The jury of L'Equipe voted Nadal - the best clay court player of the Open Era

CMM

Legend
25socwx.jpg

Google translation
The jury had good looks. Fifteen champions and technicians have long plate Friday night in the offices of L'Equipe to designate the best player on earth in the history of the open era. Two specialists in our daily lives, and Alain Philippe Bouin Deflassieux rounded out the panel with the final choice was not different from that of Internet users, who have also elected Rafael Nadal.
The podium of experts was organized differently, however, with Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl behind the Mallorcan, a trio that three jurors were also chosen in this order (Deflassieux A. G. Forget and Sebastien Grosjean). And two of them, Guy Forget and Alain Deflassieux have selected ten players in the final ranking an initial list of thirty-two. Not in order of course, but overall performance is noteworthy. We wanted to give you here the verdict of the Top Ten for the story but also the particular choice of the jury invited by L'Equipe on Monday delivering their thoughts, comments and story of this evening of conviviality studious.

Top 10:
1. Rafael Nadal, 163 pts ; 2. Bjorn Borg, 159 ; 3. Ivan Lendl, 111 ; 4. Mats Wilander, 96 ; 5. Gustavo Kuerten, 87 ; 6. Guillermo Vilas, 80 ; 7. Roger Federer, 61 ; 8. Rod Laver, 41 ; 9. Thomas Muster, 37 ; 10. Ken Rosewall et Sergi Bruguera

The votes of the jury:

Mansour BAHRAMI : 1 B. Borg ; 2 R Nadal ; 3 I. Lendl ; 4 M. Wilander ; 5 G. Kuerten ; 6 S. Bruguera ; 7 R. Federer ; 8 J. Courier ; 9 G. Vilas ; 10 R. Laver.

Pierre BARTHES : 1 R. Nadal ; 2 R. Laver ; 3 B. Borg ; 4 K. Rosewall ; 5 G. Kuerten ; 6 I. Lendl ; 7 M. Wilander ; 8 S. Bruguera ; 9 A. Agassi ; 10 G. Vilas.

Philippe BOUIN : 1 R. Nadal ; 2 B. Borg ; 3 G. Kuerten ; 4 R. Federer ; 5 M. Wilander ; 6 I. Lendl ; 7. G.Vilas ; 8 I. Nastase ; 9 S. Bruguera ; 10. J. Courier

Bob BRETT : 1 R. Nadal ; 2 B. Borg ; 3 M. Wilander ; 4 I. Lendl ; 5 G. Kuerten ; 6 G. Vilas ; 7 R. Federer ; 8 R. Laver ; 9 K. Rosewall ; 10 S. Bruguera.

Alain DEFLASSIEUX : 1 R. Nadal ; 2 B. Borg ; 3 I. Lendl ; 4 R. Federer ; 5 K. Rosewall ; 6 R. Laver ; 7 G. Vilas ; 8 T. Muster ; 9 M. Wilander ; 10 G. Kuerten

Patrice DOMINGUEZ : 1 R. Nadal ; 2 B. Borg ; 3 G. Kuerten ; 4 I. Lendl ; 5 G. Vilas ; 6 R. Federer ; 7 R. Laver ; 8 M. Wilander ; 9 I. Nastase ; 10 S. Bruguera.

Guillaume DURAND 1 B. Borg ; 2 R. Nadal ; 3 G. Kuerten ; 4 G. Vilas ; 5 T. Muster ; 6 I. Lendl ; 7 M. Wilander ; 8 I. Nastase ; 9 R. Federer ; 10 R. Laver.

Guy FORGET : 1 R. Nadal ; 2 B. Borg ; 3 I. Lendl ; 4 G. Vilas ; 5 M. Wilander ; 6 K. Rosewall ; 7 R. Laver ; 8 G. Kuerten ; 9 R. Federer ; 10 T. Muster.

Sébastien GROSJEAN : 1 R. Nadal ; 2 B. Borg ; 3 I. Lendl ; 4 G. Vilas ; 5 M. Wilander ; 6 R. Federer ; 7 K. Rosewall ; 8 I. Nastase ; 9. G. Kuerten ; 10 T. Muster.

Patrice HAGELAUER : 1 B. Borg ; 2 R. Nadal ; 3 M. Orantes ; 4 T. Muster ; 5 I. Nastase ; 6 S. Bruguera ; 7 G. Kuerten ; 8 M. Wilander ; 9 I. Lendl ; 10 G. Vilas.

Henri LECONTE : 1 B. Borg ; 2 R. Nadal ; 3 I. Lendl ; 4 M. Wilander ; 5 G. Kuerten ; 6 S. Bruguera ; 7 R. Laver ; 8 T. Muster ; 9 G. Vilas ; 10 R. Federer.

Jean-Paul LOTH : 1 B. Borg ; 2 R. Nadal ; 3 G. Vilas ; 4 I. Lendl ; 5 M. Wilander ; 6 G. Kuerten ; 7 K. Rosewall ; 8 I. Nastase ; 9 T. Muster ; 10 R. Federer.

Toni NADAL : 1 B. Borg ; 2 R. Nadal ; 3 I. Lendl ; 4 M. Wilander ; 5 R. Federer ; 6 T. Muster ; 7 I. Nastase ; 8 G. Kuerten ; 9. G. Vilas ; 10 J.C. Ferrero.

Patrick PROISY : 1 R. Nadal ; 2 B. Borg ; 3 G. Vilas ; 4 M. Wilander ; 5 I. Lendl ; 6 G. Kuerten ; 7 R. Laver ; 8 T. Muster ; 9 S. Bruguera ; 10 R. Federer.

Fabrice SANTORO : 1 R. Nadal ; 2 B. Borg ; 3 G. Vilas ; 4 R. Federer ; 5 I. Lendl ; 6 M. Wilander ; 7 G. Kuerten ; 8 T. Muster ; 9 R. Laver ; 10. A. Agassi.

Thierry TULASNE : 1 R. Nadal ; 2. B. Borg ; 3 M. Wilander ; 4 G. Vilas ; 5 G. Kuerten ; 6 I. Lendl ; 7 R. Federer ; 8 T. Muster ; 9 S. Bruguera ; 10 J.C. Ferrero.

Mats WILANDER : 1 B. Borg ; 2 R. Nadal ; 3 I. Lendl ; 4 M. Wilander ; 5 G. Kuerten ; 6 R. Federer ; 7 R. Laver ; 8 J. Courier ; 9 S. Bruguera ; 10. G. Vilas.

http://www.lequipe.fr/Tennis/breves2010/20100523_205342_le-jury-de-l-equipe-vote-nadal.html
 
Last edited:

cucio

Legend
Santoro votes like he plays. Surprising, and throwing in a lot of junk. Fed at #4? Friggin' Agassi?

Uncle Toni forgot to include his beloved Rod Laver, that's surprising.

Obvious top 2 is obvious, and suitably close, although I'd still tip it on Borg's side, but that could change in the next couple of years.
 

Carsomyr

Legend
Who is Pierre Barthes? He sounds like a complete clown; Laver 2nd? Agassi even being on the list (sorry Fabrice)?
 

Raiden

Hall of Fame
Top 10:
1. Rafael Nadal, 163 pts
2. Bjorn Borg, 159
3. Ivan Lendl, 111
4. Mats Wilander, 96
5. Gustavo Kuerten, 87
6. Guillermo Vilas, 80
7. Roger Federer, 61
8. Rod Laver, 41
9. Thomas Muster, 37
10. Ken Rosewall et Sergi Bruguera
Excellent.

Just one more indication that, despite his career slam, Agassi ain't an overall "top ten GOAT" contender as some (almost exclusively internet warriors and/or celebrity worshippers) dare to suggest.
 

Hood_Man

G.O.A.T.
It makes sense that Nadal and Borg are in first and second place, separated by only 4 points, and I'm perfectly happy to see Federer at 7th place.

He may not have won a lot of clay tournaments in comparison to some guys on the list but he's reached plenty of finals, and of those he lost (11) he avoided straight set losses in 6 of them.

Plus the eventual French Open victory helps :)
 

namelessone

Legend
LOL@Uncle Toni rating Nadal 2nd.

Tony is a realist,always has been even if he is seen as head of the mallorcan mafia by some paranoid posters around here.

If you wanna talk about LOL'ing,let's talk about Forget. The guy was badmouthing Nadal back in 05(with the "we don't need construction workers on our courts" comment) but now he votes him as the nr.1 CC in history. What a freaking joker.

In my mind Rafa needs 1-2 FO's and he is right up there with Borg. His winning percentage alone on this surface is crazy and if he would have taken better care of himself in the past it could have been even better:shock:

The funny thing about this whole clay thing is that this wasn't even Nadal's fav surface as a teenager.
 

kishnabe

Talk Tennis Guru
Why do they make these assumptions that Nadal is the greatest clay courter of the open era...what if a new guy came up and racked every clay event at least 10 times. Then the new guy is the greatest clay courter. I hope the title isn't forever...as in it could be taken away by another player.

Congratz on him for getting it...but people can't say for sure Federer is the G.O.A.T forever and Nadal is the best clay courter of the open era. In the future hope that changes!
 

timnz

Legend
Wilander

Interesting that Wilander rates Lendl above himself. I'm glad he doesn't have false humility though and gives himself a high ranking of 4. He deserves it.

I would rank Lendl only above Wilander on Clay by the narrowest of margins and I am a Lendl fan.
 

Rippy

Hall of Fame
Why do they make these assumptions that Nadal is the greatest clay courter of the open era...what if a new guy came up and racked every clay event at least 10 times. Then the new guy is the greatest clay courter. I hope the title isn't forever...as in it could be taken away by another player.

Congratz on him for getting it...but people can't say for sure Federer is the G.O.A.T forever and Nadal is the best clay courter of the open era. In the future hope that changes!

They mean the greatest so far, surely? :-|
 

tahiti

Professional
Nice article, thanks for posting. I'm sure give Rafa a few more years on clay and he'll be way out above Borg.
 

roysid

Hall of Fame
Mats Wilander and Toni Nadal may think that he is No. 3, his nephew is No. 1 but won't declare it.

By the time Nadal finishes he should be way above Borg.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DSH

sh@de

Hall of Fame
Good for Nadal. I think he deserves it. Obviously it's close between him and Borg, but seriously, the clay masters sweep and 4 RG in a row... and the way he just dominates his opponents on clay, I'm really not surprised Nadal wins this vote.

Vamos!
 

big bang

Hall of Fame
of course Nadal is the best claycourter ever! some of the ppl on this board rank Borg above him because of FO titles needs to take a look at both players games and compare them. Nadals game is superior and in time he will win more FO than Borg did!! Nadal has been the best claycourter ever for years, not in terms of achievements but level of play!
 

World Beater

Hall of Fame
i wonder hypothetically (not that it will happen of course)...

if federer actually meets nadal in a few more RG finals and actually wins one or two..

will that make nadal's status on clay higher or lower?

its competition vs. domination argument.
 

dmt

Hall of Fame
congradulations to Rafa, he deserves it. In a few years he may get to 6 to surpass Borg. Those two are clearly the two best ones though.
 

zagor

Bionic Poster
Vilas is better than Kuerten !

How about no? Vilas was Borg's plaything on clay even more than Fed is Nadal's and I sincerely doubt Guga would be dominated by anyone on clay.

Believe me both Borg and Nadal would have a lot more to fear from an on fire Guga than Vilas who I find to be overrated on clay personally.

Not to mention that Guga won 3 FOs compared to Vilas's one(and yes I know he also won USO on green clay over Connors).
 

joeri888

G.O.A.T.
Nadal might achieve more than Borg, his level of play is obviously higher (even the guy's ranked 50 today are stronger quicker en better built than Borg) but until he wins 6 FO's, I don't see why he's better than Bjorn Borg. 6 is very possible, but IF he loses this year it suddenly looks far far away. It's all about the Slams baby.
 

mtr1

Professional
At the moment, Borg > Nadal on clay, but if Nadal wins this years French with the same domination as 2008, he overtakes Borg. I don't think that Nadal will ever overtake Borg in the GOAT discussion though, it's going to take something unbelievable for someone to break into the Federer, Laver, Sampras, Borg group.
 

dh003i

Legend
He won 3 slams that year,that's already domination,hardly coming into his own.

True, but his best on clay came after 2004. Btw, he didn't get blown away by Kuerten either, lost 6-4 6-4 6-4, fairly tight sets.

But Kuerten is rated as a better claycourt player than Federer.
 

ViscaB

Hall of Fame
True, but his best on clay came after 2004. Btw, he didn't get blown away by Kuerten either, lost 6-4 6-4 6-4, fairly tight sets.

But Kuerten is rated as a better claycourt player than Federer.

I wouldn't call Kuerten a better claycourter. If it wouldn't have been for Rafa Federer would have tied in terms of RG with him already.
 
D

Deleted member 3771

Guest
At the moment, Borg > Nadal on clay, but if Nadal wins this years French with the same domination as 2008, he overtakes Borg. I don't think that Nadal will ever overtake Borg in the GOAT discussion though, it's going to take something unbelievable for someone to break into the Federer, Laver, Sampras, Borg group.

mission accomplished. :)
 

nadal era

New User
mission accomplished. :)

nadal didnt dominate 2010 FO like he dominated 2008 FO.
even though he won both tournaments without losing a set,

in 2008 FO nadal lost only 41 games.
in 2010 FO he lost 71 games.

in 2008 FO he won 3 bagel sets.
in 2010 FO he won no bagel sets.

and in the 2008 FO final, he murdered federer like a red headed step child!
 

jack_kramer

Banned
I would say:

1. nadal
2. borg
.
.
.
.
.
3. wilander
4. lendl
5. kuerten
6. muster
7. vilas
8. brugeura
9. courier
10. agassi
 

Dilettante

Hall of Fame
It's Nadal/Borg or Borg/Nadal and then a big gap and then the rest. I think everyone pretty much agree in that.
 

kishnabe

Talk Tennis Guru
I would say:

1. nadal
2. borg
.
.
.
.
.
3. wilander
4. lendl
5. kuerten
6. muster
7. vilas
8. brugeura
9. courier
10. agassi

I agree with list but I'd put Lendl above Willander because he was a better claycourter in my opinion. Also Rosewall should be on the list.
 
Top