federer is the only male player to appear in eight consecutive Grand Slam finals twice in his career (2005 Wimbledon – 2007 U.S. Open and 2008 French Open – 2010 Australian Open).
10. Federer is the only male player in tennis history to reach at least five consecutive semifinals at all four Grand Slam tournaments. (unbeatable)
11. Federer is the only male player in tennis history to win at least five consecutive titles at two different Grand Slam tournaments (2003–07 Wimbledon, 2004–08 US Open).
11. Federer is the only male player in tennis history to win the same two Grand Slam tournaments back to back for four consecutive years (2004–07 Wimbledon and US Open).
12. At the 2006 Australian Open, Federer became the first man to win three consecutive Grand Slam titles since Sampras in 1993–94. Federer repeated this feat at the 2007 Australian Open, making him the only man to achieve this feat twice in the open era.
13. By winning the 2010 Australian Open, Federer became the only male tennis player to win three different Grand Slam tournaments at least four times each (4 Australian Opens, 6 Wimbledons, and 5 US Opens).
14. Federer is the only male player in tennis history to win three Grand Slam tournaments in a calendar year three different times in his career ((2004 AO, Wim and USO), (2006 AO, Wim and USO) and (2007 AO, Wim and USO)).
15. As of the 2010 Australian Open, Federer has appeared in an all-time male record 22 Grand Slam finals.
16. Federer (2003–09) is the only man in history to reach seven consecutive Wimbledon finals (Nadal hasn’t done that in his backyard, the French open)
16. With four ATP World Tour Finals titles, Federer only trails the record five titles set by Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras. (Nadal hasn’t won one uptil now).
17. Federer has reached an all-time record 28 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals (imagine what the no. would have been if they were as plenty ATP 1000 tournaments on Grass, as there is on clay or hard court).
18. Federer is the only player to win four ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in a season twice (2005–06). His 8 titles in two years, 11 in three years, and 13 in four years are record achievements.
19. Federer is the only player to win all four North American ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events at least twice. (Hard court tournaments)
saadbash: we all know RF figures are impressive. But this post is about same-age comparison and, from this viewpoint (whether you consider it fair or not) things are clear so far.
Time will tell if Rafa is capable to beat any other of RF’s records. By the way, your approach to those figures is interesting, but sometimes you consider a cube having ten or twelve facets!
Saadbash, largely agree with your points about Federer, you are preaching to the converted here I suspect!
Federer has truly changed the game and will be one of the greatest if not the very greatest for many years to come.
The point of putting this comparison up was to give people a quick way to see in some detail each players results by age. Not to judge who was best.
I personally find it obvious that if both players had quit tennis at Nadal’s current age, Nadal would be judged the better of the two. But that’s silly, they both have years ahead of them and Federer from 25 to 28 ranged from near on unbeatable to simply superb, so Nadal has a lot to do to match that, even if injuries do not come into play.
saadbash
September 14, 2010 at 11:11 am
Instead of using age, I think it is fairer to use attempts. By winning the 2007 Australian Open, Federer won his sixth Grand Slam title in his last seven attempts, an open era male record. Federer’s best streaks of 7 Grand Slam titles in 9 attempts, 8 in 10 attempts, 9 in 13 attempts, 10 in 14 attempts, 11 in 16 attempts, 12 in 18 attempts, 13 in 21 attempts, 14 in 23 attempts, 15 in 25 attempts and 16 in 27 attempts are all all-time male records.
MY REPLY : NADAL WON 9 GS IN 11 ATTEMPTS WHEREAS FED WON 9 GS IN 13 ATTEMPTS…AGAIN NADAL IS WAY BETTER…!!
The records shown so far have clear indication that Federer is one of the GOATs and Nadal yet to prove himself. There is no point to discuss about who is the only GOAT considering what Laver has put down. Just take Nadal’s words, “Federer is way better than him”, he is really scared of “being treated as Federer alike” before end of his career, since trying to achieve Federer alike is his main drive to achieve his own greatness. Many of the Federer fans really hate Nadal because he dethroned Federer and cast real doubts about his status in history. There are still a few years left for Federer to remove these, because he really earned his right by achieving so much. All he has to do is to beat Nadal in one or two GS finals. But for Nadal, he still has a long way to go to prove he is Federer alike, he has to do what Federer has done in past 5-6 years. Belive me, it is not easy task, maybe proven to be impossible even for Nadal. Comparison results at a particular age is pointless as the selection the only GOAT.
Because everyone matures and ages at different rates a fairer comparison of achievements would be seen if you compared what Federer had achieved 9 years after turning pro (that would be 2007) with what Nadal has achieved to date. Nadal turned pro in 2001, three years after Federer, so although their ages are about five years different their is only about three years difference in the length of their careers so far.
The figures would then be: ATP MASTERS MAJORS WEEKS @ NO 1
NADAL: 43 18 9 62
(Including 2007 US OPEN) FEDERER: 51 14 11 185
Note – comments above apply to the full chart now moved to its own page here: http://www.nadalvsfederer.com/stats-by-age/
Fed is better than Nadal..here is the stat..
They have met 23 times till now. Out of which the H2H stands 14-9..Pls correct if I am wrong.
Out of 14 victories of Nadal 10 victories came in Clay Surface. They have 12 times in Clay surface, out of which 10-2 in favor of Nadal.
Fedrer on other surface 7-4.
I would consider Federer because he was able to make it to most of the clay appearances against Nadal, same is not the case with Nadal.
Federer has been very consistent in making to all GS finals in the last 6 yrs. In the last 6 yrs out of 24 finals, made it to 21 finals, 2 semifinal and 1 qf. I believe that is amazing consistency. Again same is not the case with Nadal.
This is in the last 5 yrs..But I believe Nadal shuld overtake Federer in records if he play well till 28 yrs.
Very Hard to say who’s better. However the clincher for me is that Rafa is simply a beast when it comes to mental toughness on the big points.
nadal is being regarded as one of the greatest only at 25 i wonder what he will be when he finishes hes career